The Portrait of a Duchess is the long-anticipated second book in Scarlett Peckham’s Society of Sirens series. I absolutely loved the first book, The Rakess, back in 2020 and have read everything else SP has written since (indie releases and shorts) while waiting for this book.

Cornelia Ludgate is an artist and part of the friend group we were introduced to in the first book. Cornelia and her group of friends, The Society of Sirens, including Seraphina (the heroine of The Rakess), have become infamous women. They are notorious for their liberal politics and wayward reputations and have even used the public’s interest in their “wild lives” to raise money for their cause: founding an institute devoted to women’s equality and education. In the first book we saw them gain enough money to purchase a piece of land, but now they need another round of funds to pay for the actual construction of the building. Cornelia is a talented painter and so the story starts with her wanting to hold an exhibition for her most shocking portraits yet—a series called ‘The Jezebels’. Around the same time Rafe shows up, he and Cornelia haven’t seen one another for 20 years but he’s now a Duke (after inheriting from her late uncle/he was a distant 9th cousin). Rafe has come to tell Cornelia that there was a stipulation in her Uncle’s will that she will receive funds if she marries. Which kind of works out perfectly, since she’s already married…to Rafe!

This book is told through flashbacks when the couple first entered into a marriage of convenience. Cornelia was a ward of her Uncle and when she turned 18 she realized he was going to marry her off. She wanted freedom and independence so she went to Rafe, a commoner who trained, and sometimes bred, horses who lived on the property as well and asked him to marry her. I honestly didn’t feel like there was a difference in the characters between the past and the present, their characters read exactly the same regardless of the 20 year time jump. Most of the story takes place during a house gathering/party of sorts, he’s going to introduce her as his wife/duchess and she’s going to unveil her new art exhibition. The hero is bisexual and has a male lover, who even joins the couple for a fun time at one point. We see Rafe wanting and ready to express his love for Cornelia and wanting their marriage to work, while she’s the one rebelling against the idea of being “tied down” and wanting her freedom still.

I sadly didn’t love this one. It was okay, I do enjoy the author’s writing overall. The plot is pretty simplistic but it did feel a bit try-hard with how much “rebelling against the norms” is added in with the characters and their conversations about making changes, to the point where it didn’t come off as sincere to the story. Like I mentioned, the 20 year time jump really didn’t feel like anyone grew or changed and it read the same as present-day. While I didn’t mind the ending and it makes sense for the characters, it was definitely a different take for this couple’s definition of their HEA.

Thank you to the publisher (Avon Books) for an e-ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts in this review are my own. The Portrait of a Duchess has a publish date of March 7, 2023.

Thanks to Avon and Netgalley for early access to this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

✔️ Second Chance
✔️ Marriage of Convenience
✔️ Age Gap

I am on the fence on this one. I loved the premise of this. A couple entered into a marriage of convenience 20 years ago and then went their separate ways. However, it is now convenient for them to be a married couple again so they have to go back to pretending to be in love, despite having all sorts of complicated feelings about themselves, each other, society and their places in it.

This may be the first then-and-now romance where the time apart is 20 years, so the FMC was 18 then and 38 now. While I liked the idea of it, there wasn't a whole lot to differentiate the main characters from past and present and I got confused a few times which I was reading.

There was a terrific spicy scene l in the present which shows the FMC's sexual growth. Definitely a highlight.

I adored the first book in this series (The Rakess) and I'll still continue as I'm super curious about how the third book is teed up. But this one was just ok for me so I'd say 3⭐️.

Steam🔥🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕

Really liked the premise of this book, and was really hoping for an excellent historical fiction read. However, this fell a little short as it felt like it had too many conflicting themes to have the plot come together. I liked the feminist nature and the boldness of the characters, but it was almost overdone.

Bonus for the retro cover, love that.

Book 2 in the Society of Sirens series reunites Cornelia Ludgate, a mixed race relative of the Duke of Rosemere and Rafe Goodwood, now the new Duke of Rosemere. Cornelia and her friends have a problem. They need raise money to fund the Institute for the Equality of Women. Selling her paintings would provide the funds but no one is willing to display her work for sale. Their liberal support of female rights has angered people in power. Rafe has recently inherited Rosemere but there is a catch. He needs to be married. He decides to ask Cornelia to pose as his bride to convince the lawyers that they are married. This seems like a great idea, since we find out that they did marry years ago. They just never told many people. They travel to the country house, invite all their friends to a costume ball and display Cornelia’s paintings to buyers. They also fall in love. Hot, steamy M/F, M/M/F, swords crossing is contained in this book. Complicated family, trustworthy friends and liberal politics. Read if you dare
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4 stars
ARC review copy via NetGalley

Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for this eARC.

First of all, yes, the male protagonist of this IS RAFE GOODWOOD. Yes, I laughed every time I read his name. That unsubtle character detail aside, I thought this was fun! Love the sirens, love that Rafe is such a mr. soppy feelings, and love Cornelia (read her name as Cordelia repeatedly) and her art! I really only recall the vibes of the first one, but I think this one was more playful but still with an eye to twisting tropes and conventions just a little. Liked it! Fun cover! RAFE GOODWOOD!

