*3.5 stars*

Intriguing regency romance…

I’m all about diving into character’s minds and hearts. Feeling, hearing and seeing their emotions is what romance is to me. Not surprising then that traditional Regency romance is hard for me to connect with as the characters keep so much of their true thoughts and feelings hidden behind strict grammar and manners. Thank goodness this author reminds us that, no matter the time, there is always, always love…

Freya and Christopher (aka Kesper) found themselves in an intrigue that both were well-suited for. Their meeting after many years was an explosive start to a long overdue reckoning. Each were battling enemies so found their mutual animosity taking second fiddle to greater danger. Freya was bold even as she hid her pioneering spirit under an assumed name and drab clothing. I liked her, for her bravery, her sharp, witty tongue and her soft heart. Kesper was a recluse so was brought out of the shadows kicking and screaming. I ached for the pain and hurt he still endured. Together, they made an intriguing, surprisingly supportive couple that were a match for any foe…

While the emotional punch and surprises may have been quieter if compared to the Maiden Lane stories (which I adored), they were satisfying in their own right. I’m hoping for many more Wise Women to come…

Fifteen years ago, an incident which became known as the Greycourt Tragedy, resulted in the death of a young woman, and tore three best friends and their families apart. Freya Stewart de Moray was only twelve years old at the time, and has never learned the full details of what happened on that fateful night. Her older brother, Ran, made plans to elope with Aurelia, with the assistance of his two best friends, Julian and Christopher. Something went drastically wrong, and Aurelia ended up dying, with Ran being blamed, then severely beaten. The resulting injuries and the loss of Aurelia has since caused Ran to live in seclusion. Freya came to despise everyone involved, even Christopher, who was her first crush. In the intervening years, Freya joined a society called the Wise Women, an organization that promotes the education of women, and provides all kinds of assistance to women in need. It’s a secret organization, due to some men’s backward thinking that they are witches. Freya has been working undercover as a lady’s companion while secretly gathering information for the Wise Women.

Christopher Renshaw, now the Duke of Harlowe, has returned from India, where his father exiled him for thirteen years after the scandal created by the Greycourt Tragedy. Christopher’s father also arranged a marriage for him, one that was a total mismatch. Christopher and his wife were victims of one of the uprisings and were imprisoned in deplorable conditions, where his wife did not survive. Now Christopher does his best to endure all the painful memories he has, and his companion dog, Tess, is always by his side. Christopher encounters Freya, not knowing who she is, and is puzzled by her hostile reaction to him.

Though twelve year old Freya dreamed of one day marrying Christopher, the current grown up version of Freya despises him, and his part in her brother’s wasted life. After several hostile encounters with Christopher, the volatile Freya finally reveals who she is, and demands to know why Christopher did not rescue her brother all those years ago. Christopher, himself, does not know the whys and wherefores of everything that happened, and can only apologize for his own inaction at the time.

Despite her apparent hatred, Freya can’t help but still feel attracted to Christopher, who’s now a strong and handsome man. Christopher is equally drawn to Freya, who waffles between kissing him senseless and berating him. Aside from dealing with their personal feelings for each other, Christopher is being blackmailed, while Freya is being stalked by someone who believes she’s a witch. I immediately felt sympathy for Christopher, who clearly has suffered much mistreatment and loss. Tess would be the equivalent of what we call a therapy dog today, and helps Christopher through his rough times. While dealing with his own issues, Christopher clearly wants to help Freya, who was not quite as easy to like. I admire her for her work in helping other women, and I can sympathize with her pain over her brother, but her general scorn for all men, and her rejection of Christopher’s love and assistance didn’t endear her to me.

NOT THE DUKE’S DARLING is clearly setting up the foundation of the Greycourt Series, and introduces a lot of characters, many of them we have yet to meet. After digging into the book, it was easy enough to sort out who’s who, and I am eagerly looking forward to the upcoming stories, especially Ran’s. (It seems that he’s very deserving of a happy ending.) I really liked Christopher, with his strength and determination. His support of, and love for, the prickly Freya, despite his own demons, made me fall a bit in love with him myself. NOT THE DUKE’S DARLING is an intriguing read, and a tantalizing introduction into the Greycourt series.

3,5-4

I don't really know how I feel about this one, it isn't a bad book but I didn't love it either.I will start first saying that I got confused many times with the names.This make me re-read some pages again and again or going back.The romance was great but at sometimes felt too much for me.And I mean about their behaviors to each other.

~Reviewed by Monique~~

After a fortuitous encounter, Freya de Moray sees the opportunity to get her revenge on Christopher Renshaw, now the Duke of Harlowe. She is to attend a house party at the Lovejoys in her capacity of paid companion and chaperone to Lady Holland and her two daughters, and Christopher will also be there. For the duke, it’s not a pleasurable task: he is being blackmailed and intends to put an end to it at the house party. He hadn’t a clue that the fiery lady’s companion was Freya, his best friend’s little sister. But that wasfifteen years ago, when the Greycourt Tragedy happened.

