The Fairest of Them All: Marrying the Duke

This book was such a HUGE disappointment! Cathy Maxwell has been one of my favorite authors for years, she's an auto buy for me. But I guess they can't all be winners.The one word that I would use to describe the plot of this book is DUMB. It's so very, very dumb! She's got these three brothers, one of them is a stuffy Duke, one ran away from home at 15, and the other was repressed and rebelled for all of his life. Given that the title of the series is 'Marrying The Duke' I figured that we'd eventually get to the Duke's story, but both of his brother's have now stolen the poor guy's woman!I gave the previous book 4 stars. The premise of the heroine being in love with her intended's brother is not a new trope, I've read it several times before, and it worked for the first book. BUT THEN SHE JUST WROTE THE SAME DARN STORY OVER AGAIN IN THIS BOOK! *face palm*Really? REALLY?!Does Ms. Maxwell not like this Duke that she has created? Is she trying to torture the poor guy?! Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't like him because I don't like him very much either. He's a big whiner baby! He stamps his feet and throws a fit when he doesn't get what he wants. Eventually he comes around and gives his blessing but not til AFTER he's thrown a temper tantrum and tried to force each of these women to be with him first. Oh it's just SO DUMB!I hated that majority of the book, which is supposed to be about Charlene and the long lost brother Jack, was focused on Charlene and the DUKE! This romance isn't supposed to be about him! Why did Ms. Maxwell make him SO involved in this plot? Yes, Jack and Charlene meet a few weeks before she every meets the Duke, and they were supposedly supposed to have fallen in love from that first meeting? Um, no. They barely spoke because she had picked a pocket and he was trying to retrieve the stolen money from her when she kicked him in his privates! Charlene and Jack have two private interactions in the whole freaking book. They come in contact a few other times and they have a dance in which they don't speak to one another, but them falling into anything more than lust is laughable to me because they barely know one another! If this was supposed to be an insta love type story, it was very poorly executed. 3/4 of the way through the book and all the sudden Jack is DEEPLY in love with her. He barely knows the woman! How could he be deeply in love with her?Another thing that bugged me is the age gap. She's 19 freaking years old and he's 32. Now, I can totally believe that a 19 year old girl who's been poor and sheltered her whole life falling instantly in love with a 32 year man who saved her from a street gang was possible. But a 32 year old man falling deeply in love with a 19 year old girl? Um, no. It's just SO DUMB. Why couldn't Charlene be older? Like 25? The hero and heroine from the previous book were 23 and 24. Totally logical age gap. But the next book, in which the poor Duke finally get's to fall in love, is with Charlene's 43 year old Aunt. He's 32 (Jack and the Duke are twins) and she's 43. Say what? I don't understand what was going on in Cathy Maxwell's head when she plotted these stories out.I hate, hate, HATED that Sarah, the aunt, interfered and wrote a letter to the Duke, warning him that Charlene and Jack were possibly seeing each other behind the Duke's back AND THEN, that the Duke threw a huge fit, threw his brother out, breaking their poor mother's heart, had him locked in a storm cellar, and then tried to have him forcibly removed from the country, all because he was jealous. THERE ARE SO MANY BETTER WAYS THIS COULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN. D-U-M-B.I'm not even sure why I decided to give it 2 stars instead of 1. Mostly because I have read books I disliked more than this one. Despite the dumb plot, it was well written (i.e. good grammar, sentence structure) and she gave good descriptions.Oh and by the way, the one love scene in the second the last chapter of the book was probably the lamest sex scene I've ever read. It was so boring and WAY too short after supposedly all this build up and them being so deeply in love. It was like she forgot she was writing a romance novel and just threw the lame scene together as an after thought.I am practically dreading reading the Duke and Sarah's book. I pray that it is ten million times better than this book. Hopefully he doesn't have another long lost brother somewhere, ready to pop up and try to steal his lady again.

This story had such potential relative to the characters. Who doesn't love a story about handsome twin lords, especially when they're separated at age 15 and one is believed to possibly be dead, but then shows up at a large social gathering in London's Society years later.What about a young lady who dresses as a thief on the side and runs about London picking pockets? Then, there's the 34 year old Aunt Sarah who tries to make ends meet as best as she can since she's responsible for Char and herself.When Char picks the wrong pocket and is chased down by the "missing" brother of the duke, Whitridge, who has returned to old England after running away from the family when he was 15 years old, she's in for the ride of her life. Coincidentally, Gavin, the duke has been set up to meet Char by a family friend who decides Char is the most suitable wife for Gavin because she has the best blood lines among all the current marriageable ladies.Now, to cut to the chase: I found myself struggling to stay interested due to the fact that the characters' personalities were not thoroughly developed. I liked them, but we didn't get enough of their thoughts, with the exception of Char's and even her persona lacked charisma. So much could have been made of all these fun people. Even so, I did laugh a couple of times, especially at the very end when the fireworks took off between Aunt Sarah and Gavin.Three stars for this one.

This book seems like a rookie effort which is disappointing considering Cathy Maxwell's other novels. The plot was so incredibly predictable and the writing was very plodding and boring. I am extremely disappointed. Maxwell has always been a reliable choice and I just love some of her novels but this one really missed the mark. The dialogue is weak and simplistic. The love scene had no steam at all and none of the characters were even all that likable. And don't get me started on the courting of Char by a duke who is supposed to be such a stickler and rather high in the instep. It made no sense.

My biggest problem with The Fairest of Them All is that it’s a sad story more than a romance. Gavin has lost his first bride to his youngest brother and now faces losing another to his twin. The portions of the book written from Gavin’s point of view were the most attractive to me, I felt like he really could love Charlene and her disregard for him made for an unappealing story. Jack was not the kind of hero that I want to root for. He abandoned his family for no apparent reason and doesn’t seem to have any real remorse for the pain he caused them. Jack’s decision to pursue Charlene was selfish and I didn’t believe that there was anything more than lust between them. The subplot with the Seven was weak and was resolved too easily and the diplomatic reasons for Jack’s reappearance seem particularly odd. One would think he would have written his family before showing up looking for favors, it just added to my low opinion of him.Cathy Maxwell writes well and the story does move at a good pace, I just found the characters unappealing and I was hoping for a different outcome for Gavin.

Oh, I do like Miss Maxwell's view on strong women, even in a time or especially in a time when women were expected to behave themselves, obey their husbands or other men in their lives, except that they were too strong mentally emotionally, or physically. Bah humbug!!

very good read

A good & intresting story.