My Dear Duchess

By: M. C. Beaton

Narrated by: Lindy Nettleton

Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Handsome, dashing Henry Wright, the Duke of Westerland, needed a wife in a desperately short period of time. If he could not find a wife, he would lose the legacy he so desperately desired.

Young, lovely, but sheltered Miss Frederica Sayers needed a husband just as much as Henry Wright needed a wife, only she needed a husband to save her from the life of shame that almost certainly awaited her when shefled the callous cruelty of her family.

Marriage between the dashing lord and this reckless runaway was clearly the answer for both of them - until the duke discovered he had a duchess he could not tame and the duchess found that she would rather lose her spotless reputation than lose the duke to another beautiful woman who was everything she was not.

©2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.; 1979 Marion Chesney

Dumb characters

I lobe Beaton’s books. They are usually clever light and witty. The main characters did not talk at all for over a year span. Just plain stupid.

I love this one! I’ve listened twice.

I liked it even better the second time! And Lindy Nettleton is just a solid narrator; I love everything she does. She and Marion Chesney are the perfect duo! Enjoy this!

The writing is OK, but the story is boring.

This book was published in 1979, which you don't learn until the closing credits, but I wasn't surprised. The hero and heroine are married early in the story, but they spend almost no time together. An enemy is conspiring to keep them apart and the H/H succumb to almost every lie. Both were guilty of too stupid too live behavior throughout.
I did listen till the end, but probably won't again.

Just an ok listen.

Not one of Beaton's best historical romance. The story was too far fetched and got to be too ridiculous for me.

wonderful performance

I read this book over a decade ago and it was great to revisit it in audio

Fun romance with cleverly wicked antagonists

Another fun romance by Marion Chesney and read beautifully by Lindy Nettleton but this one has very clever and wicked antagonists. I thoroughly enjoyed.

The worst of MC Beaton's debutante stories

Pointlessly overly negative for no better reason than dragging the plot for as long as it required to fill a book's length, it seems. It is as if the characters are stupid and never talk to each other, that a misunderstanding dragged through the whole book. Multiple new characters were introduced and disposed of in the middle of the book. Plots used in multiple other Beaton books reappeared here.

Unoriginal, negative, pointless, drags the mood down. Not worth it.

Other books at least have some romance, this one doesn't. I'm not sure what I'm listening to it for. The book pretty much ended after the first third. You can skip the rest.

so incredibly stupid

This book is making me feel like I am an idiot for listening to it. I really hope that it's some kind of homage to the gothic romances of the period in it's over-the-top characters and scenes. The main male character is an a**hole.The main female character changes completely, becoming spineless after the first chapter. The supporting characters are so nasty that the book isn't even pleasurable to listen to. The author uses the same pieces of plot development that she uses in the first few books. Just terrible, turning it off.

terrible plot

this is the first Marion chesney book that i haven't liked. lindy Nettleton is an excellent reader, but the plot of this story was just really bad. the villains were succeeding against the main characters for almost the entire book. it was extremely frustrating to listen to.

Should have read reviews first

This is so lame. The narrator isn’t that bad, but the characters are! They aren’t believable, so you don’t find any of them interesting enough to want to keep going. There are other much better books out there!!!!!