Duchess by Design charms and brings feminism to romance

Duchess by Design heads out of the standard historical romance eras to deliver some pretty explicitly feminist messages while still being charming.

The Gilded Age seems to be seeing an upswing in interest for historical romance writers, with Joanna Shupe contributing “Christmas in Central Park” to the recent How the Dukes Stole Christmas and now Maya Rodale kicking off an entire series set in the era, with Duchess by Design dropping this week.

Although feminism has worked its way into many a romance heroine of late (both in terms of traits and choices made by authors), Duchess by Design may be one of the most overtly feminist novels this reviewer has read all year. Emma Goldman and Madam C.J. Walker both make cameo appearances. There’s a group of women who help Adeline, our heroine, start her own business, and it’s pretty strongly implied (though not explicitly stated, sadly enough) that the head of the club, Miss Burnett, is in a committed relationship with another woman in the club. Much of our hero’s growth comes through his learning about what it means to be working class and a woman in New York City, courtesy of our heroine. Said heroine also has not one, but two best friends who are both women in similar social situations, but have different personalities (and the capability for growth).

And even Adeline isn’t perfect, because she actually has to be reminded of some of Goldman’s thoughts on love and relationships, then adapt them as best she can to her own worldview.

That alone is impressive, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like Rodale was attempting to check off boxes as she wrote. Instead, the result is a novel that generally centers around women helping women — with some brief interludes where the Duke of Kingston learns some lessons of his own.

Rodale also earns credit for actually doing something of a slow burn (as much as one can have a slow burn in a mass-market paperback that doesn’t break 400 pages). As much as Adeline and Brandon have all kinds of ridiculous tension, she holds off on letting the relationship go further due to being so mindful of her reputation — another nod to how society impacts women’s ability to make choices for themselves. When they do finally get together, though, there’s plenty of tension between them. For readers looking for things to escalate quickly, this may not be the book for them.

But for those who do love clothes and fashion, there’s a lot to like here, including Adeline’s signature being adding pockets to dresses. The fact that that’s still an issue in 2018 is both hilarious and sad at the same time.

If there’s any real weakness here, it’s reliance on a few phrases over and over, particularly in terms of the banter between Brandon and Adeline. The dialogue on the whole is fine, but it just seems like certain phrases come up over and over again, which is really apparent to this reader, who usually reads in massive chunks.

On the whole, though, if you need to take a step away from everything English (but still want a duke for a hero), this’ll be a good stop for you.