A really beautiful love story from a strong, dedicated group of people I don’t often read about - fallen aristocrats, artists, free-love bohemians in the early 1800s. When I allowed myself to fall into their way of thinking, I thoroughly enjoyed this second-chance, mature love story. Also, it was sexy as all get out.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

I was a bit surprised by the threesome. I also think that the heroine's treatment of the hero, in terms of not admitting to her feelings for him and being willing to integrate their relationship into her life, went on a bit too long.

"The Portrait of a Duchess" by Scarlett Peckham is everything you want in a bodice-ripper historical romance. This story beautifully blends activism, politics, and romance a la Evie Dunmore and definitely brings the heat.

I love Scarlett Peckham’s romance novels. She has an incredible talent for taking the old school historical romance vibe and updating it by giving it a really fresh polish! Constance from The Earl I Ruined and Seraphina from The Rakess are two of my favorite heroines. Which is why it’s so sad that this is the first Scarlett Peckham novel that I just didn’t click with. It took me so long to get through this and don’t even think it has to do with the characters who I really enjoyed. The premise had a lot of promise but the execution really didn’t work for me. Cornelia and Rafe are great and I love a second chance romance and secret spouses is also my catnip as well. This seems like it was more of a me problem than a problem with the novel. Still think Peckham die hard should read but if you’re just starting with her, definitely start elsewhere.

A really strong follow-up to THE RAKESS -- delighted to see the return of THE SOCIETY OF SIRENS in a book embracing older protagonists, bi and poly choices, and, of course, marriage of convenience.

It’s pretty much impossible for me to not love Scarlett Peckham. Her original plots and strong characters are my catnip, my raison d'être as a romance reader. Thus, The Portrait of a Duchess pleased me to no end. There are a few hinky spots here, but it’s still a great read.

Cornelia Ludgate is an artist whose work reaches levels of infamy after she paints her friends, the self-named The Society of Sirens – Seraphina Arden (radical libertine writer and heroine of The Rakess), Lady Elinor Bell (thinker and society matron) and Thaïs Magdalene (courtesan) in the nude. Her entire exhibit is a challenge to society’s misogynistic castigation of the fallen woman, and the show turns her into a scandal. Cornelia is fine with this and satisfied to spend the rest of her life éparter la bourgoisie as a single woman. Then she learns about a codicil in her uncle’s will that requires her to be married to inherit a five thousand pound bequest.

Cornelia has an answer for that, She is in fact married, and has been for the past twenty years, to the wonderfully named Rafe Goodwood. She and Rafe knew each when they were younger, back when he was a horse trainer member of the Equalist Society, one of her uncle’s beloved cronies and she was a young maiden trying to emerge into society. The marriage was a hasty Gretna Green union sealed to keep her uncle from interfering in her plans to travel abroad, but Rafe caught feelings and tried to make their union acceptable by writing to her uncle to inform him of it, which caused a rift between them. Cornelia and Rafe have not seen each other for twenty years. But bad luck and multiple dead cousins have resulted in Rafe inheriting her uncle’s dukedom, and Rafe is now the Duke of Rosemere.

It turns out Rafe is just as interested in helping the poor now as he was years ago. He definitely wants to dive back into politics with Cornelia at his side, but he’s determined not to allow himself to fall in love with her, and Cornelia is interested in her freedom. Clearly their marriage can be made one of convenience to them both… right?

It's a Peckham, it’s rated Hot, you know where this is going. A Portrait of a Duchess hits all of my favorite buttons: artists and activists finding love and romance featuring older characters.

Probably the hinkiest spot is the age gap. Rafe is fifty when we pick up the narrative, and Cornelia was eighteen when they first met. Do the math and you realize that Rafe was thirty when they began their relationship, which may discomfort some readers.

Cornelia is your typical stiff-necked Peckham heroine who’s very invested in her independence and very invested in her principles. In Cornelia’s case, this means overthrowing the bourgeoisie. Since she’s biracial Black woman living in late eighteenth century England, her position is all the more tenuous, but life, art, fairness and the truth are all things she thinks are worth dying for. Peckham does decently with this material, but there are a couple of frustrating gaps where she doesn’t quite manage to get across how dangerous a prospect this is for Cornelia.

Rafe is tender, roguish and intriguing - a great hero. His bisexuality is well-handled and he has to work hard to convince Cornelia that he actually does love her, and she has to bend as well by seeing that commitment doesn’t mean death to her ideals. The union they strike is a fair one and I love it.

The friendship between the Sirens, naturally, is incredibly memorable and the setting is divine and well-captured, too.

The Portrait of a Duchess isn’t entirely perfect but it’s easy to love.

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I didnt enjoy this as much as I wanted to and have enjoyed her previous books, it was hard to keep track of the timeline shifting, and the heroine comes across as wooden, not groundbreaking.

