I can't put my finger on it, but I really didn't like the hero. This would be a good historical romance for those that don't like love scenes in their books.

This was a disappointment. The author's writing style was very odd to me. There were some questionable choices made in the way that her sentences were constructed or the words used. I didn't buy the relationship between Patience and Busick. He seems to only have the "hots" for her when she is wearing man's clothes. Also, I didn't mind when he referred to a baby as a "soldier", but when he started referring the same way to Patience and she actually started to salute him once in a while, that's just got way to weird for me. There was absolutely no passion between them, no feelings.

** I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
This book sounded so good. Unfortunately, the book did not deliver on the blurb. This book was hard to read and there were holes in the plot. I had a hard time getting through this book.

I enjoyed this book. There’s mystery and dramatics. The relationship between Patience and the duke was different, sometimes sweet and snarky at other times.

Patience is a West Indian heiress that married an Englishman and moved to London. He leaves her in the country and she’s sent to Bedlam and loses her son when he commits suicide.

She is rescued and heads back to her son to investigate her husbands uncle, acts as a nanny to her son.

There are still some major questions surrounding the estate and secondary characters that has me excited to read future books by this author.

3.5 stars

2020 has been the year in which I have discovered a love of historical romance novels and ever since I got myself hooked on them I've been on the look out for new authors to try and I'm very glad that I gave Vanessa Riley a shot.

A Duke, the Lady and a Baby is the first book in the Rogues and Remarkable Women series by Riley, and follows Patience, a West Indian heiress, who's husband has recently died, leaving her widowed with a newborn son. To make matters worse, she's committed to an asylum and separated from her son, only to be rescued by The Widow's Grace, a group of women out to assist widows in reclaiming what they've lost. For Patience, that's her son, and she's out to rescue him when his new guardian, the Duke of Repington comes into the picture and hires Patience as the new wet nurse. Repington is a military man, through and through, and lives his life by rules and expectations - which Patience has every intention of shattering. They begin to form a mutual trust, each recognising the other holds secrets, against a common enemy.

This was a fun story to read. Admittedly, it took a few chapters to get a good sense of what was happening - Riley throws us into the middle of Patience's story, after she has been rescued from the asylum, and we uncover the backstory from there - but once I had pieced it all together I was hooked.

Patience is a strong, female character with one goal in mind: to be reunited with her son. She's willing to do anything to achieve her goal and that's admirable. And while she has an initial dislike of Repington, she begins to realise that there's more to this man who has inherited her late husband's estate than meets the eye and that underneath his rigid, military exterior, there's a lot more going on. 

Repington realises right away that something doesn't sit right with Patience's story, and is concerned that she's there to steal the child (not realising that it's her son), and tries to figure her out. She, meanwhile, shatters all of his rules and forces him to confront some truths about himself.

I did feel there were some pacing issues, but nothing so bad that it made the story unreadable. Being the first book in a new series, I figured that we were setting up time and place and a collection of side characters that we would eventually revisit in later books.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read and I would definitely consider picking up future books (or backlist titles) by Riley.

Patience Jordan, a West Indian heiress, dared to question her English husband, Colin’s apparent suicide, and consequently finds herself thrown into an asylum. When she is released, she does all that she can to regain custody of her young son Lionel but must do so under the guise of her son’s nanny. Busick Strathmore, the Duke of Repington, is acting as Lionel’s guardian, being cousin to Colin. Having been seriously injured during the war, Busick’s life as a rake, has altered dramatically. Yet the more time that he spends with Patience, the more he hopes for a different life.
This is an interesting story, bringing to light the prejudice of colour, in a time where societal rules were paramount. The romance between Patience and Busick, is understandably gradual, with Lionel, central to their story. The book endeavours to highlight the plight of women, the issue of race, and the injuries suffered during war. However, the main detractor from this story was the use of different perspectives with Patience’s story, told in the first person, whilst Busick’s POV is in the third person. Whilst an interesting storyline, the writing style was at times, confusing.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

New mother and recently widowed Patience Jordan is well aware that the world isn't on her side especially since she's a widow, a woman, an immigrant in the very xenophobic England of the Regency, and mixed race. Her son's been taken from her, housed with a relative who's more interested in chasing skirts than changing nappies. She's been committed to Bedlam and only through luck and the determination of her cellmate was she released. Now she has to sneak into her old home to feed her son. She need a miracle, and fast!

