Ten Things I Hate About the Duke
It’s been three years since we last had a new book from Loretta Chase, and I’m sure the burning question for historical romance fans is – was the long wait worth it? I’m happy to say that yes, it was; Ten Things I Hate About the Duke may be one of those silly movie-reference titles that abound in historical romance these days, but the book itself is – thankfully – far from silly. It’s classic Chase, featuring a pair of well-rounded, likeable protagonists, oodles of sexual tension and prose filled with insight, a generous helping of snark and the author’s customary razor-sharp wit. It’s the best historical romance of the year, hands down.
Note: There are minor spoilers for the previous book, A Duke in Shining Armor, in this review.
Miss Cassandra Pomfret, eldest daughter of Lord deGriffith, is young woman who not only dares to hold opinions of her own but (even worse) dares to actually express them. Cruelly nicknamed by the ton – Medusa and de Griffith’s Gorgon are just two of the charming epithets she’s attracted – she is continually frustrated by the restrictions imposed on her by society, the expectation that she should care more about her frocks than about working to make the world a better place. But after she speaks out at a political meeting – and almost causes a riot – her father, a respected and influential politician, has had enough of her unconventional and ill-advised behaviour. He has no doubt of her good intentions or her belief in the causes she espouses, but she needs to recognise that her actions reflect badly on her family, and particularly on her younger sister Hyacinth, who is having her very first London Season. Lord deGriffith sees no point in his younger daughter moving in society if Cassandra’s actions continually undermine her position and reputation, and declares it is at an end, and that he will not give permission for Hyacinth to marry until Cassandra has done so. For her part, Hyacinth – who has become the toast of the Season and attracted a host of beaux – isn’t particularly bothered at having her Season curtailed, but even so, Cassandra feels dreadfully guilty about it. A couple of days later, Hyacinth urges her sister to go to visit their ailing former governess in Roehampton, and Cassandra sets out, with her maid and her groom accompanying her.
His Grace with the Angel Face the Duke of Ashmont has repaired to The Green Man on Putney Heath following the duel earlier in the morning with the Duke of Ripley. Ashmont issued the challenge after his fiancée absconded on the morning of their wedding with Ripley in tow (perfectly innocently at first), and then, a few days later, jilted Ashmont in order to marry Ripley. Honour (and given this is Ashmont, a good deal of booze) demanded the challenge, and fortunately for all concerned, Ashmont didn’t put a bullet through Ripley. A few hours later, Ashmont has drunk away the morning, despondent, and still shaken by the thought that he could conceivably have killed his best friend, He’s set to drink the rest of the day away when a commotion outside draws his attention. Very much the worse for wear, he staggers outside, his one intention to stop the row that’s adding to the hammering in his head; he raises his pistol and fires into the air – causing the horses drawing an approaching carriage to bolt and the carriage to topple over.
Horrified – and still very drunk – Ashmont staggers over to the scene to find two young women lying near the carriage and a third body – a man – a short distance away. He’s made his way over to the women and is relieved when one of them – a redhead – sits up… and not so relieved when she yells at him and smacks him with her bonnet. As he finally faceplants, she gets up and calmly steps over him saying “Yes, you, of course… It only wanted this.”
Somehow, Cassandra thinks, she should have known Ashmont to have been the cause of all this mayhem – it’s what he does best after all. She’s known him, on and off, all her life, and was even – as a girl – in love with him… until she realised he was never going to become the man she hoped he would. But there’s no time to dwell on that; her groom has been badly injured and needs help; Ashmont’s clout and money are needed which means, unfortunately, that so is he.
Still lying on the ground, Ashmont is contemplating the clouds and flashing grey eyes and dark red curls… when a bucket of cold water is dumped unceremoniously on his head and he’s exhorted to get up and make himself – and his money – useful.
Ashmont does indeed make himself (and his money) useful and he tries hard to fix the humungous mess he’s made – especially after Cassandra’s maid decides to return home, leaving her mistress completely unchaperoned. Once word gets out about his involvement, Cassandra will be ruined – but luckily for all concerned, Ashmont’s uncle Frederick (Lord Frederick Beckingham, whom we met in the previous book) has a cooler, wiser head and advises Ashmont to leave as soon as possible after buying the silence of the staff at the inn, and thus protect Cassandra’s reputation.
Ashmont is sensible enough to take good advice, and disaster is averted. But… clever, challenging, imperturbable, waspish Cassandra Pomfret has completely captivated him, and he decides to pursue her. The trouble is, she clearly isn’t impressed by his looks, his money or his rank – which are the things that usually get him what he wants – and he’s going to have to work harder than he’s ever worked at anything (which, let’s face it, he’s never done) if he wants to win her.
