--- product_id: 28015466 title: "An Affair Before Christmas (Desperate Duchesses, Bk 2)" price: "€ 19.42" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.es/products/28015466-an-affair-before-christmas-desperate-duchesses-bk-2 store_origin: ES region: Spain --- # An Affair Before Christmas (Desperate Duchesses, Bk 2) **Price:** € 19.42 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** An Affair Before Christmas (Desperate Duchesses, Bk 2) - **How much does it cost?** € 19.42 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.es](https://www.desertcart.es/products/28015466-an-affair-before-christmas-desperate-duchesses-bk-2) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Magic under the mistletoe . . . One spectacular Christmas, Lady Perdita Selby, known to her friends and family as Poppy, met the man she thought she would love forever. The devilishly attractive Duke of Fletcher was the perfect match for the innocent, breathtakingly beautiful young Englishwoman, and theirs was the most romantic wedding she had ever seen. Four years later, Poppy and the duke have become the toast of the ton . . . but behind closed doors the spark of their love affair has burned out. Unwilling to lose the woman he still lusts after, the duke is determined to win back his beguiling bride's delectable affections . . . and surpass the heady days of first love with a truly sinful seduction. Review: Soooo Good!!! - I really, really, enjoyed this book. I started with Eloisa's latest book in the series thinking I had already read the others, but I hadn't...so I wanted to read to see where it all began. The first book "Desperate Dutchesses" was good, but this one is great! I love the story lines....I love the sweet story with Poppy & Fletch...but even more I was so intrigued with Villiers. Those fever scenes were masterfully written. And the best part is the relationship between the women. So awesome and funny! Jemma makes me laugh so much. Can't wait to continue this series, I think some of the more negative reviews come from people who want a traditional, formulaic romance novel. You won't get that with this one. You'll get something better. Review: Delightful, Multi-threaded Piece of a Series - TITLE: An Affair Before Christmas AUTHOR: Eloisa James SERIES: Desperate Duchesses, Book 2 OVERVIEW: Poppy, the Duchess of Fletcher, and her husband (affectionately known as Fletch) have been married for four years, always loving each other, but never quite figuring out how to live together as a married couple, particularly when it comes to their sex life, in which Poppy has never found pleasure, despite Fletch’s determined efforts. When Fletch finally resolves to seek his pleasure elsewhere, Poppy is jarred from her life-long attempt to satisfy her mother’s ideals of perfection—ideals that she assumes her husband shares—and decides to stay with her friend Jemma, the Duchess of Beaumont. With this separation, Fletch realizes just how much Poppy’s love fills his life, and Poppy finds the freedom to unveil her inner passions, which include both an interest in natural sciences and a strong attraction to her husband. Meanwhile, Jemma, the more scandalous and chess-obsessed duchess, quite newly returned from years in Paris, is busy tantalizing London Society, goading her husband (in a charming prelude to a romance to be explored later in the series), and putting off her chess game with the even more scandalous Duke of Villiers, who lies abed with a serious fever spreading from a dueling wound sustained in the previous book. In a well-developed secondary story, Villiers’s friendship with Jemma is put on the backburner as he develops a sickbed relationship with the savvy but subdued spinster, Miss Charlotte Tatlock, whose name is continually linked with that of Jemma’s husband. PROS: The issues that drive the split between Poppy and Fletch, namely Poppy’s sexual repression and the overall quelling influence of her mother, are well-developed, particularly in the context of the period. Some of the ways in which James’s characters are scandalous or unusual can sometimes read untrue to the historical setting, but Poppy’s fear of disappointing her mother, her earnest desire to act as a proper lady, and the dire misinformation she has about sex—supplied by her horrendous mother and certainly not corrected by a society that keeps its pleasures and perversions behind closed doors—all come together to make a compelling story out of an issue that is still relevant today: what happens when two people are in love but are having trouble making the physical relationship work. The story outside of Poppy and Fletch’s relationship was probably even more enjoyable than the main romance. We get a bit of tension between Jemma and her husband, Elijah, a little bit of Elijah and Villiers, who were once the best of friends, a little bit of Poppy’s other friends, and a lot of Villiers, who is a fascinating character to follow. He’s presented in the first book of the series as an out-and-out rake—not someone you want to root for—but by the end of the first book, we begin to see some relatable emotion in him, and through this book, we start to see how lonely he is and how desperately he’s looking for love, even if he doesn’t realize it (and not is an obvious, sappy way either!). His journey through this book has him facing his own death and developing a close bond with Charlotte Tatlock, the kind of demure, undazzling woman he never would have been interested in previously. And, as always, James is a master at tying accurate and interesting historical details into the story that enhance the quality of the characters, plot, and setting. CONS: The breakdown of the story across a main story and sub-plots, as well as the fact that the sub-stories are continuing across the series, rather than contained within