I'm not sure about this one — Caroline Linden has definitely done better. I don't think Kate is an especially engaging heroine, though I was rooting for her at the beginning: her whole 'helplessly fades into the background' complex is something I do understand. Gerard was wonderful and mostly quite dreamy, though his emotional process at the end leaves something to be desired.

Linden doesn't give us his Realisation that he loves Kate, which I find a bit disappointing.

 

A lot of this is about the blackmail plot that runs through the Truth About the Duke trilogy. There was a lot of plot stuff in book 1 too, but I felt that was more elegantly balanced with the romance than it is in this one. That isn't to say that we don't get emotional growth between Gerard and Kate (there's this lovely moment when Gerard storms out but on his angry walk, he thinks through their argument and realises that he's been an arse). But for a marriage of convenience novel, it doesn't feel like they come especially far in their relationship.

Kate is apparently already in love with Gerard from the beginning, but I'm just not convinced by her actions or words.

The romance feels sparse (though there's plenty of sex) and there are loads of random secondary characters who don't enrich the book at all. Also, I don't care for the blackmail plot more than the romance, so it's a shame that featured so prominently in this. 

3 stars? 2.5? 3.5? I'm too sleepy to say. I'm a diehard Caroline Linden fan, so I read this, but if you're not then perhaps this is worth a miss.