Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight

by Grace Burrowes

Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca

My Rating: 

No one would ever guess that Lady Louisa, the most reserved of the Duke of Moreland’s daughters, had published a book of racy poems under a pseydonym on a dare. Before she can buy and destroy all of the copies, a dastardly fortune hunter seeks to compromise her reputation by revealing her secret identity at a holiday ball.

Before she can be publicly ruined, close family friend Sir Joseph Carrington saves the day by offering to marry Louisa. As he recites poetry to her, waltzes with her by starlight, and showers her with lovely kisses, they both begin to discover that their match may be the best Christmas gift either has ever received…

My Review:

I have come to love Grace Burrowes’ Windham family series.  The series centers around the Windham children, sons and daughters of the Duke and Duchess of Moreland.  With 3 brothers and 5 sisters, the family is always involved in each other’s business and personal lives.  In Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight, it is Louisa’s turn to find herself a husband.

While I enjoyed Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight, it is not my favorite book of the series.  From the beginning, I was a bit confused.  Sir Joseph is the love interest to this story, he is a former soldier and pig farmer.  He is not titled and has no desire to be, which was perfectly fine by me and Lady Louisa did not seem to mind either.  However, Joseph constantly considered himself beneath Louisa while doing all he could to avoid a title.  He was attracted to Louisa but did not want to work to really win her over.  I felt like there were contradictions throughout the book, leaving me puzzled at times.

Joseph and Louisa are a wonderful match for each other.  They are both socially awkward, but they understand each other.  The couple work together and fall into a relationship out of practicality and mutual attraction.  There is not much wooing on either side, but it works for this couple, and sparks ignite for them.  Joseph understands Louisa whereas Louisa’s family does not understand her most of the time.  Louisa is brilliant, but she was used by her brothers when they were younger for her intelligence and then ignored once they were older.  While there is a lot of love in the Windham family, there are also mistakes and misunderstandings.  In the end, the family is always there for each other, which is part of why I love reading this series.

The flow of the story in Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight felt a bit disjointed to me.  Both Louisa and Joseph had their own secrets that could cause scandal, but the exact nature of the secrets unraveled very slowly. It left me perplexed for much of the book.  Also, I was confused as to who their blackmailer was and how he came by the information.  Really, the blackmail didn’t make much sense to me.  The scandals did not seem that big of a deal to me, or super scandalous.  One of Louisa’s suitors, Lionel, was involved somehow, but his involvement is not made very clear.  I felt like some threads were left open in this book and could have used more clarity.

Despite my puzzlement in places, I still enjoyed reading Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight.  I always enjoy reading about the Windham family and seeing what they are up to.  I am attached to the characters and I am looking forward to the next installment in the series.

Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight is now on sale!  Don’t miss this historical romance, or the earlier books in the series.  Here is the reading order of the Duke’s Daughters series with links to my reviews:  Book 1- Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish (my review).  Book 2- Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal (my review).  Book 3- Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight.