The Governess Game: Girl Meets Duke

I don't think there was much carry over from the first book. I would have enjoyed a little more. Other, than that the style was true to the time period and the author

I missed the first in this series, and have rushed out and grabbed it, for I adored this read in one sitting title, and didn’t want to wait for the next book. Alexandria is an ‘unusual’ girl, her young life spent onboard her father’s ship, a penchant for astronomy, a talent with clocks, and her best friends with similar dispositions and disinterest in society’s whims. An encounter in a bookshop where she was reduced to a babbling mess, and lost the book she’d been searching for brings her into Chase’s proximity- a meeting that will fuel her dreams for months to come. Alex was a lovely and refreshing character: an unconventional start that reinforced her determination to set her own course: living life on her terms. Orphaned at twelve, then shuffled off to “proper’ schools until relations could consider their responsibility over, she’s desired family and built one with her best friends. But finding a way to support herself and put money away led her to provide a bi-monthly clock-works contract: setting clocks to the proper time for her clients, looking to save enough to purchase her own little cottage. Chase is the Duke presumptive, his Uncle’s three sons are all dead, the last in an alley in London while visiting Chase. Never expecting a title or the responsibility, Chase’s uncle is paralyzed and speechless, and Chase’ is handling all of the Ducal business (with help from his brother) while doing his best to scandalize the ton with his rakish behavior. But Chase is a ‘faker’ – his lips constantly tell everyone that he cares not for opinions of others, and that he wishes no responsibilities beyond finishing his own ‘man cave’, a self-constructed hideaway to revel in the sensual. He is a BIG faker though, he’s responsible for two young girls, ages 10 and 7, girls that have been shuffled around and unwanted most of their years – which means they are constantly testing and trying the boundaries, and the youngest has a penchant for gory and repeated deaths of her doll, many acted out with graphic enhancements. Chase has outfitted their rooms with every bobble, frill and book imaginable, he’s just certain that if he cares for them, they are as doomed as his young cousin who died in an alley when he should have been watching. Rosamund and Daisy are Chase’s wards: clever, insecure and wholly determined to push everyone away before they are put aside. Rosamund is a bookworm with keen observational skills, deft fingers and fiercely protective of Daisy. Daisy’s doll, Millicent, has succumbed to multiple deadly diseases, nursing and repeated eulogies: only to be exhumed and the process repeats. Causing no end of turnover of governesses, the last one staying only a day, the girls are soon to meet their match in Alex: even as the circumstances are less than conventional. Alex and Chase have this electric chemistry, and she sees right through his ‘nonchalant’ air: she sees his fear and frustration with the girls’ behavior, and his guilt and inability to believe that he is worth the love of anyone around him. She understands the fear and pain the girls are experiencing, and uses an unconventional series of lessons, couched in playing Pirates, and her management of Chase to take the girls out of the house, providing both enrichment and ‘quality time’ is lovely. Grab this book, and the one before it – you won’t regret it. I think I’ve found another auto-buy author for historic romance!

Funny and smart, I really enjoyed it. Nothing like the repeated stories of that kind of novels. Refreshing 😊