Review: My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy

Author: Kathryne Kennedy
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (December 1, 2009)
Genre: Fiction, romance
Mass Market paper back 384 pages
Book Source: Sourcebooks

From Sourcebooks:

A wild west heiress, Summer Wine Lee knows that she's not an acceptable bride for her fiance's knickerbocker family. She grew up in an Arizona mining town, cares more for critters than people, carries a knife under her skirts, and, worst of all, she has a highly improper secret from her past. But she also has high hopes that a real English Duke can teach her how to be a lady…

Were it not for his father's gambling debts, the Duke of Monchester would never have stooped to civilize Summer. But the more time he spends with her, and the more social scrapes he has to rescue her from, the more he finds it impossible to change her into a proper lady. How could he, when he's falling in love with her just the way she is?

My Thoughts:

This was a quick pleasant read. I liked Summer and her spunky self. As much as she tried to change herself to fit in with society, Summer would keep reverting back to her normal usual self, whipping out her knife at a moments notice. Maybe it's the street smarts in me, but I admire women who can take care of themselves. Summer's character reminds us that people and society should accept you for you. Whenever we try to change ourselves to fit in with a group, we lose our individuality. How fun and interesting would life be if we were all the same? Fortunately Summer realizes she is fine just the way she is and remains true to herself.

This story is mostly about Summer and unfortunately the secondary characters disappeared, like Maria. She was crazy and I liked her immensely. Maria's part of the story was wrapped up too neatly for me, and didn't mesh with the close relationship I read about between her and Summer. I was sorry to see her go.

With regards to the Duke, I liked him as well and enjoyed his interactions with both Summer and the other characters in the story. It was very easy to imagine the look on his face when he met Maria and the critters. The Duke finally opens up towards the end, and I was happy to learn his thoughts.

My one pet peeve with the story was Summer's use of the word "Tarnation!" I know that is a common expression for Summer's character to have, but she said it way too often. It was akin to someone saying "OMG" too much.

Overall I liked the story and the characters of Summer and Byron. It made for some great escapist reading and it was a joyful ride. I will definitely read anothe of Kennedy's books.

My Rating: 90/100


I am giving away one copy of this book to a lucky reader. If you would like to win a copy of this book for yourself, click here to enter. Contest ends midnight, December 14, 2009. Good luck!

Thanks to Danielle from Sourcebooks for my review and giveaway copies.