This is the first book I have read by this author, and I have to say I was impressed!. The writer had a truly unique writing style which draws you in instantly.
This story was full of humour, romance and intrigue and kept me thoroughly entertained from start to finish. It was a truly refreshing take on a historical novel, and is exactly the escapism we all need right now.

I received a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I hated this book. It was relatively short and I did have this book from netgalley or else I would not have bother a to finish it. This is the first time that I can remember ever putting down a book an saying this is so stupid.

1) I am tried to of the trope of the hero being a spy, investigating something so that means his fashion has to change in this book that means his clothes are disheveled.
2) he pretends to be a botanist because everyone over looks scientists but doesn't even have a passing knowledge of the subject in order to make the ruse believable.
3) how many times and some use the words fiddle fiddle (juliet) or great Olympus (Lucas)
4) how did she end up engaged to the duke in the first place. They spent no time together, they know nothing about one another, he doesn't leave his estate, so...
5) her father constant insulting her dead mother who he only married for her dowry while carrying on an affair with the housekeeper who he eventually married.
6) random scenes with massive amounts of information missing or have no point to them
Ugh. What a waste of time. No clue why the 2 fell in love other than since they have no idea what they are doing and are so boring.

I hadn’t read the first book in this series so I had no basis for these characters. I started out not really liking Juliet and found her a bit annoying. However, I kept going with the book and found I really liked Lucas and grew to like Juliet the further into the story I went. Overall good read. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I look forward to reading a Bianca Blythe book because I know she will make me smile or even make me laugh out loud. Her sense of humor is evident in each of her books. My Favorite Duke has its share of amusing dialog and circumstances, but it also has crimal activity, potential scandal, and romance. Lady Juliet is head over heels excited and happy to be marrying the man of her dreams, the Duke of Sherwood. After all doesn't every young lady wish to marry a handsome duke. Enter the not so perfectly put together, Lucas, the Duke of Ainsworth. Back from fighting in France, he has been enlisted by the government to find who is running a counterfeit ring in the Lake district. Aided by his friend, Sebastian, the Duke of Sandridge, they are hot on the trail of a lead that could result in finding the perpetrator. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately they find Juliet and her friend, Genevieve. Things take off from there. I don't dare say more since I do not want to give away the story.. Take my word, this tale is good reading. My only disappointment was not finding out what happened to the counterfeiters. Maybe, in the next book featuring Sebastian and Genevieve. That should be a hoot!

There were things that I liked about this book and things that I didn't. Lucas was a good character. He is not your typical Duke in attitude or the way he dresses. I felt there was something missing in this book. At times I felt like I was lost, did I miss something? The story was a little choppy with not enough details given.

This was an interesting read! The storyline for this book took you through a lot of twists and turns. It was pretty refreshing given that a lot of romance books don't have much in the way of actual plot outside of putting the two main characters together. Not that I'm complaining, but this book at a little more to sink your teeth into!

Juliet is engaged to marry an absent duke. He rarely goes to any parties, so much so that our heroine gets the idea in her head to go searching for him! She's a little immature but knows her mind, making her more redeemable in my mind.

In comes Lucas, another duke! Pretending to be a befuddled botanist, he's drawn to Juliet. Partially because he thinks she's part of a sinister plot involving counterfeit coins... Did I mention that Lucas is actually an agent of the crown? Through a lot of calamities and crazy happenstance, these two are drawn to each other, causing Juliet to really think through who her Favorite Duke really is.

Much like other readers of this book, I felt like there was something missing. The author, whom I haven't read before, takes her time describing the physical world around our characters. Which can be fun when you need to fully flesh out the setting. The problem however, is that while focusing on that, she misses a lot of the thought process of the characters. They do certain actions and there's no information as to how that makes either characters feel. That's quite often my favorite part! I'd be willing to read this author again to see if this one was a fluke. Her plot lines are so fun and inventive!

My opinions are my own, and freely given.

Lady Juliet Shelley had plans to marry the Duke of Sherwood. Unfortunately, the Duke is absent from the ball and doesn’t look like he is going to show up. Juliet is worried and decides that she must find him. Lucas, the Duke of Ainsworth, and his friend Sebastian hear about someone passing counterfeit coin. Lucas must figure out who is doing this and holds up Juliet’s carriage. Lucas thinks Juliet is up to something and decides to follow her no matter that she is a lady or the fact that she is betrothed. Juliet knows there is something strange about the highwayman that held up her carriage and even likes him despite her reservations not to enjoy his company. As Lucas gets to know Juliet he can’t help but fall for her despite her betrothed to someone else and someone he doesn’t like. Juliet also likes Lucas but when her betrothed comes back will she still feel the same for him as she always did?
What a humorous well told historical regency rand some romance! Some descriptions do seem a little vague that visually it is hard to imagine some of the places and characters. The story seems a bit disjointed in the beginning and seems to go many different directions but eventually evens out. Ms. Blythe does know how to tell a story filled with intriguing plot twists and engaging characters. Juliet seems sure of herself and well put together on the outside; even though her supposed relationship with her betrothed is not really explained or why he wants to marry her in the first place. Juliet did come off as a bit snobby but maybe it’s really her insecurity of being betrothed to someone that she really doesn’t know. Lucas the quiet introspective intelligent hero is truly a great guy even though he has quite a shady history. Juliet and Lucas’s relationship is built on such shaky ground but is much better than Juliet and her previous betrothed. Still the story is a good one very enjoyable and well worth the read!