Not the Duke’s Darling is the first instalment in Elizabeth Hoyt’s eagerly anticipated new Georgian romance series, and it does feel like an introduction to the next Hoyt’s new universe. It necessarily establishes the foundation, and judging by the number of characters and subplots, this series could go on for a very, very long time. I found it quite challenging to try to keep up with the numerous characters and to remember who’s what to whom. I kept forgetting who “Jane” was, and I got confused several times with all the gentlemen whose family names all have two syllables as well as the letter “o”. Or maybe I’m the one with a problem! There was so much going on, on so many levels, that I realised around halfway that I had as captivating that Freya had a mission for the WiseWomen – an ancient feminist secret society of women to help women. There was also another subplot regarding the Wise Women that seemed to have been left dangling, or else it entirely escaped my notice –which I doubt.

The revenge/enemies-to-lovers tropes served mostly to bring Christopher and Freya together; I think it could have been dealt with much more swiftly. It seemed their animosity acted as an aphrodisiac because I couldn’t grasp why they were attracted to each other besides lust which seemed brought about mostly by his “blue”, “cerulean” gaze, and her (too oft-mentioned) “green-gold eyes”. I didn’t particularly like either Christopher or Freya; she seemed little more than a feminist, and he was quite mystifying: was he weak, arrogant, cowardly, fearless, violent? I love strong heroines and beta heroes, but here the balance of power felt odd.

Elizabeth Hoyt’s prose flows effortlessly as usual, and her gorgeous descriptions are sparkling and crisp, but I did not find the story as captivating as the beginning suggested, because of all those subplots. While I understood the need to introduce the Greycourts, I’m still wondering if the Holland girls – Regina and Arabella –will figure in future instalments. I must say that Arabella was my favourite character along with Tess, Christopher’s dog – whom we would today call a therapy dog. As I’ve mentioned too many times already, because of the was fifteen subplots, I have no idea who the next book will feature.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ah, Hoyt, who’s written some of my favourite historical romances, The Leopard Prince and Duke Of Sin. Therefore, a new Hoyt series is always welcome and I happily plunged into Not the Duke’s Darling as my first 2019 romance-read. Though it didn’t reach the heights of my favourites, very difficult to do given how much I love them, it was satisfying. In particular, the storylines and premise it sets up make me eager for the books-to-come.

Not the Duke’s Darling is Georgian-set, Hoyt’s time setting of choice, and centres around reunited childhood friends and former-best-friend’s-younger-sister hero and heroine, Christopher Renshaw, Duke of Harlowe and Freya Stewart de Moray. The opening scene was thrilling, funny, and compelling. Freya is a member of a ancient, secret society, the “Wise Women”, a group of proto-feminists sworn to help and protect women, persecuted as witches and now living in seclusion in an isolated part of Scotland. Freya, however, is one of their agents, living pseudonymously in society, aiding women, and keeping her ears and eyes alert to threats to the group. In the opening scene, Freya is helping a baby-lordling and his widowed mother escape the clutches of an evil uncle, intent on using the infant-lord to control his estates.

Desperate to escape pursuing thugs, Freya, baby, and nurse tumble into a nobleman’s carriage, Christopher’s carriage. Freya recognizes Christopher as the man who stood by and watched as her brother was beaten fifteen years ago, when they were all friends in Scotland. (This backstory serves to re-introduce some of the characters involved in that life-changing incident, while others hover, ready to be brought in in later volumes.) Christopher, on the other, hand, doesn’t immediately recognize Freya, but he does find her exciting and beautiful, if a tad crazy. He helps save baby and Freya and she is able to hand the one and half year old Earl of Brightwater over to his mother, who spirits him away to America. Freya then meets with anther Wise Woman, the “Crow,” who warns her that the Wise Women want her return to their Scottish sanctuary. Freya wants to stay in England to investigate the instigator of a new Witch Act in Parliament, sure to destroy the Wise Women. That instigator is Lord Randolph. Working as ladies’ companion to the Holland family, Freya finds herself on the way to a country estate party at the Lovejoys, whose holdings abut Lord Randolph’s. An ideal opportunity. Moreover, Freya also wants to reunite with Christopher, to exact revenge for what happened to her brother, especially when she noticed, in the carriage, that Christopher wore her brother’s signet ring.

