Esse livro tinha muito potencial, mas me deixou desconfortável em vários momentos. Ter uma protagonista biracial poderia ser algo incrível nesse romance, mas pecou muito em apagar a história, mesmo na ficção.

This book was not the own voices historical I was expecting. This is a romance between a colonizer and someone who has been colonized. Not only that, but Rhystand is also the owner of several sugar plantations in the West Indies and its not a source of conflict for him, but a point of pride. Also Sarani basically just ignores the colonization that is happening to her and her people. There is a lot of other issues with racism and colorism in this book but I don't want to rant forever. I should have DNF this book sooner.

Trigger Warnings; colonization; racism; enslavement; colorism; racist slurs; racist assault; murder; parental death; sibling death; attempted sexual assault; misogyny

First off, I'm glad that the author did apologize and didn't lash out horribly like most author's do when their being questioned about problematic things happening in their books. She took her critic and made a better book.
I did like this. I'm a sucker for second-chance star crossed lovers romance. This was it. Only few things that bugged me were: the real long journey part took up half of the book, miscommunication, and how the ending was kinda rushed.

I liked this story, especially after seeing the whole debacle on the internet and how the author has made the effort to listen to the reviewers and changed certain sensitive aspects. I loved the author's other works like - The Beast of Beswick and I wouldn't say that I loved this one as much as the others. But it was still very good!

Please note I am reviewing the revised story "The Princess Stakes", and not the original manuscript called "The Duke's Princess Bride"

The author rewrote the book after a lot of feedback criticising the perceived colonialism, racism, colourism, anti-blackness etc, that readers saw. I received the original and the revised manuscript, and started reading the first and then switched to the revised one about a third of the way in.

I could see how the author had extensively revised her book in line with the feedback she received, and she did a very good job of taking on board the commentary and reworking the whole book.

I really enjoyed the revised book, Sarani Rao, is the daughter of an Indian Maharajah, and an English Lady. Her mother dead, Sarani has been brought up in her father's palace, and is accomplished and beautiful, although not entirely accepted by either the people in the palace or the British colonials who she is exposed to. As a very young woman she meets a young soldier, Rhystan Huntly, and they fall for each other, they are swiftly and acrimoniously parted by the inherent racism of the British troops, and the weight of royal obligations. Reeling from the breaking of the promises they had made to each other, Rhys feels Sarani betrayed him for status, and is bitter and very angry.

Some years on, a successful ship's captain, Rhys is being called home as he has unexpectedly become the Duke of Embry. Sarani has had to flee for her life, as her father has been murdered by her cousin. In desperation, she hides away on Rhy's ship, and he is so furious when he finds out, he sets her to work on the ship. Secretly, Rhys is still intensely attracted to Sarani, and he soon insists that Sarani, now Lady Sara Lockhart and he pretend to be engaged to give Sarani some status in London society, and to protect him from matchmaking mamas.

When they reach Britain, Sarani has to cope with Rhys antagonism, and the prejudice and racism of Victorian society, she also is at risk from the assassins that she is sure her cousin will send after her. Sarani is brave, capable and resilient, and meets all her challenges face on. Rhys I felt was very nasty to Sarani, and I wished that he had to do a bit more grovelling when he finally realises he is in love with her, and prepared to defy society to be with her.

I really enjoyed it.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

This one did not appeal to me. There were problematic elements that didn't sit right and I couldn't get past them.

I originally didn’t finish the ARC I received of this book because the author said she was going to do some revisions. It’s not longer active on NetGalley, but I’m going to grab it on Amazon & give it a 2nd chance. I normally enjoy the author’s work. The parts I’d already read were beautifully descriptive & the characters well-written.
To be continued…

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

After discover her father, assassinated in his bed, Princess Sarani Rao has to flee her home in Joor, and attempt to make the crossing to England, to masquerade as an English countess, under her mother's maiden name. When she and her two friends find a ship leaving Bombay immediately, they sneak aboard, but Sarani soon discovers that the captain is none other than Rhystan Huntley, the only man she has ever loved, and who's heart she broke five years ago. Rhystan is angry to find Sarani aboard his ship, and if he didn't have to return to England immediately, to check his mother is well, and look after the ducal estates he reluctantly inherited, he would turn straight back around and dump her in Bombay. But, the longer they spend together, and when they reveal their reasons for going to England, they decide to pretend to be engaged, for Sarani's protection, and Rhystan's sanity. As they face the ton together, will they be able to keep their feelings separate from their goals, or are they destined to be together?

The Princess Stakes was a book I was extremely excited to read when it was first announced, as The Duke's Princess Bride. I was overjoyed to be approved for an ARC, as I've loved Amalie's books in the past, but as the first lot of reviews came out, I saw people better placed than myself have a lot of well founded criticisms about the book. I immediately didn't want to read a book that was full of racist stereotypes, colourism, colonialism, or slurs, so decided to put in on the back burning, indefinitely. Then I saw that Amalie addressed these concerns, The Duke's Princess Bride was pulled, and she rewrote the book, releasing it under it's new title. The version of this book I read was the new one, so I can't comment on how it's changed from it's problematic version, but I did enjoy this one.

