The Duchess War

The Brothers Sinister, Book 1

By: Courtney Milan

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

Miss Minerva Lane is a quiet, bespectacled wallflower, and she wants to keep it that way. After all, the last time she was the center of attention, it ended badly - so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past.

Wallflowers may not be the prettiest of blooms, but at least they don't get trampled. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention.

But that is precisely what she gets.

Because Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont, is not fooled. When Minnie figures out what he's up to, he realizes there is more to her than her spectacles and her quiet ways. And he's determined to lay her every secret bare before she can discover his. But this time, one shy Miss may prove to be more than his match...

The Duchess War is the first full-length book in the Brothers Sinister series. It is preceded by The Governess Affair, a prequel novella.

©2012 Courtney Milan (P)2013 Courtney Milan

Happy continuation for The Brothers Sinister

This is the continuing story from the novella The Governess Affair. Although that one was short it had a great deal of content. I couldn't wait for this first book.
The series seemed to focus on three best friends. Robert, The Duke. Oliver, the bastard brother of the duke and Sebastian, the cousin. The series has expanded to sisters, friends, etc. Which has been fine for me. I hope to see it never end..lol.
Here we get an introduction to Oliver, the son of Serena from The Governess and bastard brother. We get some insight into the relationship between the brothers and their love for one another as well as meet Sebastian and Violet.
This book is about Robert, The Duke and Minerva (Minnie) and how they meet and fall in love. The book follows some great ins and outs and the humor never fails.
Keep an eye on Miss Charingford. She's the next in line with the novella, A Kiss for Midwinter.
Last but never least is the wonderful narration of Rosalyn Landor. Her voices are amazing and her dramatizations enhance the characters in the stories.
I love the series!

Emotionally Gripping

Read/Listened for Fun (Kindle/Audible)
Tracking Books Read Review (Short)
Overall Rating: 4.25
Story Rating: 4.25
Character Rating: 4.25

Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: The Duchess War was just as heavy as the novella was--these are not light historicals but they are good!

Overall Thoughts: I am just going to say it: Courtney Milan goes for the emotional gut every dang time and won't stop until she has rung you dry! These are not for those that prefer light historicals. The issues addressed in this series are real, raw, and sometimes downright emotionally gripping. In this one, the leading lady dealt with something that is pretty easy to identify now but back then would have been paralyzing. I love how Courtney dealt with it and made the love story happen around it. I was less emotionally gutted by the leading guy, Robert, but he was a great match for Minerva. I think together they brought out each others better qualities.

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated By Rosalyn Landor / Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins


Rosalyn is one of my favorite historical romance narrators! I just love how she makes the characters come alive. This was another knock out of the park and I think Rosalyn/Courtney make a good audiobook match set!

Final Thoughts: Emotionally gripping and extremely fulfilling.

Obvious Political Agenda

Rosalyn Landor is great as usual but the book is written with a definite political agenda. Trying to convince the reader that a twelve year old girl was tortured for cross-dressing, big business is the root of all evil, religion is for the heartless ignorant, liberal minded men are the only ones worth their salt and parents are pointless, all wrapped up in one story is too much. If the author wants to preach stay on one topic at a time and find more believable, less obvious ways to get her point across.

Unique and engrossing

Loved this book! An engrossing story and a very interesting hero and heroine. I have listened to it twice and enjoyed it both times. I would definitely recommend it.

A multidimensional listen

Setting: Leister, England 1863
Genre: Romance with a bit of mystery and suspense
Narration was wonderful. Rosalyn Landor has a pleasant voice with excellent vocal range. She can do masculine as well as feminine, and different English accents as well. I love when a reader gets that right.
This is the first in The Brothers Sinister series. It was preceded by the novella The Governess Affair (which I read in electronic form, so you will have to look for my review of that on Goodreads).
The heroine, Minnie, is a wallflower on purpose. There was a scandal in her past that she escaped by changing her name and living with her great-aunts, but she is fearful of being found out. She needs to marry to see to the welfare of the aunts who took her in. Her only real prospect is the oafish son of the local distiller.
Robert Blaisdell, the ninth Duke of Clermont is the hero. He is in Leister to right some of the wrongs of his father. He has issues having to do with his upbringing, and he is a political radical. But he is kind and caring, and sees in Minnie a strong, good woman. They fall in love, but it is impossible because he is a peer and she is a lady of good standing in the community. He is too high socially to marry her, and he can't, because of his ethics, take her as a mistress.
The villain is Captain Stevens. He is an arse who oversteps his authority and uses his position for personal gain. He thinks Minnie is responsible for handbills encouraging the workers to unionize. He investigates her because he doesn't believe she is who she says she is.
Minnie's best friend is Lydia. She is one of the key players in this novel, and has her own story in the novella A Kiss for Midwinter.
Another key player in the story is Oliver Marshall, Robert's half brother. His story is book 2 in this series.
Overall, this was an enjoyable listen. In some places it seemed to bog down, like it should be ready to wrap up. But it's a multidimensional story with a very satisfying conclusion. It's worth the credit and the time.

