It took awhile to get into the rhythm of this book but pretty soon I was engaged with the the characters of Patience and Repington and the merry chase of hidden identities and raising a baby and a mystery to be solved. The romance seems rushed but its the diverse characters and even story line that is the charm of this book and makes it worthwhile reading.

This is one of the first historical romances I have read and I think I have found a new favorite subgenre! A Duke, The Lady, and A Baby is the opposite of a boring and predictable romance book. This book has treason, suicide, murder, gambling, deceit, women pretending to be men, and so much more. This book also discusses the power dynamics of women and men, as well as whites and people of color. The protagonist was a wealthy woman of color which put her in a very interesting position in many ways. I loved learning about the food that the women made in the book-- and as I was so pleasantly surprised to see that the author included a recipe for the coconut bread at the end of the book!
This book was definitely heavy on the details so that understandably may not be for everyone. The romance between Patience and the Duke was definitely a slow burn so if that is not your style you may not like this book. In my opinion, I found their eventual coupling up to be very realistic. They both had lots of things to consider, such as the recent death of Patience’s husband (the Duke’s cousin) and the future of Patience’s child. Sometimes I feel like couples get together unrealistically quickly in books so it was nice to see these two feel out their growing attraction before diving right into things. I am looking forward to other books in this series!

What happens when you become a Widow and have an infant son, your deceased husband death is by suicide and his relatives has you locked away in a mental hospital so no one knows where you are? This is what happens to Patience Jordan because if she is not found and considered dead, then the guardian for Patience son will receive the inheritance that Patience’s father set up for her getting married.
This is an interesting storyline which takes place during historical events, there is mystery, suspense, drama, interracial marriage and romance. The characters were well developed and you can feel the emotions of of the characters especially Patience love for her baby and willing to do whatever it takes to reclaim her home and baby. The Duke you can feel his pain and frustration of learning how to live with his leg amputated and how his love for being the guardian of the baby.
In the author’s notes I like how she explained the different terms of races, places, events and inventions
during that time period.
I look forward to reading the next book to see some of the characters Jemina, the countess who runs the Widow’ Grace backstories.

Cassandra H.

I received a ARC from Netgalley and this review is of my own honest opinion and review.

#KessingtonPublishing #ADukeTheLadyAndABaby ##VanessaRiley

I downloaded this book to prepare for an interview with Vanessa Riley, Sarah MacLean, and Joanna Shupe that was on Facebook Live during their release week.

Vanessa Riley delivers with A Duke, the Lady and a Baby. I think it’s a story readers will enjoy. I have recommended it multiple times on all my social media channels, and I interviewed the author.

Patience Jordan was widowed and committed to an asylum by her deceased husband's unscrupulous relative. Finally free, she teams up with other widowed women to claim what she was forced to leave behind in the manor house--her baby. Unfortunately (or fortunately...?), another relative of her husband, "the Duke," has taken over the manor, seeing to it that the baby will be his ward. Disguised as a wet maid, Patience works her way into the manor, and perhaps the Duke's heart...

Historical romances are not my favorite genre. The gender dynamics of another time always leave me feeling slightly uncomfortable, like being trapped in inescapable power play that you can't argue against because it was appropriate for the time. However, after reading and enjoying Evie Dunmore's Bringing Down the Duke, I've been attempting to expand my reading horizons and appreciate historical romances for what they are. This novel by Vanessa Riley caught my eye for its cover that popped and high praise.

While the gender dynamics still leave something to be desired, I understand them as a necessary evil in historical romances, and Vanessa Riley creates a unique and original story about a woman attempting to regain what's rightfully hers. And it's amazing that we're not talking about property, or money, or a title, but a baby! A living, breathing baby! Almost baffling. But Riley makes this premise come to life in a believable manner, with fantastic world-creating, character building, and prose that sing. This book is all show not tell, maybe to such an extreme level I felt like I had no idea what was happening in the first chapter. But upon catching on, I appreciated the way each character's past and motivations were slowly revealed and helped explain why they were the way they were. I can't say this is a particularly "fun" read, as it's quite a heavy premise and it seems like danger is around the corner at every page, but it was certainly enjoyable, well-written, and full of rich details that transported me to another time and place. More like a cozy blanket and a cup of cocoa read than a beach read, but there's a time and place for everything. And who doesn't love hot chocolate?

So, this book kind of defies any sort of easy categorization and is a very unique historical romance blended with suspense. I was very much compelled to keep reading throughout this book because the plot was fascinating.