I've never heard of this author so I thought I'd give her a try but I just couldn't finish this particular book, I tried several tries to but it just didn't hold my attention, though some parts of what I did read were funny as the heroin was clueless. But all is not lost, I'll be searching for her other books and give those a try.

I really loved this author first series but for some reason, I have chucked her last few books onto the DNF pile. Unfortunately this one is no exception to that and yet, I can't pinpoint exactly why. I haven't lived the MCs in the last few and, in this especially, I just couldn't feel a genuine connection either with or between them. I'm still holding out hope though!

Bianca Blythe's My Favorite Duke is the second book in her Duke Hunter's Club series. The book focuses on Lady Juliet and the Duke of Ainsworth, Lucas. Juliet is betrothed to the Duke of Sherwood and couldn't be happier, except that he never attends events and she hasn't seen him in almost a year. Lucas poses as a bumbling botanist to hide his true vocation as an agent of the crown as well as a duke. When Juliet decides to sneak to the Duke of Sherwood's castle to investigate some untoward rumors she's heard, she is waylaid by Lucas, and she has to rethink who is, in fact, her favorite duke.

I really wanted to like this book, unfortunately it just didn't really work for me. The author had some really good ideas and all the bones of a great story were there, it just seemed like a lot of scenes were rushed, or not enough description was given to really become invested in the action. I couldn't really sympathize with either of the main characters, it seemed like the actions they took weren't considered (or the reader wasn't informed of their considerations). At one point Lucas tells Juliet that he loves her, and she says "we can be friends" brightly. Then he left. What did he feel about that, what did she feel about that? It's never explained, and was honestly a little frustrating. Again, the plot was solid with a lot of twists and turns, I just felt the characters needed to be fleshed out more so that we would be invested in the action.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy of this novel in exchange for my review.

A romantic comedy of errors that includes a young lady engaged to an elusive Duke, a Duke pretending to be a botanist and a counterfeit coin ring.
Then you have, highwaymen who aren't highwaymen, a young lady determined to see her betrothed and the Duke who continues to rescue her from her antics. A fun read with a few ups and downs. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

This was an ok read but personally I found it didn't hold my attention. The story could've been interesting given the subject but the delivery was a bit lacklustre to me. I do normally enjoy books set in this era but the speech in this just seemed out of place for the era and didn't flow well so it was hard going to read

At the start of this book we meet our heroine Juliet. She is reflecting on her disappointment that her fiance the Duke of Sherwood is not at a ball. We get a little back story on them... They don't know each other well, but are engaged. She is pretty, rich, very silly and immature.

Lucas, Duke of Ainsworth, is an ex-soldier currently investigating some counterfeit money in the area. He and Lady Juliet are thrown together under absurd circumstances and fall for each other. I don't really know why or how this happens. They seem to run into a bunch of calamities, where she is is being utterly stupid and he goes along with it.

The storyline had a verrrrry slow start and quick resolution. I feel like a good editor could have improved this book greatly. It didn't really work for me, but there was nothing about this book which was concerning... She has some tiny growth in standing up for herself, he moves on from his grief. HEA. Woo!

#NetGalley
#MyFavoriteDuke

Overall, this was a surprisingly enjoyable book with a good, strong story. If you could find it beneath all of the unnecessary prose. This author takes descriptive writing to another level. She described everything in this story that the reader might come across. And she did not describe it like 'He had blue eyes'. She used 'His eyes were a seldom found rich blue, devoid of any gray or gold.' What? And the whole book is written like this. After a third of the way through the book, I stopped trying to translate it into to normal English, and skimmed the paragraphs. I mean, it took 2 pages for her to describe a meadow. It was a meadow. With flowers. And they went there once by accident, never to mentioned again, but the author devoted 2 pages to how it looked.
But, once I was able to skim through the overly descriptive prose, there was a decent story and plot. The heroine had been able to obtain an engagement with a duke prior to her Season. So she is just trying to meet with him again in the year since they became engaged. So she steals, sorry, borrows clothing from another duke who is visiting and he catches her. But this all happens after the story setting had been put in place. There are many mishaps, but her and the hero, the other duke, are able to see their way through the intrigue of the counterfeiters, family secrets and the over descriptive passages. I recommend this book with caution. I actually like the heroine and hero even though there is not very much character development. 3.5 stars.

My Favorite Duke is the second book in the series. Lady Juliet dreams are coming true! Engaged to the handsome Duke of her dreams. Hearing rumors about her beloved, she embarks on a trip to the Duke of Sherwood castle, where things started changing for Lady Juliet. Not sure if her Duke is everything she dreamed of, she runs into another Duke.....the Duke of Ainsworth. Which Duke will she choose?
I did enjoy the beginning, held my interest, a little mystery, a little conflict, throw in some love - hate tension, but it started getting a little predictable and not really holding my interest. I am looking forward to the next book.....the characters are pretty funny in this book.

