A review by balletbookworm
Her Night with the Duke by Diana Quincy
emotional
hopeful
informative
relaxing
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I LOVED Leela - strong, forthright, intelligent (far more than Eliot, haha), and determined to be herself and live her life despite the Patriarchy and Racists who try and get in her way. But she's also still a human character, who is vulnerable and trying to find where she fits into the world as a biracial woman in the Regency. I also loved her relationship with Tori, the stepdaughter, and how she tries to champion and protect Tori despite the brother's/stepson's continual attempts to be the worst person on Earth.
Where I got tripped up a bit was with the hero, Eliot. Overall, as a character I understood where he was coming from in fighting this "degenerate curse" that ravages every other generation in his family and how he was really trying to contrast his brother's profligacy by being upstanding, etc. etc. Except it leads him into a really bad corner of "My Reputation And Consequence Is The Most Important" and he says some really bone-headed things. I don't think he really suffered the consequences of these actions or that he did enough groveling to make up for.
Overall the book was really good and I liked the ending (although if you don't like magic babies or baby-logues you might want to skip the Epilogue) but Eliot needed to suffer a bit more.
Where I got tripped up a bit was with the hero, Eliot. Overall, as a character I understood where he was coming from in fighting this "degenerate curse" that ravages every other generation in his family and how he was really trying to contrast his brother's profligacy by being upstanding, etc. etc. Except it leads him into a really bad corner of "My Reputation And Consequence Is The Most Important" and he says some really bone-headed things. I don't think he really suffered the consequences of these actions or that he did enough groveling to make up for.
Overall the book was really good and I liked the ending (although if you don't like magic babies or baby-logues you might want to skip the Epilogue) but Eliot needed to suffer a bit more.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Sexism
Leela is a character with a white father and a Palestinian mother. She experiences microagressions from other characters. She is also treated with less respect as a woman in business decisions when she is trying to sell her book.