The
Taming of the Duke
Eloisa
James
Avon
Books
Historical
Romance
Reviewed by
Janelle
Martin
Imogen spent
years determined to capture the heart of Draven Maitland and
marry him, despite the fact that
he was affianced. In Much Ado
About You, the first book in
the Four Sisters Regency series by Eloisa James (which focuses on Tess,
the
oldest Essex sister), Imogen succeeds in her heart’s desire and spends
two
weeks married before Draven is killed in a riding accident.
Now the third book in this series - The
Taming of the Duke – focuses on Imogen, who is determined to
enter the delicious world open to respectable widows, that of taking a
lover. She has decided that Gabe,
brother of her guardian Rafe, fits the bill nicely however Rafe and
Gabe have
other plans for the adventurous widow.
James’ series feature innovative
plots, vibrant dialogue and an
authenticity that comes from
immersing herself in studies
of the relevant time period. As a scholar of Shakespeare, the nod
she
gives his plays when choosing her titles is intentional.
The
Taming of the Duke takes the basic plot of The Taming
of the Shrew and turns it on its head. Raphael,
Duke of Holbrook, is an unlikely
hero, mired as he is in an alcoholic stupour caused by guilt and
pain. Readers gain an understanding of Rafe’s
history in the first two novels in this series but it is only in this
third
offering that he develops into a possible hero – needing to overcome
his
addiction to alcohol rather than the vitriolic temperament overcome by
Katherine in Shakespeare’s offering.
Gaining mastery of his alcoholism wouldn’t have been easy, as in
the
1800s alcoholism
was a moral failing rather than an illness. That
James is able to pull this all together
into a delightful novel shows just how skilled a pen she wields.
Romance novels comprise
53.3% of all mass market paperback novels and 34.6% of all popular
fiction,
with an astonishing 51.1 million readers in the US alone.
(2002 statistics, compiled by Romance Writers
of America) One of the fastest growing
sub-genres of romance is the inspirational romance, which adds a
spiritual
obstacle that must be overcome, strong family values, duty, honour,
chastity
and integrity to the traditional romance template.
James, ever the scholar, chooses to show how
religion was part of the daily life of men and women in the 1800s
rather than
limiting herself by writing within the chaste boundaries of this
popular
category.
Mary
Bly, using the pen name Eloisa James, has been living a double life for
many
years. Only recently did Bly, a
professor of English literature who teaches at Fordham University in
New York
City, “come out of the closet” to her academic colleagues. The
Taming of the Duke is her 10th novel.