this book, could be seen as cons, though I’m a fan of this setup, which is a style at which Eloisa James excels. I enjoy a romance between a couple who is already married, but there is a little something lacking in a story where the couple is so in love the whole time and simply has doubts about it. I also have trouble with characters who are “in love” but don’t seem to know much about one another, which is emphasized in this story with Poppy’s never-before-revealed love of sciences and her belief that Fletch only cares about fashion. The sex scenes aren’t precisely a negative, but they aren’t top-notch, and they were a little too much at the end. There are two major sex sections, and I think having just one big one and limiting the second one to something more suggestive than graphic would have been more effective. RATINGS: Writing: 5/5 Eloisa James is a tremendous writer, as always. Characters: 5/5 Believably complex, imperfect, and entertaining. Plot: 4.5/5 An appropriate progression of the main story, well mixed with secondary events. Setting: 4.5/5 Vibrant Georgian Society with fun, well-integrated historical details. Romance: 4/5 Sweet, strong romance from the start—but no chance to watch it develop. Sexiness: 4/5 Fairly good sex scenes work well with the romance development. Humor: 4/5 James always shines with humor, but it wasn’t noteworthy here. Average: 4.4/5 Delightful, Multi-threaded Piece of a Series OTHER INFO: This is the second in the Desperate Duchesses series, but unlike the novels in many historical romance series, this book doesn’t stand alone particularly well. It might still be enjoyable without having read the first book already and without intending to read any of the other books, but there’s a lot going on in this book with secondary characters and plotlines that begins in the previous book and will be continued in the following books. Keep that in mind if you plan on reading. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,193,604 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #570 in Feel-Good Fiction #1,118 in Regency Romances #3,531 in Romantic Comedy (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,117 Reviews | ## Images ![An Affair Before Christmas (Desperate Duchesses, Bk 2) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/916efVnjCXL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Soooo Good!!! *by S***J on April 3, 2014* I really, really, enjoyed this book. I started with Eloisa's latest book in the series thinking I had already read the others, but I hadn't...so I wanted to read to see where it all began. The first book "Desperate Dutchesses" was good, but this one is great! I love the story lines....I love the sweet story with Poppy & Fletch...but even more I was so intrigued with Villiers. Those fever scenes were masterfully written. And the best part is the relationship between the women. So awesome and funny! Jemma makes me laugh so much. Can't wait to continue this series, I think some of the more negative reviews come from people who want a traditional, formulaic romance novel. You won't get that with this one. You'll get something better. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Delightful, Multi-threaded Piece of a Series *by K***G on March 12, 2017* TITLE: An Affair Before Christmas AUTHOR: Eloisa James SERIES: Desperate Duchesses, Book 2 OVERVIEW: Poppy, the Duchess of Fletcher, and her husband (affectionately known as Fletch) have been married for four years, always loving each other, but never quite figuring out how to live together as a married couple, particularly when it comes to their sex life, in which Poppy has never found pleasure, despite Fletch’s determined efforts. When Fletch finally resolves to seek his pleasure elsewhere, Poppy is jarred from her life-long attempt to satisfy her mother’s ideals of perfection—ideals that she assumes her husband shares—and decides to stay with her friend Jemma, the Duchess of Beaumont. With this separation, Fletch realizes just how much Poppy’s love fills his life, and Poppy finds the freedom to unveil her inner passions, which include both an interest in natural sciences and a strong attraction to her husband. Meanwhile, Jemma, the more scandalous and chess-obsessed duchess, quite newly returned from years in Paris, is busy tantalizing London Society, goading her husband (in a charming prelude to a romance to be explored later in the series), and putting off her chess game with the even more scandalous Duke of Villiers, who lies abed with a serious fever spreading from a dueling wound sustained in the previous book. In a well-developed secondary story, Villiers’s friendship with Jemma is put on the backburner as he develops a sickbed relationship with the savvy but subdued spinster, Miss Charlotte Tatlock, whose name is continually linked with that of Jemma’s husband. PROS: The issues that drive the split between Poppy and Fletch, namely Poppy’s sexual repression and the overall quelling influence of her mother, are well-developed, particularly in the context of the period. Some of the ways in which James’s characters are scandalous or unusual can sometimes read untrue to the historical setting, but Poppy’s fear of disappointing her mother, her earnest desire to act as a proper lady, and the dire misinformation she has about sex—supplied by her horrendous mother and certainly not corrected by a society that keeps its pleasures and perversions behind closed doors—all come together to make a compelling story out of an issue that is still relevant today: what happens when two people are in love but are having trouble making the physical relationship work. The story outside of Poppy and Fletch’s relationship was probably even more enjoyable than the main romance. We get a bit of tension between Jemma and her husband, Elijah, a