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Duchess By Night
Duchess By Night
Duchess By Night
Audiobook11 hours

Duchess By Night

Written by Eloisa James

Narrated by Susan Duerden

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

A Mischievous Charade . . .

Harriet, Duchess of Berrow, is tired of her title and the responsibilities that come along with it. Enough with proper tea parties and elegant balls; what Harriet really wants is to attend an outrageous soiree where she can unleash her wildest whims and desires. But to attend such an event—especially if the event in question is Lord Justinian Strange's rollicking fete, filled with noble rogues and rotters, risqué ladies and illicit lovers—would be certain scandal. That's why she must disguise herself . . .

Looking forward to a night of uninhibited pleasure, Lord Strange is shocked to discover that beneath the clothes of a no-good rake is the most beautiful woman in the room. Why is a woman like her risking her reputation at his notorious affair? And can he possibly entice her to stay . . . forever?

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateAug 14, 2012
ISBN9780062243775
Duchess By Night
Author

Eloisa James

Eloisa James is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author and professor of English literature, who lives with her family in New York, but can sometimes be found in Paris or Italy. She is the mother of two and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight.

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Reviews for Duchess By Night

Rating: 3.8577235772357725 out of 5 stars
4/5

246 ratings20 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Quite a funny engaging read :)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The characters have a few daft moments, but not too bad really. Going in disguise can sometimes be absolutely ludicrous, but I think it was pulled off quite well here. It was an enjoyable story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fun, and as always with Eloisa James, well written. I love that James stays so historically true to her period while still providing strong smart independent woman who are limited by society but keep fighting. I also love how she writes smart and accomplished rakes waiting for strong women to reform them.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The thing that I loved most in this third book in EJ's Desperate Duchesses series, is the heroine who decides to attend a house party as a male. The whole concept was intriguing, but once initiated, I laughed throughout the story. Our heroine did her best to appear as male as possible, which in the end she thought was just amazing to do because it gave her a lot of freedom.

    I was also impressed with the hero who was Alpha male through and through, yet had a lot of vulnerabilities and when it came to our heroine, at first thinking her a young man, was so dumb founded to be attracted to a "him". Their interaction from the start gave me giggles galore.

    Together these two characters were complex, interesting and very entertaining. Their attraction, romance and happily ever after was fraught with a lot of problems, and in the end only the strength of their characters and convictions with some compromises, gave them their happy ending.

    Once more we encounter characters from the previous books, Roberta and Gryffyn, as well as Duchess of Beaumont, and [sigh] Villiers. At this point, it was like catching up with my old friends.

    I just loved the fun in this story and highly recommend it.

    Melanie for b2b
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    ♥ Duchess by Night:
    There are two points in the book that are painful, when I thought Starnge's daughter is about to die and when Starnge let Harriet go. Other then that the book is funny. But I didn't like it a lot.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Leave it to Eloisa James to re-invigorate my reading.

    I need a refresher on the other Desperate Duchesses because I thought I'd already read Jemma's but apparently it hasn't been printed yet?

    Either way, I always love a well done "lady disguised as man" story.

    Well, and then when all is revealed and the conflict sets in, I wasn't as entranced. But it still ended nicely.

