Phoebe Atkinson is what society might call unconventional. Instead of marrying well like other women born to wealth, she chose to be a schoolteacher. Not to mention she lives in a leaky flat in an unfashionable part of town rather than stay in her parents’ mansion. But when her most promising pupil goes missing she has only one option: beg her sister’s best friend, the powerful Duke of Ellis, for help.
The last thing William Margrave ever expected was to inherit a dukedom. But now that he has it, he’s determined to act the part perfectly—and that includes marrying the perfect duchess. A bluestocking Bohemian schoolteacher is decidedly not duchess material. But he can’t resist her plea for help regarding her missing student.
As they fall further into the mystery, William discovers that he never got over his childhood crush on Phoebe, and he doesn’t really want to.
Comment: I got aware of this book through a site where I usually check lists of things that might interest me. The idea of this book sounded interesting and that is why I got it.
Phoebe Atkinson is a teacher at a school for girls of poor means and she just cannot accept Alice, one of her most promising pupils, has run away so when she tries to follow her it leads to her being arrested for invasion of property. Thankfully, family friend Will, now the duke of Ellis, is able to rescue her, even though they haven't been close for a long time, specifically since a summer long ago when it felt as if they could be more than friends. Now, Will needs to marry and he thinks he needs to choose a lady who is "duchess material", something Phoebe is not. But can they escape their feelings this time around, since they are older and wiser in what they need?
What made me want to read this novel was the opposites attract idea, since Will and Phoebe have had very different views on life and, now that Will is a duke, he also has other types of responsibility that require his attention in a way it didn't before the dukedom fell into him. I was interested in seeing how this would lead into them agreeing to be a couple.
Phoebe and Will had known each other since they were young because their families were neighbors and all was well until their puberty, when they started seeing each other as someone attractive. Neither could express themselves properly so they went different directions and now Will is the embodiment of something Phoebe dislikes - too much power, not enough action in society - but when the story begins, she needs his help and they reconnect.
I will say that I've found the rekindling quite fast, but they did know each other before, which adds some dynamics that validate this quickness, but I wasn't much of a fan of this tactic. I kind of wanted them to fall in love at a slower pace and for their relationship to be even more poignant. There were times where this seemed obvious, others where it wasn't, and when things were getting closer to the end, I was still thinking if I was enjoying the romance or not.
Phoebe is a fascinating young woman, a veritable modern woman in an historical setting, thus sometimes it was a little hard not to roll my eyes at certain things, which felt very anachronistic, but as a whole, I liked her and personality and her need to help the girls who were, of course, overlooked by society and not given the necessary to ensure their rights. As a person, I liked Phoebe a lot, but as a romantic heroine, I would not say she will be memorable to me.
As for Will, he does seem to be a very respectable man and he wants his influence as a duke to help others but now that he is back in the sphere of Phoebe, being with her makes him rethink certain things, namely some politics he has been trying to carry on, and the young lady who seems to be the perfect choice for a duchess, but whose father, he learns, proves to not be who he thought. I can understand all these things weighting on his shoulders, and I think the author addressed his worries well, but, again, as a romantic partner, I kind of wanted better.
And that it is, my biggest disappointment here was the romance. I liked the story, I liked the characters, but I wasn't amazed by their relationship. Thinking about it as a whole, it was simply good.
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