His Grace Endures (Regency Romance)

Without quite realizing it, I appear to have been picking up several RITA winners among traditional Regencies. One such book was Butler's The Rakes' Retreat. Another was this one (Jensen won another RITA for A Grand Design, before moving on to historicals).This is a book hard to describe easily. It had an irresistible first chapter (from the publisher's website but a deeply buried section) where the widowed heroine Deirdre is coaxing and cajoling her spoiled young sister-in-law to get ready for the ball. When she arrives, she has to continue worry about Olivia who has expressed her determination to marry only an earl (or at least an earl). Deirdre is not comfortable with society, and we find out why in the last paragraph of the first chapter - she has jilted a highly eligible suitor at the altar and eloped to marry her late husband. And you can guess what is about to happen - the rejected suitor arrives at the ball in Edinburgh. He is a duke, no less, the man whom Deirdre jilted and humiliated so publicly, and the man who was responsible for her husband's death. As the book progresses, some of our preconceptions from the first chapter are demolished in rapid succession. Deirdre misses her late husband, but she is *not* "Deirdre of the Sorrows" as she has been labelled by the ton. She was not a heartless jilt. She ran away from a marriage into which she had all but been sold by her social-climbing parents. Her fiance was not a duke then, but a second son of a duke. And the man she was to marry was the heir to a baron. Deirdre has a strong sense of her own self-worth, and she ran away from the church in part because she was not asked whether she wanted the marriage, and in part because the groom gave no sign of loving her.So, the Duke is a heartless peer out to marry the prettiest face around, or is he? That is the idea society now has about him, thanks to rumors spread by a mysterious person or persons. Conover (the duke) believes that either Deirdre or her sister-in-law must be responsible but cannot blame them entirely. He failed to convince Deirdre of his real love for her then, and he fails to do so now. In fact, revelations about his actions past and present have a way of coming back to haunt him. Not to mention that a nasty spat he and Deirdre have in public backfires on him more than on her. So much for Deirdre's belief that the ton would take the Duke's side. Even his friend's mother Lady Hythe publicly chastises him - more than once.All this explains the title "His Grace Endures" (one of the harder to find Jensen titles). For the rest of the book, Conover must confront the effect of his past actions or inactions, and he must also unmask the person who is slandering him. But there are no black villains here. Conover's enemy, for want of a better word, has his reasons. The book was wonderful, with meditative dialogue by Conover and others, with surprise built upon surprise. There was Galahad, the incontinent monkey

I'd never read any of Emma Jensen's books before this one, and I'll now be searching out more. This is a wonderful book; Ms Jensen demonstrates some great skills of storytelling, characterisation and emotion in this tale of a widow who has to confront and deal with the man she jilted seven years earlier and who she believes to have been ultimately responsible for her husband's death. And yet she discovers that the Duke of Conovar is nothing like she imagined. And very soon, because of the cruel gossip which starts to spread about him, she becomes his staunchest defender rather than his enemy. There are some heartwrenching scenes in this book, as well as some dialogue which had me glued to the page. It's impossible not to be touched by Conovar's sincerity or Deirdre's anguish as each finds out that they were mistaken about each other and about other characters whose actions impinged on their lives and destroyed their relationship seven years earlier.I thoroughly recommend this book, and I'm completely bemused by Susan Johnson's review, below. Ignore it, go with the other positive reviews on this page. This book deserved any and every award it won!

Lucas, the Duke of Canover, fell in love with Deirdre when he first saw her, but--not being adept at showing his feelings--he conspired with her social-climbing father to make her his wife, instead of wooing her. Severely beaten by her father when she tried to refuse, Deirdre was desperate to escape, and did not fight her attraction to his best friend Jonas, who convinced her to run from the altar into his arms and a hasty marriage at Gretna Green.Seven years later, a widowed Deirdre, despising the false values of the ton and valuing her quiet life at the Scottish cottage she and Jonas had shared during their marriage, finds it necessary to return to the London to sponsor her beloved sister-in-law on the Marriage Mart. When she and Lucas meet again after that disastrous wedding-that-never-was, sparks fly between them and rumors abound that Lucas is a blackguard who broke her heart and is determined to get revenge. The truth, however, is that Deirdre discovers that he is not the blackguard she believed him to be. In fact, he is a fine, worthy man who wanted--and surprisingly still wants--only to love her the rest of her life. Does she have the courage to forsake the quiet life in the Scottish countryside for marriage to a man she thought she despised for seven years? Will Lucas make the same mistake of letting her go without a fight?Although I started this book late in the evening and planned only to read a chapter or so, I found myself completely engrossed and could not stop until I had finished it. I will definitely look for more books by this author.

The widowed Deirdre Macvail has absolutely no desire to leave her lovely Scottish cottage and journey to London for the Season. Certain that the ton remembers her scandalous departure from Society, she is reluctant to face their censure -- and even more reluctant to face the man who precipitated it. Unfortunately, Deirdre promised to bring out her young sister-in-law, so to London they must go. With a stop enroute to attend a party in Edinburgh.Lucas Gower, the Duke of Conovar is a Corinthian, a war hero, and the most eligible catch on the Marriage Mart. He's also a man whose heart was broken seven years earlier. Deciding that he needs an heir, Lucas determines to look over the marriageable misses and choose a wife.Deirdre's and Conovar's first encounter is memorable. Deirdre describes it: "In all the times she had imagined the meeting, in all the frightening scenarios, she could never have predicted it happening in Scotland. Nor could she have prophesied the dilemma in which she would find herself. For she could not quite decide which was worse: facing the man whom she had jilted quite literally at the altar seven years earlier, or facing the man who had killed her husband. Not that it mattered, really. Both were standing in front of her, in the single, impeccable form of the Duke of Conovar."After several chance meetings, Lucas realizes that, far from hating Deirdre, he still loves her. Deirdre realizes that Lucas isn't the cold, heartless, arrogant man she knew -- or thought she knew -- seven years earlier. Well, he's still arrogant, but he's neither cold or heartless.Are there really second chances? Will hope and love triumph over all the hurt, the misunderstandings, and the misconceptions of the past?Emma Jensen's very readable style makes the Regency era come alive for modern misses, the interplay between her characters sparks and sizzles, and her dialogue sparkles.You'll find marvelous characters, acerbic wit, a chuckle or six, a mystery to solve, a! nd a moving story of enduring hope and love. What more can a reader want?