    I can't wait until Villiers' story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was just okay. Nothing really happened, it wasn't particularly funny or exciting or romantic. It's not a bad book, just really nothing that impressed me. We also didn't get to know the characters very well, until she threw their histories at us all at once at the very end. *shrugs* Just kind of not that good.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Cute read, I am looking forward to the next one in this series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was OK, and has some very funny moments.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This one is definitely my favorite of the series so far (though I'm still really anxious to get to Jemma and Elijah's story! Am remaining strong, though, and not going to skip poor Isobel). I'm not sure why I didn't realize before reading that Harriet was going to have to dress as a man for an extended period of time--I guess I read "party" in the 21st century sense rather than "Georgian house party" that goes on for days, but oh my goodness am I glad it went on for as long as it did! I'm not sure when the last time I laughed so much while reading was (though I'm sure my daughter could tell you. It annoys her to no end when she's hard at work, playing on the laptop and is constantly interrupted by her mother laughing out loud. She had a rough afternoon today, the poor dear--but it was a library book. I had to get through it before its due date came up), but I just couldn't stop myself! The whole bit is amazingly well done, and of course very reminiscent of Twelfth Night--again, I'm always a sucker for Shakespeare-inspired plots...which of course Eloisa James does so well!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This time the desperate Duchess is Harriet, widowed when her husband committed suicide after losing a chess match. Tired of feeling inadequate and boring she ends up masquerading as a man at one of Lord Strange's notorious house parties. Despite his best efforts Strange finds himself attracted to Harry. The fun ensues as they try and work this out, a fast and funny read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Harriet is seeking some excitement, she has had a boring existence up to this point but feels a need to do something. A widow whose husband killed himself over chess she feels inadequate and wants to prove that she isn't boring. So she decides to go to a house party but to pretend that she is male. Because people want to see her as such she gets away with it. Her host teaches her how to ride a horse properly and how to fence and she's enjoying herself hugely. However she's also falling for her host and she's not sure that he doesn't prefer her as a male.It's pretty light stuff and fairly predictable but I did enjoy it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was interesting - Harriet, a widowed duchess, agrees to go to a notorious lord's house with a friend, but in order to fit in, Harriet disguises herself as a man. Delighted with the freedom she has dressed as such, Harriet gives herself over to riding, fencing, and discussions over port. But when the man of the house, Lord Strange, shows an interest in "Harry," as unsettling as it is for Lord Strange, Harriet soon finds herself in a tricky situation...This was VERY steamy - not for the shy. The characters are intriguing ( both main characters and supporting) and are well-developed. The insight Harriet gains into the differences between rules for women and for men was fascinating both for her and for me as the reader.Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another of James's fun, sexy Georgian romances. Harriet is tired of being a widow. For reasons of friendship, she winds up at one of Lord Strange's disreputable houseparties, disguised as a man. She loves the freedom it gives her. Meanwhile, Lord Strange is trying to figure out why he's so attracted to his new male guest. Hijinks ensue.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Eloisa James is hit or miss with me, I don't like all her books. This one worked for me, I liked how Jem floundered, wondering how he could be so interested in the very young Harry. I enjoyed Jem and Harry a lot. What I didn't like was the forced fight at the end, I felt like the last 50 or so pages were only there because the book had to be X pages long. I was really disappointed with them and actually didn't need the daughter (Eugenia? something like that) to fall dramatically ill at all. Jem felt wretched enough and had learnt his lesson, it felt like over kill to me. I also hated the epilogue which made no sense either. So bulk of the book worked well, ending, not so much.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The only reason I'm torturing myself by reading this series is someone gave me the 4th book and there's always a notorious backstory to everyone who keeps showing up in subsequent books. While I'm not against chick-in-pants stories (and we've often discussed them on the Regency list at YahooGroups) this one didn't do it for me. Firrst off: way too wordy. Maybe James was committed to x-number word count but there was a lot of repetitious stuff I skimmed. Secondly, where does she come up with the weird names for some of her characters. Eloisa James and I just don't meld well; thankfully I've been reading library books so have not had to shell out cash for them. Once this series is read I'm washing my hands of her. Too many other books in my TBR to waste time on hers.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was just okay. Nothing really happened, it wasn't particularly funny or exciting or romantic. It's not a bad book, just really nothing that impressed me. We also didn't get to know the characters very well, until she threw their histories at us all at once at the very end. *shrugs* Just kind of not that good.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really liked this book! The past couple of James books I have read weren't that great, but I feel that this one is back up to her standards. It has great character development in both of the main characters, which is fantastic. You don't always see that anymore. There were interesting side characters who were definitely involved in the plot but didn't overtake the plot or muddle it up too much. Watching Jem and Harriet fall in love and make mistakes and yet still come together was wonderful. I have to admit that the plot didn't go exactly where I thought it was going to go. In fact, it went in a fairly different direction. But I'm ok with where it went. On a personal level, this book spoke to me because it was about setting aside the shackles that society places on you and becoming free to be yourself. I love seeing that happen and seeing how people change when they can finally let go. All in all, a great romance novel!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Eloisa James has the best characters and this is no exception. I especially enjoyed the daughter Eugenia. This book is comedic with the heroine dressing as a man to attend a house party without scandal. This book in the series had a better balance of main story plot line versus series plot line. Great tease for book 4 though.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Eloisa James tends to be hit and miss with me and I'm pretty bummed that "Duchess By Night" was a miss. I thought the premise of a Duchess dressed as a man and privately exposed (definite pun there) was a winner, especially when the Duchess in question was Harriet whose boring husband offed himself after losing a game of chess! But this one seemed very confusing to me. I think maybe it was just too much going on and too many characters. Maybe it was the over-layered plot, but whatever...I really had to push myself to finish it and not just quit.