Carole's Monday: Project Duchess

Author: Sabrina Jeffries

Title: Project Duchess

(Duke Dynasty #1)

Genre: Historical Romance, Mystery

Format: ebook

Published: June 25th 2019

Where I Got It: My shelf - Amazon

Summary: 

A series of stepfathers and a difficult childhood have left Fletcher “Grey” Pryde, 5th Duke of Greycourt, with a guarded heart, enviable wealth, and the undeserved reputation of a rogue. Grey’s focus on expanding his dukedom allows him little time to find a wife. But when his mother is widowed yet again and he meets the charmingly unconventional woman managing his stepfather’s funeral, he’s shocked to discover how much they have in common. Still, Grey isn’t interested in love, no matter how pretty, or delightfully outspoken, the lady . . .

 

Beatrice Wolfe gave up on romance long ago, and the arrogant Duke of Greycourt with his rakish reputation isn’t exactly changing her mind. Then Grey agrees to assist his grief-stricken mother with her latest “project”: schooling spirited, unfashionable Beatrice for her debut. Now that Beatrice is seeing through Grey’s charms to his wounded heart, she’s having trouble keeping him at arm’s length. But once Grey starts digging into her family’s secrets, she must decide whether her loyalties lie with her family . . . or with the man whose lessons capture her heart . . .   

Review:

This cover caught my eye and I had a few bucks left on my gift card from Xmas so I decided to grab this and a couple of other cheap ones on Amazon. Plus B had read this last year and I was curious about this myself. 

After a series of stepfathers and a tough childhood, Grey is guarded. Sure he has enviable wealth since he became a Duke....but he has gained an undeserved reputation of a rogue. He decides to focus on expanding his dukedom and business ventures so he has little time to find a wife, but when his mother becomes widowed again, he meets a charmingly unconventional woman managing his stepfather's funeral. He's shocked to discover how well they get along, but he wants to keep his heart guarded. Beatrice Wolfe gave up on the idea of romance long ago, but she knows she may have to make a match. Grey agrees to assist his grief-stricken mother with her latest "project" to school Beatrice before her debut. Both have secrets and a terrible childhood and guarded hearts. 

I loved, loved, loveeeeeeeeeeed the sound of this! Grey is a guarded man and Beatrice is guarded too, but she knows she has to make a match but she will need to be trained for her debut. Duh they fall for each other, but how fun!

Except........I struggled quite a bit with this at the beginning. Not sure why. I enjoyed the banter between these two.....but it took too long for anything to happen. There is some lust. Some secrets. Some mistrust. Some mystery. It all sounded fun, but I was bored. Simply and utterly bored the first half of this. Why? I'm not sure 

Things DID get better for me after the first half. The last half had me glued. I was curious how they were going to get past their childhood traumas (especially poor Beatrice *shudders*). Lots of feelings to get through and Grey was an arse hat for a hot min there at the end. I was annoyed that Beatrice seemed to forgive him SO easily, but I can see his point...kinda.

I AM curious about this mystery. There seems to be more at play here, so I am curious about book 2. Someday...maybe...if I can find a free copy ;) 

Overall, the first half had me yawning from boredom, but the second half was fantastic! I couldn't put it down. These two really needed each other and I cheered when they finally got together. The banter was fun, but my goodness did I want to quit at the beginning. I'm glad I stuck it out though. In the end, I'll give this 3 stars.