The Duke's Shotgun Wedding by Stacy Reid

This is not a fluffy love story but one with great emotional intelligence and depth. This could've been a great opportunity to show that a HEA doesn't have to require genetic children or penetrative intercourse, because that's absolutely achievable, but instead it left me feeling very displaced. It made it feel like the only route for them to be happy was if the Duke continued to push himself and magically overcame his paralysis to walk again, which was echoed in how his impotence was handled. But given that this is the kind of rhetoric used to dismiss the real limitation of people who have chronic disabilities, it took away from the story for me. There's a lot of 'if he just tries hard enough, he'll get past it', which, to be fair, is how it works within the narrative. The Duke in question is disabled and presumed impotent, and I grew increasingly uncomfortable with how that was handled, especially wrt the HEA. However, it really fell apart for me in the last third. It was such an interesting dynamic to navigate, and I liked the tension the author brought. The characters were set up well, and I really enjoyed their introduction to each other. I really liked this premise, and I enjoyed the first third or so.

Except not in the way Katherine expected. Before she knows it, Katherine has transformed herself into Kitty Danvers, charming and clever belle of the ton - with everyone eager to meet her thankfully absent fiance.īut when the enigmatic Alexander Masters suddenly arrives in the city, dashing and oh so angry, he demands retribution. Then it's interviews with reporters eager for gossip. At first, it's just a few new ball gowns on the duke's accounts. Soon, though, everything is out of control. Surely he'll never find out before her sisters' weddings and she can go back to her own quiet life. She'll impress the ton by simply announcing she is engaged to the reclusive and mysterious Duke of Thornton, Alexander Masters, and secure strong matches for her sisters. But now with her family on the brink of financial ruin, she finds herself a desperate wallflower. Miss Katherine Danvers has always been a wallflower.

The Duke's Shotgun Wedding by Stacy Reid