Review: The Unclaimed Duchess by Jenna Petersen.

Posted September 1, 2010 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Rowena’s review of The Unclaimed Duchess (The Billingham Bastards series, Book 2) by Jenna Petersen.

After a lifetime of unrequited love with her arranged fiancé, Anne Danvers has finally become the Duchess of Waverly. But just a few days into her marriage, her husband vanishes. Rhys Carlisle, Duke of Waverly has spent his life knowing he was better than everyone else because of his impeccable bloodline.

But when he finds out everything he was told was a lie and he is in actually a bastard son of the late Duke of Billingham, his world is destroyed. He never expects his new wife to chase after him or demand she not be written out of his life. Nor does he expect the passion he feels for her to transform into love. But even as the two grow closer, Rhys’s dark secret looms in the distance, along with a blackmailer who could destroy any future Rhys and Anne have dared to dream.

This is the second book in the Billingham Bastards series and it was a book that I was looking forward to reading after having finished and enjoyed the first book. In the first book, we meet both the hero and the heroine in this book. Rhys (the hero) was a total pompous ass who thought too highly of himself, which I guess comes with the territory of being a Duke and all but still, it was kind of annoying in the first book. So annoying that when we find out some scandalous bit of news about the upright, uptight Duke, I laughed.

However, getting to know him made me want to punch him out a few times but all in all, I enjoyed getting to know him. I enjoyed the slow change that came over him. I thought Anne was completely good for him, too good at times. There were times when I wanted Anne to just walk away from his honor and his duty. The way that Anne just gave and gave and gave to him, completely while he kept his damn secret from her made me want to club him over the head with a baseball bat.

I understand that you can’t help who you love but good golly, Anne just kept giving and giving and Rhys kept taking and taking without giving her anything in return and he said that he was doing all of this for her protection? Ugh, it was slowly driving me insane but alls well that ends well because he did right by her at the end and for that, I liked him. Did I like him more than Simon? Nope but I did end up liking him. Petersen did a fine job of drawing Rhys’ character out. She showed the slow change in him and I enjoyed the ride.

Anne was a great heroine that in a way was too good to be true. For a good chunk of the book, I thought she deserved so much more than Rhys and would get frustrated when she would continue to be there for him when he clearly didn’t deserve her devotion. She gave the saying, “Beside every man is a great woman” great meaning because Rhys without Anne was one stuffy ol’ bore so I’m glad that he had her and that he grew into the man that he became at the end of the book.

While I enjoyed the book, the characters and what I can only imagine what’s to come, the beginning dragged a bit and the end was a bit rushed. The lead up to the grand finale at the end of the book felt a bit too easy for me but on the whole, I enjoyed the book and would recommend this book to historical lovers of Jenna Petersen’s other novels. Even though it’s not my favorite story of Petersen’s, it was still a good book and I’m kind of anxious for the next book in this series. I’m very curious about Caleb Talbot. I cannot wait to see more from him especially since I can’t for the life of me remember if I read about his falling out with his brother, Justin. Oh man, I just know it’s going to be good.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here.