The Duchess Deal: Girl Meets Duke

The mercifully brief Cliff Notes version for those who understandably want to skip my more rambling and gushing review below: this is a book about an initially (though not for long!) loveless marriage between determinedly optimistic, resourceful and loving but relatably flawed Emma and grumpy, guarded, cynical yet secretly kind, honorable and slyly funny Ash. It's incredibly funny without being too silly, it's warm and sweet without being cheesy, it's engaging without ever being melodramatic, and it's a book that renews your faith not just in love but in life in general. Easily one of the best romances I've read in the past few years---and I've been stuck in a ton of hospital waiting rooms lately, so I've read A LOT :)For those patient enough to read the rest of my thoughts: It's genuinely hard to be critical and discerning about a book that filled me with so much joy. Objectively, I'd say this book has a few of the flaws that (just in my opinion, of course!) plague nearly all recent historical romances: it's a bit too long, there are maybe one or two too many contrived conflicts and somewhat repetitive conversations, and the sex scenes are too detailed, lengthy and explicit for the very few of us who are still in the 'less is more' camp when it comes to bedroom scenes :) (Those who love very steamy sex scenes, though, will probably adore the ones in this book!)Somehow none of those above issues affected my love of this book to any remote degree. The Duchess Deal is possibly my very favorite Tessa Dare novel, which is saying a lot given how much I adore nearly all of this author's work. (She's one of just three or four authors of any genre left on my auto-buy list) The writing itself is superb. Tessa Dare writes in such an effortlessly breezy, engaging and compulsively readable style. Her prose and dialogue just sparkle, bursting with wit and warmth and full of astute, highly relatable insights about love, human nature and life in general. I'm not normally a big fan of the 'spirited, cheerful good girl 'tames' growling jerk with a secretly good heart' trope, but these characters and their dynamic rise so far above the usual cliches, and rather than Emma magically 'curing' Ash, these two both help each other become their better, happier selves.At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Emma immediately emerged as one of my all-time favorite heroines, layered and vibrant and the perfect blend of of strengths you can admire and flaws you can relate to. She chooses to remain hopeful and optimistic despite various reasons not to be, but she's also got a wry sense of humor and proactively works to overcome her struggles and make life better rather than just sort of passively hoping things work out. I connected with her from the first page: "If fairy godmothers existed, hers was running several years late. Most of the time, a girl needed to rescue herself."Meanwhile, when I first read the synopsis of this book, I groaned and muttered something about how sick I am of angry, brooding 'alphas' who have to be tamed by our special heroine, but Ash is surprisingly complex and lovable despite his flaws. He's funny, passionate, strong, brave, and deeply caring beneath his wounded exterior.This isn't one of those romances where you're TOLD the characters somehow fall in love and just have to take the author's word for it: we actually get to watch their connection develop and deepen, and their journey genuinely moved me. (And I'm not as easily moved as I used to be!) Without giving too much away about the plot, it was more suspenseful than I'd anticipated, and it's interesting to see how the characters' past and present struggles come into play before eventually being dealt with.Humor, heart, cleverness, an effervescent sense of fun, and subtly life-affirming joy...those elements are present in nearly every Tessa Dare book, but they come together particularly spectacularly in this one. It's not only one of my favorite (maybe my VERY favorite) Tessa Dare novels, but one of my very favorite historical romances of the many I've devoured these past few years. This is going on my surprisingly short 'to be reread' list, and I can't wait to hear from other historical romance fans, many of whom I suspect will love it as much as I did!

