This was...ok. Not particularly captivating, but decent writing. There aren't really many sparks (of any kind) flying between our leads, which makes it difficult to really get invested in the story. A nice regency romance, but nothing that would keep you warm on a cold night.

A delightful historical romance, The Duke's Regret was very entertaining. I quite enjoyed the characters and the setting. I highly recommend this book.

Synopsis:
A chance meeting with a bereaved father makes Jeffrey, Duke of Gracechurch realise how hollow his own marriage and family life are. Persuaded to marry at a young age, he and his Duchess, Flora, live largely separate lives. Now he is determined to make amends to his wife and children and forge new relationships with them.

Flora does not know how to respond to her husband’s avowed change of heart. Her thoughts already turn to the future, when the children will have gone their own ways. Divorce would be out of the question, she knows, as she would be ruined socially, but no eyebrows would be raised at a discreet separation and, perhaps, even a new love.

This was the first book about Gracechurch that I have read. And I loved it! So many romance stories are about young ladies and gentlemen and first love. This is a story of a mature couple, a man who chooses to look for love with his own wife. Now, I want to find other books about this family.

This was a really good read for a short novel.
The characters were well developed and engaged you with the story from the start.
The story line was fairly predictable though.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a delight to read that I’m going to have to read the rest of the books in the series.

I'm definitely going to look for more from this author.

Heat Factor: Tame. There is a very sexy waltz, though.
Character Chemistry: More introspection than interaction.
Plot: Duke regrets lack of connection to wife and children, sets out to change his life.
Overall: A quiet read.

Reading The Duke’s Regret was a very different experience from reading my standard smut. There’s no melodrama, the passionate embraces are barely described, and the prose feels a bit old fashioned. Actually, the whole thing feels a bit old fashioned, like Kullman is trying to channel Georgette Heyer, or to capture non-anachronistic Regency language, or something. Unfortunately, because she doesn’t have Heyer’s sparkling wit, the end result does at times feel a bit… stodgy.

With that said, however, there were some really lovely things about this book. The old fashioned language may be stodgy, but it also means that we have a distinct lack of anachronistic feminist hoydens, which is a nice change of pace. The characters have interesting conversations about things like forms of address or how to properly educate their children, which is maybe not sexy, but it is important when you’re actually building a relationship around more than sex.

The basic premise is that the Duke of Gracechurch, while spending time with a friend who lost a son at Waterloo, realizes that he has no relationship with his wife of twenty years, not to mention his children. They were married young, in an arranged match, and he focused his love and energy on his long-term mistress (who predated his marriage). However, his mistress has been dead for years now, and he realizes that he’s lonely, so he sets out to reinsert himself into his family.

One thing that works really well is the dynamic that Kullman builds between Gracechurch and his wife. Gracechurch, in classic imperious duke fashion, shows up at the house and inserts himself into the daily routine and starts calling his wife “Flora” after twenty years of calling her “Duchess” - and Flora, rightly, calls him out on his nonsense. He doesn’t just get to decide that things are better because he wants them to be. He doesn’t just get to call her Flora, if the last time he used her given name was on their wedding day. He has to earn his place back in the family. So there is a bit of wooing and a bit of seducing, but a lot more of their time together sees him apologizing, or asking for a second chance, or just engaging in honest conversation. The conflict for Gracechurch, then, is how to build a relationship with people who he has been benignly neglecting for years, and it doesn’t come easily and magically with a bit of tree climbing. (Letting his 18 year old son drive his fancy gig does help, though.)

The conflict for Flora is whether or not to take the risk on letting her husband into her heart. She has no assurances, after all, that he has really changed for good. She barely knows the man, and has no idea what is going on with this whim of his. Because the conflict is so personal, there is very little melodrama, and the internal processing that Gracechurch and Flora go through is realistic.

Though I wouldn’t say that Gracechurch and Flora have great chemistry, there is one fabulously sexy scene where they dance together. A waltz! In the country! Now I finally see why this was so scandalous:

"His leg pushed between hers, causing her skirts to stroke her inner thighs with a delicious friction that had her pressing closer, seeking more. But then he turned her away so that they danced hip to hip, facing in opposite directions, but looking back flirtatiously in silent communion. He was extraordinarily inventive in varying the usual turns and holds but she had no difficulty following him. This was dancing of a different degree to any she had ever experienced, reminding her of whispered associations of a gentleman’s performance in the ballroom to his process in the bedchamber."