Enter Busick, the Duke of Repington. Grievously wounded in the Napoleonic Wars in Spain/Portugal, he has returned to England to assume control of his ward, Patience's son Lionel. A strict and meticulous man, he soon finds his orderly world turned upside down but the infant and the woman thrust upon him to be his ward's nanny. Worse, he can't help but be attracted to her.

But as the weeks go by, the danger around them mounts. They must uncover the mystery surrounding Patience's husband's death before it is too late.

---

Okay first off some trigger warnings, because they are sorely needed. -- TW: Suicide, TW: Period appropriate racism, TW: period appropriate misogyny, TW: child abuse/neglect, TW: Sexual Harassment, TW: Consent Issues, TW: Period appropriate sexism, TW: Body Trauma

There may be others I'm forgetting.

On to my thoughts!

I'd been looking forward to reading this book for a while. It has some of my favorite things: disabled characters, characters of color, cute plot kidlets, a mystery, a sort of enemies-to-lovers scenario, women supporting women. But upon reading the book, I can't help but feel... I don't know... disappointed.

Let's break it down.

Things I loved:
-- Patience. I really really loved Patience. I loved the way she thought. I loved the way she was so determined to put the needs of her child first. I loved how she refused to back down even in the face of overwhelming odds. I thought her character voice was excellent, and I wish the whole book had been told in her head. (More on that later)
-- I loved the diversity in the characters of color. Pro-tip to authors, England was a lot more culturally diverse than you see in most historical shows/movies. It always has been. Take it from the scholar of History. I liked that the racism and inequality that they faced wasn't swept under the rug. I also liked that all characters, whether of color or not, were described in the same way. It wasn't othering. It was lovely to see.
-- I loved the disabled representation and acknowledgement of disability aids. Wheelchairs, crutches, prosthetics, and various other period-appropriate mobility aids were in play. I loved that even minor characters had injuries. Wars of the time were messy... the medicine even messier. The understanding of Anatomy was still in its early phases. So any kind of injury could lead to disability. I'm glad to see that acknowledged.
-- Did I mention I loved the disability rep? I did. Because even better, the characters who are disabled aren't seen as lesser than. They often have angst about their situation -- very common when a traumatic injury or illness takes away or hampers a portion of someone's life -- but none of the characters spend their days navel gazing. I really loved the representation.
-- I loved the women supporting women plotline. This book gets a Bechdel Test pass and a Mako Mori test pass. Do you know how rare that is in romance? So rare. So so rare. I am here for that.
-- The descriptions, particularly in Patience's POV, are quite lyrical and lovely. Part of the reason why I want the story to be fully in her head.

So what didn't I like?
-- The POV switches. Patience's POV is told wholly in first person, past tense. It's a very intimate choice, and one I agree with. However, Busick's POV is told in the third person, past tense. And the story switches back and forth, often within the same chapter, were jarring. It wasn't handled well, and it kept throwing me out of the story. It was a fourth wall break, and it decreased my enjoyment of the story.
-- The Hero. I didn't like him at all. I found him sexist, overbearing, didactic, and unyielding. He often did similar things to the villain yet his actions were seen as "good" while the villain's were "Bad." Here's an example: He orders around the heroine and threatens her with taking her son away from her... the same thing the villain did. This is even after the reveal that she is not just a nanny but Lionel's mother. I couldn't forgive that.
-- There's a huge, giant, gargantuan consent issue. As in the Hero keeps pushing for physical attentions while the heroine is out and out saying no. This is an automatic star drop.
-- On the hero again, he's jealous of any man who gets near her or who has her affections. This includes but is not limited to: her lawyer, a doctor, her dead husband, and her infant son. Jealousy is not an endearing trait. It's a possessive one.
-- Continuing with the hero, he always has to win and be right... and there's even a scene where he jeopardizes an infant to make a point to Patience. At this point in the story, I stopped rooting for him to get together with Patience and started rooting for her to leave. Or end up with her lawyer. Or her best friend... I'm down for some LBGT rep.
-- The romance. Like many other critical reviewers before me, I didn't buy the romance. Busick basically went from mistrustful to obsessed in the blink of an eye. He kept insisting that because he cared for the heroine that she had to love him too. This was repeated over and over. As for Patience, she seemed mostly tepid toward him. Yes, she thought him attractive... but for the first portion of the book she was beholden to him to stay near her son, and for much of the rest she was focused on resolving the mystery surrounding her husband's death.
-- A dropped thread regarding part of the mystery. It's hand-waved away at the end, but that mars the HEA