Beauty and the beast trope is mostly not my thing. I mostly avoid it in my reading and I hate to admit it but I think it's because I'm shallow when it comes to my fictional heroes. My book boyfriends must have a full head of tousled sex hair and a square jaw with cheekbones that can cut glass *hangs head in shame*. In the film versions and the fairy tale the beast turns into a handsome Prince. In romance books he goes from a scarred and grumpy, reclusive a-hole to a less grumpy reclusive a-hole but still scarred ( Conversely, I prefer it when the heroines are less than physically perfect. Go figure). I'm happy to say that in this book it worked for me so well that it came thisclose to being a solid keeper.Emma Gladstone, dressmaker on the verge of destitution, marches into the home of the Duke of Ashbury demanding payment for a wedding gown she sewed for his ex. The duke, the aforementioned hideously scarred, grumpy, reclusive a-hole irritated at being reminded of his broken engagement and his subsequent need to find another bride and sire an heir, behaves like the beast he resembles. Emma, however, doesn't react at all like he expects and gives back as good as she gets. Intrigued the Duke decides that since she doesn't seem horrified or disgusted by his appearance or behavior he will make her his Duchess.So begins this sweet, sexy, laugh out loud love story that had me captivated from beginning to end. Ash is adorably grumpy, hilarious and hiding his vulnerability under a surly exterior. He's so completely oblivious to his charm and clueless of his appeal to Emma. His inner dialogue is funny, sexy and heartbreaking all at once. He stole my heart and almost supplanted Colin from A Week to Be Wicked as my favorite Tessa Dare hero. Emma, on the other hand, sometimes came across as a bit Mary Sue-ish especially at the beginning. Once I got her back story she improved in my estimation. Their relationship built on that tired marriage of convenience trope developed organically, no insta love here. I also loved the fact that what could have been aggravating misunderstandings that cropped up were quickly resolved because Emma, at least, was self aware and honest and dispelled Ash' s wrong headed notions almost as soon as they came into his stubborn gorgeous head. Which is why a certain plot point annoyed me to no end and kept the book from being a perfect five star read. Honest Emma who had no problem speaking plainly from the get go keeps a secret from Ash that eventually blows up in her face. At first, I somewhat understood her reasoning but once she realized the extent of her feelings and Ash' s issues she should have confessed what she was about. Her character development just didn't jive with the secret keeping so that aspect of the story felt contrived.In the end, this book is compulsively readable, love scenes are hot and the hero is imperfectly perfect. Despite my quibble I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it. 4 1/2 stars

Enjoyable romance, fun-to-read characters, and a light-hearted plot that, sure, wasn’t historically accurate, but really, who cares when the story is so delightful anyway? It’s fiction! I loved it, would recommend to anyone.

This book was my first HIstorical Romance read and it was so fun! We all knew all the way long how that marriage of convenience between Emma and Ash would end up.An unpaid dress, the need of a heir... a bargain and win win situation for both of them. No feelings, right?I just love reading about dark and brooding heroes

Eu sou fã declarada da autora Tessa Dare e The Duchess Deal já se tornou um favorito.Bem ao estilo da autora TDD tem romance apaixonado, humor, diálogos ágeis e inteligentes, trama e personagens bem desenvolvidos. Impossível não torcer pela felicidade do duque e sua corajosa duquesa nessa história encantadora que conquista desde o primeiro capítulo.A autora ganha estrelas extras pelo desenvolvimento desse belo conto “a la A Bela E A Fera” com ritmo perfeito e sem conflitos que se arrastam por todo o livro.Recomendadíssimo para qualquer leitor que procura diversão numa história ágil, bem contada e com ótimos personagens.Em tempo: este romance constou merecidamente das listas de melhores de 2017 dos blogs Under The Covers Book Blog e Smexy Books.

Really enjoyed this book, kept me interested from beginning to end.

Oh my ...I really really loved this book! I've read other books by Tessa Dare before and really enjoyed reading them as well but The Duchess Deal, well, that one went straight on my list of "most beloved books" because of its wit and its charm and its wonderful and absolutely amazing characters.I giggled and chuckled and maybe even swooned and laughed out loud and I loved every single page of this book. Two wonderful people finding love and happiness under the most singular circumstances is always a nice story, at least when it is as beautifully written as this one but its wit makes it so much more. This is one of those books that you turn to when you feel a bit blue and need something sunny and warm. One of those books that draw you in, make you feel with the characters and that with each time you read it, get even more special and more precious and that never fail to make you feel right.With all the teasing going on between the two, you feel them getting closer and falling a bit more for each other with each dumpling, cherub and whatever pet name Emma uses while their servants are plotting and scheming and trying to help, you can't help but fall in love with all of them. I finished this book yesterday but it has been lying next to my place and I found myself reading and rereading some passages and once again giggling and smiling all the time.I was curious and had to read this book because everytime this book was mentioned somewhere, people started to tell how funny it is and how wonderful and amazing and...well, they were right. It is that good and it is that amazing and I am so looking forward to the next book in this series!