{"id":12758,"date":"2020-04-17T17:55:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T21:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12758"},"modified":"2025-10-01T17:40:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T21:40:23","slug":"the-duchess-war-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12758","title":{"rendered":"The Duchess War"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duchess War<\/a><\/em> (2012) Courtney Milan<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Set in England in 1863<\/p>\n

Minnie has spent her adolescence learning how to be quiet. Unnoticed. Unexceptional. When she was taken in by her great aunts, she agreed with them this would be the best path for her, but now she has reached the point where she needs to wed–her great aunts won’t live forever, and once Aunt Caro dies she’ll have nothing and nowhere to go. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know what it is like to be a woman in these modern times? Gentlemen marry less and less these days. I read that thirty-four percent of genteel young ladies reach the age of twenty-seven without marrying. I don\u2019t need anything shameful in my past. Anything outside the ordinary, no matter how harmless it might seem, is a catastrophe.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont believes he has a great deal to repent. His father destroyed many things, but in that destruction gave him one unexpected gift: his half-brother Oliver, who is now Robert’s man-of-business and best friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur father was an ass.\u201d <\/p>\n

Oliver grimaced. \u201cYour father,\u201d he said sharply. \u201cThe Duke of Clermont didn\u2019t raise me. He didn\u2019t take me fishing. He\u2019s my sire, not my father. He was never my father.\u201d By that standard, Robert had been raised by teaspoons and blades of grass. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t speaking as a matter of history,\u201d Robert said stiffly. \u201cJust biology.\u201d <\/p>\n

Oliver shook his head. \u201cFamily isn\u2019t a matter of history. Or biology,\u201d he said softly. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of choice. And don\u2019t look so grim. You know what I meant. Just because I refuse to let that man be my father doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t be my brother.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And we get a teeny tiny bit of Sebastian and Violet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew perfectly well what you meant,\u201d Sebastian said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve always found that the quickest way to make someone relent in his foolish edicts is to take every command literally and to perform it with flagrant obedience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSebastian,\u201d Violet replied, calmly looping the yarn about one of her needles, \u201cit is neither proper nor respectful to let a woman know that you think of her as nothing more than a hole.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Lydia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like to remember, and he makes me remember. Every time I laugh, he looks at me, judging me for my frivolity. I can\u2019t stand being around him.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI had no notion,\u201d Minnie said, moving over to sit beside her friend. <\/p>\n

\u201cI work so hard for my frivolity.\u201d Lydia\u2019s hands were shaking. \u201cHow dare he judge me for it!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not like I don’t like Minnie and Robert. It’s just that I love Sebastian and Violet, and I adore Lydia.<\/p>\n

The door rattled once, then again. A few moments later, after some more extremely loud fumbling with the handle, Lydia opened the door. She came in carrying a pitcher of water. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat,\u201d Minnie said, \u201cmust be water fetched all the way from Bath. Did you walk there yourself or take the train?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All of which is really unfair to Robert and Minnie. Robert is is invested in being the opposite of his father, and in become a good man. Minnie is smart and witty and has to hide all of that to survive.<\/p>\n

It’s a good story, and I enjoyed re-reading it. But really, it was so I could go on and re-read the other books I adore.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan Set in England in 1863 Minnie has spent her adolescence learning how to be quiet. Unnoticed. Unexceptional. When she was taken in by her great aunts, she agreed with them this would be the best path for her, but now she has reached the point where she needs to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,30,207,41,26,56],"tags":[50,719,128,729,212,557],"class_list":["post-12758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-british","category-mental-health-rep","category-reread","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-boinking","tag-brothers-sinister","tag-courtney-milan","tag-industrial-revolution","tag-ptsd","tag-victorian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3jM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4803,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4803","url_meta":{"origin":12758,"position":0},"title":"The Duchess War","author":"Michelle","date":"August 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan This is the first(ish) book in the series, and the third book I read. Wilhelmina Pursling has a past she is desperately hiding from. She's changed her name and hidden with obscurity with her two great-aunts, and pushed down everything she once was, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Duchess-War","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/The-Duchess-War.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5694,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5694","url_meta":{"origin":12758,"position":1},"title":"The Duchess War","author":"Michelle","date":"February 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan .Set in England in 1863 Another re-read, and although good, I don't love it as much as the Countess Conspiracy. But not for lack of trying on the part of the story. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen this before. And it\u2019s really not my sort of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Duchess-War","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/The-Duchess-War.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9179,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9179","url_meta":{"origin":12758,"position":2},"title":"The Duchess War","author":"Michelle","date":"August 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan Set in England in 1863. Minerva Lane has been hiding. Hiding from her past and her childhood, and even her name, going by another name, Wilhelmina Pursling. No one but her great aunts knows of her past, not even her best friend Lydia, whose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/The-Duchess-War.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24331,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24331","url_meta":{"origin":12758,"position":3},"title":"The Duchess War","author":"Michelle","date":"March 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Duchess War (2012) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister #1) Set in Leicester, England in 1863 \u201cYour Grace,\u201d Stevens finally said, \u201cyour concern does you justice.\u201d The man\u2019s toad-eating did him none. Robert met Stevens\u2019s eyes. \u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s called basic human decency, and I deserve no credit for doing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Duchess War","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/The-Duchess-War.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9181,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9181","url_meta":{"origin":12758,"position":4},"title":"A Kiss for Midwinter","author":"Michelle","date":"August 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A Kiss for Midwinter (2012) Courtney Milan Set in England in 1863. Lydia was a secondary character in The Duchess War and this is her story--how she found true love despite her past. Dr Grantham also appeared in The Duchess War, although far less than Lydia, but he is still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/A-Kiss-for-Midwinter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24335,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24335","url_meta":{"origin":12758,"position":5},"title":"The Countess Conspiracy","author":"Michelle","date":"March 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Countess Conspiracy (2013) Courtney Milan (Brothers Sinister #3) Set in Cambridge in 1867 \"...the chance that a male cat will show tortoiseshell coloring is so small we cannot calculate it\u2014one in a thousand, perhaps. My theory provides no explanation for such smallness.\u201d The woman\u2019s voice was beginning to rise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Countess Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/The-Countess-Conspiracy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}