Thank you for letting me read and review this book. Unfortunately this book was not for me. I think I have a case of pandemic reading.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't my favorite. I found it hard to follow and just couldn't get into it.

This was a little bit of a disappointment. I really wanted to like it because I felt like the plot has great potential. I just feel like it wasn't executed properly.
I really enjoyed Patience as a character. She was determined and strong-willed. However, Busick was really annoying at times.
As for the plot, there were many issues that had to be overcome, but everything just seemed to wrap up too quickly and without any repercussions for the characters.
Lastly, I felt like the romance was too insta-love. They both seemed to develop feelings for each other as soon as they met (as themselves).

Vanessa Riley possesses great writing abilities, and I was intrigued by this book from the opening chapter. Regarding rep, we have a WOC immigrant heroine, Patience, and a disabled hero, Busick. I also love that Patience's baby son, Lionel, plays such a prominent role in the story. The three of them make a delightful trio.

Sadly, as the book went on, it did get a little slow for me and I didn't feel as motivated to keep reading. The most off-putting parts were the POV jumps - Patience's chapters are written in 1st person POV, whilce Busick's are in 3rd person. It was really jarring for my brain to switch every chapter and made the story more difficult to follow.

I'm interested in checking out Riley's other work, but overall I had a difficult time getting through this book.

Thank you to Kensington Books via Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you so much for the copy of A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby. I tried to pick this one up a few times, but I was not able to connect with the story line and characters. Unfortunately, it did not work for me. Thank you again for the opportunity to read this one.

I will not be sharing my thoughts/reviews outside of Netgalley in a review

Das Buch startet recht mysteriös in London 1814 in Hamlin Hall. Die Herrin muss sich, verkleidet als Bediensteter, ins eigene Haus schleichen, um ihren Sohn heimlich säugen zu können. Sie versucht ihre Unterlagen zu stehlen, damit sie das Schiff nehmen können. Ihr Mann Colin ist nicht zurückgekehrt und sein Onkel Markham hat sie wegbringen lassen. Der 24-jährigen Patience droht die Irrenanstalt Bedlam.
Doch dann kommen Viscount Gantry und Busick Strathmore Duke Remington an. Er ist auf der Suche nach seinem Mündel, um Markham zu stoppen. Man wird ohne großes Federlesen gleich mitten in die Eingangsszene geworfen. Die Geschichte startet direkt mit hohem Tempo und fesselt schnell. Sie zeichnet sich durch feine Situationskomik aus.
Countess Lady Shrewsbury hat Patience und Jemina aus Bedlam gerettet. Sie führt einen Zusammenschluss von Witwen, zu ihrem Schutz und zur Stärkung ihrer Rechte. Damit Patience weiter Zugang zu ihrem Baby hat, schleusen sie sie mit einer traurigen Geschichte als Amme ein.
Das Versteckspiel hat mir etwas zu lange gedauert und zur Mitte des Buches gibt es etwas Längen. Sonst hat die frische Geschichte gut unterhalten können.

Trust and trauma are also central to Vanessa Riley’s A DUKE, THE LADY, AND A BABY (Zebra Books, 312 pp., paper, $15.95). Let’s be frank: This cover and title will mislead you. The baby in the title and those graceful silhouettes might suggest a gentle screwball comedy, perhaps one with a hilarious scene where a bath gets out of hand and someone gets splashed. You will not be expecting the lady to be a widow who escaped from Bedlam, or the duke to have lost a limb in the war, or the baby to be the heir to a fortune. This cover and title are like advertising a string quartet and then dropping “The Phantom of the Opera” on the audience’s head, chorus and chandelier and all. Personally, I was delighted: Riley is at her best when she lets her Gothic impulses out to play. This book made me wish for howling winter winds and guttering candles so I could properly appreciate the shivers. Readers on the lookout for Black or disabled characters in historical romance will not want to miss this.

2.5/3 stars

I had pretty high hopes for this book. The plot sounded promising and the first few chapters were intriguing enough.