So ultimately I'm torn about how to rate the book. Part of me wants to one-star it (for the consent issues, unbelievable romance, the designated hero trope, and jarring POV switches). While another part of me wants to celebrate the diversity in this book. The great representation of characters of color and disabilities. There were things I loved; there were things I hated. If this book had been wholly in Patience's POV I likely would have liked it more.

But since it wasn't and for the reasons listed above, I can only give this:

Three Stars

Thank you to Kensington and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I love regency romance, so I was excited to get a copy of A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby from Netgalley. However, this one fell flat for me. When Patience's husband dies, she is forced to pretend to be a nanny for the estate's new Duke in order to remain close to her infant son. Although she and the Duke are originally suspicious of one another, they soon begin to develop feelings.

What I Liked:
- Patience was a well-developed heroine with an interesting backstory.
- Regency Romance is typically filled with exclusively white characters, so it was great to see a heroine from the West Indies.
- The relationship between Busick and Lionel, Patience's son was adorable.

What I Didn't Like:
- The author wastes no time diving into the action, but I was pretty confused for the first 3 or 4 chapters of what was going on.
- The wealthy male falls for the nanny trope, which I'm not personally a fan of.
- The relationship between Patience and Busick, which I felt fell a little flat.

West Indian heiress and now widow Patience Jordan has lost everything due to questioning her husband's suicide, including her 3 month old son Lionel. Falsely imprisoned in Bedlam, she is rescued by The Widow's Grace, who also assist her with getting hired as her son's nanny. With the arrival of her son's new guardian, Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington, will she be able to get to the bottom of what happened in order to be with her son without hiding? And will she fall for her attraction to Busick?

This was a cute read. Drama, mystery, suspense, plus romance. Anyone looking for a clean, historical romance will enjoy this book.

This book was given to me an an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
So....I really wanted to love this book. It had an unique and intriguing premise. It introduced all kinds of hot topics for a Regency era romance (interracial couples, disabilities, women's rights), but the execution fell flat.

Patience Jordan is a widow who had lost custody of her newborn infant after the death of her husband. She is a foreigner and widow in a time when both are looked down upon, and neither have many rights. She has been taken in by the Widow's Grace, a secret society who helps widows in trouble, to help her regain custody of her son, Lionel, from her husband's evil scheming uncle. Patience is tired of the rules of the strict society she finds herself in and is not afraid to take matters into her own hands. I did love her fiery spirit and mother's heart.

Busick Repington is a disabled war veteran. He is the true guardian of Lionel, who is his cousin's son. He has been trying to claim his guardianship of Lionel and uncover the truth of his cousin's last days and death. Busick is a strict military man who likes order and people following his commands quickly. I did like the contrast between the two characters. Patience who is a rule breaker and Busick who needs rules to maintain order in his life. Busick was a great man and the perfect compliment to Patience.

For some reason this story is told from the first person narrative (Patience POV) and the third person narrative (Busick's POV). I found this to be confusing and jarring in the transitions between the two. I didn't understand the reasoning for it to be written this way when a third person narrative would have made it a smoother read.

We never get a clear description of the characters. Just little glimpses of their physical traits. I found without a clear picture of the characters it was hard to connect with them. I like to envision my characters in my mind while reading (as I'm sure most readers do) and I just couldn't with this book. We never get a good introduction to the characters either. I felt confused and disoriented for the first several chapters as I tried to figure out who was who and what they were talking about. It felt like the author had literally dropped us into the middle of a story, not the beginning.