Essentially, the plot is that this widow, who is a mixed race woman from a Caribbean island, was the victim to her husband's cousin who had her locked away in Bedlam for being "crazy." She breaks out of Bedlam with assistance and sneaks back into her former home to feed her son. Ultimately, the Duke of Rippington (?) shows up as the rightful guardian of her son and she winds up disguising herself as Mrs. LaCroy to be her son's nanny. The Duke and Patience slowly sort of fall together in a very quiet way.

What I liked the most about this book probably was the suspense plot even if sometimes I didn't quite understand what was happening. I liked Patience as a character a lot too. The Duke didn't really make total sense to me? Like, he's a military strategist and sometimes I was just like... dude, wtf? Oh, but the lower part of one of his legs was amputated and I really loved the way that representation was handled with the one intense caveat of his own internal hangups might be triggering for some people who use a wheelchair. But his disability wasn't ignored or glossed over and we saw his ups and downs in recovering from his injury, which was nice.

What I didn't like about this book is more that I think sometimes I felt like it was going over my head? Like Vanessa Riley is clearly SO smart and she writes beautifully, but sometimes I just genuinely didn't really get what was happening. Specifically, the way the duke talks just was weird for me. In other words, I think this is probably more historically accurate than a lot of books and I'm just not used to it.

But all that to say, I enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series because I loved Jemina (a side character with amnesia)!

Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for the advanced copy!

This is my first Vanessa Riley book (well I was lucky to get an ARC of it) and I really enjoyed it. I very rarely read historical rom these days but when I do, I prefer to read books by authors of colour. I was intrigued by this story's premise because the heroine is from the West Indies as am I (born and raise, still living here). different island but I havent read a historical romance featuring a heroine from the islands so I was ready!!

And i loved this. Loved Patience and the Duke's meeting (she's disguised as a man). right off they have great banter and the duke is exasperated when Patience appears, in the guise of a nanny this time, to take care of the Duke's new guardian (who is actually Patience's son).

Patience is not the meek, complies to all his rules, nanny that he expects and it makes for some truly delightful scenes! And he baby, little Lionel is just adorable. The first scene with him and Busick (the duke) had me chuckling. The baby is just a few months old but is written as such a real character, his personality shone through his mannerisms.

Patience is dealing with alot and what I was grateful for in this book was that while Busick realizes he has feelings for Patience, he doesn't want to act on it immediately because he believes she's a nanny and doesn't feel right about it because she is in his employ.

The two clash alot and their banterrrr, i ate that all up.

Now, one thing I wasn't 100% sure on was the disability rep. Busick is an amputee and while Patience doesnt treat him any different for it, Busick doesnt want to be seen as weak. There's is on scene where he injured himself while at his mother's house and thinks Patience will see him as less, as he's confined to his bed for a bit since he's in pain and can't walk just yet. and he thinks he doesn't want to be treated as an invalid like his father. I suppose he was feeling vulnerable here because before, throughout the book, even while he struggled with pain from using his prosthetic, he didn't see himself in that light. So I was a bit iffy on that part. But at no time did Patience ever act as if she saw him differently, inspite of his fears and voicing them to her.

I am delighted by the entire premise of the Widow’s Grace, a secret society of widows fighting back against society and who vow to help out other widows like themselves and i'm looking forward to the next book cuz i just knew Jemina and Daniel had that chemistry. I called it early on! The little sneak peek we get at the end makes me want their book NOW!

Before i forget...the POVs are in different tenses. Patience's is in 1st person and the Duke's in third but it worked for me. It wasn't jarring or anything. I liked that the author chose to switch it up a bit here.

Now, when I started A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby I was a bit nonplussed as to how Patience could get hired as her own child’s nanny/wet nurse without getting outed by the servants – unless the servants were in on it. But, fear not, the problem is easily solved in the first few chapters. Onward.

I’ll go with 3.5 stars out of 5. I liked the story of Patience and Busick and will she be able to get her baby back (plus bag a duke in the process, heyo, it’s a romance novel of course). There was a good mystery plot with excellent tension, although I’m still a little hazy about how the whole finance plot worked but that’s pretty minor. I really liked the historical detail Riley put into Patience’s backstory both as a woman color in pasty, imperial England and her plight as a widow who does not have guardianship of her own child and how this leaves her very, very little (extremely little) legal recourse to baby Lionel. Busick is also a character we rarely see in romance fiction – a hero who has lost a limb in wartime. It affects how he’s treated by others despite his rank as a duke. The romance plot itself is pretty low steam but it’s not chaste. There is definitely kissing and a small number of boob jokes (they’re kind of hilariously bad). I’m looking forward to future books in this series because this was fun.

