This is the story of an orphan woman, Daphne Wade, who presents herself to the Duke of Tremore in place of her father to catalog and repair ancient artifacts that are being unearthed on his estate. Daphne falls in love at first sight but the Duke doesn't even register that he is a woman.
The story is a typical romance and proceeds as the reader would expect. Nothing to write home about but entertaining in the normal romance genre way. ( )

This is the story of an ugly duckling, Daphne Wade, who has, appropriately enough, a "guilty pleasure." She is head over heels in love with her employer, Anthony, the Duke of Tremore, who is excavating a dig on his estate for a museum he plans to open in a few months. She helps with the restoration and cataloging of the artifacts, and he doesn't know she exists.

After I got over some initial difficulty actually getting into the story (it seemed so derivative at first, and I really didn't like the duke's matchmaking sister, but thankfully she soon bows out of the story,) this romance hit all the right notes with me. Even if it isn't that original, I loved watching Daphne and Anthony spar and fall in love, and it was great to see Daphne transform from a self-effacing, shy, infatuated girl into a woman who is honest with herself and knows what she wants. Though her transformation is rather abrupt - it literally happens over night - it was still believable, given the catalyst for her awakening. I liked that Anthony wasn't a typical rake - he's serious and responsible, but so sexy and fun at the same time.

The only problem with Daphne is that she isn't *really* an ugly duckling at all. She just hides her beauty and true self with the magical uglifying power of spectacles and a "functional bun." Such a stereotype. So sigh worthy. Other than that, everything about this romance rang true for me, and I enjoyed every word of it. ( )

http://imaromancereader.blogspot.com/... ( )

Nerdy girl gets the hunky duke with a twist: he hurts her before he realizes that she exists so she doesn't want him. I like this author. She is quicly becoming one of my favorite romance writers. ( )

I enjoy that in Ms. Guhrke's novels the heroine is far from perfect, (well so is the hero) and that it isn't love a first sight. The h/h get to know each other before falling in love. Happily Guily Pleasure's is the same. Daphne is a talented young lady in employ to Anthony the Duke of Termane. This was a nice relaxing read, with fun characters, and a nice love story! ( )