Blurb: The Bourne Matrimonial Agency has one
rule: Never fall in love with the client. A simple thing to remember . . .
unless you’re a matchmaker with amnesia.
The Duke of
Rydstrom requires a wife. Preferably one with a large fortune and a complete
lack of curiosity. The last thing he needs is a meddling matchmaker determined
to dig up his dark family secrets.
All Jacinda
wants is to find a bride for a duke. How hard could that be? He’s handsome,
enigmatic . . . and hiding something. She’s sure of it. Determined to discover
what it is, she travels to his crumbling cliffside estate. Yet, by the time she
washes up on his beach, she can no longer remember who she is or why the duke
is so familiar to her. All she knows is that his kisses are unforgettable—and
she intends to use every skill she can to discover what’s in his heart . . .
When Miss
Bourne can’t remember what brought her to his ancestral home, Rydstrom intends
to keep it that way. Yet as the days pass, his true challenge will be
safeguarding his secret while resisting this woman who—confound it all—may well
be his perfect match.
Review:
There were
things I liked about How to Forget a Duke
by Vivienne Lorret and there were things of which I wasn’t particularly
fond. Let’s start with the things I
would have changed.
1. Names are
pretty important to my overall enjoyment of a romance novel and I positively
hate the name Jacinda (it reminds me of Lucinda which reminds me of the idiot
godmother from Ella Enchanted and she frustrated me so badly). It does not roll of the tongue at all. And I
know the author was going for an Emma meets Jason Bourne theme, but I really
wish she hadn’t used the last name Bourne.
Way too obvious and a strange name for the time period.
2. I’ve never
read Emma by Jane Austen, so all the references (and there were a lot) were
sort of lost on me.
Now, what did I
like? Everything else. I thought the novel was witty, charming,
romantic, and hilarious. There were no
murderer or case to solve (besides ‘Who is Jacinda Bourne’?), so the drama was
definitely to a minimum but it was rather nice that way.
Jacinda is a
fiery, independent woman with a penchant for trouble. Those are my favorite type of regency
women. I loved the way she was able to
steal into the hearts of all those around her despite her sharp tongue and
penchant for acting inappropriate for a woman of her standing. Crispin is your typical high class male: brooding, easily annoyed, and looking for an
heiress. He was frustrating at times,
but I enjoy high strung men crumbling down beneath a woman’s touch—even if
Jacinda’s touch nearly drove him mad.
I wasn’t sure
at first how much I was going to enjoy the whole ‘loss of memory’ plot, but I
was pleasantly surprised. Lorret handled
what could have been a clichéd mess and made it unique, humorous, and a little sad all at once. Jacinda struggled to remember things, but she
never forgot how to be herself, i.e. extremely irritating to Crispin and I
thought it was really entertaining to watch Crispin struggle with his feelings
for someone so beyond what he thought he could handle from a woman. Lots of misunderstandings, stubborn people,
and crazy weather in this book.
All said and
done it was an enjoyable read with just enough drama to keep me happy, but not
so much that it stressed me out on my lunch break. So, perfect for the circumstances. How to Forget a Duke is out May 2018. I love match-making spins, so I'm excited for the rest of this series.
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