What follows is a sprightly and absolutely delightful dance as Ashmont, who is far from the idiot he allows the world believe him to be, slowly but surely works out how to prove to Cassandra that he’s serious about her. He listens to her, he values her opinion, he finds out about things that are important to her and in the process, he starts to take stock of his own life, and to realise how little he’s made of it – which makes Ten Things as much a story of a man discovering the person he’s truly meant to be as it is a romance. Ashmont isn’t a man redeemed by love, or a rake reformed due to the love of a good woman; he’s a man redeeming himself, a man coming to realise that he’s wasting the many gifts he’s been given and that he wants to be a better man than he’s been hitherto. Yes, Cassandra provides the impetus by making him want to change, and by opening his eyes to the reality and frequent unpleasantness of the world around him – but no change of this sort is effective if the person concerned isn’t determined to do it, and Ashmont is prepared to work at turning his life around.
Ashmont and Cassandra are superbly drawn characters who simply light up the pages when they’re together, and the author has done a splendid job of making Ashmont – who could have been hard to like – an endearing character, even when he’s making bad decisions. Cassandra is intelligent, independent, outspoken, and deeply compassionate, and I was impressed with the way she’s shown to be a woman pushing at the boundaries of the conventions that constrain her and trying to make a difference in the world, while still being very much a woman of her time. The author’s subtle but pertinent commentary on the position of women in society is beautifully observed and quite low-key but no less scathing for that.
There’s an excellently-drawn secondary cast; I really liked the dynamic between Cassandra’s parents, and appreciated that Lord deGriffith isn’t an ogre, but a loving father driven to the extremes of exasperation. I can’t wait to find out what’s going on between Blackwood and Alice, and there’s definitely a story to be told about Lord Frederick and Lady Charles. But for now, Ten Things I Hate About the Duke is a terrific read and a fabulous example of historical romance done right. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait three years for the next instalment!
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I finally got to reading this one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very fun read and I enjoyed the supporting characters as well. Now I have to got back and read what happened before this book to catch up.
I do have a couple of quibbles though.
I thought the book lost some momentum towards the end. There was the excitement and rush of their romance, her sneaking off in disguise to him and the whole suspense on how they would handle “the big problem” towards the end. Once that was concluded, the steam went out of it a bit for me. It just seemed like a wrap up, not the big consummation I was waiting for.
SPOILERS**************************
The other thing probably occurred to me because I had just finished a book that swung away (after tricking me for a while) from having the “jealous, bitter woman” be the big bad in the story, which surprised and pleased me.
Here it was the old “woman who has everything but is still embittered over losing that man decades ago” as the genesis of all her evil, even carrying it on to the children of her rival. Now I am not that person who never wants a woman as a villain. Unlike a lot of people I don’t object to Kleypas’s villain in “Dreaming of You” because she’s a woman. It’s actually related to current events in the book and sometimes woman are just as crazy and bad as men can be.
Here it was that this woman who has a wonderful, privileged life with position, adult children etc. is still so embittered from losing a crush at 18 years of age she’s going to actively blackmail and ruin the lives of the couples children as well out of burning jealousy she’s sustained for decades. Even the helper villain guy is seen with moments of decency and is “manipulated” by her.
I see what you say, but read differently:
She has been the evil gossip in 4 books at lest by now, and does enjoy her spite in each of them. So, I was not surprised, in this small incestuous bubble that is the ton, that she finds grudges to bear against everyone, and to me, it was more that her antagonist had „dirt“ on her that solved it, and her embarrassment at that old story being aired, and that she bore all her perceived grudges so deeply, and enjoyed her spiteful fantasies so much, not the old old incident that was the point.
She was very realistic to me.
I know spiteful women who go to great lengths to destroy people‘s standing at work, or in a friends group, using really evil gossip, and they seem to exist in nearly every larger group. Just like a certain type of male know it all who is overfriendly and gets nasty if not praised and getting the respect „he is due“. Any group over 50 persons, you have one of each at least.
I haven’t read the others so I guess I don’t know how her character builds in the series. To me it seemed like she was after Cassandra from the beginning, chasing her behind the curtain long before the politician guy brought her the big scandal.
Ultimately it either works for you or doesn’t I guess.
I wasn’t bothered by that either. Women are just as likely to hold grudges as men.
To me it was like those stories where the person is hung up on something that hasn’t had an effect on their life in decades and it just seems silly. It seemed very “old skool” to me.
If it were a current political opponent of her father’s that would have rung more true to me.
Sadly, I know people who have held grudges for years.