In the meanwhile, Christopher, ever haunted by the mad, beautiful woman who fell into his carriage, is confronted by his own problems. A handsome little creep, Thomas Plimpton, is blackmailing him over some letters Christopher’s deceased wife exchanged. As Plimpton is to attend the same house-party to which Freya has been invited, Christopher makes his way there. The romance then becomes a working out of their past, the push-pull of their attraction, and their pursuit of Plimpton and the witch-hating parliamentarian, Lord Randolph. Moreover, other figures from that original traumatic scene appear at the house-party: the sisters, one of whom was Freya’s childhood friend, Messalina, of the man who caused Ran’s beating, Julian Greycourt.

That it took me three long, inelegant paragraphs to reach the point where I can express an opinion about the book may tell you something both about its weakness and strength. Hoyt can’t write a bad book if her life depended on it. She drew me in with her creation of this Wise Woman society and especially with the conversations among the women of the house-party. Lady Holland, Freya’s employer, turns out to be a sympathetic, forward-thinking character, an anti-Mrs.-Bennett, smart and concerned for her daughters’ happiness as opposed to their marrying up and rich. Freya’s reconciliation with Messalina is wonderful, as is Messalina herself. Though the muffin-eating, sword-wielding sister, Lucretia, steals the show in one priceless scene. The mysterious beating, the reasons behind it (Ran was thought, at the time, to have killed the Greycourts’ sister, Aurelia, not true, of course, but it brought about the estrangement among the close-knit friends), the proto-feminist society and what they stand for, Christopher’s own sad backstory, and the delightful dog, Tess.

Hoyt is setting up a compelling, original series: what she didn’t accomplish is the development of Freya and Christopher’s relationship. In order to introduce her overarching series narrative, Freya and Christopher and even Tess have sound as one-note wonders. Christopher, no matter how one-quirked-eyebrow roguishly handsome he is, is a man of fidelity, decency, and care for others, protective and loving toward Freya and all women. He sees Freya, is attracted to her, likes her, realizes who she is, woos her and wants her throughout. Freya, on the other hand, is fiercely independent and wary, wary of marriage and commitment and the way it might thwart her work with the Wise Women and her own freedom. As smart and good as Freya and Christopher were, it was hard not to see how they couldn’t NOT be together, how they couldn’t NOT work out their differences, especially Freya. She’s too smart not to recognize Christopher’s value, how he would only ever stand by her, never thwart or diminish her. There’s a lot sex, well, not a lot, not till the last third: it’s good it takes Freya and Christopher a while to become lovers, but when they do, it’s at least a love scene a chapter. So, there’s a lot of sex, but not much tension, difference, the emotional stakes don’t seem to be that high. And, frankly, the love scenes are over-wrought, trying to make up in heightened language what is lacking in development.

In the end, Not the Duke’s Darling great strength is Hoyt’s world-building: the families, that past incident that will need to be worked out, the potential in all those marvelous characters waiting to have their story told, the atmosphere of danger and, the potential presence of characters, some still at loggerheads, who will serve as a merry band against evil. I loved Not the Duke’s Darling for what is to come and I liked Not the Duke’s Darling for its likable, compatible couple and the binding role they will come to play in the other characters’ lives. I loved the women and their friendships/relationships the most of all. With Miss Austen, we say that Hoyt’s first Greycourt novel offers “real comfort,” Emma.

Elizabeth Hoyt’s Not the Duke’s Darling is published by Forever (Grand Central Publishing). It was released on December 18, 2018, and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received a Digital Galley Edition from Forever via Netgalley, as well as a paper copy.

I wanted to like this much more than I did. It had all of the elements of a great story: revenge, feminism and a tortured hero. Somehow it didn't meld into anything spectacular. The main female character was a strong feminist and was part of a secret group called Wise Women. I love a good revenge story, but this one unraveled rather quickly.

Freya was hard to like. I loved it that she was so passionate about women's rights, but it was taken too far to the point of man hater territory. Her emotional growth was stunted from the time she was a child. Tragedy befell her family years before. In many respects she held onto the childish misconceptions she had of that time and let them dictate her life without bothering to search for the truth. Many things about her grated on my nerves. Renshaw was a genuinely good guy. I liked him a lot but nothing about him stood out either. Somethings about his past were surprising.

There were a few random times where the point of view switched to a third character. It was obvious this person was going to be one of the main characters in the next book. I'm genuinely interested in her story, but I would have preferred that her story didn't take up as much page time in this.

This is the first book in the Greycourt series. After reading much of the Maiden Lane series, I was delighted with the start to this new series. I liked the characters. Freya is a strong woman making her own way in the world after a huge family disgrace.