What kept pulling me out was a structural thing. Patience’s perspective is in first-person while Busick’s perspective is in close third. Switching back and forth like that drives me batty. It just gets in the way of the story. Ymmv, of course.

There is a whole lot going on in this book.

At times, the circumstances seem beyond a bit far fetched.
So here are my thoughts. I like Vanessa Riley.
I was super excited that she had a West Indian heiress for the female lead.
What I wasn't so thrilled about?
No man is honorable when he's a rake and Busick is much touted for being a rake.
Patience was so newly widowed and still breast feeding., the timing just felt way off.
There's maybe too much going on, if that's possible.

This is the first book (at least I think so) I have read by this author.

The plot was not was I was expecting- don't be fooled by the cutesy cover because it doesn't really fit-but that's a good thing. There are some themes here (race /sexual inequalities) explored and written in a thoughtful way.

Although I didn't care for the mixed POV story telling because IMO mixed POV's in romances don't work so well, I really really liked Patience so maybe that was a win.I also enjoyed the snark between Patience and Busick, but sometimes some of the terms and language seemed a bit...silly? Off?

I give it 3.5 hearts (out of 5).

Patience Jordan is a West Indies heiress, newly widowed, and trying to reclaim custody of her infant son. The Duke is her deceased husband’s cousin, he’s recovering from a battle injury and is the baby’s guardian. The two begin to work together for baby Lionel’s sake and unsurprisingly deeper feelings develop. The narrative switches back and forth from first person for Patience, to third person for the Duke. It’s not hard to follow, but it might have been more effective if the Duke’s chapters were told in first person as well. I had a hard time understanding Patience. Sometimes she wanted to flee, sometimes she wanted to stay. It was all very dramatic. There was a problem/mystery to be solved, though we know early on the identity of the villain. The resolution was a bit unexpected.
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 stars

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ebook for review.

I wish I enjoyed this more. There was so much promise, and so many great things wanting to be addressed: Military and injury, foreign wives in the upper class, the agency of women in the early 1800s, and more. But in the end, I missed a bit of spark between them. There was some clashing, some babycaring, but I needed more to fully believe in them as a couple, and to see that developing. The history of the dead husband also dragged, never fully elaborating how we should feel about him, and the mystery was more confusion than something one ached to explore.

I was really looking forward to this book because I love regency romances with dukes and independent female main characters. While there was a lot I liked about this book, overall, I just didn't love it. I liked Patience's story of losing her child to her late husband's uncle and then doing what she could to get her son back. I also liked the Duke of Repington's path from decorated soldier to dealing with a war injury while being in charge of a baby. Both characters were interesting and were each dealing with a variety of issues in their lives. I enjoyed getting to know the other characters as well.

However, the love story between Patience and Busick didn't quite feel organic. It was almost as if the reader missed something in the story. Each character would do or say something to show how he/she felt but then they would regress to acting like an employer and employee. It didn't feel like a natural transition to being in love with one another. Compared to other regency romances, I felt as if this was lacking some emotion. It is an interesting story and getting to know the characters was enjoyable. It's good for anyone looking for those two things without any strong feelings or intense action.

Plot Synopsis:
When Patience Jordan's husband died by suicide, his uncle had her committed to Bedlam, took over the estate and became guardian to their son. Patience will do whatever it takes to save her child. Her late husband's cousin, Duke of Repington, Busick Strathmore, steps in to fix things. He will take care of his new ward as if he were his own. Patience starts working for him as a nanny as a way to be closer to his son until she can regain custody of her child.

Busick is a military hero and is used to people obeying his orders. Yet, he is drawn to Patience even as she refuses to listen to him. They grow closer as they care for baby Lionel. However, her late husband's uncle hasn't given up yet. He continues to be a threat to all three of them. Can the duke protect both Lionel and Patience while protecting his own heart? Or is this the chance to find happiness in his life that he never thought he would find?

A great new series by Vanessa Riley. After her husband commits suicide, Patience Jordan get's locked up by her husband's cousin. After getting free, she receives help from The Widow's Grace, a regency organization that aids widows, to get her newborn son back. Her son is in the care of another cousin, Busick Strathrom, The Duke of Remington, who will do anything to make sure the young man is safe, even his own mother, if she appears dangerous. Using disguises and going undercover, Patience pretends to be a nanny in order to look out for her son, as well as find the documents that prove that she is mentally fit to raise her son.