However, I started to lose interest. I did not resonate with any of the characters, I couldn’t get myself to believe in the main romance and the honestly, I was confused about the main conflict. I think the confusion is mostly my fault for not trying hard enough to understand, but honestly I did not get it.

The story had some cute points, mostly centered around Lionel. I think it is a pretty standard historical romance (not in a bad way) but it just did not work for me.

This historical romance had an intriguing plot, but was not as well executed as I thought it could have been. Patience Jordan was a woman who had been victimized and manipulated by Markham, her late husband's uncle. Her safety and that of her child, Lionel, had been jeopardized by Markham's actions.
Then the Duke of Repington comes to the rescue and rids Hamlin Hall, Patience's former residence of the evil Markham. The Duke becomes the new guardian of Lionel and Patience disguises as a nanny to be with her child.

The author did an excellent job of researching the historical background information for this novel. The social mores of the time with regard to mixed race women and widows was very interesting as was learning about the military exploits of England.

What a fabulous story. I was enthralled by the irony of a woman of color being separated from her child after the death of her husband and then being hired as his nanny. The historical context and research were very impressive and the romance was swoony. I enjoyed Riley's wit and talent for dialogue.

This is the first book I have read by Vanessa Riley and there was a lot to like. The main characters were compelling and their love story was sweet and endearing. There were also many interesting secondary characters who seem likely to get their own books in the future. The author seems to have done her historical research and I feel like I learned some things about the time period. My only complaint about the book is that it jumps back and forth between 1st and 3rd person narration, which I found distracting and confusing at times. I will definitely read future books in this series.

In the author’s notes at the end of her lively new historical romance, Vanessa Riley reveals that England was the home to at least ten thousand people of Black or mixed-race ancestry during Jane Austen’s time. Regency romances typically feature love stories between members of the white aristocracy. Fortunately, a growing number of writers have been creating characters representing the diversity among the English populace at the time.

This first book in the Rogues and Remarkable Women series introduces Patience Amelia Jordan, former Duchess of Repington, a courageous young heiress originally from Demerara in the West Indies (now part of Guyana). Ever since her husband Colin’s suicide, Patience has been treated abominably by Colin’s uncle, who had her thrown into Bedlam for a trumped-up reason.

Now she’s forced to sneak into her marital home, Hamlin Hall, disguised as a groom in order to feed and watch over her son, Lionel. Then the new Duke, Busick Strathmore, arrives to take up his position and Lionel’s guardianship, starting afresh by dismissing all his predecessor’s staff. With the support of the Widow’s Grace, a group of widows helping her regain custody of her child, Patience becomes Lionel’s wet nurse and nanny while seeking evidence about the true nature of Colin’s financial dealings and mysterious death. Over time, Patience and the Duke form a tentative alliance that turns flirtatious and develops into love.

Their connection may seem subdued and cerebral, at first, when compared with other romance novels. However, I found Riley’s style of subtle, character-driven love story a refreshing change. Repington is a wounded soldier who had lost his leg during the Siege of Badajoz and, while adjusting to his new situation, plans his return to the battlefield. He quickly comes to love Lionel, though as a military man, his child-rearing methods are amusingly rigid.

Patience is a loving mother who wants only to return to her island with Lionel, but the Duke may change her mind. Riley also draws on elements of Patience’s cultural heritage to illustrate who she is. I particularly liked the scenes in which she debates praying to the Demararan god of protection but wasn’t sure if he had any control over what happened in England, and another where she dons a traditional, marigold-colored dress that her beloved late mother crafted. I did wonder why the Duke didn’t uncover Patience’s real identity sooner, and the shifts between Patience’s first-person viewpoint and the Duke’s third-person perspective feel unnecessarily distancing. Overall, though, I enjoyed this romance between two courageous, kind people, both outsiders in different ways, who genuinely respect each other. Patience’s marriage with Colin seemed a bit shaky, but I sense that her new relationship will endure.

And as for “Busick” – it’s not a traditional romance name, but it fits the period. (For example, Sir Busick Harwood was a well-known English physician who died in 1814, the year this novel takes place).

