ARC Review of No Ordinary Duchess by Elizabeth Hoyt
Rating: 4.25/5 Heat Level: 3.75/5 Publication Date: December 10th
Premise:
Lady Elspeth de Moray is on a mission to find an ancient diary that will heal the secretive organization she's a part of. The diary is located in the library of Julian Greycourt, a family enemy who is also on the hunt for a book that will take down his villainous uncle.
My review:
ELIZABETH HOYT IS BACK. No Ordinary Duchess is a BANGER and the romantic dynamic harkens to her older works in the best way. Hoyt does starchy, repressed, secretly-freaky heroes so well (Godric St. John from Lord of Darkness, Maximus from Duke of Midnight), and Julian Greycourt is the perfect next iteration: He's STERN, he's tortured, and he's..... submissive?? Exactly the twist on stern, starchy heroes I needed in my 2024 historical romances. I particularly love the dynamic of a stern GRIM man paired with a sunshine-y heroine like Elspeth, who, to be clear, is not a pushover and has a spine of steel. It's hysterical to see Julian forever torn between outrage and being suuuuuper turned on by Elspeth against his better judgement, especially considering she's the sister of the man who allegedly killed Julian's sister. That being said, this isn't an enemies to lovers book; both Julian and Elspeth have external villians to battle, and really, a lot of their conflict lies in the fact that Julian went through trauma and emotional abuse from his evil duke uncle (the series boogeyman Julian is trying to thwart) that made him push away a lot of the people he loved for their own safety, and he's still doing that. He doesn't want to want Elspeth but he can't help himself— it's fascinating to read how Elspeth, sensing all of this, wants to take care of him as much as she wants him to serve her, and Julian is her perfect counterpart in both senses.
I ADORE Elspeth. She's cheerful and guileless (no wonder, considering she grew up in an isolated all-women compound and was educated in a unconventional way for the time period), but she's also a lady on a mission; Elspeth is a part of the Wise Women, a group dedicated to helping Britain's women. The Wise Women (who refer to themselves as HAGS.... they're definitely not escaping the witchy allegations even if they're a very real underground organization in this universe) are falling apart and Elspeth is convinced finding the thousand year-old diary of their old leader will bring them together once more. It's this search that pushes the plot forward, and ultimately it's the in-text AND plot excuse needed for Elspeth to stay with Julian in an isolated place for a long period of time (with everyone else initially assuming she's the woman Julian has paid to tend to his, uh, special needs).
The sex:
It's SO rare to read an explicit D/s dynamic on-page, particularly with a dominant woman and a submissive man. It's not something Elizabeth Hoyt has done either, as far as I'm aware, but the execution here was excellent. Julian haaaaates himself for his *UNNATURAL desires* but Elspeth teaches him not to kinkshame himself. Eventually (starting with her finding kinky porn hidden under hia bed and him getting sooooo pressed about it lolol).
Also, Elspeth isn't what you physically think of when you think "dominant woman", and I love how Hoyt subverts expectations. Elspeth is a petite, curvy redhead (yes, Julian does muse about her "titties", as is Right and Proper for a Hoyt hero) who's also several years younger than Julian and is, in fact, a virgin, but she knows what she wants and she's quite good at asking it of Julian. Julian is more of a service oriented sub who loves to give Elspeth pleasure as much as she loves receiving it— so there's a lot of oral, a good amount of titty worship because of course— and there's also a nonsexual component to him serving her, like this super tender scene where he combs her hair after a bath.
Overall:
What I love about this book is just how quietly subversive it is for the genre while still staying true to some of the most popular historical romance tropes. If that's something you vibe with, then I'd strongly recommend this book, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the Greycourt series!
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