You are right that to some extent, she is nearly a caricature.
anyway, always interesting how we read differently.
“always interesting how we read differently”
This year has brought home to me how very true this is. I’ve felt like I’ve been reading a completely different book on way too many occasions this year, especially in terms of contemporary novels. One historical romance that was jarring for me was MORE THAN A MISTRESS by Balogh. It’s highly rated, but I disliked both leads and was irritated the long-awaited conversation between them takes place off the page!
The spiteful woman in this book reads true to me, I unfortunately had a grandmother who could have been this woman, but I completely understand how something that reads true for one can seem completely discordant for another reader. Thank goodness there are so many books! :-)
Yes, peoples reading experiences are so personal. 50 people can read the same book and it can hit them all in slightly different ways.
That is so true, another author I read just published a book with a heroine who had communication and trust issues due to a verbally abusive mother. The hero had his own set of problems including being selfish, impatient, not listening etc. They end up having couples counseling etc. it all works out in the end.
Oh boy, on the message boards did 99% of the readers come after the heroine. I thought the author did a good job of splitting the blame showing he didn’t listen and she didn’t communicate but I was in the minority on that one.
One of the reasons I love it when there is a question posted here is because I think an answer is going to be the popular one then something completely different is. Same with favorite hero in a series or heroine. People’s personal experiences, even how they see a character looking is just so different. I find it fascinating.
Yes, hugs to all of us who make this a good place to engage, and to disagree – such a gift!
I’m certainly not trying to talk you out of your opinion. We all read a different book and I have had your reaction to characters and books others have loved. I just want to assure you that these spiteful people do exist in real life, and are just as confusing to understand. My grandmother had reason due to her upbringing to be a bitter person, but she took it to an art form. She had a husband who adored her, but she always considered herself ill used and the victim of imaginary abuses from the rest of the world. She hated my mother, and treated my sister (born from my mom’s first marriage) with that insidious politeness that masks hatefulness. My father (her son) called her an “injustice collector” and I think that is an apt description of her and the woman in this book.
Oh I get there are spiteful people and believe me I have run across some in my life. (It’s my personal belief that bitterness and resentment of that nature just etches itself on your face somehow. Maybe it’s all grimacing or never smiling?)
Mother’s not liking daughter in laws (and vice-versa) seem to be one of the biggest things based on so many stories I’ve heard and about 99% of those Dear Abby type columns. It’s too bad the effect that can have on families.
I do think the problem for me (and it wasn’t a huge one, it didn’t keep me from really enjoying the book) was that in most cases, even as as you show above, it’s usually family related or something a bit closer to home.
I kept thinking with all family this woman has, would some other person’s family still be such a big focus of hers? Maybe so. In my mind someone who was related to a political rivalry of the father’s would have been a stronger, more current grudge, with old history to back it up, but again that’s personal taste. And as I said above it was a “quibble” for me not a deal breaker.
I’m so sorry to hear about the troubles from your grandmother. That kind of thing is incredibly hard on children in particular as they have no idea what they “did” to make a grownup not “like them” as much. Especially when you think of all the people who would love to have granddaughters!
Yes, I see what you’re saying about it being some other family, and would it still matter. Good observation. I’m glad you still enjoyed it! It made me smile so big!
I finished this recently and loved it. I agree with the enthusiasm here and add that I was so surprised and happy at how Cassandra chose to handle the difficult event towards the end. It opened up a unique and satisfying solution to the problem.
Very much so.
And that all other involved parties stepped up to their responsibilities and handled it as adults, no cringe worthy paste board reactions.
Both leads felt unique which, given the vast quantities I’ve read of HR, is a gift.
Just finished it.
Loved it.
I could believe Ashmont’s journey. Did not believe I would.
Also could believe why Cassandra trusted and respected him at the end. Much less crazy lusting than in the last book, these two did not get together because they found each other hot ( though they did) – Cassandra too blinded by lust would have disappointed me very much, with Ashmont’s level of dissipation, that would have boded ill for their HEA – I would worry what would happen once she saw him clearly when the first craze had run its course. Did not go that way – perfect love story.
What was not mentioned yet was the extent to which LC manages to make the lack of women’s rights a clear fact of life, and does not soften it or gloss it away, and also shows how even well meaning men such as Cassandra’s father take it for granted and cannot do a thing about it, in their view. Also, the constant limitations – the father expecting obedience, the mother supporting that, the ruin from foolish actions that put women beyond the pale – are so clearly written. There is a tone of the tragic, at the waste and the unfixability of women’s place at that time, by these people, that surprised me, and impressed me a lot.
and still, the story is romantic, fun, and very very entertaining.
