The Duchess and The Bachelor | Mini-Reviews

As I have been reading more and more historical romance I thought it would be a good idea to share some mini-reviews of ones that I have read lately. I love writing mini-reviews. They are a great way to be short and snap about the things I did or didn’t like about a book. They are also a way to either give a book my love or maybe not so.

Anyway today I’m sharing my thoughts on Project Duchess by Sabrina Jeffries and The Bachelor by Sabrina Jeffries. A quick note. I loved both of these.

Project Duchess (Duke Dynasty #1) by Sabrina Jeffries

Pages: 352
Publish date: June 25th 2019
Publisher: by Zebra
ISBN: 9781420148558
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

A series of stepfathers and a difficult childhood have left Fletcher “Grey” Pryde, 5th Duke of Greycourt, with a guarded heart, enviable wealth, and the undeserved reputation of a rogue. Grey’s focus on expanding his dukedom allows him little time to find a wife. But when his mother is widowed yet again and he meets the charmingly unconventional woman managing his stepfather’s funeral, he’s shocked to discover how much they have in common. Still, Grey isn’t interested in love, no matter how pretty, or delightfully outspoken, the lady . . .

Beatrice Wolfe gave up on romance long ago, and the arrogant Duke of Greycourt with his rakish reputation isn’t exactly changing her mind. Then Grey agrees to assist his grief-stricken mother with her latest “project” schooling spirited, unfashionable Beatrice for her debut. Now that Beatrice is seeing through Grey’s charms to his wounded heart, she’s having trouble keeping him at arm’s length. But once Grey starts digging into her family’s secrets, she must decide whether her loyalties lie with her family . . . or with the man whose lessons capture her heart . . .

Project Duchess:

I’ve been wanting to pick up Sabrina Jeffries for some time now and when I received the third book in this series for review, I knew it was time. I loved Project Duchess so much. It’s entering, swoon-worthy and I could not put it down.

Fletcher “Grey” Pryde, 5th Duke of Greycourt has a guarded heart. And instead of finding a wife, his goal is to expand his dukedom. But that all might change when he meets Beatrice Wolfe, the women helping his mother with this stepfather funeral. When Beatrice gave up on love, she didn’t expect to meet Grey. Now his mother has taken Beatrice on as her latest project and Grey agrees to help. Each has their secrets, but they have also both captured each other’s hearts.

The romance in Project Duchess is swoon-worthy to the max. I love the angst that builds up between Grey and Beatrice. It made me smile the whole book. While it isn’t strong hate, Project Duchess also has a ‘hate to love romance’ and gosh was it done well. Sabrina Jeffries is excellent at writing tension and a build-up without me hating every minute of it.

Grey and Beatrice are also such great characters. I loved their arcs, both as individuals and as a couple. Both have had heartache and difficult lives growing up. But together they both can understand one another, even if they don’t see it at first.

I also enjoyed the overarching plotline that we do see later in the series. While I do like standalone romances sometimes. I love when historical romances series are bonded together but this overarching story.

Overall, I loved reading Project Duchess by Sabrina Jeffries. It has a fantastic romance, endearing characters and a plot that keeps on giving. If you are looking for a new historical romance series – start here.

The Bachelor (Duke Dynasty #2) by Sabrina Jeffries

Pages: 275
Publish date: February 25th 2020
Publisher: Zebra
ISBN: 9781420148565
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Lady Gwyn Drake has long protected her family’s reputation by hiding an imprudent affair from her youth. But when her former suitor appears at Armitage Hall, manhandling the heiress and threatening to go public with her secrets, it’s Gwyn who needs protecting. Her twin brother, Thorn, hires Joshua Wolfe, the estate’s gamekeeper, to keep her safe in London during her debut. As a war hero, Joshua feels obligated to fulfil the assignment he has accepted. But as a man, it’s torment to be so very close to the beauty he’s fought to ignore . . .

With handsome Joshua monitoring her every move, Gwyn would prefer to forget both the past and the parade of money-seeking bachelors at her coming out. But Joshua is unmoved by her attempts at flirtation, and the threat of blackmail still hangs over her. With danger closing in, Gwyn must decide which is the greater risk: deflecting a scoundrel’s attempts to sabotage her–or revealing her whole heart to the rugged bodyguard she can’t resist . . .

The Bachelor:

As soon as I finished book 1, I had to read more and I’m so glad that I did. Because The Bachelor was fantastic. While I didn’t love it as much as Project Duchess, it was still such an enjoyable read and added to the overall story.

The Bachelor continues to follow the same family and this time it’s Lady Gwyn Drake turn. When a past suitor appears and threatens to go public with her secrets, she needs protection. That is when her twin hires Joshua Wolfe. With Joshua watching her ever move Gwyn has to be even more careful, but she can’t seem to resist his charm or his heart.

This was a delight to read. I love Lady Gwyn so much. She was such a fantastic protagonist. She added some brightness to this story that at times could be very dark. In the first book, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her, but in this one Lady Gwyn shines. The reader gets to see her vulnerable and that adds to her characterisation.

Joshua Wolfe was the grumpy male hero and I love him. Seriously he gave me such a good laugh.

The Bachelor explores the nature of the world at the time. What some men would do just to bring up their standing or to get money. It explores the inequality that women had at the time and how they either had to rely on their husband or their family for anything in life.

In saying all this I did feel that something was missing from this one, I can’t pinpoint what it was. I just didn’t love it as much as the first book.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Bachelor by Sabrina Jeffries quite a lot. It was full of angst, blackmail and tension. The romance was adorable, and I enjoyed both protagonists. It was a great second book in a series and I can’t wait to read more.

And those are some historical romance mini-reviews! Have you checked out this series yet? What did you think of them? Are you planning on reading it? Let’s Chat!