Overall, the writing felt flat to me. Lack of descriptions/explanations left me feeling disconnected from the story. The dialogue was awkward and didn't flow. I never felt the chemistry or attraction between Patience and Busick. This book had a great premise, but lacked emotion and development. I did enjoy some parts of the story, mostly towards the end where the writing felt a little more fleshed out and developed. The majority of it left me uninvolved and uninterested

I struggled with this book. I really wanted to love it, but the things that have always bothered me about Ms. Riley’s writing trouble me here as well. Most notably was the shifting first and third person narration. This technique has been used in some of Ms Riley’s other books, and I was hoping she would use conventional narration for this book; I find the shifts in narration to be jarring and distracting. I also found the pacing of the book to be very slow.

What I liked about the book was the attention to issues of inequality—the terrible treatment of people of color, veterans (especially disabled veterans), widows, and women. I appreciate how this author shows all facets of historical romance and doesn’t gloss over injustice.

Patience and Duke Repington are a force to be reckoned with in this first book of the Rogues and Remarkable Women series by Vanessa Riley. Patience loses everything when her husband dies. Her home, her son, her sanity. With the help of a group of widows and the dashing Duke of Repington, Patience fights for her rightful place in society and back in her home, but will she lose her heart in the process.

I loved this book. Another favorite HEA of mine so far this year. If you enjoy this book also try To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters and a Royal Kiss and Tell by Julia London.

This is a slow heat regency era romance with a strong female lead and a vulnerable hero. I cannot wait to read more in this series!

Patience never expected to find herself committed to Bedlam much less released to work as a nanny (!) to her son who is now under the guardianship of Busick, the Duke of Repington, but that's what's happened. She's devoted to her son Lionel and really wants to take him home to the Caribbean. Busick doesn't want that to happen- he wants to marry her. It didn't bother me so much as it seems to have bothered others to have the story told by Patience in the first person and in third person for Busick's perspective. I was more challenged to find a genuine reason for these two to fall in love. I liked that Patience is a non-traditional (for this genre) heroine. The writing is awkward in spots (a touch more editing and a name change for the Duke- Busick didn't convey romance to me) would have helped. That said, I whipped through this because I wanted to know what would happen (even though I kinda knew anyway). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was absurdly excited for Vanessa Riley’s big (or big-ish) publisher print debut, A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby (aka DukeLadyBaby by me because the articles being inconsistent has thrown me off for months). And while this isn’t my favorite of the few I’ve read of hers, it’s a solid story providing a fresh perspective to an overly saturated subgenre.

I liked Patience and Busick, and rooted for them as they negotiated their past heartaches and eventually came together due both to their mutual love for this little boy and the growing attraction between them.

And while they are only a minor part of this story, I like the Widow’s Grace as a framing element for the series, helping women who’ve experienced loss.

My one minor quibble (which it has apparently already bothered a lot of people, and will inevitably be a bugbear for many more) is the POV choice. While Busick’s POV is written in third person, Patience’s is in first. In most cases, when authors do this, I don’t know why they couldn’t have conveyed the entire story in either dual first (with subheadings) or third person, instead of a mix of both. The mix resulted in the transitions between chapters often feeling jarring.

Otherwise, this is a fairly solid book, and I am incredibly excited to see what’s next. If you love Regency romance and are looking for a book by a black romance author highlighting the lives of BIPOC in England, I recommend this one, as well as some of Vanessa Riley’s backlist titles.

I love historical fiction so I was excited about this book. But ultimately, it just ended up being an okay weird. It was definitely a quick read with a good premise, but it didn't make me feel anything? If that makes sense. I love rooting for the characters or wanting them to fall in love or hating a character, etc. But I just kinda felt like okay, well that's that. So overall, a good read, just not something that connected with me.

Patience had me rooting for her from the beginning, and I couldn’t wait for her to loosen up Busick. They were a strong couple together, and I loved all of the history and other things I learned in addition to it being a great romance! Can’t wait to read more from this author!

If you enjoy historical romance, this book and series may be for you. I enjoyed this book and it had a lot of really good plot stories (disguises, a secret society etc) though in the last quarter of the book, I feel like the action and building of scenes fell a bit short (most of the book beforehand had done a good job).

The Widows Grace, an underground group of widows working together to fight back against legal injustices put upon them due to their widowhood has found Patience Jordan and taken up her plight. When Patience was been widowed with a small babe, her husbands’ uncle swooped in and seized control… that’s not the worst of it, he banishes her to Bedlam and keeps her baby boy hostage!