**Fans self.**

Most of the time, however, things are much more prosaic, and focused on the day-to-day realities of what it means to share a life with someone. Am I swooning or crying or laughing? No. Can I imagine these characters in the context of their setting, and enjoy watching them work out problems using tools that felt historically accurate? Absolutely.



I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Jeffrey, Duke of Gracechurch starts to reflect about his life after his mistress of many years has died. He agreed 17 years ago to marry his wife Flora to save the family fortune. Now he recognizes that he not only neglected his wife but also his children. He regrets this and vows to make amends. However, his wife Flora has made herself comfortable and is accustomed to his absences. Now the duke has to demonstrate to his wife that he wants to change and he is in a novel situation that it is not at all clear how his wife will react.
It is a lovely, slowly developing romance, where the reader sees the dukes intentions as well as Flora’s side. I enjoyed this different romance and would recommend it.

A light, and short, enjoyable Regency romance. The author clearly has researched the social mores of the period and writes well about these. The main characters are also well described and they develop nicely thank you. NetGalley's description was accurate - Duke and Duchess essentially live separate lives after an enforced marriage when he was 22 and she 17., and when he already had an established mistress. Eighteen or so years on, their eldest son about to go up to Oxford and a meeting with a man desolate after the loss of his eldest son makes the Duke review his own family situation. He determines to become a good father and husband and the book takes the reader through his trials, attempts and final success. It is the final part of a trilogy apparently. Whilst I enjoyed this story I'm not sure that I want to go back to the previous two assuming that they just flesh out those first eighteen years of marriage. I would suggest that readers read the three in sequence to get the most from the story. Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Duke of Gracechurch meets a friend and in spending some time with him he realizes he has missed out in his relationship with his family. He has been married for 18 years and hardly knows his wife or children. Can he mend his relationship with them? He decides to make the effort. His wife is a little hesitant but the children are very open to him as soon as he makes the effort. Can he regain the family and have a happy life?

I picked up the book after reading the blurb, but I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

With fabulous characters and a wonderfully written plot, this book manages to charm its way into the readers heart.
Filled with heartwarming moments and insights, this book was a delightful read.

This was an enjoyable book to read. It had two main characters. Jeffery and his wife who he has neglected over the years.. There is plenty of facts about life and how the rich lived to keep me reading to the end. It was not a soppy romance which I enjoyed reading.

The Duke’s Regret by Catherine Kullmann. BooksGoSocial, 2019. Duchess of Gracechurch #3.
Fans of good historical romances will remember nine masked muses who danced into a masquerade ball given to honour Wellington; these were Flora’s Fillies, young wives with distant husbands, featured in Kullmann’s The Murmur of Masks (#1, 2016, 366 p.) and Perception and Illusion (#2, 2017, 350 p.).

This shorter book, the third of the trilogy, is about Jeffrey and Flora, Duke and Duchess of Gracechurch, about seventeen years after their arranged marriage at age 22 and 16.

The Duke’s Regret, an engaging snapshot of a wealthy Regency era family at their country estate, is well written and positive with appealing characters developed consistently. The story begins with Jeffrey’s epiphany. After years of benign neglect, he realizes he wants to become part of his family. We come to understand Jeffrey’s distance and Flora’s strength and resilience and develop a fondness for their three wonderful children. It is a book to enjoy.

We are re-introduced to the Malvin family and there is an excerpt to the first in the Malvin series at the end of this book, which I look forward to reading. But what about the other six dancing muses? Why just a trilogy?

Disclosure: I received a review copy of The Duke’s Regret for free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
This was so delightful and I’m going to have to read the rest of these books now. This author is new to me and I loved this story! It is a stand alone and I would call this a second chance romance. Loved, loved, loved the characters in this one. This is some of the best regency romance I’ve ever read.

Things I loved:
* Jeffery! ❤️
* The romance.
* May fest
* HEA

If you want something done well then this author is one you have to try. Trust me, it was good!

This was a NETGALLEY gift and all opinions are my own and I’ve given an honest review. Happy Reading!

Good, solid historical romance. It reflect the sensibilities of the time but makes for some really dull reading. I don't think I would be able to recommend this author other than to say it's readable but unexciting.