If you like unruly wards who exasperate their guardian to the point of impulsively suggesting a marriage of convenience to have someone take them off his hands, then Ash, the Duke of Buckley is for you.

Also if you like bluestockings who want to experiment with a real wedding night all in the pursuit of “scientific research” then Bronwyn is for you.

I have enjoyed Christina Britton’s Isle of Synne series and Some Dukes Have All the Luck is the first book in an offshoot of the Isle books called Synneful Spinsters.

This was a well written and steamy diversion with great characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 Stars

He required someone to raise his wards; she required a husband to escape her parents' quick destruction of her life.

Marriage of convenience trope with steamy scenes and HEA.

Tortured Duke, Ash Hawkins carries a heavy burden and a secret. He owns a gambling hell and is straddled with 3 wards that he keeps at arms length. Bronwyn Pickering is a caring Naturalist, vowing to never fall in love after getting her heart broken - in more ways than one. Ash needs someone to care for his wards and Bronwyn needs to get away from parents' stifling ways. Marriage of convenience ensured, Ash's and Bronwyn's facades slowly crumble, making a marriage of convenience, a marriage of love. This is the first installment of Synneful Spinsters.

I really enjoyed this book! Christina Britton has a way with writing - making sure you feel for all the characters involved - whether that's happiness or madness. This is a first for me by this author. Ash and Bronwyn are a sweet and steamy couple. There is quite a few sex scenes, which makes me happy. I love how Ash supports Bronwyn as a Naturalist. The wards definitely act their ages (10, 12, 16) and adds another layer to the story. This books comes out November 8th, 2022.

One of my favorite quotes:

They moved together, the pleasure climbing, her blood rushing in her ears. Suddenly there was a rapping against her bedroom door.

"Your graces, your breakfast," Veronica called from the other side of the panel.

"Leave the bloody food by the door," Ash growled.

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for a free copy of this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a sweet story about the Duke of Buckley, Ash Hawkins, and Miss Bronwyn Pickering. Ash is the owner of a gaming hell and also has three troublesome wards under his care. When his wards take drastic measures to escape, Ash decides that taking on a wife would be the best way to get his wards under control. He takes one look at Miss Pickering and is set on making her his wife. Bronwyn is an entomologist and has the worst parents!! So when Ash makes his offer, she takes it into serious consideration to gain her freedom in her own way.

The beginning of this book was a bit slow for me, but when the two main characters meet, the romance picks up and sparks fly! The way Ash stands up for Bronwyn and gives her what she needs to achieve her goals was so beautifully written. There is some mention of domestic abuse in one of the character's past but it does not go into any specific detail. Overall, this was a delightful read!

Thanks to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ash has been blaming himself for his father, Duke of Buckley’s evil deeds. He feels guilty about not protecting his mother and others from his father. Bronwyn has been thought to be odd by everyone including her family. Her parents want her to marry a title to improve their social position. They even take away her research an threaten to send her away. She makes friends with the Duke’s wards. She and the Duke accidentally bump into each other. They hatch a plan to get married so Bronwyn can stay and she agrees to take care of his wards.

This is a great story about two people learning that it’s okay to be themselves and allow love in. I can’t wait to read more from Christina Britton.

This book....ugh!! LOVED IT! Bronwyn is a shy, smart lady who has been unlucky in love. Her parents don't understand her. Her friends only want what's best for her.
Ash is a hard vulnerable man with few friends and 3 responsibilities.
Their worlds collide and the real story begins. Lots of ups and downs and such a great story!! Pulls you right in. If you aren't crying happy tears at some point during this book you better get your heart checked!!

Some Dukes Have All the Luck was a really cute and simple marriage of convenience story. Ash and Bronwyn had great chemistry and where so supportive of each other from the get-go. Of course they had their obstacles to overcome, but this was such an easy and sweet read.

