My Dear Miss Dupré by Grace Hitchcock

My Dear Miss Dupré
by Grace Hitchcock

ISBN-13: 9780764237973
Paperback: 364 pages
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Released: March 2nd 2021


Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Willow Dupré never thought she would have to marry, but with her father's unexpected retirement from running the prosperous Dupré sugar refinery, plans changed. The shareholders are unwilling to allow a female to take over the company without a man at her side, so her parents devise a plan--find Willow a king in order for her to become queen of the empire.

Willow is presented with thirty potential suitors from the families of New York society's elite. She has six months to court the group and is expected to regularly eliminate men to narrow her beaus until she chooses one to marry, ending the competition with a wedding. Willow reluctantly agrees, knowing she must do what is best for the business. She doesn't expect to find love until she meets Cullen Dempsey, and she must discover for herself if his motives are pure.


My Review:
My Dear Miss Dupré is a romance set in 1882 in New York. Willow just kept making one bad decision after another, and so did her parents and her suitors. The historical details were unrealistic even if the Dupré family was meant to come across as arrogant and high-handed. They seemed determined to humiliate the suitors due to the way the whole contest was set up. They also seemed oblivious to the fact that this could create powerful enemies among those that were disrespected and dismissed.

Willow's willingness to be kissed (even in public!) by her different suitors threatened to ruin her reputation, yet she didn't stop the kisses. She was smart, but she was also thoughtless and lacked effective follow-through on good intentions. When several suitors pointed out that only the pushy suitors were getting any time with her, she agreed it wasn't fair but ended up dealing with it by cutting anyone who wasn't pushy from the competition. Once, Willow resolved to stop mooning over their good looks and charming manners and ask questions about their faith in God and ability to run a business, but then she never did. She never asked if the men would allow her to continue to run the business, support her endeavors, or even what they wanted out of the relationship.

Bafflingly, her father told her last three suitors to write down every detail about how the Dupré business was run as they're shown around the factory. He's oblivious to how this information could be used against them in the future. The parents also made no effort to further investigate her favorites or they would've noticed that Cullen had no social standing and had been seen in public dealing with the Dupre's business enemy. And I'm supposed to take this family seriously?

Willow and Cullen were the only characters that were developed to any degree, and that wasn't very much. Willow was a horrible judge of character. Cullen betrayed her, giving critical information to Willow's enemy, but Willow swooned at his green eyes and so defended him against anyone hinting that Cullen might not be trustworthy. I just didn't like these characters. The Christian element seemed to be forgiving those who have changed their ways (and proved it). There was no sex or bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.