The Confessions of a Duchess

The unmarried women in the Village of Fortune's Folly have had long retired a Dames' Tax imposed upon them as retaliation from a man spurned by the woman of his choosing. What occurs is chaos as all unmarried women must either marry or turn over half of their earnings. This also creates a scenario where these lovely women must fend off every fortune hunting man coming to their town trying to marry a woman with money. But oh you silly man to think any self respecting woman would just say okay to that - guess again. Now Laura Cole the dowager Duchess of Cole felt she was exempt from this but she is not and after having survived an abusive and neglectful relationship with her now late husband she is not anxious to enter into another loveless marriage. But when Laura decides to fight back with her own outdated laws and turn the tables on the men she is not aware that one of the men come to find a wife is the one man she truly loved, Dexter Anstruther. They shared a night of reckless and explosive passion that produced a daughter he is unaware of and a longing for him that never dissipated. She had committed the sin of adultery but did so without a care since her the love that Dexter gave her in the one night was more than she ever received from her now late husband. But she felt after that night she had to send him away because she was leading a double life as wife and highwayman. Dexter had come to find the woman that was the robber and did not know that in fact the woman he loved was truly Glory. Dexter has always longed for and hated Laura for what had happened the next morning after that single night of love. He now is a government worker come to investigate a suspicious murder in Fortune's Folly and never expected to see Laura there. But once he sets his eyes upon her all the hurt, angry and grief of losing her are gone and replaced by the passion and love he felt the first moment he saw her those many years ago. She had given him his first and only taste of love and he wants that to happen again but knows that he should marry for money since his family is dependent upon him for support. But how can he walk away again without a kiss, a brief touch or a taste of her sweetness once again. Laura is hell in one beautiful package of heaven and the risks far outweigh the issues he believes. While Dexter pursues and Laura runs they have more than one occasion to be forced into one another's arms causing them both to realize that the secrets they hold inside them must come out no matter the cost. But Dexter is as distracted by Laura as he is in trying to capture the man who apparently is a murderer but when both their pasts come to face them in the present they try to reconcile what they feel for one another from what they are now. This book is a wonderful trip through romance and a little mystery. Both Laura and Dexter shine with their independent character as well as determination to have what they desire most. While at times you ma

The concept of the Brides of Fortune Series is that Sir Montague Fortune who is the Fortune Folly village squire (and over-all jerk) finds an old law on the books that allows him to tax all the unmarried women unless she marries within the year. This first book of the series starts the chaos of every bachelor arriving in this small village hunt for a rich -desperate heiress. Laura is a widow in her 30's who is the dowager duchess and broke but finds herself with men hoping that her family with give her a healthy dowry out of pride. Laura finds herself face-to-face again with her one night stand that has always had a little bit of her heart. This is a great story of romance, humor, mystery, strong-willed women who don't take Sir Montague Fortune law lying down. Looking for forward to the rest of summer in Fortune's Folly; July 2009 - The Scandals of An Innocent and August 2009 -The Undoing of a Lady (Brides of Fortune).

In 1809 in the village of Fortune's Folly, Sir Montague Fortune is outraged when former housemaid Miss Alice Lister rejected him as the rumored wealthy heiress realized her suitor groom is an unprincipled person. Irate by the affront of an aristocrat like him by a working class nothing, Sir Montague decides to punish all unmarried females when he applies the medieval Dames Tax; either a woman is married or she pays half her fortune to the squire; in this case him. The outraged single females decide to take counteraction with this sexist stance led by the Dowager Duchess Laura Cole as the village is flooded by impoverish wastrels who see the village as a marriage mart. Meanwhile the Home Secretary sends Dexter Anstruther to Fortune's Folly to investigate a homicide and for him to find a wealthy wife. However, Dexter is stunned to find Laura resides there; the greatest night of his life was with her four years ago but she dumped him in the morning after. As they fall in love and become lovers, she again rejects his proposal fearing her secret will send her beloved away; though he struggles on his personal front, he follows murder clues while she leads a Lysistrata like insurgency. THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUCHESS is an intelligent Regency romance starring a strong secondary cast and two likable lead protagonists. The story line is fast-paced and amusing as the women revolt against their penuriousness (with his money) spendthrift (with their money) squire. Although the Regency era is not fully anchored, fans of historical romance will relish the Lysistrata insurgents dealing with an invasion of slimy piss poor males. Harriet Klausner

Nicola Cornick's new Brides of Fortune series has a very original premise. After the scheming and greedy lord, Sir Montague Fortune, is rebuked in marriage by a young heiress in the small Yorkshire town of Fortune's Folly, he decides to take revenge. His method of revenge is to evoke a medieval law that states that all single women must surrender half their fortunes to the lord of the manor. Once he does, the small town becomes a marriage market for all fortune seeking men to flock to in hopes of catching a young heiress for themselves. One of those men is Dexter Anstruther, who's been sent to the Folly to investigate government business and catch a rich bride by orders of his boss. However, his mission is hindered when he stumbles into Laura Cole, dowager Duchess of Cole, who happens to be the older woman whom Dexter first experienced love with and who turned him away cruelly four years earlier. For her part, the dowager has some serious secrets concerning Dexter and the rekindled passion between the two of them threatens to bring them all out in the open... The Confessions of a Duchess sounded like a very original read on the surface; however in execution it is more typical. Actually, it may remind a lot of readers of a silly Harlequin Presents because about forty pages in it is revealed that Laura's big secret is the young daughter she bore Dexter as a result of a night they spent together. Not being a great fan of the 'secret baby' theme, I gritted my teeth and read on to see if the author could make up for throwing that plot in there. On the whole I would say she did, but I warn readers that this element is in there because some will never be able to accept it. I was able to look past it though. When I did look past it there was a decent, if not groundbreaking, romance. Dexter and Laura were fairly well suited to each other. Both of them were calm and collected on the surface and passionate and principled underneath it all. Opposites attracting is a common theme, but more often than not birds of a feather flock together and I believed in their romance. I also liked that Laura knew Dexter was a good man and only kept his daughter from her out of fear for the child's future. This situation was a difficult one to write, but I liked how it was handled. So I liked the romance. However, this book had a few problems. The main problem was that I didn't really like Cornick's writing style. It was witty enough but mostly consisted of her describing the two leads lusting each other. There was much tightening of body parts and wetness and hot breathlessness. It got very boring, very fast. There was also a murder plot concerning Dexter's job mixed in between the secret baby stuff and the lusting but it was only referred to in passing and resolved too easily. The other major plot point, the Dames' Tax, was also not properly dealt with by the woman it concerned and it was not wrapped up. I assume because there are two more books to come in this serie