The Duchess

In the second book of the “Scandalous Ladies of London” series (after The Countess), Jordan focuses on Valencia, the widowed Duchess of Dedham. Her late husband was a high-status but terrible person, so after the customary year of mourning, Valencia decides to enjoy her freedom. Just as she’s working up the nerve, her husband’s distant relative Rhain arrives, sisters and mother in tow, to take over his title. Valencia seems destined to spend the rest of her life in a remote dower house until she strikes a deal with the handsome but seemingly humorless Rhain to get his sisters ready for society. Along the way, Valencia and Rhain begin to fall for each other, but Valencia is understandably wary of remarriage. Like The Countess, this novel doesn’t flinch away from the ugly underbelly of the upper crust. It features some tough moments, including violence against Valencia by her late husband, but it also has a strong dash of drama that makes the book hard to put down.