Quick Sips: Wedded to the Cruel Duke by Claire Devon
Lady Phoebe is a spinster, perfectly content to spend her time journaling and observing the world around her. Her favorite subject to observe and write about in her notebook is her mysterious neighbor, the Marquees of Wentworth. Unfortunately, her notebook goes missing, exposing her one-sided familiarity with this man leading to fast-spreading gossip. With her family at the brink of scandal, she tries to find a solution to stop them from having to retreat from society.
Enter Charles, the Marquees of Wentworth- possibly paranoid, possibly a spy. Either way, he feels the need to offer Phoebe the protection of his name. Perhaps it has a bit to do with their surprise night-time meeting as she was searching for her runaway cat. Did she awaken something in this stoic and serious man?
Once entered into this rushed marriage, Phoebe and Charles must find common ground, or even better, a happy married life. Charles is a stickler for rules and he has plenty he expects Phoebe to follow. Phoebe is a stickler for breaking rules that don’t make sense to her. As she warms his heart, he finds himself unexpectedly allowing for compromise. Will his newfound flexibility and her stubbornness lead to danger?
Mysterious MMC
Claire Devon created a mysterious MMC and actually kept him mysterious. I found myself trying to guess whether he was actually a spy at all or just someone afraid of danger at every turn. It means that Charles gets less of a backstory and POV, but it was enjoyable to get to more realistically relate to Phoebe’s feelings of uncertainty about her new husband and home.
Despite all of his bizarre rules to keep him and his wife safe, Charles does bend whenever he can, leading to some super sweet moments between him and his wife. He works through his fears to be able to allow his wife what she needs to find comfort in his home, even though he is sometimes terrified. The love between them does seem very genuine after the walls are taken down. The picnic- adorable and gives him many brownie points in my eyes.
What about the Journal?
One thing that I felt I missed out on was knowing what was in Phoebe’s journal. Why did the Marquess never question her about it? I wonder if he knew the extent of her observations of him, knowing his daily schedule, would he have been more suspicious of her? Perhaps he would have just been aroused from her romantic fangirlings. We will never know.
A Real Family
Even though it does not appear that Devon’s other books in this series feature any of the side characters from this one, I appreciate that she provided fully fleshed-out characters and relationships between them. Phoebe’s family in particular felt very complete. I wish that they would have their own stories, but I guess I can’t get everything I want. There is a bonus epilogue available, so I’ll take what I can.
Is everything as it seems?
I am still not completely convinced that the Marquess is not just crazy. He gave me a bit of King George vibes. Reflecting back, I realized the 3rd act danger is not actually related to the Marquess’s mysterious history at all. Could it just be a coincidence? I am not sure if Devon meant for it to be ambiguous, but maybe we should question some of Charles’s thoughts. Even his staff may seem to be indulging him a bit. I wonder if anyone else read this book and thought this way? Let me know in the comments!
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