The banter between the two main characters was cute. I enjoyed the story as well as the flow of the entire book. and the interactions with baby Lionel was my favorite part I definitely will be reading more books from this author.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

So, A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby walk into a bar… (I couldn’t resist opening with a classic bar joke.)

A Duke, the Lady, and A Baby, the first novel in Vanessa Riley’s Rogues and Remarkable Women series of Regency romances, is a one-stop reading experience. It delivers extraordinary storytelling with pleasing amounts of passionate kisses, winsome characters, mystery and intrigue, humor, and coconut bread (yes, a recipe is included).

Review posted to All About Romance via https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/a-duke-the-lady-and-a-baby-by-vanessa-riley/.

3.5 stars

While dealing with grief at losing her mother, Patience falls quickly for Colin Jordan, and leaves her home in Demerara to travel to England as his wife. Patience is a biracial woman, and Colin keeps her at his country home, Hamlin House, supposedly to protect her from hateful gossip and comments that she’d surely have to endure if she accompanied him on his many trips to London. After four years of marriage, and having just given birth to a son, Patience learns that Colin is dead. As if the trauma of giving birth and losing her husband aren’t enough, Colin’s Uncle Markham has now taken over the home. He ruthlessly separates Patience from her son, Lionel, and has her sent away. Thankfully, the organization called Widow’s Grace manages to free Patience, and she finds the way to sneak into the house to feed and visit her son. Patience has to find a way to search Hamlin House for her financial records, and then steal away with her son and head back to her father and home. Then Lionel’s legal guardian appears, and everything changes.

Busick Strathmore is the Duke of Repington, as well as a recovering officer who has been seriously wounded in service to his country. When Busick learns of the death of his cousin, Colin, and that he has been named guardian to his newborn son, he immediately heads to Hamlin House with a small contingent of his men. He forcibly ejects Markham from the premises, and seeks out his young ward. Busick had been told that Patience ran away, so he knows that he needs to find a nurse for the baby. Widow’s Grace was actually responsible for summoning Busick, and now they install Patience as nurse and nanny for Lionel. Patience is cautioned not to reveal her identity until they learn what Busick’s intentions are. Patience may be Lionel’s mother, but she is only a woman, and Busick has legal authority.

Busick is a battle hardened soldier, accustomed to commanding men. Yet, he turns to mush when around his young cousin. He is constantly holding him, talking to him, singing to him, and telling him how he will be cared for and protected. At the same time, he’s suspicious of Patience, wondering if she may secretly be in league with Markham. Patience has to follow his orders pertaining to how she cares for her own child, and act as a servant in the house she should be mistress of. Though wary and not fully trusting each other, Patience and Busick do have an underlying awareness and attraction. While Busick has had a somewhat rakish past, he draws the line at importuning his servants.

A DUKE, THE LADY, AND A BABY is my first book by Vanessa Riley, and it has a lot going on beside the burgeoning romance between Patience and Busick. There is the prejudice that Patience had to face for the color of her skin, and the precarious situation she was in just because she’s a woman and subject to men’s rule. To offset that, Widow’s Grace showed how the sisterhood of women can band together and help each other through the most difficult of circumstances. The villain of the story is truly despicable, and I am genuinely pleased at his receiving what he deserved. I found the writing to be very good, but the viewpoints often changed, and several times I had to re-read passages to determine who was speaking. The romance itself felt mild to me, rather than a strong earth shattering love, it seemed truly more like an affectionate convenience. I did love both lead characters. Patience was resolute, determined, and strong in the face of all she had endured. Busick tried to hide his own very serious injuries and pain, while protecting those in his household. Though he declared himself a stickler for rules and schedules, he has a heart of pure gold. I love his strength and honor, and his interaction with Lionel is heartwarming. I’d recommend this book for readers who enjoy a romance moving at a slower pace, but with strong lead characters. Oh, and I absolutely adored that baby!