With this being the first book in a new series, it needs to have a beginning. This is a strong beginning.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

2.5 Wine Glass #Review of Not the Duke’s Darling by Elizabeth Hoyt

Kimberly's Thoughts:
First in the new Greycourt series, Hoyt starts us off with a spot of danger as our heroine, Freya, is on the run from some men and finds herself face to face with her childhood crush, Christopher, but who she also blames for her brother's downfall. There's some background foundation to the hows and whys of where are characters are at in life. The main thread is Freya's brother, Ran, tried to elope with Julian Greycourt's sister, she ended up dying (we aren't given specifics), and Christopher just stood by while Ran was beaten bad enough he ended up losing his right hand. Ran, Julian, and Christopher were bestfriends but this fractured their bond and they all separated, the other members of the family cut ties all with each other also.

The Wise Women had long been hunted by Dunkelders— nasty, superstitious fanatics who knew about the Wise Women and believed they were witches who should be burned.

While the ill fated elopement gave us the underlining emotional tones, the Wise Women that Freya is the Macha (spy) for, gives us the suspense as she is trying to stop a law in the House of Lords that gives free reign to declaring women witches along with her trying to hide from members of the Dunkelders, men who hunt “witches”. These are the two main plot threads but there are numerous other ones, some slight and others weighty, that at times only clog an already full story. Christopher has PTSD induced anxiety from his time in India, we get povs from an old friend of Freya's, Messalina Greycourt, who's storyline looks to be set-up for the next in the series, an imprisoned wife, and a whole slew of secondary characters that get little mini-plots of their own. I like full stories but none of these threads or plots were fully fleshed out and it left a lot feeling shallow and dull.

This, this was what he’d been missing without even realizing it: genuine conversation. Genuine feeling.

The romance and chemistry between Christopher and Freya was severely lacking for me; I had more fond feelings for the relationship between him and his dog. Hoyt has been a favorite with word play, sexual and taunting, but these two never sparked; it felt like he just found her attractive out of nowhere, while she relied on childhood feelings and the color of his pretty blue eyes. While their bedroom scenes didn't start ridiculously early, besides kissing once or twice, when they do start to get hot and heavy, Freya's first move is to give him a blowjob, because of course. The latter second half brought more sexual scenes but I almost found myself skimming them as their emotional connection wasn't there.

He might be a duke now, but she was a de Moray woman , small, swift, and above all ruthless.

My biggest disappoint and what frustrated me the most was that Hoyt introduced these interesting ideas, plots, or instances but they all happen off script. The intense ill fated elopement? Happens before this story takes place, no prologue to introduce, show, and explain the basis for the whole the series. Christopher's time in India? No flash back scenes to help immerse the reader into the emotional turmoil of his PTSD or his relationship with is first wife. Freya spending time with the Wise Women? It takes an absurd amount of time for the reader to even get a full explanation of who and what the Wise Women are, let alone the author writing and showing scenes of Freya interacting with the women. This could have been a great emotional fulfillment moment of showing women taking care of one another, bucking the system in a way they could, and female bonding while providing a solid and understandable reason for why this group was so important to Freya and why she might shy away from marrying Christopher.

I missed Hoyt's normally atmospheric writing, I did not feel the time period at all, and the sexual heat between the leads that she has a knack for expressing. This honestly felt kind of dull and with dukes popping up everywhere, I'm not sure I could pick this book out of a lineup. The second book is set-up here and with two leads that at least seem like they have some spark, I will give it a try but am hoping for more showing than telling and emotion.

Elizabeth Hoyt's stories are always so enjoyable and filled with strong female leads who aren’t afraid to be independent and go for what they want, even when what they think they want blinds them to their heart's true desires. This story centers around two families that were torn apart by tragedy and 15 years later two members of those families find themselves at a house party together. Christopher doesn’t remember who Freya is and she is quite put out about the fact he doesn’t remember her, even though 15 years ago she was just a 12 year old girl, and he was her grown brother’s best friend. She looks the part of a demure and polite companion, but when she spits vitriol at him every time they talk he can’t help but be drawn in to this curiosity of a woman. When she challenges him to a duel, he gets far more than he planned and from that moment on it is one steam filled moment after another while she tries and solves the mystery of where a neighbor's wife is being held captive. I enjoyed the story. I always enjoyed Hoyt’s take on Regency romance and this one doesn’t disappoint at all. Fun. Entertaining. Lively. Passionate. And full of adventure. I look forward to more.

Not the Duke's Darling is the first book in Elizabeth Hoyt's new Greycourt series. THE GREYCOURT SERIES is a historical romance series about two families that are torn apart by a scandal that forever changes the course of their lives and legacies.

Not the Duke's Darling follows Freya de Moray and her quest for revenge against the man she thought ruined her family, the Duke of Harlowe. Disguised as a companion for an aristocratic family, Freya works as a spy for an organization called the Wise Women.

Freya is complicated with a giant chip on her shoulder. She's also prickly and stubborn to a fault, which made her hard to like at first. But her motivation was understandable and easy to follow. You know exactly why she is the way she is. But her plan was no match for the attraction she felt for the Duke of Harlowe himself. Some readers do not like the idea of a "feminist" heroine because some say it's anachronistic, which I disagree with. Feminist ideals have existed long before the term was even coined in the early 20th Century. But I digress.

Christopher, the Duke of Harlowe was a fascinating puzzle. He's a very reticent character and the only time he comes alive is when he's interacting with Freya. I quite enjoyed their banter, and their romance. These two have been through a lot and they had to overcome their past in order to make their romance work. And despite a not so great start, I enjoyed how their romance developed.

Being that this is the first book in the series, there's quite a lot of information being revealed in this book. Not all, I think but enough that some of the plot points work while some did not. The Wise Women subplot was a bit underdeveloped for me. I liked the idea of it but the execution left a lot to be desired.

But overall, Not the Duke's Darling was a solid read. It has the romance I liked with characters that I root for personally. And I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I’ve really enjoyed Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series over the past few years, so I was excited to see that she had a new series coming out. I liked this book, the plot was really interesting. It was a very feminist inspired novel, which I’m cool with. It is always nice to read a book that empowers women, especially historical romances. I will say that this book had a lot going on – there were a lot of characters and a lot going on with the plot line. I had to take notes at first because I wanted to make sure I kept track of what was going on. I’m glad I stuck with it because the plethora of plot points and characters made for a really interesting story – I didn’t want to put the book down! The small down side was that I felt like we didn’t get to know some the characters very well since there were so many characters involved. I still really enjoyed it though and I’d recommend it! I look forward to seeing what’s next in the series.

Elizabeth Hoyt's latest historical romance is reminiscent of the best of her Maiden Lane series, but with a feminist bent. Hoyt's heroines have always been the intellectual equal of her heroes, but in this, the hero takes a backseat as the Freya works to solve a mystery and save women on both an individual basis and on a political basis.

Freya is a member of a secret order called the Wise Women, a group dedicated to helping other women. They've often been called witches. The group is about to go into hiding, because of a law being proposed in parliament that would make witch hunting legal and encouraged. Freya's goal is to discredit the Lord sponsoring the bill. Meanwhile, she's been in hiding as a lady's companion for years, living under an assumed name and pretending not to be the daughter and sister of a Duke.

The book opens with Freya and another Wise Woman running through the streets with a Lady and her baby, trying to get the baby and mother to safety. They come upon a carriage and jump in. Of course it's our hero, the Duke of Harlowe. Freya immediately recognizes him, though it's been years since they've seen each other.

When she was a child, Christopher (Harlowe), her brother, and another man (Julian) were involved in the death of a young woman named Aurelia. Aurelia and Freya's brother were trying to elope, but everyone thinks he murdered her. (This is classic Hoyt. Who killed who and when and how?) So Aurelia's family had the brother beaten badly... then his hand had to be amputated and he's not been seen outside of the ducal estate in years and years. (I sense a future book.)

Hoyt throws everyone together at a house party. Freya is there because the estate borders that of the terrible Lord sponsoring the witchhunting bill. Harlowe is there because he's being blackmailed by a sh*tbag named Plimpton who has letters written by Harlowe's dead wife. And Freya's cousin (Aurelia's sister) is there because of course she is.

This is a high drama story, with a sizeable cast and a mystery that goes right up till the end. But Hoyt pulls it off. The story doesn't sag, doesn't get confusing, and the romance is tender and hot and heartbreaking at once.

One of my favorite lines in the novel is this:

"She'd lived so many years alone and independent, perhaps it was too late to revert to what the rest of the world considered normal."

Beyond all of the bananapants plot going on is Freya's very real struggle to decide how much of herself to give in a romantic relationship. In a time when women have no legal rights once married, is there any benefit to marrying, even for love? As a woman who works to defend women from their terrible (usually man-made) circumstances, how can she reconcile herself to falling in love with a man? It's a story that's both timely and timeless.



Clearly, I enjoyed the book and I'm eager for the series to continue. What comes next is a series of content warnings, because Hoyt's books are usually packed full of stuff that can be uncomfortable for readers.



SPOILERS







SPOILERS





YOU'VE BEEN WARNED



Content Warnings:

- Harlowe is exiled to India after the whole thing with Aurelia (The Greycourt Scandal). He's not responsible for her death, of course, but his mere presence that night is enough to have his father force him into an arranged marriage and ship him off to India to work with the East India Company. The references to India are handled sensitively (as far as I could tell), with Harlowe mentioning that the Company is/was horrible and that they were doing things no one in Britain would have stood for. HOWEVER, there was a bad scene in Calcutta, when he and his wife and 70 other people were shoved into one prison cell and his wife was basically smothered to death. We eventually find out that his wife was mentally disabled and that he and she were never physically intimate. THEN we find out that Plimpton, the man who has the letters from Sophie and is blackmailing Harlowe, seduced her so he could get her money and jewelry etc. So Plimpton is a Grade A P.O.S.

