Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James

Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James
Series: Desperate Duchesses Series Book 31
on October 13, 2009
Genres: Fiction / Friendship, Fiction / Romance / Historical / Regency, Fiction / Romance / Holiday, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 400
Goodreads

Welcome to a world of reckless sensuality and glittering sophistication . . . of dangerously handsome gentlemen and young ladies longing to gain a title . . . of games played for high stakes, including—on occasion—a lady's virtue.

A marquess's sheltered only daughter, Lady Roberta St. Giles falls in love with a man she glimpses across a crowded ballroom: a duke, a game player of consummate skill, a notorious rakehell who shows no interest in marriage—until he lays eyes on Roberta.

Yet the Earl of Gryffyn knows too well that the price required to gain a coronet is often too high. Damon Reeve, the earl, is determined to protect the exquisite Roberta from chasing after the wrong destiny.

Can Damon entice her into a high-stakes game of his own, even if his heart is likely to be lost in the venture?

Desperate Duchesses is book one in the Desperate Duchesses series by Eloisa James. I had just finished reading her Wilde series and loved them all, so I had high hopes for this new series. Unfortunately, the first few chapters so confused me I had to reread them. I couldn’t figure out who the main characters were supposed to be in the book. So many different names to keep up with left me baffled. Also there are numerous and at times confusing subplots that left my mind bewildered. I managed to grasp it much better the second time through. Once the story started congealing, it moved along at quite a clip.  I am not a chess player and so I felt lost in her chess moving terms which run throughout the book and often have sexual innuendos.  So I guess in all – this book is not as good as other books by this author. However, I found the number of characters to be too confusing to keep up with and the chess terms were lost on me. One positive is that it has quite a bit of humor in it. I will still persevere and read Ms Jame’s books in the future even though this one just wasn’t a favorite.