Weekly Fiction Workshop
There Just Aren’t That Many Dukes
I think authors just don’t like to spell “marquess.”
There is no question that snagging a duke in a historical romance novel is the ultimate prize for our sassy, forward-thinking protagonists. However, when every historical romance novel recommendation I get in my email feed is some form of:
- Running from the Duke
- Taming the Duke
- The Lady Gets a Duke
- The Duke’s Duchess
- Duke or Rogue?
Well… I get a little exhausted by the word “duke.”
By the way, I made all of those titles up on the spot, but I BET that at least one of them is a real title of a book out there. Feel free to comment should you find one.
That isn’t to say that it isn’t fun to romp through the class-deaf adventures of a woman whose only problem is whether or not the duke wants her for her money, her title, or who she is as a person. I love me a good cliche. The problem is that if every single male hero is a duke, reading multiple books in this vein runs a little stale.
Once in a while, I’d prefer my historical romances involve someone a little lower on the aristocratic hierarchy. There are plenty of…