Scarlett Peckham's SOCIETY OF SIRENS series is simply brilliant, and worth the long wait following THE RAKESS. In THE PORTRAIT OF A DUCHESS, radical feminist artist Cornelia is reunited with long-estranged husband Rafe, who, by a series of coincidences, has risen in social status from horse breeder to duke. Peckham's novel deals with the tension between power and politics--what does it mean to be a Black woman duchess while endorsing politics that oppose the values of the aristocracy? The central romance between Cornelia and Rafe is mature, and centered on people who know who they are, who know who the other is, and love each other regardless; she paints a vision of love that is not possessive, that fights for liberation, and that is fiercely feminist. Peckham is a voice to watch in historical romance--she takes the genre and asks what it's capable of without rejecting what makes historical romance already great. Don't miss this or any of Peckham's novels.

The second book in Scarlett Peckham’s sirens series introduces us to Cornelia the black, feminist, sex positive niece of a duke in the late Georgian era. Ms Peckham has a wonderful way of reimagining historical eras to include heroines with very modern sensibilities regarding gender roles and sexuality. Cornelia and her husband of 20 years Rafe are a little bit age gap romance and a little bit second chance at love. Rafe is a bisexual emotional lead who you can’t help but love. Cornelia is just trying to pursue her feminist goals and maintain her independence.

This one was a slow start for me compared to the author’s previous books but I enjoyed how she resolved Cornelia and Rafe’s relationship issues. This was a little lighter on the steam scale than most of her previous offerings but did include mfm action. This one is not for romance traditionalists but for those who want to venture into alternative history where a feminism and inclusion has some real teeth. I will definitely be on board for Thais’s story.

The Society of Sirens is back! This time following radical painter, Cornelia. She has used her talent and painting career to advance the cause of women's rights, but a lack of funds has halted the society's progress. Until Cornelia discovers that her estranged uncle has left her a small fortune in his will on the condition that she is respectably married. But Cornelia has a secret...she has been secretly married for almost 20 years. To the man who has inherited her uncle's dukedom.

Rafe is a horse breeder who inherited a dukedom from a far distant cousin with a secret penchant for liberalism and revolution. He wants to turn the estate back over t0 the tenants and really stick it to the aristocracy, but he knows he can't do it without help from Cornelia...his secret wife who he's never been able to forget.

Scarlett Peckham has become one of my instant buy authors, I love the sex positivity and diversity of her work. She does such an amazing job of weaving historical details and research into her books in a way that is engaging but still feels very grounded. While I did really enjoy this book, it's definitely not my favorite of her titles. The primary conflict between the hero and heroine centered around how differently they feel and express emotion, which is totally valid, but I felt like Cornelia's reactions to Rafe being effusive were very over the top. I also felt like I didn't get to experience them really falling in love. This is a second chance romance that jumps back and forth in time, but I didn't feel like the jumps back into the past gave us a robust enough groundwork to justify their attraction/love once they reunite. Overall, I enjoyed the atmosphere and historical details of this book more than the romance itself. I am still looking forward to future books in the series!

This was not my favorite Scarlett Peckham novel. While the sex scenes were steamy and adventurous, I found the story itself a bit pointless. I didn't enjoy the flashback device, the dialogue felt stilted, and the characters just didn't pull me in. Not a total miss, but not one of her best.

DNF. really tried getting through this one but only made it to 50%.. the chemistry was lacking for me and i was just overall bored with the storyline.. wasn't engaged or looking forward to picking it back up so :/

This book started off with a note from the author stating that they are a writer writing about people whom they might not be in community with. As such, blind spots might be appear, but are acknowledged and apologized for in advance. On one hand, it was good to know that the author was aware that this book might not resonate with marginalized readers; on the other hand, it almost felt like a cop-out: I wavered on how I felt about it from chapter to chapter.

Having said that, this book features a couple having steamy, not strictly heteronormative encounters after the age of forty (40). Further, because this is regency and with the advanced ages of the couple, children were not front of mind: sexual exploration was.

And that is where we find ourselves: this is not a romance in the most traditional sense of the main characters live happily ever after or happily for now. If you are looking for a Bridgerton-esque book where Marina from season 1 is receives the proper "Bridgerton" experience, this is not it. Instead, this is a book of sensuality explored. If the reader goes in with that in mind and suspends disbelief about, well everything else (especially race), I think a good time can be had.

What I love about this series and this book in particular is that the women are so supportive of each other--their friendships are just as important as their relationships with their love interests, and they're all goal-oriented too! And I definitely wasn't expecting the bi-representation, love that journey for Rafe, without any shame from Cornelia. I really liked the solution they came up with. I hope we get more of this series, I could keep reading them all.

I adored everything about this book. Cornelia and Rafe have such excellent chemistry and accept everything about each other. While they have their ups and downs they don't drag on forever and leave you frustrated. They tend to fix things pretty quickly. This book was so steamy both with actual encounters and thoughts each character has. Another brilliant success for Peckham!