My latest attempt at falling in love with a romance came with reading Sophia Nash's The Once and Future Duchess (2014). I'm sorry to say I did not fall in love and will need to court more authors. The Once and Future Duchess tells the story of Isabelle Tremont, the Duchess of March, and James Fitzroy, the Duke of Candover, who are among a special group in the realm who have received missives from the Prince Regent to get married. While James (30) intends to disregard Princy's demands, Isabelle (18) uses it as an opportunity to propose marriage to James, whom she has been in love with since her preteen years. Problem is, James isn't keen on marrying Isabelle because of their age difference and a promise he had made to her dying father. The story of how these two end up together is filled with other characters and back stories that make this story, for me, a hot mess.
To make sense of The Once and Future Duchess, it seems like the reader needs to have read a previous title (which I didn't care to look into) because plot points involving two other characters whose story is intertwined with Isabelle and James's story plays a prominent role. Allusions are also made to James's previous "debauched bachelor party" gone wrong, the catalyst for the Prince's demands for marriage of many in his court. In addition, there's Calliope, Isabelle's 12 or 14 year old cousin going on 50 who dispenses "wisdom" in the most intrusive and unlikable manner.
This story is a convoluted mess lacking focus: It seems like three stories are being told. The main characters are very...blah: Isabelle is immature, James lacks personality, and Calliope (meant as comic relief?) is just plain over-the-top unrealistic. In addition, the two other characters whose story is intertwined with Isabelle and Jason's, along with references to each of their parents' star-crossed love story looming over their lives, just made this story just too chaotic. In all, the conflicts driving this story seem too insignificant for a whole novel. The characters did not really evolve, the "romance" did not develop, and the story just went nowhere. It was just plain boring.
In the end, I just didn't care--about the characters or the continuation of their stories in the next books from this series. I just wanted to be done with the book, for The Once and Future Duchess is very much forgettable.
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