The Duke I Once Knew by Olivia Drake
When two childhood sweethearts find themselves together after years apart, does their romance have a chance to be rekindled now that he’s a duke and she’s a governess? Olivia Drake’s new Unlikely Duchesses series begins with The Duke I Once Knew, where first love is always the sweetest…
For years, Abigail Linton devoted herself to caring for her parents and her siblings’ children. Now, eager to create a life of her own, Abby seizes upon a position as a governess on a neighboring estate. Unfortunately, her absentee employer is Maxwell Bryce, the Duke of Rothwell, the notorious rake who once broke her youthful heart. But since he hasn’t set foot on his estate for fifteen years, Abby assumes she’ll never have to lay eyes on him ever again. Then, from out of nowhere, Max appears. He is stunned to come face to face with the girl next door he fell for years ago—before he went away, and she stopped writing to him. . .even though Abby swears that he is the one who left her without a word. Could it be that this spirited, witty spinster has won Max’s heart all over again—and that they may have a second chance at love?
- File Name:the-duke-i-once-knew-by-olivia-drake.epub
- Original Title:The Duke I Once Knew
- Creator:Olivia Drake
- Language:en-US
- Identifier:urn:uuid:ec806e16-e56e-4ef1-a9d9-219c7245cea1
- Publisher:St. Martin’s Press
- File Size:995.417 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Cover
- 2. Title Page
- 3. Copyright Notice
- 4. Chapter 1
- 5. Chapter 2
- 6. Chapter 3
- 7. Chapter 4
- 8. Chapter 5
- 9. Chapter 6
- 10. Chapter 7
- 11. Chapter 8
- 12. Chapter 9
- 13. Chapter 10
- 14. Chapter 11
- 15. Chapter 12
- 16. Chapter 13
- 17. Chapter 14
- 18. Chapter 15
- 19. Chapter 16
- 20. Chapter 17
- 21. Chapter 18
- 22. Chapter 19
- 23. Chapter 20
- 24. Chapter 21
- 25. Chapter 22
- 26. Chapter 23
- 27. Chapter 24
- 28. Chapter 25
- 29. Chapter 26
- 30. Chapter 27
- 31. Also by Olivia Drake
- 32. Praise for Olivia Drake’s Cinderella Sisterhood series
- 33. About the Author
- 34. Newsletter Sign-up
- 35. Contents
- 36. Copyright
The Duke I Once Knew, Book 1 of the Unlikely Duchesses series, was about Miss Abigail "Abby" Linton, the youngest of five siblings, and His Grace Maxwell "Max" Bryce, the Duke of Rothwell. Max and Abby had grown up together, having lived in neighboring estates. While he was heir to a dukedom, she was the youngest child of a man who had been what was known as landed gentry. As fate would have it, they were each other's first love, but when his mother died, Max's father took him and his baby sister to London to live, never to return to the country estate. Though he had promised Abby he would return to marry her when he came of age, they had a falling out and he walked away with the most hateful words he could have given. Fifteen years later, Abby remained unmarried, having had to play nursemaid to her ill parents, and then fulfill other servant roles for her four siblings. After finally having had enough, as well as having ended her mourning period for her parents who had both died the year before, Abby informed her siblings and their spouses she was done being their slave and was going to leave their homes and work as a governess at a neighboring estate. Max, having believed that Abby had spurned him fifteen years before by not answering the letters he had sent her, turned into a libertine and had become one of London's worst-known rakes. He had been living life flitting from one pleasure to another, including providing support for a prizefighter...England's champion in particular, and there was to be a fight near his estate where he had met Abby. Unknown to Max, Abby had recently accepted the position of governess to his sister...and unknown to Abby, Max was on his way with a group of his most libertine friends, including a widow he had been trying to coax into his bed and make his mistress, who had somehow manipulated him into taking them to his estate rather than following the original plan to stay elsewhere. The angst and drama of this book were off the charts, and not in a good way. Due to the book being 27 chapters long (way too long with too much fluff), the emotions of the book were out of proportion. There was honestly little to no chemistry between the two main characters. It wasn't love...it was sex, plain and simple. They fought nearly all the time, they could not reconcile over what happened in the past, they were rarely in each other's company and, when they were, there was nothing but hostility. Then there was the fact that most of the other characters made no sense in regards to the story. They just seemed to be thrown together as filler/fodder that would take up word space. But even worse were the actions of certain of those characters which were actions that no one in their right mind would ever think would have been acceptable...or even allowed...during that era. It was disappointing to read some of the things that occurred that even the worst libertine male would not allow such improprieties. I've not seen (read) of any other author using such deplorable tactics in their books. The author also made all of the characters one-dimensional, especially Hero/Heroine. Abby was all slave, all the time. Max was all rake, all the time. There was no change, no slipping of the masks to see what might lay behind them. They were bland, they were dull, and they were two of the most unenjoyable, easy to detest Heroes/Heroines of a story ever to have the misfortune to show up in a book. Even the villains(nesses) never changed. None of them had any redeeming qualities and, since that was the case how, then, was the reader supposed to believe that these two main characters were to suddenly fall into each other's arms, declare their undying love...and be believable? So, let's just cut to the chase and say, Nearly. Every. Single. Solitary. Character. Treated Abby like dirt, including, and especially, Max...right up to the very end. There were very few who appreciated her, and those who did had very insignificant parts in the story. This book definitely did not deserve a five-star rating. If this was a taste of what the author considers appropriate actions of people in the 1800s, I worry about other books she might write in this genre. There was absolutely no inspiration in this book to make one think, "Oh if only that were me!" Nope. Just didn't float.