I had heard a lot of praise for A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby before reading it. I'd read one Vanessa Riley book previously but it was very different from this one. I have to say it took me a while to warm up to A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby. The writing style seemed a bit choppy to me in the beginning and I had to get used to the thought and speech patterns of the characters. I also tend to struggle with first person pov and this book switches between first and third. But once I became accustomed to reading it I really enjoyed the story.

I think the plot was original and creative. I actually found myself really liking all of the characters. I enjoyed Patience as a heroine. I love that the romance genre is becoming more diverse and inclusive. I applaud Vanessa Riley for presenting a truly entertaining read that also showed representation to multiple groups of people who are often left out of the romance genre, and especially out of historical romance.

Riley touched upon some really tough subjects and really hard truths in A Duke, the Lady, and A Baby. She addressed the issues of war and colonialism. She really made me feel for Patience and her experiences as a woman of color in Regency England and for Busick as a disabled veteran. But I really loved that through both of their struggles they were able to be there for each other and to be a strong relationship. I loved how much they both strived to help each other, to look out for the best interests of each other, even when they didn't fully trust each other. I loved how much they both accepted each other and how Busick immediately cared for the baby. I enjoyed Busick's humor and thought it really added to the story.

To be honest I questioned when we would get to the romance in this book but as it moved along I realized that the pacing was right for the situation the characters were in. This was not a romance that could be rushed as there was too much to be resolved before there could be a believable happily ever after.

I was really drawn in by the secondary characters as well and I'm now quite anxious to hear their stories. I'm looking forward to reading the upcoming books in this series.

I also really appreciated that Riley included extra information about the realities of diversity in three regency era as well as explaining the language and terminology that she used through out the book.

Overall I found myself really enjoying the book in the end. I actually thought it was very well written, even if the style took some getting used to for me.

Patience Jordan is a recent widow who is trying to regain custody of her son. She hides her identity and gets hired as her sons nanny by her sons new guardian, the Duke of Repington. She is also trying to determine why her husband died and gain access to her considerable fortune.

This book had so much going for it, a fun storyline, great supporting characters and the potential to make a really nice love story. I just had a hard time with the writing on this one and some of the choices made by the author for the character of the Duke.

First of all, the chapters alternate between the POV of the Duke and Patience. The Patience chapters are written in first person, and they make her sound insufferable. SO many similes and metaphors, that it became annoying and unnatural sounding.

The Dukes chapters are written in third person and much more readable.

The other thing that was a bit strange to me was the Duke's obsession with military drills and scheduling. I got that he was injured and wanted his military career back, but this was just weird. And personally, I found it hard to believe that Patience was falling in love with him while he was so obsessed with the military.

With all that being said, there second half of the book was a lot more readable. The Duke drops some of the military stuff and the Patience chapters are more readable. The action picks up and there are some really great scenes between the Duke and Patience.

There were some loose ends that were never resolved, but it seems like there will be another book.

I love the cover of this book, but we know that you can't judge a book by its cover (or so many say). This book is sadly one of them. I did not come into this book with high hopes are so others may have but I did come into with the understanding of the time period and what I should expect in some way of a historical romance. What I got was a story that shows off the time periods racism and issues but nothing really in terms of story or character chemistry. This is a romance right? I felt let down by this idea that this book was a romance because I did not really feel anything between the two characters. At this point I am speechless and I don't know how else to explain my disappointment.

what makes riley's historical romances so endlessly riveting is the slice of history she casts light on. the world has always been diverse, in stories like a duke, the lady, and a baby we get to see it.

the duke in question is busick, a former military hero, hiding the fact that he lost a leg during the wars, who is also suddenly tasked with caring for his deceased cousin's son, i.e. the baby. patience, is the lady in question, and she's been through a lot. not only has her husband died under mysterious circumstances, his uncle is pulling some seriously shady moves on her, keeping her away from her son is almost the least of it. when she goes undercover as the boy's nanny, and she finds herself drawn to his guardian, she fights her attraction tooth and nail.

nothing good ever came from tangling up with the english nobility in her experience. but busick isn't your average duke. and soon the things that draw them together find them irrevocably tangled up with each other.

there's a bit of mystery that along with the leads sparkling chemistry makes this read quite enjoyable.