This is my first book by Christina Britton and I am so excited to read more! I thought the story of Bronwyn and Ash really sweet, and I feel like I am a sucker of stories that have children/wards involved in this case. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first started reading and it became apparent there were more books from a previous series as it seems that Bronwyn was involved as a secondary character from a previous book. In any case, I thought entomology was an interesting choice for study and I liked the uniqueness of that, as there are a lot of blue stocking tropes out there already and god, the insufferable parents. It would have been great to see some sort of vulnerability of the parents but it seems they exist to be straight up antagonists in this book. There was also a lot of mystery around Ash and I was getting very frustrated with his own self loathing without really getting a better sense of why until the very end.

** Spoiler alert**

I would have appreciated a good grovel, but I do admire the courage for Bronwyn to admitting her feelings for him, but I feel like he had it too easy in a way. She went through a lot of growth throughout the book, though was never afraid to ask for what she wanted. And oh their chemistry was so good... To the point that I was worries because they seemed to get along so well after their wedding. In any case, I really enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down, which is always a good sign!

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Heart Flutters: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I normally think historical romances are a tad slow and yet this one was so fast?? I'm all for falling in love fast, but it was too quick in this case. I like my marriage of convenience moments to be a bit more of a slowburn or at least an emotional slowburn and this is just too fast.

I also found Britton's writing to be a bit choppy or disjointed, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt and blame my weird reading mood.

I liked Bronwyn & Ash, but I couldn't get over how fast they fell and it didn't make sense in the narrative to me. It was cool that Bronwyn was so into bugs (yay for women in STEM) BUT I HATE BUGS and didn't want to read them.

Overall, this was a fine historical romance, but I didn't love how the marriage of convenience trope was executed here.

TW: death of a parent, domestic abuse,

I love a marriage of convenience trope and historical romances and this did not disappoint! Bronwyn, an entomologist [sic] in England 1820’s is being forced by her parents to marry. Ash, a Duke with three unexpected wards, must have the help and stability of a wife. They’ll be just partners in this marriage, right? Well, considering the hot sex scenes that start to pop up pretty quickly, maybe it is going to be a bit more than a cut and dried partnership.

There is some darkness/sadness in the pages but the love shines through. Bronwyn and Ash are strong and endearing characters and the little girls are sweet, charming and …morbid. They’ve lost their parents and their homes and have been shunted off to so many places. They remain emotionally distant; they don’t want to be connected. They figure if they push Ash he’ll send them away too - only it will be on their terms this time.

Ash has a troubled past so he fears getting close to them. He feels overwhelmed and must, at all costs, keep the girls at bay. The only one who wants to bring them together is Bronwyn and she is quite good at it. She is a wonderful 19th century female character. She is an outcast because of her intellect and her scientific studies. She’s even one of a group aptly named the Oddments. Her parents have destroyed all the scientific work she has put years of effort into. Now she must find a suitor to remove her from her emotionally cruel and restrictive parents.

Solution: Ash finds a wife to help him with the girls and Bronwyn gets a husband to remove her from those hateful parents.

From beetles to pirates to daily doll funerals everyone is quirky, the girls delightfully so as they begin to allow themselves to learn from Bronwyn. An altogether amusing and entertaining tale.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Ok but why was I crying at the end of this? SUCH A GREAT BOOK!! I loved Ash, in all of his brokenness, and I love Bronwyn, who is brilliant but beaten down by life (AKA her parents). And I loved the wards, in all their wildness (or reserve). Overall, an absolutely lovely story and I can’t wait to read the next in the series!!!

A few months ago this was a “read now” on NetGalley and all I knew about it was that Dana from Forever said that it put a smile on her face the entire time she was reading it.

While now that I’ve read it, I can say the same! This book was truly a joy to read! It’s a marriage of convenience (which I LOVE!) between a bookish spinster and a gambling hall owner/grumpy duke, who also has custody of 3 young girls. As much as Ash wants to pretend he has no real cares for the girls or life in the countryside (or his new wife), Bronwyn sees right through that and finds a way to see through to his true soft side. Bronwyn is convinced she will never be able to marry for love and is content with being a naturalist and spinster, though deep down she wants to feel loved and like she belongs. Perhaps this unconventional family is just what all of them need!

