Review: The Ugly Duchess – Eloisa James

How can she dare to imagine he loves her…when all London calls her The Ugly Duchess ?
Theodora Saxby is the last woman anyone expects the gorgeous James Ryburn, heir to the Duchy of Ashbrook, to marry. But after a romantic proposal before the prince himself, even practical Theo finds herself convinced of her soon-to-be duke’s passion.
Still, the tabloids give the marriage six months.
Theo would have given it a lifetime…until she discovers that James desired not her heart, and certainly not her countenance, but her dowry. Society was shocked by their wedding; it’s scandalized by their separation.
Now James faces the battle of his lifetime, convincing Theo that he loved the duckling who blossomed into the swan.
And Theo will quickly find that for a man with the soul of a pirate, All’s Fair in Love—or War.

Series:  Fairy Tales #4
Release Date:  August 28, 2012
Publisher:  Avon
Source:  Edelweiss
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

It pains me to have to write this review and not love this book.  As with the other books in the Fairy Tales series, Eloisa James takes a childhood fairy tale and puts a historical romance spin on it.  The formula worked for the other books in the series (When Beauty Tamed the Beast is my favorite), but this one fell a bit short in generating a connection between either of the main characters.

James Ryburn, Earl of Isley and future Duke of Ashbrook, and Theodora Saxby grew up together and were best friends.  They were always there for one another.  But when James’ discovers his father has not only lost the Ashbrook fortune but also a great deal of Theodora’s, he’s forced to make a choice he know he will reget later:  Marry Theo for her dowry and save the dukedom.  At first, James thinks he might have pulled off the wedding and found that he and Theo truly could have a love match and live happily ever after.  But his father manages to “ruin his life” for a second time, resulting in James being cast of out his house by his wife.

James was a very young 19, almost 20, year old man when he’s forced to make the decision to marry Theo.  His immaturity shows in the way he dealt with Theo’s rage and hurt.  He simply slithered away without a fight.  For as much as he proclaimed to love his wife, he did nothing to fight for her.  Even when he thought about her halfway through his years at sea, he still too easily gave up the notion that what Theo said in anger might not really have been what she wanted.  It wasn’t until he managed to accept his father for who he was (faults and all) and understand his role in what happened when he was 19, that he was able to come back to England and claim what was his.

Theo was also very young when she was devastated by James’ deception.  I could understand how it felt to be seventeen and hurt to the level that Theo was, lashing out at James and his father the way she did.  However, it seemed the girl who didn’t really care what people thought of her became a bitter shrew who couldn’t let go of the past.  Given how Theo was prior to her marriage to James, I would have expected she would have taken this episode and turned into a way to prove that she was much stronger than the gossip and hurt.  Instead, she hid away in the country will she rebuilt the Ashbrook fortune (which was a feat in itself) and let the gossipmongers win.  Theo did eventually prove that she wasn’t the “Ugly Duckling” anymore, but it was many years later and overshadowed by the return of James to really have any affect, in my opinion.

I wanted to love this book.  I loved how James matured into this huge, alpha privateer (pirate) who finally realized that his heart and soul belonged with the girl who laid with him while he cried over the death of his mother.  Their reunion seemed rushed and Theo to much of a bitter woman to make their reconciliation mean something to me.  I wanted it to be emotional and gut-wrenching, where they both lay everything out there and somehow knit their relationship back together.  To me, it would have meant that these two had grown up, bared their souls to one another and were now able to move onto the adult portion of their relationship.