I would not have believed you could do both, at the same time, AND stay totally true to the period.
wow!
Agree 100%. Wonderful in every way. This is how you do HR!
I really enjoyed this. I particularly enjoyed how the author developed Ashmont’s character – I seem to remember him being really unlikeable in the first book. Cassandra was an interesting heroine too. I also loved all theTaming of the Shrew references.
I still want to find out what has gone on between Alice and Blackwood and also what Lady Charles and Lord Frederick’s history is.
I am DYING to know about the Blackwoods.
Me too! And I’d like a scene where the three dukes are together being goofy together, but maybe to entertain their kids. I want that friendship they have to endure and thrive.
YAY – This has finally been released as an ebook in UK, so I’m off to start it…………….
I just listened to this and loved it! Kate Readings narration was slightly off this time, it sounded like she was ill. But it was only a bit deeper in register and had a tad less energy than usual. Otherwise…home run!!!
I believe the universe has switched places, I have two A reviewed romances to read (Confessions in B Flat And 10 Things I Hate) and COVID vaccine is around the corner and Trump is gone!
You expect better from the doddering yet handsy professional politician who has accomplished nothing in 45 years except his family’s corruption in Ukraine and China, who sat in his basement for his entire campaign and who shows signs of early dementia? The vaccine BTW will be Trump’s gift as the businessman in him got things rolling ASAP.
You are welcome to your delusions and figments!
45 years of nothingness in a corrupt career politician is no delusion. He was rejected twice as presidential candidate by your own party and this time around was slipped in just to prevent USSR/Russia-loving Bernie Sanders from being the face of the party. You scraped the bottom of your own barrel with this one.
Dolly Pardon contributed more to getting a vaccine out than anything Trump did. And I guarantee you no drug company had to be prompted by Trump to get a vaccine going. That’s their business and if you snooze, you loose!
My MD friends are all very optimistic about the vaccines! It is a thing of joy.
The Chase, the vaccine, and Trump’s departure are indeed great things to look forward to. This Thanksgiving, I thank the brilliant scientists and dedicated healthcare workers who used SCIENCE to achieve this fight against the disease.
Amen, sister. Amen.
I’ve been looking forward to this so much and am so very happy to hear it’s good! December the 1st can’t come soon enough.
Still waiting to snag this one at the library, but I’m super excited to try it!
I preordered this many many months ago, close to a year I think. Chase is the best at historical romance that makes you laugh, and she’s always got lots of subtle little digs at the status quo in her work as well. I’m practically vibrating I’m looking forward to this so eagerly! And I’m delighted to hear it was worth the wait, she scrapped the original version and started over completely which explains the long break between books. She may not write quickly, but she writes wonderfully!
I loved it.
I’m doing the Snoopy Dance!
Finally!!! Every morning for ages I’ve brought up this site hoping to find her new book. An early Christmas for me! Thanks, Caz, for the great review. It sounds absolutely delightful.
It really is!
It’s a terrific read – as good as I’d hoped.
I knew that I’d been waiting for this book for a long time, but hadn’t realised it was three years!
It’s not showing as available as an ebook in UK though – I hope that doesn’t mean that there is some problem with the rights.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get it as it sounds really good. I must say that it was finding out more about the estranged married couple that I was really looking forward to, but I guess that must be the next book.
I seem to recall that Blackwood’s story was supposed to have been the second book, but obviously plans changed. I had an ARC so I’m not sure about UK availability; tbh, it didn’t even occur to me that it might not be out digitally here but now I come to think of it, I recall that the dressmaker books didn’t come out here in ebook formats until well after they were out in the US – it’s happened with other Avon authors, too. And it’s absolutely ridiculous in this day and age that such restrictions should still apply! It seems, sadly, that the same is going to be true of the audio – 1st Dec in the US but god knows when everywhere else. I know it’s all tied up with rights and legalities, but it’s still utterly ridiculous and must cost sales – I don’t know that I’d even remember wanting to read a book that I read a review for but which didn’t come out in my country until six months later! I’d have moved on by then.
The book isn’t available here in the US in any format until Dec. 1.
I adore Chase and am looking forward to purchasing it.
Should have been more explicit above: I preordered using the “local independent bookstore” link above. I’m hoping my local bookstore will have it in hand on Dec. 1 for pickkup!
Please report back. I’m not sure any of our readers have used that yet.
Yep, the release date is the 1st Dec in the UK, too, but there’s no digital edition showing up for pre-order at Amazon UK. I remember books by other big-name Avon authors being released digitally here months later than the US – Tessa Dare’s The Duchess Deal was one, and Chase’s Dressmakers books as well. I have no idea how that makes good business sense in this day and age.