The Duke That I Marry is the last (I believe) in Cathy Maxwell's Spinster Heiresses series, and it was unfortunately also my least favorite of the bunch. While still a decent novel, several parts and bits weren't to my liking.
Against her normal character, Miss Willa Reverly is taking her life into her own hands and doing something bold. The day before her wedding, she sends her betrothed a note releasing him from their engagement. She knows there will be a scandal, but seeing as how the man has been absent since their engagement party, and honestly didn't even propose to her but talked with her father, Willa believes it's the best course of action. She agreed to the marriage originally because she got a copy of romantic poems he wrote years before that made her believe he was capable of loving her, and she has always been the obedient daughter. But now with his absence and rumors of his affair with a married woman, she wants out.
The rumors are true that Matthew Addison, Duke of Camberly, was in love with a married woman. And it was because of her rejection of him as well as business in his newly acquired estate and dukedom, that he left London. Matt has quite a morning when he gets Willa's note right after he learns that his family lost their entire fortune due to blackmail. It looks like the blackmail turned into murder, and Matt now wants vengeance for his family. But first, he must get Willa back on board with marrying him for her funds.
Matt makes all haste to confront Willa and convinces her to continue their betrothal. From there the couple must jump hurdles of jealousy, and Matt's quest for vengeance. Willa struggles with the marriage, but Matt keeps working at it. Willa wants love, and Matt is nervous to fall in love again after the disaster that happened the first time.
I struggled with the entire love story. I felt Willa forgave Matt way too soon, and that he didn't express his apologies well enough. As with most relationship issues, the two mostly just need to communicate better. Otherwise, I really wasn't convinced of their romance. The vengeance/mystery side of the story was intriguing and honestly was the only part of this book that kept me going. Also, without giving away spoilers, I was disappointed with the Epilogue as it didn't really touch on things I believe it should have.
While this wasn't a grand slam in my opinion, it was still a pretty pleasant read. I still love Cathy Maxwell as a writer, and I am curious to see what she has in store for her readers next.
**ARC provided by Publisher**