**a duke, the lady, and a baby will publish on june 30, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/kensington books in exchange for my honest review.

Once a West Indian heiress lively and happy in her Caribbean home, now a widowed, penniless and desperate woman fighting to keep her own child and forced to ally with a domineering duke used to war and command. This was setting up to be an exciting, tantalizing Regency Era Romantic Suspense by a new to me author I have been meaning to try so I gathered up this first in series with great eagerness.
Review

The book opens with Patience Jordan in disguise and making a clandestine night-time visit to her former home to be sure the scoundrel who is now in possession is taking care of her baby son. That very night, she sees relief show up in the form of the Duke of Repington, her son’s legal guardian. He needs a nurse and she will do what it takes to get near her son and free them both. She has learned that the English are wary of foreign-looking people like herself and she has been taken advantage of and hurt by unscrupulous, greedy men. But, in Repington, she has finally discovered an honorable ally though he is demanding as well.

Busick Strathmore, the Duke of Repington, knows war and has the injuries and scars to prove it, but he is unused to the kind of private war that Patience Jordan is engaging in. He is a protector and her fierce spirit starts turning his ordered world upside down. He struggles to believe his cousin’s suicide and there are questions that need answering about all involved. Patience and his ward need the truth to come out as well so he finds himself partnering her and wanting more for the first time.

I spotted the blurb on this one and I could not wait to dive in. I don’t know what I expected, but the author’s style of writing was the first thing I noticed. It’s whimsical and different, but doesn’t always feel in sync with the time period so I was distracted as often as amused. The overall story was good and I enjoyed seeing the social and cultural elements that were included like Patience running afoul of a villain and ending up the unlawful party and criminal and of Busick suffering physical and mental injuries as a war survivor. I liked the strength in them both and as partners bent on setting things right.

The romance, however, was so-so for me. I just didn’t feel it between them. Everything else was strong in this story particularly their roles in the suspense side, but the romance needed more development. Most of the time they were antagonistic and in a battle of wills. There was no frisson of attraction beneath that- or at least I didn’t notice any. They didn’t communicate well together and I felt I was told they were a romance pair rather than see it develop before my eyes.

I do like the premise behind the series and would try another now that I’m used to the author’s style. It was an overall engaging experience and I can recommend it to historical romance fans who don’t mind some modern-sounding dialogue and ideas cropping in.

I rec’d this book via Net Galley to read in exchange for an honest review.

A Duke, The Lady, and a Baby is an excellent start to Vanessa Riley’s Rogues and Remarkable Women series. I have found Riley to be a consistently good writer with strong heroes and heroines and their remarkable stories with complex bits of history that I never knew about. I loved her previous Advertisements for Love series, and I am eagerly looking forward to seeing how this new series progresses.

One thing to note is that the book is in first person from Jordan’s point-of-view and in third person from Repington’s. Riley’s choice to write it this way is brilliant. You get to understand Patience’s world from her eyes — her fears, her struggles, her desperation — and there’s an immediacy to and an intimacy with her thoughts, feelings and actions. For Repington, the third person allows him to initially distance himself from his war injuries and the life he now has to lead as an amputee in the rarefied aristocratic world that admits no blemishes.

With Patience’s encouragement and support, Repington embarks on a life of strength and vigor, not allowing his injuries to hamper him. Repington’s belief in her and his respect for her allows Patience to come into her own and stand firmly against patriarchy and racism and society at large. Thus, their relationship allows each to be much more than they were before — there is a balance of power in their relationship.

Full Review: https://frolic.media/book-of-the-week-a-duke-the-lady-and-a-baby-by-vanessa-riley/

A Duke, the Lady, and A Baby by Vanessa Riley is best described as a gentle romance yet gleefully disastrous for the white supremacists in romance. Prudence is a dark skinned woman from Demerara, present day Guyana. When her husband is said to have committed suicide, she is dragged to Bedlam, leading to Prudence sneaking in to feed her son. The Duke of Repington takes over Hamlin Hall. A society of Widows, a sisterhood of sorts, convinces him to hire Prudence of Lionel’s wet nurse. Thus the mystery of what really happened with that last letter Prudence sent her late husband and the slyness of his uncle unfolds.

