Thursday, August 2, 2012

Book Review: The Forgiven Duke by Jamie Carie


About the Book:
Tethered by her impulsive promise to marry Lord John Lemon - the path of least resistance - Alexandria Featherstone sets off toward Iceland in search of her parents with a leaden heart. A glimpse of her guardian, the Duke of St. Easton - the path less traveled by - on Dublin’s shore still haunts her.
Will he come after her? Will he drag her back to London, quelling her mission to rescue her treasure-seeking parents, or might he decide to throw caution to the wind and choose Foy Pour Devoir: “Faith for Duty,” the St. Easton motto. The Featherstone motto Valens et Volens: “Willing and Able,” beats in her heart and thrums through her veins. She will find her parents and find their love, no matter the cost.
The powerful yet wing-clipped Duke of St. Easton has never known the challenge that has become his life since hearing his ward’s name. Alexandria Featherstone will be the life or the death of him. Only time and God’s plan will reveal just how much this man can endure for the prize of love.



I anxiously awaited the arrival of this second book in Jamie Carie's Forgotten Castles series, having been left hanging by the ending of the first book, The Guardian Duke.  I like the characters and the setting.  I feel like I've gotten to know Alexandria Featherstone.  I'm rooting for her to get together with the Duke and to find her beloved parents.  I love the castles and the adventure through various European countries of yesteryear.  Still, though, I've been having a hard time putting together this review.  At the risk of spoiling the ending for you again, I'll just say that I'm having a hard time viewing the heroine as a chaste young Christian girl.  She pushes the envelope too far and then wonders why the bad things happen, and perhaps that is the author's intent - that she needs to learn to take more responsibility for her actions in the first place.  At the very beginning of this book, Alexandria is traveling with her fiance, John Lemon.  A man she is thinking about marrying.  She lies and allows him to lie about their relationship, saying they are married so that people will not question them traveling together.  His uncle, who has been a protector for her, allows and even encourages this, telling them to wait to get married.  In the time period that she lived, when young women simply did not travel without chaperones specifically so that they would not be taken advantage of by men, why would a chaste young Christian girl have traveled with this man and lied, saying that they were married?  Why would her protector, his uncle no less, have allowed that?

Once again, I'm waiting for the next (and final) book in the series with bated breath.  I think I will only know whether or not to recommend reading these books after I have read the entire trilogy and have seen how it is resolved.

The Forgiven Duke by Jamie Carie was released in July 2012:


Happy Reading!

 “Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it  on my blog.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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