- Harlowe has PTSD from the jail cell and it comes up several times over the course of the book.

- Later on, there's a mention of a wife who was murdered by her husband, but we find out that she's actually been imprisoned for a YEAR. Then Freya and Aurelia's cousin are shackled in the cellar alongside her and nearly killed. Harlowe ends up killing the Bad Guy, so CW for imprisonment and murder.

- None of the kissing is expressly nonconsensual, but there is one scene in which Freya kisses Harlowe so that she can bite the shit out of his mouth and steal her brother's ring off his finger.



Suzanne received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

I usually love Ms. Hoyt's book, but this one has left me with mixed feelings. The beginning starts out with a bang with Freya de Moray, a Wise Woman, helps a young woman and her infant son escape a ruthless brother-in-law. During the escape, they jump into a ducal carriage. The owner turns out to be none other than a childhood friend, Christopher Renshaw, the Duke of Harlowe. We learn that Freya detests Harlowe for a scandal that happened when Chris and Freya's brother Ran were 18 years old. Now 15 years later, Freya still harbors an intense hatred for him.

The premise for the book held such great promise, but it took most of the book to learn Freya's role with the Wise Women and what the scandal was about. There's still an underlying mystery to the scandal that was never solved so I suspect it will be the underlying theme in the series. Harlowe's PTSD with small spaces add more mystery and we don't learn why until 3/4 of the way in the book. I'm glad I kept reading until the end, but even then, I was disappointed that there was so little explanation for some of the overarching plot points.

This is going to be a mixed feelings review. I’m all over the map about this one – and I didn’t expect to be. While I haven’t read ALL of the author’s Maiden Lane series, I’ve generally liked the ones I have read quite a bit.

But this one, well, yes and no.

On the one hand, it starts out with a bang, with Freya helping a desperate woman and her child escape from the man who wants to abuse them both. This particular escape isn’t about sex, it’s about money. The child is the rightful earl, her husband is dead, and his cousin plans to basically imprison the little boy and ransack the estate during his minority while keeping the boy’s mother away from him so she can’t support or protect him.

Women and young children were chattel, this chilling scenario was entirely possible – and legal. Freya has rescued both the mother and child, and is spiriting them away to a ship bound for America. But her pursuers are relentless, so she jumps into a nobleman’s carriage – only to discover that the nobleman in question is someone she knows – and loathes.

It should have been the start of a wild adventure, but the tension kind of fizzles out. Or at least it did for me.

While we do eventually find out why Freya hates the Duke of Harlowe so much (and those issues do reach resolution) what we really don’t get nearly enough information about is why Freya is participating in the rescue in the first place.

Not that the woman and her baby don’t need rescue, and not that someone shouldn’t do it. But how Freya got involved in the situation is murky. She’s a “Wise Woman”, a member of an order of independent women that has existed since the Roman occupation, if not before. She’s the “Macha” of the Wise Women, a title that seems to mean covert agent and spy as the situation requires.

But the Wise Women, while potentially interesting, never seem to get enough explanatory background, or at least not for this reader. What it felt like was simply a quick and dirty way of providing the 19th century heroine with the education, attitudes and perspectives that would appeal to 21st century readers. She’s so close to us that she feels anachronistic for her time.

That also seems to make her perfect for Christopher Renshaw, the aforementioned Duke of Harlowe, if they can get past the gigantic amount of baggage that stands between them.

Because the real backstory of this series seems to be the long-ago Greycourt scandal. Fifteen years ago, Harlowe, Freya’s brother Ranulf, and Julian Greycourt were the best of friends. Until one night when Julian’s sister tried to run off with Ranulf de Moray, and somehow she got herself killed and Ran got the blame. As well as a beating that cost him his dominant hand and his family’s place in society.

Freya has blamed Harlowe all these years, but as he eventually explains to her, he never believed that her brother was guilty of murder. And all three of the young men were, in fact, very, very young, only 18, and none of them had the position or the maturity to prevent the ensuing mess. Now he does, but the damage has already been done.

Personally, I believe that the overarching story in this series will be the eventual discovery of what happened that night, and that the individual books in the series are going to focus on all of the people who were affected by the scandal. Not just Harlowe and Freya, but eventually Julian Greycourt, the Greycourt sisters who were Freya’s friends once upon a time, Freya’s brother Ranulf, and whoever the hell the guilty party or parties turn out to be.

