Exclusive interview with author Laura Lee Guhrke and a review of her new novel about a Victorian Duke and a marriage of convenience
Rating Three Stars
by Gabrielle Pantera
“I had been wanting to do a marriage-of-convenience story for a long time, but I couldn’t see how,” says How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days author Laura Lee Guhrke. “It’s a very popular plot in historical romance, but I’d never written it because it’s always so predictable. Boy meets girl, they make a deal…money for protection, or money for a title, or whatever. They get married, and over the course of the next few months of living together, the deal falls apart because they can’t resist each other, and they fall in love. But I didn’t want to go that route.”
The book opens with American heiress Edie needing a marriage of convenience and Stuart, Duke of Margrave, needing money to save his family. They make a bargain. In return for the cash Edie asks Stuart to leave the England and never return. The Duke likes to travel and agrees. After Stuart is badly injured he realizes he wants to go back to England and make a real marriage. Can he convince his wife to learn to love him and share their life together? Will she let him come home? She gives him ten days to convince her.
The premise is great for a historical romance. There is humor and wit, but at times Gurhrke gets bogged down with such deep plot points that it slows the story down. The characters are at cross-purposes for much of the book but there are some nice moments when the characters connect but it takes a while to get there. There is some sex in the book.
“To me, many marriage-of-convenience plots fall apart midway through the book because it’s so obvious the two people are going to get it together,” says Guhrke. “They’re married. They’re living in the same house, they’re attracted. It’s only a matter of time…snooze. I wanted to put a fresh spin on the whole thing. So I started wondering what would happen if instead of the deal falling apart, the deal worked like it was supposed to. Boy meets girl, they make the deal, and then go their separate ways. And then, years later, something happens to change the status quo, forcing the two people back together.”
Guhrke says she had little additional research to do because most of her books are late Victorian period. “Which I know pretty well by now. But details always need to be researched. For example, the book opens with a prologue of Stuart in Africa, so there was research on the Kikuyu, safari, things like that.”
Guhrke has been nominated for a Rita award five times and won once. She’s also been nominated for a few awards from Romantic Times.
Guhrke is currently writing the third book in her series: An American Heiress in London. The first book of this series, When The Marquess Met His Match, came out last November. How To Lose A Duke In Ten Days is out now, and Catch A Falling Heiress comes out next February.
Guhrke lives in Idaho. She was born in Southern California. Her website is www.lauraleeguhrke.com.
How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days: An American Heiress in London Series (Book 2) by Laura Lee Guhrke. Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages, Publisher: Avon (April 29, 2014), Language: English, ISBN: 9780062118196 $7.99. Kindle: File Size: 979 KB, Print Length: 389 pages, Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0062118196, Publisher: Avon (April 29, 2014) Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers, Language: English, ASIN: B00G97C51K $5.49
