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    My Last Duchess
    My Last Duchess
    My Last Duchess
    Audiobook5 hours

    My Last Duchess

    Written by Eloisa James

    Narrated by Susan Duerden

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Wildes series with a prequel about the Wilde children's parents, Hugo, Duke of Lindow, and Ophelia, Lady Astley.

    Every Duke needs a Duchess...

    Hugo Wilde, the Duke of Lindow, has a drafty castle, eight naughty children—and no wife. Ophelia, Lady Astley, has a fine house, one well-behaved daughter—and no husband. 

    Hugo takes one look at Ophelia and loses his heart, but she doesn’t want more children or a castle. She takes one look at him and heads for her carriage. 

    Desperate to find a duchess, Hugo identifies an appropriate lady to woo. Yet when he meets Ophelia again, the duke realizes that he will marry her, or no one. 

    Now he faces the greatest challenge of his life.

    He must convince Ophelia that their blazing sensuality, his exquisite castle, and his eight charming children add up to a match made in heaven. 

    When a duke finds his duchess, can he win her heart?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateOct 27, 2020
    ISBN9780063036369
    My Last Duchess
    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 My Last Duchess

    4/5

    111 ratings11 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Nice book. It would be interesting to find out how Maddy did with her fake pregnancy. The book made me smile quite a bit. Not a bad book if you want something light and witty
    • 5/5
      My Last Duchess is a prequel to the series where we get to see how Hugo and Ophelia first met and got together. It's a lovely romance, even if it gets serious very quickly. Then again, maybe that's less shocking given the time period.

      Ophelia is a widow with a very young daughter who she dotes on. Hugo is a widow and recent divorcee (his second wife ran off with her lover and left their children behind) with 8 children and a dukedom to manage. He intends to find a bride he's not romantically interested in to help his daughters debut, but instead he meets Ophelia. He's instantly drawn to her, but Ophelia is resistant to the idea of marrying again.

      I enjoyed seeing the development of their romance and how their mutual love for their children only enhanced the attraction between them. It's also fun to see younger versions of the characters we know from earlier books in the series. AND it is the perfect book for winter as their first meeting is during a snowstorm and they take the children to a winter festival. This is definitely worth a read.
    • 3/5
      Yawn. Boring. Listen to this audiobook at bedtime to fall asleep.
    • 5/5
      A really good book. The frankness of the characters was refreshing. Highly recommend.
    • 5/5
      I liked this. It reminded me a lot of The Courtship by Grace Burrowes which is also a prequel written later about the parents of the series, and which I also enjoyed. There were generally good reasons for the characters to think a relationship might not work at different points, and the children didn't have a whole lot of page time, but what was there was cute. It's nice to see adults acting nicely with children even when they're not their own. I actually liked that the hero believes the heroine and respects her answer when she turns him down and that he tries to move on rather than hound her. And I also liked later when he decides it's her or no one. =)
    • 5/5
      There's something about Eloisa James characters in general, and the Wildes in particular, that just makes you root for their happiness. This seems to happen every single time, regardless of whether we know the characters well to being with or even if they are just lurking in the background, and this story is no exception. Delightful, if a big over-the-top (did Dukes really behave this way? Is carriage invasion an acceptable norm?), but I appreciated the magic of the frost fair, Ophelia's strong personality, and Hugo's nearly disastrous pragmatism. Good stuff.

      Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.
    • 3/5
      I am not sure why this says it has so many pages --I listened to it, and it is 5 1/2 hours long so I would guess that its fewer than 200 pages in print. The insta-love was absurd, even for someone like me who likes love at first sight, but the characters are lovely.
    • 5/5
      If you've read the rest of the Wildes series, I think you'll love this novella about the Duke and his third wife. Hugo has a lot of children and needs a wife (another one as his first one died and the second one absconded to Europe with a lover). Ophelia is a widow with a daughter of her own and has no intention of any involvement with Hugo and his eight children. But Hugo is a man in love and won't be denied.This is a lovely story about two older people finding love again. It's so much fun as a reader of the other books to see how the Duke and Ophelia met and married.
    • 5/5
      Mad about those Wildes!Of course I was going to love Ophelia (Lady Astley) and Hugo's (the Duke of Lindow) romance. James has not disappointed.Having adored the Wilde children's travails, this prequel provides a lively background to Hugo and Ophelia's meeting and eventual marriage. Mind you it was a close run thing as the widowed Ophelia had decided not to marry again. Why should she? She has a lovely home, running smoothly with supportive staff. Hugo decided he needed a Duchess to help organize his eight wonderfully high spirited children (well except for his rather priggish heir, Horatius). After running away, well hastening her departure from a Ball where she was being pursued by Hugo, his jumping into her carriage takes Ophelia down a different track. All very Cinderella, especially the description of the carriage which doesn't quite turn into a pumpkin but it's fate becomes a pivotal point in the story.Although Hugo was entertaining the thought of someone else, the encounter at the Ball has him setting his sights on Ophelia. Well, that and their rather spectacular one night of dalliance. Alas, Ophelia decides that the last thing she needs is a Duke who doesn't understand the idea of friendship. Turning his attention to someone completely different after Ophelia's refusal of his suit, Hugo almost lands the children with the equivalent of what might have been a wicked stepmother. Thank goodness for the intervention of Hugo's twin sister Lady Louisa Knowe. With her subtle assistance Ophelia finally comes to realize that Hugo really is her Prince Charming.I adored the three questions the children put to Ophelia, and her answers which so completely contrasted to those of Hugo's fiancé, a state declared by the lady herself, despite Hugo not having asked her. Need I say more?Poor Hugo did indeed have to be rescued and fortunately Ophelia was on hand to do so.A heartwarming story with more than a hint of a fairytale ending.A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley
    • 5/5
      This book is the prequel of the Wildes of Lidow Castle. Can it be read as a standalone? Most definitely, as this is how I read it. I have read some of Ms. James' books but haven't read any in this particular series. I loved this prequel so much that I will be buying and reading all the others in this series.This was a fresh and delightful look at how widows and widowers of a particular station interact, deal with their sexuality, and fall in love. This book has a wonderful, emotional, and comedic storyline and is perfectly steamy without going overboard.I can't wait to get my hands on the other books in The Wildes of Lindow Castle!*ARC supplied by publisher and author.
    • 5/5
      Bridgerton fans will be thrilled with an introduction to the Wildes of Lindow Castle. This series centers around a wonderfully eccentric and fiery English family whose numbers rival the Bridgertons. While there are some series similarities, I found them to be delightful rather than distracting as both series grow more scrumptious with every additional title. I adored this prequel filled with @eloisajamesbooks characteristic mirth, wit, and satisfying sexy times. Highly recommended for lovers of historical romance. Coming October 2020 so there's time for you to read the first four in the series now!