But we are not there yet. Much of this particular entry instead focuses on Freya’s activities with the Wise Women and their foes the Dunkelders, who believe that the Wise Women are witches who should be burned at the stake. They aren’t witches, but then, the great majority of those who were the victims of the witch hunts weren’t either.

Along with yet another rescue of another woman who desperately needs it.

The problems I have with the story all come back to the Wise Women. We don’t know enough for that piece of the story to really work. The Greycourt scandal grabbed my interest, as did the eventual romance between Harlowe and Freya, but it always felt like there was a hole in the back of the story – like a tooth cavity that you can’t stop sticking your tongue into – even though it hurts every time.

Escape Rating B-: I keep harping on the problem with the Wise Women, or rather the lack of enough information about the Wise Women. That’s because Freya’s participation in the group provides her with too many 21st century attitudes for too little data. One of the issues with historical romance is the difficulty of giving readers a heroine who has enough agency that we can identify with her while still having her fit into her time and place. And Freya doesn’t manage to walk that tightrope, at least not for this reader.

Your mileage may vary, or your version of the tightrope may be a bit wider than mine.

Greycourt #1, The first of a new series and what a start, wow. From the first chapter to the very end this book grabs your attention and doesn't let go. The characters are impossible to resist with an intriguing story that all started in the past with a horrible event that changed the lives of three families.

Freya de Moray's life turned upside down because the events of "The Tragedy" it isn't revealed right away what happened that night but afterwards Freya and her two sisters moved in with an aunt and when they became of age they joined an age old group of forward thinking women called, The Wise Women. For the last five years Freya has been working as a chaperone for a well of family with good connections under the name Miss. Stewart. Her job is a cover, her true purpose for serving the Wise Women as a chaperone is that of a spy, she keeps her eyes and ear open. The Wise Women for the most part lead a peaceful existence they help other women when needed but they have an enemy a misogynistic group of men who think the Wise Women are witches and it is their sole purpose to seek out and kill Wise Women. Freya learns of a new act going in front of Parliament that will legalize and encourage witch hunting again, Freya has to stop that from happening. The man who's heading up the act, Lord Randolph, has a wife who mysteriously died and if Freya can figure out what happened to the wife she can stop him from presenting at Parliament; her way in is a houseparty at an estate neighboring his.

Christopher Renshaw brought shame to the family name with "The Tragedy" his father forced to marry a woman he didn't know and banished him to India. When Christopher was finally able to move back home he was a widower and newly declared Duke of Harlowe, he inherited from a distant cousin. With only his dog, Tess, as his companion he has spent the last few years isolated from society until someone from his past tries to blackmail him. The exchange is to happen at his brother-in-laws houseparty something he wish he could avoid but to protect his late wife's reputation he will do it.

So much happens in this book, the pacing is pretty much non-stop. Between the relationship of Christopher and Freya, Freya and her childhood friend, who showed up at the houseparty too, all of them trying to reconcile what happened fifteen years ago and if they can forgive and move on or remain bitter, the matter of Lord Randolph and his wife, and Christopher's blackmailer. It seems like a lot but it's so easy to follow. The relationship of Christopher and Freya starts of rocky, considering Freya outright hates him for his part in "The Tragedy". Christopher embraces his feelings for Freya quickly, he loves her for who she is, what she does, what she says, and how strong both emotionally and physically she is but that's also a problem he wants to be there for her even if she doesn't need him; he wants her to need him. (Brings to mind Cheap Trick's song I Want You to Want Me)

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. Elizabeth Hoyt is a wonderful author and I love the direction she going with this series I can't wait for more.

3.75 stars--NOT THE DUKE’S DARLING is the first instalment in Elizabeth Hoyt’s adult THE GREYCOURT historical, romance series. This is Freya de Moray, and Christopher Renshaw, the Duke of Harlowe’s story line.

Told from several third person perspectives including Freya and Christopher NOT THE DUKE’S DARLING follows the childhood friends /enemies to lovers/ brother’s best friend relationship between Freya de Moray, and Christopher Renshaw. Years earlier Freya’s brother was accused of a heinous crime, and in the ensuing melee was beaten and maimed without benefit of proof. Fast forward to present day wherein Freya will come face to face with her past,a man who stood by and watched as her brother nearly lost his life. Enter Christopher Renshaw, the Duke of Harlowe, and the man with whom Freya will fall in love. What ensues is the rebuilding relationship between Freya and Christopher, and the potential fall-out as Freya is targeted for her connection to a group known as the Wise Women.