I loved Sarani - she was strong, and could've crumbled under the stress and grief of losing her father and having to flee her home, but she didn't. While on the Discovery she was given jobs she would never have had to do, and faced Rhystan's derision and scorn at every turn. Both had been hurt by the events of five years ago, when she was forced to become betrothed to the regent, Earl Talbot, who was old enough to be her father, and Rhystan thought she abandoned him to marry a title. As the third son of a Duke, Rhystan was forced to join the military, and soon made a name for himself in the Navy, but he was still only the third son, and his superiors treated the Indian people with disdain, and anyone who got close to them, like Rhystan did, would be punished. When he was beaten and kicked out of the navy, he joined a privateer, and decided to do everything he could to get revenge on those who'd wronged him, most especially Admiral Markham. He unexpectedly inherited the title of Duke of Embry when his father and two elder brothers died in a fire, but has somewhat ignore his responsibilities in that juncture, except from hiring a trusty steward to take care of the estates, and sell off the plantations, etc., that his father had controlled. Returning now to find the estate in disarray, due to debts of his brother, he has to stay longer than he wanted and being home, with his sister, Ravenna, and his mother, he starts to see the positives about being home - but only if he has Sarani by his side. I didn't like that Sarani had to pretend to be Lady Sara while in London, but understood the reasons behind it. The conclusion of this book was perfect, and I'm happy to realise than Amalie's next book, Rules for Heiresses, is about Ravenna - I'll be reading my copy immediately!

While Amalie Howard is fully capable of writing fantastic stories, this one isn’t it. While the style and pace and such were great, I have a hard time championing a book with a plantation owner hero and WOC heroine…

Additionally, the concerns brought up about the contents of the book have stirred up some discussion that turned to authors shouting over the concerns of reviewers + invalidating they feelings and concerns of reviewers of color.

For that reason, I’m uninterested in finishing. I was going to power through, but no thanks. It puts a bad taste in my mouth.

I’m putting down an average review, but… no.

I've put off reading this one because I've read lots of negative reviews but this is on my Netgalley shelf so I need to cross it off. So I read it and I agree with all the points that the reviewers have. There are so many issues in the plot and characters that I wish the author could've handled better. I also saw an apology tweet from her and I don't care what others say, I believe that she meant it.

That said, I will read other works by the author. I already browse her other books and I saw a Beauty and the Beast retelling, so I'm gonna start with that. Based on this book, I can say that Amalie is not a bad writer, I actually found her words colorful (except for the lines that turned out racist) so I would love to read more of her works.

Daughter of an Indian maharaja, Princess Sarani Rao has led a life of privilege. But with a mother of English and Scottish descent, Sarani has also met with prejudice and exclusion. When her father is murdered by political rivals, Sara knows she must flee lest she be next and her best chance to escape is on the ship leaving port the soonest, a ship that just so happens to be captained by the man she loved and rejected five years ago.

Captain Rhystan Huntley, now the Duke of Embry, is loath to leave his ship but with his mother ailing and a sister in need of settling, he must return to England. Naturally, his final voyage would include a stowaway in the form of the only woman he’s ever loved.

Wow, do I have a lot of thoughts about this book. I read the first 16% of this book in its original incarnation as The Duke’s Princess Bride but put it aside when it was delayed for revisions and picked it back up again after I received the updated version. I didn’t read enough of the first version to get to too many of its problematic elements, but it also didn’t draw me in. I also tend to be pretty good at taking things with a grain of salt and don’t get offended too easily, but this book had something so glaringly, fundamentally galling that I cannot overlook it and cannot award more stars because of it. Story-wise, this book is a three-star read for me at best but that was insult added to injury after I encountered the following quote in which Sarani, during one of her many bantering sessions with Rhystan, refers to the Holy Bible as being ‘written by a horde of ancient male historians.’ This is problematic for me as a Christian and possibly to members of other religions who also respect the Bible as the inspired, living word of God as recorded by those imbued with the Holy Spirit. Typically, I never bring religion into my reading or reviews, but I could not let this slide since I’m not sure I can think of anything more ignorant or offensive to Christians and other groups. Perhaps this seemingly innocuous quote was not meant in a derogatory fashion but given the issues this book has already faced with the topics it attempts to address, I just couldn’t let this pass this time and the book loses at least a star for it.