After the Widows Grace gets her released from Bedlam, Patients clandestinely reenters her home to ensure her son’s safety and feeding. She is enlisted into service by the Duke of Repington as he storms the home with his troops to rescue the baby, his ward.

Now Patience must keep up her ruse to be with her son. She dreams of returning to her homeland in the West Indies where she will be respected and she and her son will be free of English rules… that is until she starts to get closer to the Duke and finds that under his rule, she may find happiness.

…

This was an intriguing story. I have read many historical romances and very few showcase the racism prevalent at the time. This book also gave a realistic insight into the lack of rights awarded to widows and women in general. I adored the Widows Grace group and I am excited to see whom they will help out next.

Overall, the plot of this book held my attention and had me not putting this book down. I would have liked a little more steam with my romance, but that maybe the authors style, this was my first book from Vanessa Riley. Lastly the POV flipped a lot between Patience na d the Duke, where she was written in the first person and he was the third. It took me a little to get used to that, but it did not take away from the captivating plot.

A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby by Vanessa Riley is scheduled to release June 30th, 2020.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Zebra, Kensington Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Blog link: https://pinkcowlandreads.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-duke-lady-and-baby.html

#ADuketheLadyandaBaby #VanessaRiley #Netgalley #pinkcowlandreads

This is the first regency romance I've read centering around a black woman, and for that alone, it's worth the read. This isn't a book that mimics Jane Austen but that makes its own space and puts forth its own voice.

Patience doesn't live up to her name (in the best way), but she makes up for it with bravery and bullheadedness in a world that wants neither from her. I loved the social intricacies exposed in this story: the plight of widows, the rocky road back to society for wounded veterans, and the pressures of living far from home in an unfamiliar society that forgives no etiquette errors. Patience has nothing to lose in the fight to gain custody of her son, but she also finds she has much to gain in the Duke of Repington.

For me, the main detractor was that I wanted more of everything: more about the characters' backgrounds and life experiences, their romantic feelings for one another, and more examination of tricky issues that arise like the mental health of Patience's late husband and the resulting grief of the protagonists in the wake of his apparent suicide. To me, none of these topics are ones to approach lightly or in brief, and the book did not meet its potential to address such weighty concerns once introduced.

I recommend this book to anyone seeking a fresh take on the regency era and to readers who love a woman fighting for what she both wants and needs in a world that works against her. Patience is worth the journey.

#ADuketheLadyandaBaby #NetGalley

I was so excited to read this book. I keep hearing about Vanessa Riley's books, but I'd never read anything by her (my library doesn't own anything she wrote). It did not let me down - this book is awesome!

The book starts off in the middle of the MCs daring break-in of a castle in which she used to live. There is, at the start, a lot of retrospective storytelling. Also, this book is written in first person. I am nerdily excited by this as I have read so few historical romances written this way. There are still some third person chapters regarding the Duke, but the first person in Patience's voice feels more personal.

To give you a brief summary, Patience is a young mother and widow who was throw out of her home by her late husband's evil uncle. The Duke is her son's legal guardian, and brings the cavalry to banish the uncle. He takes on the task of caring for his ward with sincerity, but no clue. She sneaks back into the house to be hired as a nanny/nursemaid to her son and a mutual attraction ensues.

In the midst of their developing relationship, Patience is trying to find a way to access her money, kidnap her son (Lionel) and head home to Demerara (So. American island). Meanwhile, Busick (Duke) is trying to find the boy's mother and ensure Uncle bad guy stays away from Lionel forever.

Both characters are dealing with the loss and guilt over Lionel's dad as well as their own injuries. His is a physical war injury. Hers is mental - being a brown skinned lady in a foreign land has taken a toll and she is trying to figure out who she wants to be.

This story is so sweet and well thought out! I can't leave it without saying the one thing that was not great - the resolution to the Evil Uncle problem was kinda extreme and I wasn't a huge fan.

Otherwise, I can't wait to continue the series. There are many hints at who gets featured stories-- Patience's amnesiac BFF, the Duke's BFF and the kindly widowed single dad/lawyer who helps out the ladies.

The cover art for this book is also really cute.