Another great listen

CM is an audimatic buy for me. I love her writing style, it's close to Lorraine Heath. Loved the hero Robert and his brother the most. One was brought up in riches and the other in love.

strong lead

strong intelligent lead, story started great then turned to feeling like it would never end. I would try another book by author as this was first novel, and there is interesting potential with intelligent charectors

This book is a standout!

Great story, fabulous characters. This is the best of Ms Milan's books that I've read so far. I love her books for the strong women and the caring men who love them. There were enough plot twists to keep you guessing and interested.

Rosalyn Landor is my favorite narrator and she is what brought me to Courtney Milan's stories.

Definitely credit worthy.

I look forward to more books in the series.

A wonderful story!

I've just discovered Courtney Milan, and I think she's one of the best. This story has everything, wallflower and handsome Duke, mysteries discovered and revealed, a social conscience exposed, hilarious dialogues, and 2 amazing admirable and lovable and unusual heroes. Why the handsome Duke even struggles with his wedding night, and the way they solve it is so real-human-like. It's about 2 people finding love, and even surprising who is in need of it the most. I admire writers who don't copy the Romance genre's lists of behaviors but ones who create unique stories and characters and write well, without that sense of needing the cuts of a good editor to make the story tight. If you miss part of this story you need to go back and rewind, and the writing is so fluid and intelligent you forget about the writer and just get engrossed in the story. A definite credit-worthy selection. I'll be looking for more in the Brothers Sinister series.

Thankfully stayed with it...!

There were moments when I considered giving up on this book. I rolled my eyes and persevered, thinking - “give it one more chance” - (more than once) ....And then it just got better and better. The characters vulnerability pulled me in; moments of bittersweet love and redemption sprinkled throughout. Milan has a way of developing damaged characters that stays with you even after finishing a book. It’s great writing- I’m hooked.

Hot historical romance with humour

Highly enjoyable story with engaging characters - I was not prepared for one to say to another earnestly"You have magnificent tits"! Spat my drink out laughing!

Great Narrator Overlong Story

Rosaline Landor is great - like listening to molten honey. The story, however, is very trite and could comfortably have 5-10k words cut..

Love a leading lady with a brain!

A real brain that doesn't go on vacation so she can make stupid decisions to help the storyline progress. Beautifully written Ms Milan. Thank you for representing smart women who love romance! I'm off to read the next in series
*claps hands excitedly *

Love Rosalyn Landor's reading

Courtney Milan's stories are highly satisfying and I love Rosalyn Landor's readings. If anything I thought the story was a little bit long and drawn out, and the pacing might have been better if the length had been the equivalent of ~8 hours instead of 11. The shorter novellas written by Milan feel like they have slightly better pacing overall. However, I can hardly complain that I have several extra hours of listening time! <3

Excellent

Excellent story, even though read the book and loved it, the narrator did a marvellous job

Rosalind Landor is always worth a listen

What did you like most about The Duchess War?

That the story was just a bit different from the usual. Imperfections to overcome, battering between friends that seemed real.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Duchess War?

The epilogue where a hardened charactared showed some softness.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The train scene. Very funny indeed.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The scene on the bench before the prison. Believable, even though it was unbelievable.

Any additional comments?

Not quite as predictable as the usual story lines, I really enjoyed the book.

Brilliant

What about Rosalyn Landor’s performance did you like?

While you listen to Rosalyn Landor voicing a male characters you forget that she is a female. All her characters voices are different and perfectly appropriate.

Any additional comments?

I do listen to quite a few books in this style but this is by far the best. The characters are not generic, the marital relations are more realistic and the story line is compelling. I fell head over heals in love with the characters.