Aside from this issue, I never much cared for either Sarani or Rhystan as characters. She came off as petulant and arrogant, as did he really. The enemies to lovers, constantly at each other’s throats arguments were drawn out way too long and there was never any real communication despite the golden, missed opportunity onboard ship when some of the truth came out about their separation five years previously. Sarani also seemed incredibly spoiled, wanting her own way in all things yet she was somehow meant to be a golden heroine whose every thought is for her people. I also found her to be rather unreasonable in her dealings with Rhystan, accusing him of running from expectation and duty, which is true enough, but failing to acknowledge that he was unwanted by his family until he became duke. Her backstory also changed a bit from her mother having been the daughter of an earl to her being a countess in her own right and while this is possible if it was a Scottish title, it likely wouldn’t have happened in her father’s lifetime and it was just another pesky inconsistency to annoy me at this point.

For his part, Rhystan was also fairly objectionable as a hero. He’s a hypocrite who acknowledges his hypocrisy to himself but does nothing to change his behavior, continuing to enforce the double standard he holds his sister to with his determination to see her married off regardless of her wishes, a tune he doesn’t alter very much even in the end. Rhystan never cared about the family name or reputation during any of his voyages then suddenly that’s all that matters once he’s back in England. He was still saying he could never marry Sarani way too late in the book for my liking. Also, his mother, the duchess’s despicable behavior is justified as her way of showing her love for her children and wanting the best for them and her about face near the end just didn’t jive for me and came as much too little too late.

As a non-Indian American, I’m not in much of a position to comment on the racial issues here, though I do commend the author for tackling some tough issues and being willing to undergo edits to the upcoming book. That said, this still missed a lot of the marks for me including the glaring problem I mentioned above. This had the potential to be a highly emotional second chance story, but there were too many missed opportunities for communication, with Sarani and Rhystan never discussing the truth about what really separated them five years prior. As such, the romance here suffered and didn’t convince me it was much more than rekindled lust. I was never really able to root for any of the characters, sadly, and the plot relied too heavily on neither Rhystan nor Sarani taking responsibility or initiative for their actions or feelings and instead hiding too much behind the fake relationship aspect of the plot. Rhystan’s declaration of love at the end was nice but not enough to make up for all the missteps for me.

Their sniping and harping at each other just grew old and tedious for me rather than building sexual tension as I’m sure it was meant to. When they finally did come together, their relations felt more like lust than a deep connection, even near the end, and left me unsatisfied.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Born to an Indian maharaja, Princess Sarani Rao has it all: beauty, riches, and a crown. But with a British mother, her mixed blood makes her a pariah and a target. And when Sara's father is murdered, her only hope of survival is to escape on the next ship out―captained by the boy she once loved...and spurned.

Captain Rhystan Huntley, the reluctant Duke of Embry, has a place in the English fleet, which he's loathe to give up. But duty is calling him home, and this is his final voyage. Leave it to fate that the one woman he's ever loved must escape India on his ship.

The Duke's Princess Bride is one of those romances that you didn’t know you needed until you read it. I love historical romances, and this one is fantastic. Amalie Howard does a fabulous job of giving us the aristocracy we love with a touch of something different.

Princess Sarani is a heroine I can get behind. She is beautiful and intelligent yet deadly to cross. When danger comes looking for her, she protects herself and those she loves. Unfortunately, her blind faith in what she believes to be true borders on insanity.

Rhystan is a handsome devil with a heart of gold. I loved him from the start, even though he was a bit of a jerk. His ego wouldn’t have fit in the Titanic. His ridiculous concern about his duty as a Duke over that of the love in his heart is maddening. I grumbled under my breath a lot at Rhystan, but irresistible, he remained.

I loved every scene set in India. I wish there had been more. However, the ship's setting is my favorite. They didn’t spend much time on the ship, but the tension and anticipation skyrocketed while on the sea. The British setting was much the same as every other Regency romance out there. Not that this sameness is a bad thing. I still enjoyed following the characters through ballrooms. But, the intensity wasn’t as palpable.

I award The Duke's Princess Bride 4 out of 5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will be reading more of Amalie’s work in the future.

Given the reviews and the fact that the author decided to to some work on the book as a result of the feedback received, I will wait for the updated version to read this story. Thank you to the publisher for this review copy.

This book is just not for me, especially after all of the reviews I have read (both from reviewers of color and white reviewers) depicting the issues of romanticizing colonization.

I was hesitant to read this book after seeing some of the other reviews. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be - good writing, interesting concept - but, as others noted, it really didn't deal with the colonialism issue in a realistic manner. I know it's fiction, but in these days, it seems prudent to touch on the subject when it is part and parcel of your book.

I love second chance romances and this one is great. The story has Indian maharaja, Princess Sarani Rao needing to travel and ends up on her one love’s ship Captain Rhystan Huntley. He’s reluctantly headed back home as Duke of Embry. This book is different it has diverse cultures colliding and we see the main characters struggling to hang onto the love they once shared. I have voluntarily read and reviewed the excellent story.

As the release date had been postponed for June 29 with a new title too : The Princess Stakes.
Will give feedback with the updared version close to the new release date in june.

Reading other reviews, it is clear that this book has a lot of problems with the depiction of multiple things. If you go on Goodreads, you can see many reviews that analyze these problems further.