I sort of liked this story, but I wanted to love it. Seemed to me that our leading lady, Juliet, just wanted a duke. She really didn't even know the Duke she was engaged to at all. That was not completely her fault though. But when she went to find out about this Duke, she picked up another one and suddenly fell in love with him! Lucas was an interesting character. He had fought in France and was working undercover to find a counterfeiter. But he was so inept.! He seemed to constantly get into situations that he needed help getting out of. In the end, I'm glad they had their happily ever after, but quite honestly, I have no clue how that happened!

This book had a lot of potential, but it fell flat in the details.

The book opens up with Lady Juliet at a ball worried since her fiancé hasn’t put in an appearance. She decides to go to his home and check on him, worried that something ill has befallen him. On the way, she meets Lucas who’s pretending to be a highway robber in order to snuff out an illegal counterfeiting scheme. And thus our stage is set…

I like a lot of the ideas that the author had – I just wish that she’d chosen to follow through with them more. Instead, we got a very cursory touch on some of the deeper issues. For example, Lady Juliet’s relationship with her stepmother and father. Things are mentioned briefly about their tenuous relationship…I would have preferred to have some scenes so I could feel the tension in order to better understand their feelings. It also would have made the ending all the more satisfying. This accurately portrays my feelings throughout most of the book. The author has this brilliant idea to create interesting characters but doesn’t give us more. That leaves us sometimes confused, sometimes bored. If the story had been filled out more, this book could have been a four- or five-star book.

The author makes use of the unreliable narrator as she switches perspectives. (Ex. Juliet’s family calls her hair red while Lucas says it’s auburn.) This is fine and can create interest; however, since there are continuity problems within one narrator, this only adds confusion. There are multiple times throughout the book where things changed within one narrator’s perspective. When you mix this with the unreliable narrator, things got a bit confusing.

Overall, this book had a lot of potential. There were characters with interesting pasts…and that were connected in surprising ways. However, a lack of delving into these somewhat mentioned qualities, left the story somewhat flat and the resolution not as fulfilling.

I received a copy of this book through NetGallery in exchange for my honest review.

My Favorite Duke has the bones of a great road-trip adventure romance novel. The first part was brilliantly funny. The banter during the highwaymen scenes was witty and charming, and I wish this kind of repertoire carried throughout the story. The middle of the book dragged, and the ending wrapped everything up neatly, though a little too quickly for my taste.

Lady Juliet is young and wide-eyed, borderline silly. She hasn't seen her fiancé in over a year and is worried about rumors she's hearing. She sets off with her cousin to go to her fiancé's estate to check in on him.

Lucas is a duke by day and crime fighter by night. Well, more like a spy. He and his friend Sebastian are tasked with finding out who is counterfeiting money. Could it be Lady Juliet, could it be her fiancé (the other duke)? Mayhem ensues, with a little bit of romance along the way. Loved Lucas at the beginning! He was charming and very alpha. Surprisingly, over the course of the novel, his character got weaker (to the point I was worried he wouldn't even end up helping Juliet at the end).

The romance was not swoon worthy, but it was cute. I wish there was more of an inferno between Lucas and Juliet, instead we just get a little spark.

There were a few scenes that seemed to be cut really short and seemed a wasted opportunity (like when Lucas and Juliet have to spend the night outside the coach. I thought for sure there would be a big bonding or sexy scene there, but nothing).

I don't want to give spoilers, but the ending was dramatic, but over a little too quick. A lot of family secrets were revealed.


Trigger warning: abortion.

Thanks NetGalley for a ARC. The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Lady Juliet has been engaged to the Duke of Sherwood for over a year, but he keeps postponing their wedding. After receiving pitying looks from people at a ball, Juliet leaves it with her cousin, Genevieve, and they encounter highwaymen who aren't highwaymen at all. One of them is Lucas, the Duke of Ainsworth, who pretends to be an academic interested in botany, so the ton don't figure out that he's actually a spy helping the British government to investigate a counterfeit ring in Cumbria. He mistakes Juliet's carriage after his friend received a tip. He is still suspicious of Juliet, so he engineers a visit to her family home to learn more. During that visit, she steals some of his clothes to disguise herself as a man in a second attempt to visit her elusive fiance, the Duke of Sherwood'. Naturally, Lucas has to follow her! They end up spending the night together and they work together to work out who is behind the crimes.

Lady Juliet isn't super likable at first, because she is self-absorbed and doesn't consider the damage to her reputation or her cousin when going out at night in search of her fiance. As the book goes on, Lady Juliet has been neglected by her father who clearly disliked her mother and then ignored his daughter to pay attention to his second wife. Seeing her character growth made this a better read and I liked the dialogue between her and Lucas.

I was provided an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is my fair and honest review, voluntarily given and in my own words for this ARC. There could be a good story in there however, I could not get to it. Everyone wants cheeky banter and witty camaraderie however, in my opinion there is just way too much minutiae here. I read about a third before I stopped. I apologise to Ms Blythe as I know how much work goes into a book but I would have appreciated a bit more meat in the sandwich.