The hero is forced to marry the heroine and treats her terribly. I don't like cheating and I know times were different but he had a life/job in Italy and a mistress which although their relationship changes after his marriage due to his 'lust' for his wife, he still lives and sleeps with her.
After some time the mistress ends things and he comes home to deal with the death of his father, gets to know his wife and sees her differently.
I didn't like him much, he does get to grovel but it's just not so sad for the poor wife. ( )

Finally a book that hold a candle to the Wallflower series for me .:.twirls in glee.:. ( )

I have never read an Amanda Weaver book before, but as I love historical romances and was intrigued by the blurb on this book but the blurb doesn’t do it justice.
As the daughter of an wealthy American business man, Victoria Carson knew from a young age that she would never marry for love, she know that she was just a pawn for her parents. Victoria has faced down public scorn all her life, because she was American born, even though she had been in England since she was 8! She was prepared to marry, just so she could have the freedom from her mother!
Andrew Hargrave (Future Duke of Waring) was never meant to inherit the title as he was the second son, so he spent his days in Italy, digging for history! But then his brother died, his father lost his fortune and he was “won” in a game of cards by Philip Carson and was going to be married Carson’s daughter in order to save his sisters.
When dark deeds were discovered the night before the wedding, Andrew assigned the blame not just to his future in-laws, but to Victoria as well! So after he abandoned her in his family estate, he fled back to his beloved Italy.
As in all things though, the truth comes to light and Andrew tries to make amends...but is it too little too late?
I don’t think that I have ever been spellbound by a book in a long time, but A Duchess In Name totally knocked me onto my butt and kept me mesmerized all the way through the story and left me with such a book hangover, that I haven’t been able to get rid of it 5 days after I read the book!
The writing, plot and characters were simply divine and left me begging for the next installment of this book. I truly loved Victoria! She was a woman of strength and really just wanted to be loved and needed. I only struggled with one very small part of this book and that was Andrews’s mistress. Yes, I am aware that having a mistress back then was common place, but the diehard romantic in me just struggled with that.
Overall that book was a beautiful tale which I simply adore and I will read this book a million times and never want it to end. A Duchess in Name earns 5 stars from me.
( )

A Duchess in Name by Amanda Weaver
Book #1: The Grantham Girls Series
Source: Purchase
My Rating: 4½/5 stars
My Review:

Victoria Carson has never, not for a single moment fooled herself into thinking she is meant for something more than a strategic marriage. Though she has lived in England for the majority of her life, Victoria is American born and her father’s fortune is considered less than those of native born English. In fact, if her parents hope to gain any sort of legitimacy, and they do, Victoria is expected to marry a proper English gentleman with a title. Too bad for Victoria’s parents, their daughter has a strong sense of self-preservation, a healthy amount of free will, and a brain that is smart enough to work she wants for herself. Victoria knows she can’t avoid the marriage but she can certainly use her brain and her free will to carve out a life for herself once she’s out of her parent’s house.

Andrew Hargrave, otherwise known as the spare heir was always meant to be the spare and never the actual heir. Then his brother had the audacity to die and bing, bang, boom, Andrew becomes the heir to an estate that is flat broke and with no hope of recovery outside of an advantageous marriage. Yep, like Victoria, Andrew is expected to marry well and restore the family to what it once was. As far as his father is concerned, the marriage doesn’t have to be happy nor does the woman have to be desirable as long as she comes with a fortune. Given the example his own parents have set, Andrew never had any intention of marrying. In fact, Andrew has every intention of going through with the marriage, making it legitimate, and then returning to his archaeological dig in Italy and his mistress. Yeah, that ought to make everyone happy.

Both Andrew and Victoria are physically attracted to one another and Victoria is willing to give marriage a real shot but she soon discovers her new husband isn’t as willing. In fact, Andrew seems quite angry about his situation and completely unwilling to get to know Victoria. Within 48 hours of her wedding, Victoria finds herself abandoned by her husband at his crumbling ancestral home. Determined to make a life for herself, Victoria turns her time, attention, and vast fortune toward repairing Andrew’s ancestral home and making it her own. In the time Andrew is gone, Victoria not only remodels the home but reestablishes relations with the estate’s tenants and helps them bring the surrounding properties back up to an acceptable and profitable standard. When Andrew eventually returns, he is blown away by Victoria’s progress.

For the better part of a year, Victoria is left to her own devices but eventually, Andrew is forced to return to England. Upon his return, Andrew is not only made to take his father’s title but he is also made to really focus on life at home. What he discovers, much to his great surprise is that his home is just that, a home and it has been made so by his estranged wife. With his own dogged determination, Andrew vows to make things right with Victoria and with any luck, he will have a marriage he never, ever thought possible.

The Bottom Line: I do love a good period piece with a strong-willed woman! Victoria Carson certainly fits the bill and then some. From the moment Victoria is introduced, she establishes herself as an independent woman living in a time and place when such things weren’t prized and/or valued. Victoria is bound and determined to be her own woman even if she has to be married. Victoria is by far the highlight of this read and watching her come into her own is quite fantastic. When Andrew comes back into her life, Victoria certainly makes it difficult for him to be a part of what she has built but the butthole sort of deserves it  To be completely fair, Andrew’s life hasn’t always been easy and he does have some redeeming qualities but Victoria has to dig deep to find them. Once the two work out their differences, let go of a good number of past hurts, and really get to know each other, their road to an HEA finally becomes clear. ( )