Prudence and Busick. Yes Busick. Can we appreciate that Vanessa Riley has a list of the most horrible names of men during the regency and it’s her goal to use every single one? Yes? Me too. Anways, lets focus ADHD.

They slowly reveal who they are, something in tune with the mysterious plot. Their trust for each other, their stubbornness unraveled, and who they are is gently done.

This is a slow romance. I don’t know that I would call it a slow burn but more of a sweet romance that takes its time. It’s gorgeously written but it’s not meant for readers that like really steamy romance. I do feel sometimes the romance community prioritizes steamy romances as if those are the only romances that should be of worth in the genre.

And listen I love the steam. I stan the horny bitches. We love the hornsters ok. There’s something to be said for both but I do feel that sweet romances tend to be undervalued over the popularity of open door romances.

This book is about having someone you love that you can depend on. Prudence, like a lot of Black women, is expected to show her worth both as a Black woman and an immigrant living amongst the English ton. She has to be strong, silent, and resilient, things white aristocrats never had to be. She does not have the privilege of getting to be weak, to lean on someone else’s shoulder for a change, to be protected. She has to fight every day. She does not get to have the power her Duke has.

He gets to control his destiny. She does not.

She repeats to herself that in the ton’s eyes she is her late husband’s different wife. “Exotic’” and “dark” in their eyes, not worthy of the rank she is given nor worthy of the privilege to have a leisurely life which high browed white ladies had all day. Instead they want only the pain they believe she should ensure. They want her money, not her face.

The romance is so awkwardly adorkable and I found that aspect very enjoyable. The way Riley writes seems very reminiscent of the way people in this place and in this time actually spoke. She doesn’t write that modern faux historical regency tone that we’re so used to now. She does something with prose that creates the type of dissonance and high language that was so very typical amongst English speaking peoples of the time. It almost reminds me of the way Jane Austen would word things, that awkward yet hilarious prose which seems so humorous yet romantic to me.

I love that while reading this I was reading the honest truth that white ladies during (also now) this time were racist and would often use microaggressions to dehumanize Black people. Seeing the abuse Black people and bi-racial Britons lived through in a romance is new to me. I love seeing that while also getting a romance at the center. Riley examines history not just as someone trying to make aware of how white women during this time weren’t as feminist as we think but she highlights the white feminist exclusive spaces of regency romance. I cannot think of many Black women being so present in historical regencies let alone an ownvoices one.

I want to read historical romances as complex as this. I want to read Black women being described as rakes. I want to see a Black heroine describe her hand writing as intelligent. I want to see layered, frustrated, and justifiably angry women dealing with their trauma and also getting to be appreciated and loved in the span of a single genre killing romance novel.

I love that the hero is sweet on Prudence. The way he calls her soldier and a rake and wants to protect her when life has always been anti-Prudence getting to feel safe. Their romance is so cozy. He’s just a himbo schedule nerd that has eyes only for her. I would die for them.

I know there are going to be some reviewers that feel there shouldn’t be books where Black women get to be in the same or similar HEAs as white women and that’s messed up.

I want to see Black women in regency england, not just because there was such a large population of Black people in England during the time but also because Black women deserve to read romances that have been denied to them for so long. Hell I deserve to read romances like this. We are not protecting that white bubble of regency romances any longer and I’m here to watch that magic unfold.

Give me all the Riley adorkable romances to go please.

Thank You to Zebra via Netgalley for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, Patience is SUCH an amazing woman, a fierce mother and determined to get to the heart of what has been going on. The Duke is in pain and frustrated and is a soldier who is used to everyone obeying him - and certainly will not stand for deceptions! Watching them bond over their love of Lionel and work to find their way to happiness was so much fun. I can’t wait to read the next installment of this series!!