Review posted: Happily Ever After - Reads
Blog rating: D+

Abigail is twenty-three years old and has decided that she wants to take a lover. After living with her sister, she’s also decided that she doesn’t want marriage, having seen how her sister changed all because of her horrible marriage. But Abigail wants passion and knows that the Duke of Wallingford will make the perfect first lover for her.

Wallingford is a rake, sleeping with too many women, so many that he can’t remember their names the next morning. His Grandfather (a man who likes to meddle) arranges a marriage to force Wallingford’s hand. He’s having none of that and takes his friend (and Uncle) Burke up on his offer of living for a year away from the city. It’s a year that Wallingford plans to use for reflection and no, absolutely no sex. He meets Abigail and those thoughts fly right out the window, even though he tries hard to resist her.

This story is part three of this series, a series that had three couple’s stories happening simultaneously, and we’d get bits and pieces in the background for the supporting characters and part of the fun for me, was trying to figure out what was happening behind the scenes with the other characters. Abigail was so charming and very funny in the prior two books, she’d say off the wall, random things or come into a scene covered in feathers, it was funny and had me so curious about this unique woman. Unfortunately, I found her story to be a bit lacking here. She’s still the same free spirit, who acts and talks with truth, what you see is what you get with her, and all her emotions she wears on her sleeve. But there was something missing. I expected more humor from her and Wallingford and that wasn’t really present and I definitely expected more romance, which fell flat.

Part of the romance problem comes from the first time Wallingford and Abigail have sex. First, for a man who’s said to have hopped from bed to bed since he was 15 years old to have taken Abigail’s virginity and not know how to please her – Abigail was annoyed and I was pissed for her! I couldn’t buy in at all that this man, who’s supposed to have been a notorious rake, sleeping with woman after woman, has no idea how to actually please a woman? NO WAY. Even more, Wallingford had no clue that Abigail didn’t climax during their first time and he had to study up to figure out where he was going wrong. Now, this does lead to Abigail becoming a very, very happy woman in bed with Wallingford, it was just something that I couldn’t believe and couldn’t move past.

As the story starts to wind down, the whole series focused on a curse that was set hundreds of years ago. To break the curse of Wallingford’s ancestors, he must pledge his love and devotion to Abigail to break the spell…it doesn’t happen. The curse was flat out confusing. It involves two past lovers, their spirits, ghosts, their servants, a brother comes into play somehow. By the time the curse came to a head, I wasn't interested at all. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but Abigail comes up with a plan for Wallingford to find himself like he had planned to do initially with his year of reflection and solitude at the castle. The couple does get their happy ending, but the events that Abigail proposes and Wallingford accepts just felt plain odd. The entire ending left a weird taste from a separation, to Wallingford's journey to his return with a surprise waiting for him. Frankly, none of the events at the end made much sense to me.

I’m sad to say that overall I was disappointed with this story. I liked some moments from Abigail and once Wallingford studied up on how to please his lover in bed, the couple had some sexy scenes together. But there were too many moments that didn’t work for me and it's not a story I would recommend.

3.5 I imagine the storyline would be fairly difficult to follow, or at least feel very choppy, for those who haven't read the previous two books in the series. But for those who have, Gray gifts us with another lusciously-written confection of a comic romance. The whole curse plot I could live without, but the interplay and affection between Abigail and Wallingford is sweetly portrayed.

Impatient with the strictures of polite British society, Miss Abigail Harewood has decided to live life on her own terms—and the first thing she requires is a lover. When the commanding Duke of Wallingford arrives on the doorstep of her leased holiday castle, she thinks she’s found the perfect candidate: handsome, dashing, and experienced in the art of love.

But tempting Wallingford into her bed proves more difficult than she imagined. Restless and dissatisfied with his debauched life in London, the formerly rakish duke is determined to spend a year chaste. But as Abigail tries her best to seduce him, Wallingford finds his resolve crumbling in the face of her irresistible charm…and her alluring secrets.
**

From Booklist

Starred Review If the Duke of Olympia thinks that his grandson, the Duke of Wallingford, would be willing to spend a year in the Italian countryside without the benefit of female companionship, he must be crazy. But when he hears about his grandson’s latest scandalous exploit with one of the many ladies of London willing to give him their favor, he immediately begins plotting a campaign to see his grandson married before the year is through. Suddenly, a year in Italy doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. Of course, Wallingford’s little philosophical sojourn at Castel sant’Agata doesn’t take into account the fact that he will be sharing his new abode with three Englishwomen, including Miss Abigail Harewood, who decides it is high time for her to take a lover and believes Wallingford is just the man for the job. With this deliciously romantic, wickedly witty confection linked to the splendidly entertaining A Lady Never Lies and A Gentleman Never Tells (both 2012), Gray makes one of the best trilogy debuts in years, proving she is a literary force to be reckoned with. Readers will shout, Bravissima! --John Charles

Review

Praise for Juliana Gray:

“Juliana Gray has a stupendously lyrical voice.”—Meredith Duran, New York Times bestselling author

“Juliana Gray is on my auto buy list.”—Elizabeth Hoyt, New York Times bestselling author

This book was funnier than it might seem in the description. It's got ghosts and curses and a haunted castle, but also a determined heroine and former rake hero.

The seduction scene turned the trope of the "virgin loves sex the first time" upside down. The hero rushes to the act and then when it's over the heroine yells at him and tells him how awful it was. Loved that bit.

tedious.

O começo estava super engraçado e aí foi ficando…… meh. Uma avaliação mais accurate seria 2.5

Better than the first. I liked the dynamic between the two leads although I thought the ending dragged on a bit which is different than all my usual complaints.

3.5 really