Cursed & Cherished - The Duke's Wilful Wife

by Bree Wolf

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They married with expectations. None of them included love. Edmond Dunsworth, Duke of Cromwell, needs a wife. Not a partner. Not a confidante. Just someone with a generous dowry and no inconvenient opinions. Anna Hanford, merchant’s daughter and unwilling bride, is not what he signed up for—and she knows it. Their marriage begins not with vows of affection, but with mutual disdain.

She refuses to be tamed. He refuses to be ignored. And somehow, they begin to see each other. Their exchanges are sharp, every glance a challenge. But as tempers flare and pride takes the lead, Edmond and Anna discover something surprising behind each argument: curiosity, chemistry, and the fragile stirrings of something neither one expected. Because love doesn’t always arrive softly. Sometimes it enters shouting.

Between insult and intrigue, hearts begin to shift. They didn’t choose each other. Not really. But the more they speak—and listen—the more they begin to wonder: What if love isn’t about winning? What if it’s about meeting in the middle, seeing one another clearly, and daring to want what they never thought they could have?

He bargained for her dowry. She fought for her freedom. And together, they stumble toward something real.

🔥 If you’ve ever had to set your pride aside to see the person right in front of you—and discovered that love speaks loudest when you finally stop talking… this story is yours.

NOTE: Each love story in this series can be read as a stand-alone. However, most readers prefer to read them in order.

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Book Details

Genre

Historical Romance

Subgenre

Regency (1811–1820)

Series

Love's Second Chance Series • Book 2

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

2 Mild

Violence

2 Mild

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

2 Mild

Publication Date

February 22, 2016

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

Sensitive Themes

Arranged or forced marriage, Historical discrimination

About the Author

Hi, I’m Bree Wolf—a USA Today bestselling author, former academic, and life-long lover of stories. I studied English and Specialized Translation, wandered the halls of universities, spending more years than I should have trying to be reasonable.Eventually, that quiet, persistent voice in my head said: It’s time to write.I’ve since published over fifty historical romances, each one stitched together from pieces of my own heart: doubts, regrets, fears, and messy, hopeful dreams. I love chocolate (especially when chapters get emotional), cry far too easily at my keyboard, and have a deep spiritual bond with cats… which is tragically one-sided, as I’m terribly allergic. A lifelong heartbreak, truly.

Second Book in the series Good as the first

Edmond Dunsworth has just learned he has lost all his money from his steward. He suggests that Edmond marry at once and suggests someone. Anna Hanford's sister Judith is the one he wants to marry not even meeting her yet. Anna finds out Judith is in love with another and tricks Edmond into marrying her instead, She is very willful but pretends to be quiet like her sister till they marry. Edmond has to put up a lot with Anna .she spurns him at every chance mad because she gave up her life to marry him. She also has a friend who hates men and eggs her on even when Anna begins to have some feelings for him. He does not always help the problem he runs several times to his friends.from the first book . They try to help and send him home again. . The book has a lot of surprises which I can't give away. You will not be disappointed in this book the author really knows how to write a story. I had had to keep reading both books straight through to see how they would come up finally together at the end. I think Anna's friend Henrietta will show up in another book or at least I hope so. She has to really have to have a reason to act as she did. I am waiting the Novella and next book to come out.

Strong aversion to the heroine.

This story had great promise and, although I figured out the big secret very early on, I thought it was an interesting intrigue added to the typical convenient marriage for money story. I liked the last quarter of the book and the beginning was not bad, but the middle 50 to 60 percent was hard to read. I had a very difficult time believing that the hero, who was generally likeable, if a bit inconsiderate, would ever fall in love with such an awful woman. The heroine was likeable when first introduced, and even more so in the last part of the book, but she was absolutely hateful for most of the book. I understand the idea of her being hurt by the transaction of her marriage and as a strong-willed person, lashing out and being resentful. I could even take her being influenced unduly by a friend, if it had been done better. Instead, the heroine became absolutely irrational, to the point of considering killing her husband for imagined reasons. I did feel that his attempts to build the marriage relationship and intimacy were sometimes clumsily handled by the author, and it felt uncomfortable, so I struggled a bit with reconciling his character with his actions in a few scenes where he got forceful with a woman who clearly did not want his attentions. I really think that any rational man would have walked away from the horrible woman the heroine was for that section of the book. I wouldn't even want to be friends with her. It also seemed discordant to me that the book talks about how strong the heroine is (she even talks later about how she makes up her own mind about things), and yet she is absolutely brainwashed into hatred of men by her friend. The friend's attitude is obviously driven by some traumatic event, which I can accept, but there is nothing about the heroine that makes her malleability to her friend's will ring true. At the end of the book, the author clearly set the friend up as the heroine in a future book...I truly doubt that I will be able to read it, I despise her so much. In this book she is nothing but a one-dimensional manhater.

The odd, out of place and incorrect sentences that I noticed in the first book are missing from this one, as well as most of the weird word swaps. "Malintent"? Not a word. Did she mean, "malevolent"? There are still unauthentic speech patterns. Characters say "really" a lot, when the would have used "truly". Also, once again, they dance the waltz before it was danced in England. I can't recommend this book.

The first three book have plots that are so similar it is a little annoying

This is the second book in this series but the third one I have read. It is a great story with lots of plot twists and sexual tension. The book is well written, well edited, maybe one or two typos but nothing important, and clean with no detailed sex scenes.

My only problem is that in all three books of the series I have read the plots are all pretty much the same. Each story has different characters and I love how characters from the other books appear as side characters, but the basic plot is the same: H needs a wife even though maybe he doesn't want one, h doesn't know how much her husband cares for her and there are a lot of self doubts on both sides but since they can't communicate well they suspect the motives of their spouse. There is a long section in the middle where they question everything, blame themselves, fear they will never be able to be together or have a happy marriage.Then there is a breakthrough and suddenly they are able to express their feelings, they find they love each other, and together they overcome some major problem that has occurred and they have an almost HEA; but since they are wiser now they know every marriage has its problems but they are strong enough to face it together.

That is not a bad plot, I loved it in the first book I read (the third book in the series), but I'm disappointed the author felt she should use the same plot all the time. I'm going to read book 4 next and I'm hoping the author has a different plot for this one.

Fabulous

Lots of drama, what a wild and willful lady. This story kept me guessing all the way through it the end. Almost didn't know what would happen next.

Sweet, period romance with some fire

Romance, sweet, period; series but stand alone read. There is some sensuality so PG-13 rating for me.
Anna and Edmonds story starts out badly. Remind offends her in so many ways. Anna digs in her heels, partially at the insistence of her friend. As they are at odds, Edmond is beside himself. Loving her fiery spirit and determined to make a change in his marriage he changes tactics and seeks to rid her of her anger by fencing with her. Secrets and subterfuge of others force them to bond together and fight those working against them both.
Fiery, strong willed, and determined, they both fight for their future. Told from alternating points of view, with glimpses of characters from the previous novel in this series it is a strong addition to this series.
Nice addition to this series.