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Title: Waking Up with the Duke
Author: Lorraine Heath
Sub-genre: Historical
Published In: 2011
Guys. This book is banana pants. I originally heard about it on the Fated Mates podcast and normally I don’t listen to their episodes until I’ve read the book, but I started this episode and I was so intrigued I couldn’t stop listening. I was like what is this story?!?!? So I ordered it and dived into it head first and didn’t come up for air until I was done. And even knowing all the plot twists, this book still blew my mind.
Jane is married to Walfort, who is paralyzed from the waist down after a freak carriage accident. This means Walfort can’t have sex and therefore cannot give Jane a child. But Walfort cares for her and wants her to be happy, especially since she has been taking care of him for years with little in it for herself. So he asks his best friend Ainsley to sleep with his wife and get her knocked up. And Ainsley owes him because he was the driver during the carriage accident and managed to escape unharmed. (This all happens in the first like three pages, btw.) Ainsley refuses at first, but finally relents. Jane refuses at first, but finally relents. Jane and Ainsely go to his country house for a month so no one will know what they are up to. And then they have a lot of sex and fall in love. And then she has to go back to her husband. And then so much other stuff happens that I don’t want to ruin for you because it is BANANAS.
Reading this book was like watching a super intriguing soap opera all while falling in love and having your heart broken at the same time. Like the drama here is pretty much unmatched. Lies! Deceit! Betrayal! And then on the other hand, the love between Jane and Ainsley is heart-wrenchingly beautiful. And when they have to leave one another, it is HEART-BREAKING. Like it is not often reading a romance that I actually feel a pain in my heart, and this one left me with an actual ache. An ache! It is pure perfection and I will be reading everything Lorraine has ever written because holy. moly. Go buy this book and then set aside a few hours to read it. You can thank me later.
Overall Rating: 5 stars and I would give it more if I could!