Our snarky sisters are starting to feel like young children after a long day in the car - are we there yet? No, not yet. Okay, so buckle in because here we go again with these crazy Wildes! Only this part of the trip is like driving through 20 hours of the desert in the Southwestern United States . . . very boring.
We continue our journey through The Wildes of Lindow Castle series by Eloisa James with book five Say Yes to the Duke, which follows the love affair of Viola and her main squeeze the Duke of Wynter. Viola, if you will remember, is the Duchess Ophelia's child by her first marriage and has lived as a Wilde since the age of two. She is best friends with her step sister Joan who is her same age.
Viola is very shy, to the point of vomiting in public situations like breakfasts and balls, and she hates to be around men she doesn't know. The Duke of Wynter, Devin, is convinced he needs to make one of the Wilde daughters his Duchess for some convoluted reason. I mean I guess Duke's daughters are rare but seems odd to narrow in on one specific family only - he's putting all his dukes' daughters in one basket as it were.
But his uncle wants him to wed Viola, the daughter of one of his father's only friends - no not the uncle's friend, that would make more sense, I am talking about Devin's dead father's friend so not sure why the uncle is fighting that battle. Either way Devin is not having it because as he rudely, but accurately, points out - she doesn't actually have Wilde blood flowing through her veins. Although he never fully explains why this disqualifies her because she was still raised as a Duke's daughter with the same upbringing as Viola. All very confusing but luckily his protestations only last for the first few chapters.
Unfortunately, Viola is eavesdropping and overhears this bit of truth which upsets her to no end (but being called a meek mouse she is totally fine with). For some reason, that makes it easier to talk with the Duke through banter and insults when they finally do meet. Viola's honest response and reaction to him only seem to enchant the Duke so he begins a plan to woo her and ends up compromising her instead. And then they get married and the rest of the book is just filled with lots of unnecessary sex scenes. Just overkill.
Overall the story plodded along with no real issues except that it was a little. . .well. . . boring. Not much happens and the drama the author tries to hype up throughout the novel just falls flat. Our snarky sisters try to remember all the ins and outs, timelines, facts, etc. of this book. . . and fail miserably. . .because it was so uninteresting.
Content Warning: This episode contains mild adult language as well as adult themes and situations.
