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5 star		43%
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3 star		16%
2 star		8%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Mae

Disappointed.

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2018

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Honestly....I was so excited for the release of this book and I’m bummed that so far it’s such a 👎.
Elizabeth Hoyt has written several (more than several, I’ve loved all of them) of my favorites in the romance genre. I’m only halfway thru this one and I’ve pretty much lost interest which NEVER happens for me with her books. There are so many characters & storylines, I’ve lost the chemistry of Freya & Christopher. I keep having to stop & try to remember who is who and what the hell they have to do with the 4-5 main storylines... & on a completely petty note, why is his nickname Kester? I keep reading it as Keister and it throws me off the “love story” even more.
Bottom line: Excellent author. I recommend ALL of her other books. This one is just... too heavily influenced by the authors stance on the Woman’s/Me Too movement. 🤷‍♀️
We don’t need to pack 32 (an exaggeration, but barely) women’s stories into 1 book.

LM

Hot Mess of a Book

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2018

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More like YA fantasy, not historically accurate ... and honestly I’m sick of the overly feminist tones of romance novels these days. The heroine was unbearable to the point of mistreating a guy who treated her wonderfully and loved her intellect and independence (rare and unrealistic in those times).

The whole secret society thing was just unrealistic, boring, and poorly implemented.

There were about 389373938373 subplots going on, with all the major happenings happening off screen (which is bad writing, if you ask me).

There were deeper moments (like Christopher’s PTSD) but they were never expanded upon. Because we had to hear about the wise woman and how Freya didn’t need no man (even one who loved her and cherished her) for the 38393838th time.

Also - can authors please refrain from insta love? Can’t we get more than TWO WEEKS for our characters to fall in love?

Honestly? Compared to ML, this doesn’t even seem like the same author. This book was all over the place. 2 stars is generous, but the flow of the writing wasn’t bad. Just the contents of the plot and its jumbled mess.

Missing the zing, depth and banter of Hoyt's other books

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2018

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I really enjoyed the Maiden Lane and Four Soldier's books by Hoyt and was looking forward to this beginning in a new series. I was surprisingly disappointed in the book because there was just something missing in the writing and in the characters when compared to Hoyt's other books. The set up was too cluttered with a lot of information thrust pretty quickly into the story (the secret society, the mysterious misfortune of the heroine's brother, etc). By the time the story actually got moving I had not found anything redeeming or attractive in the heroine at all. Belligerent and combative without the intelligence and wit of some of Hoyt's other female characters (think the heroines from the Maiden Lane series) it became pretty hard to root for Freya and her anger against Harlow. It is almost as if the character has been tweaked to fit some idea of a modern independent woman without much attention to the historical norms of the setting.

As a romance novel, it is just fine. But if you like Hoyt's books for strong historical accuracy, complex plots and excellent characterization, you will be a bit surprised at this one. Hopefully the next in the series will be a lot better.

Ashley

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2018

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First of all, I’m a huge Elizabeth Hoyt fan. Many of her books are on my favorites list and I have read and reread them many times.

That being said, I’m not even sure I can finish this book. I’m wondering if this is a ghost writer? This does not seem at all like Hoyt’s style. Little chemistry between the characters. Way too many sub plots. And the witches theme seems too science fiction/fantasy for my taste. I’m about halfway through and have no idea where she can go with this story.

I really liked Freya the first several chapters. Strong, sassy and smart. I felt like Christopher cane off a bit soft and wimpy but had a great back story. I loved when she bit him and stole the ring! Then...... nothing. No build up. Just like that, the best part of the plot was resolved. And for no apparent reason. 1/3 of the way in.

I’m not giving up on Hoyt. This series has a lot of promise. And I’m going to
White nuckle through the rest of this book as I paid full price for it.

Kindle Customer

Below par for Hoyt

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2018

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I'm really struggling with this book. I'm 50% of the way through and I've put it down 10 times which is highly unusual for me. I love Elizabeth Hoyt as an author and I preorder all her books. This one just hasn't worked for me. The romance feels like its taking a backseat to the mystery, there are other characters other than the protagonists having primary points of focalisation, and yet again in a novel, I'm being preached to about feminism. I'm really over that. I just want to read a book. Additionally, I found the heroine to be hard work. Sure, you keep holding your grudge against a scared 18 year old boy. Typically as most of us mature we realize that life contains many shades of grey when it comes to our actions. For a wise woman, she wasn't so wise. Anyway, I will continue to read Hoyt and this series just hoping the next is better and more in line with Hoyt's other works.

