Print Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Entangled Press (May 23, 2023)
From Goodreads.com: As the middle—and least marriageable—sister in a bevy of swans, Lavinia Wynnburn is quite content being the odd duck out. This way, she’s free to commit social faux pas without anyone much noticing. Until the Duke of Beaubrooke turns up the morning after a ball, asking for her hand in marriage.
Alexander Reddington doesn’t particularly care for social niceties, nor is he particularly good at them. But now that the spare has become the heir, he must marry...and soon. When he stumbles into the same corner as a socially awkward wallflower, he knows he’s found the perfect wife: one who won’t bother him to attend every simpering event of the season.
Only, Alexander’s shy and pretty new wife is finding her new position surprisingly exciting and keeps accepting every invitation that flutters past their door. And worse luck, he might even be falling for her. Now he must hide the truth about why he really proposed…before his unexpectedly happy marriage is dashed to pieces.
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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5
This book was not bad by any means. The writing was solid, and I felt the pacing worked well, as I wasn't ever bored while reading this. I even liked the two main characters at first.
The problem was, once these two wed, Lavinia became the complete opposite of the woman Alex had wanted to marry. Instead of a cute read where two people decide to avoid society in favor of each other's company and their own pursuits (Alex with his plants and Lavinia with her books), maybe venturing out to society parties here and there. Sadly, it would seem as though Lavinia became obsessed with going to events and being seen.
I get it. She explains later on that she never enjoyed those types of events before her marriage because once she was a Duchess, people took the time to notice her, speak with her, etc., whereas before then, she had been a wallflower overlooked by everyone. However, she knew he was marrying her because he wanted a quieter life than he knew he would have with either of her sisters. I was also a bit turned off when she admitted that she had never paid attention to her mother's lessons on how to be a proper society wife, even though she had to have known she would one day marry (especially with the contract between their families specifying that the Duke would marry ONE of them). However, a lot of their drama, I feel, could have been solved if they had been honest with each other from the start about what their expectations were (especially Alex and his weird idea that he can dedicate all of his time to his plants and neglect his wife).
I feel like this book might have done better as a novella so that some of the drama that occurs could have been left out, and some of the side-stories could have been their own stand-alone stories (as some of it seems to only have been added to up the word count), but I was intrigued enough by this author that I would read more of their works.
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.
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Four Weddings and a Duke is available on Amazon.com
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