The Winter Duchess by Jillian Eaton
Their wedding was the event of the season… A shy wallflower, Caroline hasn’t the faintest idea why the Duke of Readington chose her to be his bride. She could ask, but that would mean speaking to him… and truth be told she’d rather have a conversation with the devil. Her new husband may be one of the most powerful men in all of England—not to mention the handsomest—but he’s also cruel, callous, and has a heart colder than ice.
But it was never meant to be a love match… Eric married Caroline for one simple reason: he wasn’t in love with her. Having seen firsthand how love can bring a man to his knees, he’s determined not to make the same mistakes his father did. Which is why he’s going to spend just enough time with his new bride to assure himself of an heir before he leaves her and returns to London. At least that was the plan until a winter storm leaves them stranded. Now every time Eric turns around he finds himself stumbling over the wife he never wanted… but is slowly beginning to desire.
…or was it? As cold winds howl outside the manor, inside of it a duke’s heart is finally starting to melt as he finds himself falling for the one woman he was never supposed to love… but can she love him in return?
- File Name:the-winter-duchess-by-jillian-eaton.epub
- Original Title:The Winter Duchess
- Creator:Jillian Eaton
- Language:en
- Identifier:uuid:15a7d6b4-5c7c-4aed-9fe2-2659f827d995
- Date:2017-11-18T00:00:00+00:00
- Subject:Historical,novella,christmas,Romance,Regency
- File Size:410.802 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Chapter One
- 2. Chapter Two
- 3. Chapter Three
- 4. Chapter Four
- 5. Chapter Five
- 6. Chapter Six
- 7. Chapter Seven
- 8. Chapter Eight
- 9. Chapter Nine
- 10. Chapter Ten
- 11. Chapter Eleven
- 12. Chapter Twelve
- 13. Chapter Thirteen
- 14. Chapter Fourteen
- 15. Chapter Fifteen
- 16. About the Author
- 17. Author’s Note
- 18. A Dangerous Seduction
- Exclusive Excerpt
The Winter Duchess, Book 1 of A Duchess for All Seasons series, was about Lady Caroline "Caro" Elizabeth Wentworth (the book also said her last name was Danvers. Huh?), a shy wallflower and the only daughter of the Earl and Countess Wentworth, and His Grace Eric Charles Edmund Hargrave, the sixth Duke of Readington, one of the most powerful men in England, who was also an absolute, arrogant cad. Caroline, a quiet, dutiful, non-combative debutante, didn't know why the Duke of Readington had chosen her to be his Duchess. She barely even knew him, having met only a handful of times before the wedding. He rarely spoke to her and, when he did, he was cold, abrupt, and cruel. He had even called her by the wrong name the one and only time they had shared a dance. Everyone considered Caroline to be very shy and very malleable because she suffered from social anxiety...mainly because she had been subjected to an overbearing mother all her life who never let her develop a sense of self-worth. Caroline had grown up fearing her mother so much that she wilted in the presence of everyone she met. Eric only married Caroline because she was a meek, mouse of a girl who he believed would not make any demands on him. He thought her to be one of the least desirable women he had ever met, which was one of his reasons for choosing her as his bride. In fact, he had determined that, once he had delivered her to his country estate, he would leave Caroline behind and return to London, where he would find a new mistress to bed. He would stay with Caroline only long enough to ensure an heir was procured. To say that Eric was a hateful, cold, cruel man would be putting it mildly. He treated Caroline horribly and with such disdain that it was heartbreaking to read. He even insulted her with his "field mouse" nickname, for he didn't say it to flatter but rather to denigrate her. He was very callous and definitely not what one would consider as Hero material. Just because he had a btch of a mother who treated his besotted father like crap didn't give him the right to treat another person the same way. His father was a weak, pathetic excuse of a man who wilted under a domineering wife who enjoyed flaunting one affair after another in front of him. So, what did Eric do when he grew up and married Caro? He became the male version of his mother, doing to Caro what his mother did to his father...and he didn't give a sht. He was such a detestable character. It was a pleasure to watch Caro blossom from a cowered "field mouse" to a full-blown assertive woman. The more Eric pushed her around, the stronger she became, and the more she stood up for herself, determined he was the last person she would let run rough-shod over her, especially when she finally realized that he had only courted her because he thought she was weak and easily controlled. And while she knew that to have been the truth all her life, that did not mean she had to stay that way. She determined to develop a backbone and work towards her own happiness...with or without her husband. The attraction, while quite apparent, was not a welcoming feeling for either of them...especially Eric. He didn't want to be attracted to his wife. He just wanted to bed her, get her pregnant, and go back to his old way of life. Caro didn't want to be attracted to him because of how he always treated her. She knew he had the power to destroy her if she let him. The angst and drama were so high in this story that the reader couldn't help but get swept up in it. There was little to no humor to alleviate the tension for the reader. All the emotions that Caro was feeling, the reader felt as well. The brokenness that came over her with every hurtful, hateful thing Eric threw at her landed a crushing blow to her heart as well as her spirit. The utter viciousness that he tossed her way with each cold glare and every cruel word that spewed from his mouth was another nail in her coffin. While it was nice to see the HEA for Caro, I wish it had been with a more deserving Hero other than Eric. Either that or perhaps the author could have made him grovel and beg for her forgiveness more than he actually did. The change that came over Eric took place way too fast for it to have any sense of sincerity in it. No one changes that fast...even in a book. It was just not plausible. Perhaps if the author had added another chapter or two to give the change time to develop and sink in...or if she had added another nuance to the story to give it more depth, it might have been acceptable. As it was, it just wasn't believable. While Caro did finally develop a backbone and she grew stronger, which was awesome to see, it was almost like she caved to him way too fast. Even as she started hoping the change was real, she still had doubts. The author should have allowed that to play out a little longer instead of having Caro just give in and accept Eric's word that all was as she had dreamed. This book, though good, did not deserve a five-star rating or to be added to the Keeper for the Shelves collection.
nice synopsis..