little bit of Elijah and Villiers, who were once the best of friends, a little bit of Poppy’s other friends, and a lot of Villiers, who is a fascinating character to follow. He’s presented in the first book of the series as an out-and-out rake—not someone you want to root for—but by the end of the first book, we begin to see some relatable emotion in him, and through this book, we start to see how lonely he is and how desperately he’s looking for love, even if he doesn’t realize it (and not is an obvious, sappy way either!). His journey through this book has him facing his own death and developing a close bond with Charlotte Tatlock, the kind of demure, undazzling woman he never would have been interested in previously. And, as always, James is a master at tying accurate and interesting historical details into the story that enhance the quality of the characters, plot, and setting. CONS: The breakdown of the story across a main story and sub-plots, as well as the fact that the sub-stories are continuing across the series, rather than contained within this book, could be seen as cons, though I’m a fan of this setup, which is a style at which Eloisa James excels. I enjoy a romance between a couple who is already married, but there is a little something lacking in a story where the couple is so in love the whole time and simply has doubts about it. I also have trouble with characters who are “in love” but don’t seem to know much about one another, which is emphasized in this story with Poppy’s never-before-revealed love of sciences and her belief that Fletch only cares about fashion. The sex scenes aren’t precisely a negative, but they aren’t top-notch, and they were a little too much at the end. There are two major sex sections, and I think having just one big one and limiting the second one to something more suggestive than graphic would have been more effective. RATINGS: Writing: 5/5 Eloisa James is a tremendous writer, as always. Characters: 5/5 Believably complex, imperfect, and entertaining. Plot: 4.5/5 An appropriate progression of the main story, well mixed with secondary events. Setting: 4.5/5 Vibrant Georgian Society with fun, well-integrated historical details. Romance: 4/5 Sweet, strong romance from the start—but no chance to watch it develop. Sexiness: 4/5 Fairly good sex scenes work well with the romance development. Humor: 4/5 James always shines with humor, but it wasn’t noteworthy here. Average: 4.4/5 Delightful, Multi-threaded Piece of a Series OTHER INFO: This is the second in the Desperate Duchesses series, but unlike the novels in many historical romance series, this book doesn’t stand alone particularly well. It might still be enjoyable without having read the first book already and without intending to read any of the other books, but there’s a lot going on in this book with secondary characters and plotlines that begins in the previous book and will be continued in the following books. Keep that in mind if you plan on reading. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Married Couple Finding Love With One Another *by S***M on March 14, 2015* "It was like the tortures of Tantalus to desire someone who never desired him To be married to someone like that was like being tied to a well and never allowed to drink." THE STORY: Lady Perdita (Poppy) Selby, Duchess of Fletcher has been married for four years. Their marriage on the surface seems fine, but their sex life has been unhappy for both of them. Fletch has loves his wife, but the years have shown him that she doesn't want the passionate relationship that he does. When he contemplates adultery, Poppy decides that they would be better off separated. Their separation shows them that there might be something worth trying to save in their marriage. OPINION: I love novels about the difficulties of marriage. Poppy and Fletch are likeable characters who truly love one another but have to learn to communicate with one another. Poppy especially has to learn to hear her own voice rather than that of her mother. I liked this book better than the first of the series. There are intersecting stories so the reader needs to be prepared to follow various storylines and characters. Many of those stories are not completed in this book and readers must continue the series to discover the fate of other characters. I enjoyed the saga feel of the series. WORTH MENTIONING: There are many criticisms of this book because of the reasons that Poppy does not enjoy sex with her husband. Almost every one of those criticisms boils the reasons down to one. I completely disagree. Sexual disfunction and incompatibility and the inability of women to find satisfaction in their sex lives in a serious and real topic and this book covers a lot of the territory of the reasons: expectations, misunderstandings, ignorance, desire to retain control, lack of communication between partners. This book actually felt real and serious to me, not a joke even if part of the reason seems silly. FINAL DECISION: I really loved this book because Poppy and Fletch really do love one another but just have to learn to open themselves up to one another in ways that they didn't expect in the beginning of their marriage. CONNECTED BOOKS: AN AFFAIR BEFORE CHRISTMAS is the second book in the Desperate Duchesses series. This book can be read apart from the first book in the series, but the stories of the characters are interconnecting with characters dropping off only after their happy ending. STAR RATING: I give this book 4.25 stars. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.es/products/28015466-an-affair-before-christmas-desperate-duchesses-bk-2](https://www.desertcart.es/products/28015466-an-affair-before-christmas-desperate-duchesses-bk-2) --- *Product available on Desertcart Spain* *Store origin: ES* *Last updated: 2026-05-30*