Freya de Moray is a titled lady but our heroine prefers to remain in the background as she endeavors to help those who are unable to help themselves. A feminist before her time, Freya’s actions make her a target by the men who hope to destroy anyone who goes against the norm, or in Freya’s case, a strong-willed, stubborn woman who is willing to risk her life to save the life of someone else. Christopher Renshaw returned from exile the Duke of Harlowe but his inability to let go of the past found our hero struggling to make sense of mysterious stranger who despised his presence from the first time they met. Having no recollection of what he had done Christopher would soon come to realize that the woman with murder in her eyes, is someone from his past. Estranged from family and friends, Christopher is desperate to uncover the truth behind Freya’s appearance.

The relationship between Freya and Christopher is an enemies to lovers/ best friend’s little sister trope that finds our couple at odds over their future together. Christopher is hoping for his happily ever after but Freya refuses to be bound to any man as a servant or bed mate. Marriage is not out of the question but our heroine prefers her independence over servitude, an independence and strong-will that has placed a target on her back. Christopher considers Freya his equal, and in this, he too, is ahead of the times. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters as Elisabeth Hoyt introduces the players and key figures in her Greycourt series. We are introduced to Freya’s former best friend Messalina Greycourt, and her sister Lucretia. Many of the characters have several names, nicknames and titles, as well as the mention of innumerable others, such that there is much confusion throughout the story.

NOT THE DUKE’S DARLING is a story of family and betrayal; friendship and loss; second chances and love. The premise is entertaining; the romance is seductive; the characters are strong and sassy. There are a number of sub-plots including secret societies and witch hunting, murder and confinement, blackmail and estrangement, all wrapped up in an historical romance love story

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Not the Duke's Darling is the first book in the Greycourt series by Elizabeth Hoyt.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you will have seen that I do like Historical romance once in a while and that I have been enjoying Elizabeth Hoyt's books.

Anyway, I very much enjoyed this book very much and yes it was one I couldn't stop reading. Loved the characters.

I can't wait for the next book.

I am giving this 4 out of 5.

this was actually my first elizabeth hoyt book - i own several and keep meaning to read them but you know, so many books so little time. i tend to do better with getting ARCs read though vs books I own, which is why I requested this one. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love this one, something didn't click for me. I didn't really feel the chemistry between the two main characters and there was a *lot* going on, it felt a bit of a slog at times to get through it, and i was confused at times. it is the first in a new series and definitely felt that way, so i will give the second a try and other books by Hoyt, but this was not my favourite.

I am still finishing this book, but so far I think it's a great start to the new series!

Secret agents, tragic mysteries, sordid pasts, I am so into this new offering from Elizabeth Hoyt, beginning her new series. I was a huge fan of Maiden Lane and although this does not quite touch the brilliance of that series for me, it does show a lot of promise and I"m excited to see where it takes us next!

Not the Duke’s Darling is the first book in the Greycourt series by Elizabeth Hoyt.

15 Years ago Freya De Moray's brother was left a broken man, both literally and figuratively leading to the downfall of her family. The man she holds responsible is Christopher Renshaw, now the Duke of Harlowe. Before the 'incident' she thought herself in love with Christopher, but now she only holds anger and contempt towards him. When they come across each other at a house party Freya wants nothing more than to get her revenge against him. Something that she thinks will be easy to do because he doesn't even recognise her for who she is. Instead of taking her place in society, she has taken a position as a companion/chaperone and in doing so she dresses appropriately and makes sure she is always in the background. The disguise works well.

Freya needs to keep her disguise in order to work well as a 'wise woman'. They are a secret society, a group of woman who work towards helping other women in need. Some people who know of the wise women, but not who they are, also consider them to be witches. The hunting and killing of witches had been outlawed, but one member of the nobility wants to put a bill before parliament to bring back those things which of course would make the wise women hunted women. Unfairly hunted, but then when was witch hunting ever a fair thing?! Freya plans to get some 'dirt' on that member of the nobility so that he can be blackmailed into not putting the motion forward in parliament. That is the main reason she is in attendance at the party.

This story was quite a 'busy' one with many characters intertwined with a similar goal but for different reasons. Christopher, bless him, had no secret agenda, but still had a large part in the story because of his past with Freya and her family. Would she get her revenge on him, or would time spent together at the party help her to see that perhaps he isn't the evil man that she sees him as? I enjoyed seeing their relationship develop especially as they both can easily help each other to heal from what happened 15 years ago. They just need to give themselves permission to do that.

I enjoyed the story, the drama of it, the building passion between Freya and Christopher, and I love the secret society of the wise women. I am not sure which way the series is going to continue but I hope in future books we have more stories about the wise women and their rescues.

I noticed one or two small inconsistencies in the story, nothing hugely dramatic, but I picked up on them all the same. I read an advanced copy to the book before release so I am hoping that an editor or proofreader will pick up them before the book is released.

All in all this book definitely captivated my attention and I am happy to recommend it. I can't wait for the next one in the series.