This was such an easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me and I would HIGHLY recommend it, even if you’ve never read a historical romance! It was funny, sweet, heartwarming...it was like a hug in book form! Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the eARC! I can’t wait for more in this series!

cute story. I like Bronwyn and her no-nonsense view of the world. she sees things as they are not trying to to fix them as her parents did her. Speaking of her parents they reminded me of the bennett parents from pride and prejudice. scheming. ash was sweet and i loved his wards. all in all it was a great book. very funny and flowed well.

Emotional and heartwarming! Loved this book as the characters had so much depth. I enjoyed Bronwyn’s character and her ARC. She is smart and kind and I liked seeing when her strength came out. Ash was a good character but I feel like he should have seen the damage he was doing from the beginning. He was trying to protect Bronwyn and his family but he was just running away. It was a fun read and meeting the characters, like the Oddments, makes me look forward to more.

A marriage of convenience leads us to the first novel in Synneful Spinsters series: Some Dukes Have All the Luck. The story features a Duke of Buckley, Ash Hawkins, who wants to marry someone who will tame his wards. Browyn, an entomologist, is in need of marriage to subdue her parents. A perfect match. The novel's premise was interesting and within a popular trope; however, there were many parts that were confusing. Additionally, it felt as if the author was telling us the characters reactions versus showing us. Both characters were lovely to read about, despite the last 20%, where Ash was annoying. Overall, Some Dukes Have All the Luck is a fun an entertaining read for fans of this trope.


A review will be posted on @abookwormsgarden closer to the publication date.

I loved this book. Ash and Bronwyn are a wonderful couple. I love that Bronwyn is an unconventional woman and Ash loves the heck out of her for it. This has a marriage of convenience trope, one of my favorites in historicals, and I thought it was done really well. I also love that Bronwyn is a sexually educated woman. Love to see this in historical romance. This is the first book in a new series, and I can't wait to read more. I think I've found a new historical romance author.

This book has just enough spice great chemistry with the couple. I loved the story and dialogue.. I can't wait to read more from this author.

This book touched home more than the others in this genre because the Heroine in this story was not a typical female. She was interested in topics that were more on the masculine side of life and her parents tried to convert her to a “typical” woman. The Hero in the book is an exceptional man, for the setting. He goes through a transition of emotions during the book and is mature enough to realize what has happened, eventually,

Thank you to NetGalley, Christina Britton and Forever Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.

I had a good time reading the story. My favorite parts is where The Duke always interacted with his charges. Them girls definitely knew how to rattle his nerves. I think that their actions are out of him not always being home to attend to them. The heroine she was quite comical herself, but at times I thought she was about to make herself crack with all the different studies that she was conducting.

This book was such a sweet, romantic story. I have never really read historical romance before, and I think this was a perfect book to be introduced into the genre. Plus, I really enjoyed all of the characters and the inclusion of a found family. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Ash, Duke of Blakely, is more than happy to leave the care and feeding of his young wards to his staff, covering his fear of tainting them with the violent legacy of his family with an obsession with running his gaming hell. When two of his wards go missing and he finds out they've run away to his mother's childhood home on the island of Synne, he realizes he needs something more permanent than a series of governesses who can't hack it. Enter Bronwyn, a local entomologist who long ago gave up on the idea of finding love, but could be persuaded to enter a marriage of convenience if it gets her away from her overbearing parents and allows her to pursue her passions. She has one condition, though: Ash has to agree to two weeks as man and wife on the island before he returns to his old life. Easy enough when they both vow that they can keep their feelings out of it, certain they will be the first couple in the history of humankind to actually keep that promise.

The word that kept coming to mind reading this book was cozy. Not exactly full-blown cottagecore, it was still lovely to spend time on the island of Synne, which is apparently England's premier exporter of beautiful and eccentric bluestockings. The marriage of convenience plot hits all the expected beats, but the lovely prose and the soft, engaging development between the main couple as they learn not only to love one another but to build a family out of man broken pieces while growing as people made this book a transporting read.