When A Duke Loves a Woman by Lorraine Heath

January 9, 2019
Reality Check – Nah, this is Romanceland

http://www.lorraineheath.com/
When a Duke Loves a Woman is Lorraine Heath’s second book in the Sins for All Seasons series. So far, this series seems to be about the Trewlove family. Ettie Trewlove is the matriarch of the Trewlove clan. Ettie seems to have had a soft spot for children left on her door steps. Over the years she has taken in a number of them and raised them. They have formed a family. Those children are now grown and form a group of future heroes and heroines. They are: Beast, Aiden, Finn, Fanny, and Gillie. We were introduced to the gang in the previous story, Beyond Scandal and Desire. That story was Mick Trewlove’s tale. This is Gillie’s story.

Gillie has made a life for herself in the Whitechapel district of London. With a little encouragement from her family, she has become the proud owner of a tavern by the whimsical name of The Mermaid and the Unicorn. That name is a reflection of Gillie’s personality.

The story begins with Antony Coventry, Duke of Thornley, aka Thorne being attacked by a group of thugs in Whitechapel right outside Gillie’s door. What’s a duke doing in Whitechapel you may ask? Well, it seems that his betrothed, Lavinia, left him at the altar.  Don’t hate her - she did leave him a note. The note said she had some old business to finish, or a problem from her past to settle, or angst to recover from. Whatever it was could only be done in Whitechapel. Whitechapel, a place where aristocratic women can hide out and not stick out like a sore thumb. Because he’s a hero, Thorne took off after her. He followed her to Whitechapel, but cannot locate her. He’s searching for her when thugs come across him, rob him, and proceed to beat him up. By the way, Lavinia’s book is next. Anyway, the attack is going on in the alley behind Gillie’s tavern. Gillie charges into the fray, and chases the attackers off. But Thorne is in pretty bad shape, so Gillie drags him into her tavern to tend to his wounds.  Oh, by the way, Gillie is six feet tall, has short hair and wears trousers.

As we all know, I’m not particularly fond of heroines dressed in trousers, but this time it works. Gillie is different. She is a complex heroine. She has feminine and masculine qualities, she is vulnerable and strong, she is brave and cowardly. Gillie is also the character who is more fully-developed.

While Gillie may have a tavern in Whitechapel, that doesn’t mean she’s not a respectable woman. She is. Even though she has a mother and a bunch of alpha-male brothers, she is an independent woman – and that’s just the way she wants it. She has done almost everything on her own. Everyone in Whitechapel respects her and her wishes. Now she has a strange man in her bed and she is fighting to save his life. She is also trying to keep his presence a secret from her family and friends.

Thorne and Gillie are instantly attracted to each other, but they actually resist for a long time. Thorne and Gillie are an interesting couple. One of the main things I found so fascinating was the immense class separation between them. He’s a Duke, she’s an owner of a tavern in Whitechapel. I was quite eager to find out just how Ms. Heath would accomplish a HEA. Would she end up creating some kind of silly solution or would it be a satisfying ending? It was alllll very nerve-racking for me. Realistically, the difference between Gillie and Thorne’s worlds should have been so huge it couldn’t work. However, by the end of the book I was cheering Gillie and Thorne on – make it work! Make it work! Make it work!! They made a great couple; both were kind, loving people who had a great deal of love to spread around to others. 
 
When Thorne recovers his injuries, he knows it is time to return to his home. Before he leaves Gillie’s tavern, he persuades her to help him find Lavinia. That gives both of them an excuse to be together.

Thorne is a typical manly-man hero of Romanceland. But what Thorne has in abundance is loyalty. He is loyal to his fiancée, and loyal to Gillie’s wishes. There is also a wonderful secondary character by the names of Robin. Robin is a delightful young boy, an orphan who has been taken in by Gillie. Thorne takes Robin under his wings and forms a great relationship with him. There is some really great aawwwwwww moments between Robin and Thorne.

There is of course, the requisite appearance of Gillie’s family. After all we have to have a check-in of Mick to see how he’s doing. And, we have to get to know alllll the future heroes better – Finn is next and he’s holding a grudge. The appearance of Gillie’s brother almost set off my Ick-o-meter. Spoiler. Even with allll of Thorne’s care in preventing a baby, Gillie still ends up expecting. She does not tell Thorne. That’s not the moment which raised my eyebrows though. All of her brother’s, except Mick, propose marriage to her. Ick. Now, I know, I know, they are not related by blood – but they grew up as sister and brothers. While I think the marriage proposals were supposed to be cute, for me they were kind of icky.

Overall, while this was not the bestest book I’ve ever read, I loved the characters, I loved Heath’s solution of class division, I loved the secondary characters, and I loved the Trewlove family. This was a very satisfying read and I highly recommend it.

Time/Place: England 1871
Sensuality: Warm/Hot