Patience Jordan was from Demerara. and fell in love with Colin Jordan. He had visited the area of Guyana, met Patience, married her, and bought her to England. They were married about four years and he either committed suicide or was murdered. Over the four years, she had a son, Lionel. A sweet baby, she adored him. When her husband died, his uncle, Markham moved in, told anyone who asked that he was lionel's guardian. He had Patience committed to Bedlam and he continued doing as he wished.
Busick Strathmore, Duke of Ripington, had been looking for his ward for six weeks. When he came to Hamlin Hall, he came with a bunch of soldiers and surrounded the house. He had also been a strategist with Wellington till he was injured. He did everything by a timetable. I believe he was hoping to go back to war. But now he had an infant to raise and he seemed happy with Lionel. It had been two years since he was wounded, I don't believe he will ever be called back, his injuries were that bad.
This was a very complicated story. I have no idea how the author kept up with it. But she did. It became an engrossing and intriguing tale. The characters were very well written and could even be realistic. The description of the background was excellent. She seemed to always have you guessing about what was going to happen. I loved this book, I could just see, in my mind, this squad of military men with their guns out and surrounding the house. taking control. I laugh, cried, and was sad when reading this.
I received this novel from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed it and enjoyed it.

This is another new-to-me author, and while enjoyed the story so much, the POV tense changes were a bit jarring for me.

Patience Jordan is having a rough few months. She had her first baby, a boy, Lionel. Her husband, Colin, killed himself. Colin's dastardly uncle, Markham, has inserted himself at her home, then had her committed to Bedlam for being a danger to her son. She was released by a kindly solicitor, who is the nephew of a local widow, Lady Shrewsbury. The Lady runs a secret organization called The Widow's Grace to help widows in need to regain their freedoms, and custody of their children. But, the Lady's plan is taking too long, and Patience, who is not known for the virtue of her name, has to act before she fears her baby will starve. So, she's been dressing as a man, and sneaking into the estate at night, through the catacombs, to feed Lionel, and see that he's as cared for as he can be. But, when an armed battalion shows up one night, led by Colin's cousin, the Duke of Repington, Lionel's actual guardian, she's both relieved, and scared for different reasons.

Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington, has a new ward to take care of, and his own health and vitality to restore, after his grave war injuries. When he arrives and kicks Markham out of the estate, things are off to a good start. But, they can't locate the boy's mother, and Markham has been known to drug/dispose of people as it suits him, so she could be gone for good. The Duke needs to find a new wet nurse/nanny for the baby immediately. The next morning, when his friend Lady Shrewsbury shows up, with 2 new maids to hire in tow, he gives in semi-gracefully and hires them. Especially once he learns the one is a wet nurse for the boy. But he fights a strong attraction to her, as he knows that no good man dallies with servants under his command.

Busick and Patience have verbal wars constantly, and he likes that she actually speaks her mind and argues with him, most of the time. But, she doesn't feel she can trust anyone, including him, and so she keeps up her ruse as the nanny. Their chemistry is strong, though both are fighting it hard, each for their own reasons. Meanwhile, there's a mystery afoot, involving Patience's dead husband and his uncle, and figuring it out and stopping Markham is the only way to truly insure Lionel's safety. She will do anything to protect her baby, including continuing to lie to the man she may be falling for, with every caring thing he does for her son. I liked watching them dance around each other, and their falling together was slow and steady, and wonderful.

The side characters here were delightful too, especially Lady Shrewbury's nephew, Mr. Thackery, and Jemina St. Maur, Patience's friend and ally who has amnesia, but has committed herself to helping Patience right the wrongs done to her and her baby. Mr. Thackery and Jemina appear to be headed for the next book together, and I'm definitely interested in reading that story!

Honestly my only real issue here at all was with the changing tenses. The author uses 1st person POV when in Patience's head. But when she switches to Busick's POV, the tense changes with it, to 3rd person. Normally, I'm not someone bothered by tense choice AT ALL. I've read and loved plenty of stories in both 1st and 3rd, and even a couple in 2nd, and normally I don't even notice it, or care either way. But, the changing tenses threw me off so much. At first, I wasn't even sure what was bothering me while reading, but SOMETHING was. And even when I finally realized, I just kept struggling with it throughout the story. I'm positive that the author did this with a purpose, though I don't know what it was. Sadly, it mostly just distracted me from the story every time it happened. This was still a 4 Star book for me though, as I adored the characters, and their journey, and how the story ultimately played out.

This was a very intriguing look into this world the author has created, and I am curious to read more. Hopefully if the tense switching continues I'll at least be prepared for it next time, and it won't hinder me as much. Please, try this one for yourself, as I do recommend it highly!

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest reviews.

If you like regency era romances with a strong leading lady, then you'll probably enjoy this. I struggled with the writing style and that it switched from first to third person for the different POV. I did like that it looked at diversity and disabilities in this era. Also the sentence structure was sometimes a little hard to follow. I did like some of the supporting characters and even Patience and Busick and this is the first in a series called Rogues and Remarkable Women, that I'll probably give the next book a chance.