Book Review: The Governess Game by Tessa Dare

The Governess Game is the second book in the Regency romance series, Girl meets Duke. Alexandra Mountbatten is a  timekeeper who who first meets Chase Raynaud, heir to the Belvoir Dukedom  when they collide in a second hand bookshop. Fast forward a few months and sherhey meet again when she is setting his time pieces. He mistakes her as an applicant for the position of Governess.  She declines. She, however, loses her livelihood that same afternoon when she drops her chronometer in the river Thames. Luckily or unluckily for her, the position of Governess is still not surprisingly still open and she takes the position. Duke in waiting, Chase his two small charges, Rosamund and Daisy.  Both the main characters characters are shaped by their respective pasts. Alexandra was brought up by her father on a ship which sank. She was left on her own without food or water for eight days in a lifeboat until she was found. Subsequently she was sent to boarding school as her relatives who didn't want her. Chase is a libertarian rake. Years ago he was supposed to be looking after his cousin, instead he was in bed with one of his many conquests. His cousins, Antony, was murdered outside a gambling den and Chase's Uncle suffered a stroke when Chase returned with his cousin's body to their ancestress home. Consequently Chase is now heir to his deceased cousins' dukedom. He doesn't want to reproduce as he feels it would be unsurp Antony's birthright and that it is wrong to replace Antony's blood line with his own "rotting" branch of the family tree. Chase, therefore does not envisage marriage or children in his future. Instead he is a rake who pleasures women in ways that don't include penetration.

The children run away as they don't want to go to boarding school and Chase sacks Alexandra as she knew they were planning their get away. He realises he loves her but will he be able to find her?  Breeches, the formidable feline makes a cameo appearance and the rest of the residents of the house at Bloom square also make brief yet humourous visits to Chase's residence and vice versa.

I enjoyed this book, it fits seamlessly with the Duchess Deal  without seeming forced. It is well written and well thought out and I look forward to reading the other books in the series.

I received this book via Netgalley and Mills and Boon in exchange for a honest review. I am a #MillsAndBoonInsider #netgalley

Available from: 
Amazon UK

Mills & Boon