Kathryn, the Duchess of Harrington, is the perfect duchess; she is polite and proper and has a very cordial relationship with her husband. But beneath the surface both she and the duke are suffering after a horrible miscarriage and since then Robert has only infrequently come to her bed and she worries that their relationship will be far too proper. She is sheltered and unsure how to show her husband that she wants to improve their relationship and so she enlists the help of her lifelong friend, Linette. Robert has noticed the distance that has grown between him and Kathryn but is also unsure to bridge it; he worries that she has not recovered from the loss of their child and does not want to hurt her by pushing the issue. Finally Kathryn works up the courage to try to take her marriage to the next level when a horrifying cartoon appears that implies Harrington and Linette are having an affair and a child. Suddenly her relationship with her friends and her husband are thrown in jeopardy and she must work through them with the help of her husband.
This first book in the Duchesses series introduces how all the women came to be friends through a cartoon hung in a shop window and their relationship to each other progressed very naturally as they got to know Annabelle and each other in a whole new light. Kathryn and Robert were wonderful together and it was so great to read about a married couple falling in love and working through some very difficult emotions and problems. I admired how well the miscarriage was handled and not brushed aside but not completely bringing down the tone of the novel. It was really perfect for a novel of this size and there was nothing superfluous or dragged out. There was not very much sex but what was there was well written, if not exactly awe inspiring after waiting so long and reading about how in lust these two were with each other. They worked well together and I felt like their relationship was on very solid footing and that they would continue to be friends as well as helpmates and I enjoyed the little, very tiny, problem that arose in the form of the cartoon and that they handled it like adults.
Rating: A very good emotional storyline featuring two people in a relationship I was very much rooting for with a well done little bump in the road.
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