The Inconvenient Duchess - Christine Merrill

"Dear Cici and Father," "I have come to Devon and married a duke. And I'm more tired and hungry than I have ever been in my life. Please let me come home."
Compromised and wedded on the same day, Lady Miranda was fast finding married life not to her taste. A decaying manor and a secretive husband were hardly the stuff of girlish dreams. Yet every time she looked at dark, brooding Marcus Radwell, Duke of Haughleigh, she felt inexplicably compelled--and determined--to make their marriage real

I get daily newsletters with Kindle freebies and occasionally I find myself tempted to try a new author just because the blurb or the cover seemed interesting. This cover didn't do anything for me but the blurb sounded intriguing and I thought I would give it a try.

Sadly the story didn't quite work for me but I do get how it might work for others because if you can suspend your disbelief of some things and stop worrying about others this may just be an entertaining light read. I'll start with the characters - I did like both Miranda and Marcus but they didn't seem well developed enough or at least I didn't buy into their actions and motivations. I did like the set up of them having to marry but felt Marcus accepted it too easy. I liked how she conveyed the brother was a dangerous person and how the reader was the first one to feel it and I liked the shadow of the first wife over everything. I also liked Miranda putting everyone to work when it was needed. 

However, I didn't like that Marcus spent a good part of the book away and I would rather have seen them working the relationship and facing Marcus' brother together. This was definitely an historical of the light variety in terms of the historical setting but it did have some dark shadows in terms of what the characters face...

I have read that this was Merrill's first book and that might explain these little things I'm complaining about. If I ever come across another freebie by the author I will give it a try and see how it goes.

Grade: 3/5