Kudos to Michelle Willingham for creating an unusual heroine with a very real mental illness. In UNDONE BY THE DUKE, heroine Victoria Andrews can't leave her home in Scotland. Agoraphobia hadn't been recognized by doctors in 1810, but Victoria has all the symptoms -- she starts to panic when she even thinks about walking out the door, and she doesn't like crowds or strangers. That begins to change when a man she doesn't know is brought to her home with a gunshot wound.

An angry boy mistook Jonathan Nottoway, the Duke of Worthingstone, for someone else, and shot him in the leg. In pain and afraid to trust the locals, Jonathan doesn't tell anyone his title, allowing them to believe he's just a landowner. He soon realizes that he has a unique opportunity to woo a woman without worrying that she's just after his title and money.

They begin to trust one another -- a little -- and Jonathan begins trying to help Victoria overcome her anxiety about leaving the safe confines of her home, but they both have still more secrets and fears they'll have to beat, if they're to make a life together.

UNDONE BY THE DUKE has a lot of layers. Victoria and her sisters are running a covert business to help the family finances. A mercenary earl and his servant are terrorizing the countryside. Victoria's father is gone to war and no one has heard from him in months. This is the first in a series, so in addition to introducing potential heroes and heroines, several major plot points remain unresolved at the end.

I did feel that some parts of the story felt repetitive. Some of the repetition comes from taking little steps to ease Victoria outside her comfort zone, however, I would have liked to see Willingham give us more sense of time and place. Victoria could have read a newspaper with reports of the war where her father is fighting. She and Jonathan could have talked about Scottish-English relations and how they're connected or not with the refugees living on her property. I know many people don't want a history lesson when they read a romance, but when current affairs are related to major plot points, I'd like to have more history woven in.

It will be interesting to see where the other books in the series lead us.

Book Summary

Victoria has a secret...

Reclusive designer Victoria Andrews hasn't gone outside in five years, though she yearns to escape the prison of her house. She designs sensual lingerie for the most exclusive dressmaker in London, although she has never known a man's touch.

A Duke in disguise...

Wounded and stranded in Scotland, Jonathan Nottoway, the Duke of Worthingstone, is avoiding the murderous scandal that darkened his family name. As his wounds heal, he spends several sensual nights with the beautiful seamstress who knows nothing of his true identity.

A passionate awakening

Can a woman trapped by her emotional scars be able to love a duke, when it means abandoning her safe world to embrace the life of a duchess?