Top reviews from other countries

Lola Givenchy

Avoid. So bad it might have been ghosted by someone else. An insult to her readers. And NOT Regency!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2019

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First, this isn't a Regency romance - it's set many years before the Regency. But the fact that it's billed as one is very telling - lazy publisher, lazy editor, lazy writer. I would hardly have thought this was an Elizabeth Hoyt. She does seem to be churning books out at a very fast rate, and my goodness, it shows here. There's a ridiculous amount of backstory and subsidiary characters, as other reviewers have mentioned: Wise Women living on a weaving commune in Scotland, their deadly enemies, a blackmailer, an earl who lost his hand to gangrene and can't draw any more... it's everything *and* the kitchen sink. The hero is the usual loner with PTSD, something she's done far too many times before. The heroine is such a rage monster I couldn't warm to her at all. The fact that character names are Messalina, Aethelreda and Aloysius rather suggests that Hoyt is parodying herself, and she's using a cod-romance style: '"Good morning", she husked' - that she hasn't before and is frankly embarrassing. If she wrote this herself, she really needs to take a year or so off and recharge - it's offensive to her readers to put out this kind of sub-par rubbish.

If you do insist on buying it, however, a fun drinking game is to take a shot every time the dog sticks her nose in the heroine's skirts.

avidreader

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2019

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This author has always written interesting, strong characters and gripping plots/events; even if not entirely plausible, they have reflected the sense of period, and the personalities of the characters come through strongly. Not so in this case - and not Regency era either. In this case, the references to Wise Women and their activities was laughable - and although I thought the beginning attention-grabbing, it soon dribbled off and we were in a hotch-potch of obvious and transparent villains, plots plus a vast array of supporting characters. Most disappointingly, each plot line, each villain, just faded away or was suddenly resolved without any depth or background. I know this is the beginning of a new series, and therefore the author has to do a lot of scene-setting, but this is unlike anything I have previously read by this author. I will try the second book, but if the level is comparable to this story, I will give up. What a pity, and what a waste of the author's talents.

Jean Turner

My favourite character was Tess the dog.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2018

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First of all, may I say that I received a free advance copy of this book, but this does not affect my review in any way. Like many other readers I was eagerly awaiting the publication of Ms Hoyt’s new series, as I absolutely love her work. Her characters are very carefully “drawn” - they are vivid and real. I absolutely adore the Maiden Lane series. So I have to say that I was a little disappointed by this story. I couldn’t quite picture the two protagonists and to be frank there were so many subsidiary characters they seemed to operate in a bit of a blur to me. I find reading on a kindle makes going back over things a bit more tricky, and maybe if I were reading a hard copy of this novel, it would have been much easier to check who’s who. I couldn’t get my head around all the plots and subplots either - I found the wise woman thing rather an unnecessary distraction.

I cannot emphasise enough how much I really love Ms Hoyt’s work - but if it had not been her name on the “front cover” I don’t think I would have finished this book. For such an accomplished writer I found this sadly lacking in clarity, and I am sorry to say disappointingly bland. My favourite character was Tess the dog.

Amazon Customer

Sort out your dates!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2019

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Blurb said this was a Regency tale - George II might have something to say about this. What a disappointment, couldn't find anything likeable about Freya, Christopher was a bit of a limp dick too. Hoyt's stories usually have me devouring the pages, but this one I'm afraid I skipped passages just to get to the end, which again was a damp squib. Heigh-ho, must try harder Ms Hoyt. Pity.

Louise Marley

Not the Duke's Darling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 18, 2019

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I usually pre-order Elizabeth Hoyt's books months in advance but somehow I missed realising this one was out. When I did get to read it there were already mixed reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads, so I felt a bit apprehensive as to whether I was going to enjoy it! But this is another of those times where, if you know you enjoy a particular style of book and have a favourite author, you should trust yourself, ignore reviews and make your own decision!

Freya de Moray is the daughter and sister of a duke but is working incognito as a companion. She's also a spy for an organisation called the Wise Women, who help other women in trouble. During one of her assignments she unexpectedly meets the Duke of Harlowe, the man she blames for destroying her brother's life, and she is determined to have her revenge.

There are a lot of characters in this book and a lot of plot. The heroine has a couple of near-death experiences, which don't have anything to do with the villain, and the Duke is being blackmailed, also a plot strand that could have been done away with. I can understand the amount of characters: this is the first in a new series, so I suspect some of them will have their own books later on. It was fun trying to work out which ones these will be, but it was hard to keep track of them all!

Having said that, there is never a dull moment and I did love the main characters, particularly Freya, who was very independent and strong-minded, yet happy to admit when she'd made a wrong decision. I also enjoyed the snippets of the fairy tale that started each chapter. Conclusion? I loved Not the Duke's Darling and I'm happy to give it five stars!

(Note: I'm not sure why this book is described as a 'Regency' romance by the publisher as it is set in 1760!)

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