The Duchess Hunt by Jennifer Haymore
Review by Issa S. (Issa-345)
Jennifer Haymore’s new House of Trent series begins with young Sarah Osborne, the gardener’s daughter, falling into a blackberry bush. Fortunately the young Duke of Trent, Simon Hawkins, is handy to save her and brings her to meet his mother, a Duchess unlike most duchesses…she’s open, engaging, and caring and treats Sarah more like a member of the family then a servant.
Many years later, Simon returns to the family home, as his mother has disappeared without a trace. In the years between the prologue and the beginning, Sarah has become the head house maid and Simon has joined parliament and lived a non scandalous life in London to live down the scandal his mother and father and their numerous affairs caused the family name. Three years prior to Simon’s return, he and Sarah shared a kiss that left them infatuated with each other…but a maid and a duke have no future and they both know it.
The book continues with the search for the Duchess. We meet the rest of the siblings, 4 brothers and 1 sister, all of whom will likely get their own stories. The mystery of the Duchess is not solved in this book and during the search Simon encounters even more mystery, murder, lies, deceit, and secrets that will change his life and the lives of his siblings. To save them Simon needs to make a choice, protect his family, or embrace Sarah.
Things I liked.
The mystery of the missing duchess, an interesting new twist.
The emotion of from both Simon and Sarah when Simon makes his choice and from Simon as he debates what to do. I felt it right down to my toes.
The characters. I liked both Sarah and Simon and found the family itself enjoyable (except for brother Luke, a man with a huge chip on his shoulder. Rude and an all around jerk, but no explanation is given as to why).
Things that didn’t work.
We are told early in the story that the Hawkins names was buried in scandal due to their parents infidelity, and as a result Simon lives by a strict moral code. His siblings mention it often. But we are only told about this. Not one single example is shown and quite frankly, I couldn’t believe either part.
Not enough emphasis was placed on the missing duchess. The search was a little weak and it didn’t seem like the siblings cared all that much about her disappearance. Again, another aspect told but never shown.
I give the book 3.5 stars mostly because there was too much telling without show. I also found the ending to be a bit odd. But it’s a good start to a new series and I look forward to the next one.
