Fangirl Musings's Reviews > The Runaway Duke

Pages Survived: 220

This was one weird reading experience! I literally was absolutely loving this book, truly all the way through. Until page 220. Never in all my reading have I encountered a book that I went from absolutely loving to absolutely hating within the span of one page.

While it may seem laughable to some, the reason I reared up and hated this book was a result of the characters. No, I did love Rebecca and her absolutely unique personality. I even loved Connor, the hero. What killed this story, for me at least, was the fact that within the span of about three pages, the two characters went from being friends, to lovers, to pulling the mutual "you're-the-love-of-my-life."

Now, normally I love the mutual epiphany of realized love. However, my main problem in this case was the fact that the book was only half over, and the characters just magically realized they were in love. For me, romance novels that are written in a way where the love is cultivated without knowledge are more enjoyable. The only event that allowed the two characters to realize their affection for each other was the fact they made love.

This is, ironically enough, a huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to romance novels. Whenever an author constructs a story in such a way where both parties magically realize they love one another at the exact same moment, and that moment is brought out by no notable action- especially in the case of the two characters having known each other for five years...I find that a hard pill to swallow. I'm all for love-at-first-sight, or instantaneous-realized-love in most circumstance, but not when the characters have known each other for an extended period of time.

Either way, this book crashed and burned hard. I so desperately wanted to enjoy it, but sadly, I could not and was forced to toss it aside.