The Duchess Contract

by Samantha Hastings

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Miss Selina Stubbs signs the contract of her life with her father—her perfumes in every major shop in London, in exchange for marrying the reluctant son of the Duke of Hampford.

Lord Theophilus, the courtesy Marquess of Cheswick, has no desire to wed the daughter of a London merchant. He wishes to go to Africa and study the animals there. But his father, the Duke of Hampford, desperately needs her dowry.

After the wedding, Selina gets to know Theophilus and learns of his care for wounded animals. Together they plan a daring rescue of a lion from the Tower of London. Selina decides to make a new bargain…this time for love.

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Book Details

Genre

Historical Romance

Subgenre

General Historical, Georgian (1714–1837)

Series

The Scandalous Stringhams • Book 1

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

2 Mild

Violence

3 Moderate

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

2 Mild

Publication Date

September 6, 2022

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novella

Sensitive Themes

Arranged or forced marriage, Grief or loss of a loved one

Editorial Reviews

“I loved this short and sweet intro to the Stringham Family! So excited for the upcoming story! Only wished it was longer!”

—Lisa O., Goodreads Reviewer

"Really quite delightful! I’m going to be looking for more from this author. It was not the tried and true cookie cutter story. The banter and relationship building was perfectly on pace without being rushed. They were sweet and cute. Darling, sweet read."

JS Reader - Amazon.com

"Such a great story. I always prefer books without needless emotional drama. This was fun (capture a lion), sweet romance, strong characters."

Madbakingsodagirl - Amazon.com

"I enjoyed this story because the author chose a refreshing aspect of the Regency.. I love the characters , especially the female one. Anybody who reads Regency novels and are fed up with the same type of stories and characters will love this story."

lenoreholder - Amazon.com

Slightly disappointing and unrealistic

A clean novella. Daughter of a wealthy merchant marries a Duke as her father clears the estate debts.With novellas there is not a lot of time to get the whole story in, and here it seemed to miss some bits. Her father effectively bought her marriage as he wanted his grandchildren to have titles. I am not sure if it would be as simple as it appeared. As a dukedom I am sure there would be wealthy titles daughters very willing to marry the heir so why a commoner. Not made clear to me, and certainly the old duke was it happy about it as the marriage contract forbade her parents visiting her homes. I think the making of perfume was fine and different but we didn’t get to hear much about it other than the first bath was sold out quickly, despite the many references to it. And then there was what to me was the slightly ludicrous theft of the lion, never mind the monkey urinating in the carriage all the time and her husband suddenly realising it wasn’t acceptable. So 2 stars from me.

A lovely novella

A shirt novella that fills in some details mentioned in the main series

short and sweet

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. The book is a short read. It is about a marriage of convenience between a soon to be Duke and a commoner. Their marriage is unconventional. Yet the two find themselves becoming more attracted and connected to the other. It is a cute fun read.

nice story

An easy read. A nice love story. Nothing too intricate, but very pleasant. Arranged marriage turned true. It was nice to read as it evolved.

lots of fun

Very short but fun. Now I need to find more books from this author. Very easy to read and not a moment of boredom. The characters are fun and likable.