The Lost Duke of Wyndham (Two Dukes of Wyndham, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Julia Quinn
Publisher: Avon
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $1.88
You Save: $6.11 (76%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 1120
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0060876107
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060876104
ASIN: 0060876107
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: excellent condition
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Product Description
Jack Audley has been a highwayman. A soldier. And he has always been a rogue. What he is not, and never wanted to be, is a peer of the realm, responsible for an ancient heritage and the livelihood of hundreds. But when he is recognized as the long-lost son of the House of Wyndham, his carefree life is over. And if his birth proves to be legitimate, then he will find himself with the one title he never wanted: Duke of Wyndham. Grace Eversleigh has spent the last five years toiling as the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham. It is a thankless job, with very little break from the routine . . . until Jack Audley lands in her life, all rakish smiles and debonair charm. He is not a man who takes no for an answer, and when she is in his arms, she's not a woman who wants to say no. But if he is the true duke, then he is the one man she can never have . . .
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| Customer Reviews: Read 62 more reviews...
 Publisher's weekly is wrong again!!!! July 9, 2008
This is Julia Quinn's finest work to date??????? Have they read any of the Bridgerton books??? I don't even believe this is Julia Quinn writing and how much is her publisher bribing Publisher's Weekly for this review? There have been several books by well known authors lately that have had rave reviews and the books are slop. To be fair I am only half through the book but I am still waiting for a story to develop!!!! I enjoy cheese better than this!!! I loved those Bridgerton books - I wanted more brothers and sisters so that it would go on and on!!!
Why do I buy these things?! I have given up on the double cover ones because you know they will be trash supreme and you cannot read them in public anyway if you have any self respect. You can't even go to the check out with them. They all read the same - porn for frustrated housewives. I thought at least this would be witty because she is so good at that, but so far - nothing.
Most disturbing are the false reviews. I would dearly like to meet the people who are swearing that this stuff is so wonderful. I would wager a great deal that a gift of some money was found under their tables.
 A good one July 8, 2008
I've read almost all of Quinn's books and I really enjoyed this one. The storyline was believable and so were the relationships between the characters. I loved Jack and Grace and the immediate attraction between them. Entertaining dialogue and engaging characters made it a quick, easy read.
 The Lost Weekend..... July 8, 2008
is actually a movie title but it could also describe two days spent with Julia Quinn's new novel, The Lost Duke of Wyndham. I agree with other reviewers who think this book is a waste of time. At first I thought it suffered by comparison to Duma Key, which I had just finished (whether you like Stephen King or not, he can WRITE!) but then I realized: No, it's The Lost Duke itself; it's just.....well, it's not good.
I approached this book warily, after the amateurish and boring Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. But convinced that was an early I'm-just-learning-how-to-write Quinn she'd dusted off under the pressure to publish, I took a chance. And it began well enough. Grace and her situation appeared promising and Jack seemed intriguing. But it all went nowhere! This is not a novel as much as a string of verbal sparring scenes between the hero and heroine or the hero and whoever he happens to be talking to, all of which mean nothing and move the action forward not at all. Dialogue has a purpose and that purpose is to impart information to the reader, to develop the characters, and most of all, to move the plot along. The dialogue in this book is not interesting and it tells us nothing except that Grace and Jack exchange quips each time they meet, just as though they were in an unfunny sitcom. Almost nothing happens in this book and what does happen fails to create excitement, anticipation, tension, or even much interest. The characters are shallowly developed, the narrative repetitive and static, the plot minimal, and the resolution thrown away in an epilogue. Halfway through I gave up and skipped to the end.
I may have to give up romances. I was horribly disappointed in the last book from Loretta Chase, who can almost do no wrong, and now this. While Julia Quinn is hardly in Chase's class, she has certainly written far better than the last two books published under her name. I long for someone with the talent of Laura Kinsale. Better yet, Laura Kinsale herself!
Go read Duma Key. At least it's SUPPOSED to be a horror story!
not good July 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Generally I like Julia Quinn but this was so disappointing! Who is this imposter writing under the Quinn name??
No charm, no charisma, no good July 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When Julia Quinn writes a funny book, she is outstanding. This book is not funny. It is not charming. It just plainly is not something that should be read.
The book is made up of "He thought" "she thought" pages and pages of what the characters thought. The author doesn't give her reader a chance to think for themselves about whether or not the characters are worthwhile.
It is an obvious precursor to a book about the deposed Duke Thomas and his erstwhile and long-suffering fiancee, Amelia. So much so, these two characters have scenes that are hinted at but not explained in this book. You are left dangling, and, in the writer and editor's views, wanting to read the next book in the series. Not so for me - while I think Thomas and Amelia might actually be a decent story, the story of Jack and Grace turned me off the series.
We are told repeatedly that Jack is funny and charming. I could not find either trait in his character. What he is, apparently, is a man out to seduce a woman in his grandmother's employ. That, in the end, he wants to marry her, doesn't excuse his efforts to ruin her.
And then there is Grace - a fine woman who falls for a highwayman who held a gun to her head... something tells me this wouldn't happen in real life. In giving up her virginity to this charming scamp (why charming, because the author says so, of course!) all she worries about is whether or not she will become pregnant. She doesn't care about her future except that no one else knows what she has been up to.
Apart from Jack clutching his heart and knowing that the pain there is love (and not heartburn), I ask you, where is the love in this book? Where is the romance? Where is the funny dialogue? Where is the reason for reading the book? Where, oh where, is Julia Quinn being held hostage and being forced to write this tripe?
I would have given this a one star but I do save that for the absolutely worst of books (just as I save five stars for the absolutely best - Heyer notably ranks five for me consistently.) I wish we could give a 1.5 as this would have scored it on the nose.
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