Book Review: The Duke’s Bride by Erica Ridley

Book 6 of the 12 Dukes of Christmas series, “The Duke’s Bride” is a historical rom-com delight complete with an international smuggler and a French aristocrat.

If that sounds so sinister, please don’t get your hackles up. Author Erica Ridley added so many humorous moments that it’s actually a frolic in a snow.

The Duke’s Bride (12 Dukes of Christmas Book 6)

This is not your usual historical romance. Our hero, Jack Skeffington was an outlaw so similar to those who smuggled liquor from Canada to the U.S. during prohibition that you simply could not help but be thankful they exist. “The Duke’s Bride” was set around the French Revolution when obtaining the highly desirable and covetable French wines simply could not be had using normal channels. Hence, the birth of smuggling across the English Channel.

Speaking of the French Revolution, our heroine Mademoiselle Désirée le Duc belonged to the French aristocracy. She and her brothers were the only ones in their family to escape the guillotine and found safety in England only with the clothes on their back.

To survive, they had to work and to help out her family, Désirée became a temporary governess to Skeffington’s 10-year old twins. She was just supposed to give them lessons, but Désirée found herself falling in love with the twins and soon enough, she also fell in love with their father.

So Désirée had to choose – go back to France and reclaim her heritage or stay in England to be with the man she loved. She was in the proverbial “damn if you do and damn if you don’t” because choosing either one would mean losing something she loved.

“The Duke’s Bride” is a historical rom-com so there really was no existentialist monologue worthy of Descartes. Still, the dilemma that Désirée was in provided enough drama to tug at your heartstrings. How this was resolved is the surprising ending of the story.

“The Duke’s Bride” is Rated T for Teens. Parental guidance strongly advised due to some sexual content that is so far from being graphic, but it is still there, nonetheless.