Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋 (I liked the angsty ending!)
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (the scene was a touch light on the details)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 (about average-ish for HR, 4% or so of the novella for a scene)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? maybe a touch slow. Slow to medium to me.
When mains are first on page together: Not too far in (11% of the book, but the story starts at 7%...)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happy ever after
Epilogue: Yes, maybe a week or so in the future
Format: I ashamedly read a very, very, very old NetGalley ARC of this book. 2020 WAS A BAD YEAR OKAY?

Should I read in order?
So, I’m not sure how intertwined the series is with characters. I think they are all mostly stand alone. This one especially felt fine to pick up because most of the story is the main couple snowed in at the inn. Jonathan has some page time here at the end and he has his own story in the series (technically a later book in the series as it’s #10), as well as the Duke of Nottingvale, who gets book #12.

Basic plot:
Isabelle gets snowed in at the Houville Hoot & Holly inn when her maid takes ill. There she meets Calvin and soon they realize they can both help each other because of their missing companions.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1814)
- Houville setting (small countryside town)
- class difference – working class hero (fashion designer) and a lady heroine (daughter of a duke)
- snowed in at the inn vibes
- artist heroine
- bit of a quiet/awkward hero
- forbidden love vibes
- close proximity
- secret identity
- holiday themes
- shorter novel

Ages:
- Hero is 29, heroine is 24

My thoughts:
This is my third book from this series and every one of them has been so adorable and cute and fun. I think perhaps next holiday season I will back around and read the ones I have missed.

This one was a touch slow in parts, especially compared to book 12 which was just fun and fast and witty. But this one was very sweet and I got really attached to our heroine. I loved the snowed in vibes. I struggle sometimes with secret identity because it feels like lying...but I loved the angst at the end and their make up.

This just makes me want more Ridley!

This series continues to captivate me. The plot keeps you invested, eagerly anticipating the characters' journey towards their Happily Ever After. Belle and Calvin make a compelling couple, each harboring secrets and facing challenges that add depth to their relationship. I absolutely adore this writer.

I really enjoy Erica Ridley’s writing. Her authorial voice is always so sophisticated yet approachable. I appreciate the lean towards historical accuracy and dedication to world building. I highly recommend her. Great spicy scenes too. 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Can you see me swooning? This was such a sweet romance. I loved Calvin and Isabelle, they might be from different worlds socially speaking, but they're clearly so perfect for each other from the moment they meet. There were plenty of little moments that had me smiling, and this absolutely warmed my heart. Calvin is so sweet and caring, with a good heart. Isabelle is not what you'd expect from a lady. If you're looking for a sweet regency romance that will have you smiling all the way through, you'll want to grab this one.

An absolutely heartwarming, funny, refreshing love story... where she is the one who has the highest social status.
The characters were delightful and the festive spirit of the occasion the perfect companion.
I enjoyed every page in this book, I'm so sorry I didn't read it sooner.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
Una historia de amor tierna, divertida, refrescante... donde para variar: es ella quien ocupa el escalón social más alto. Los personajes fueron una delicia y el espíritu festivo de la ocasión, el acompañante perfecto. Disfruté este libro de principio a fin, lamento no haberlo leído antes.

I loved Belle and Calvin's story. It was a true, lighthearted romance- from beginning to end! Belle is a a sweet, yet feisty Lady who must marry as her family wishes. Calvin is lucky to be snowed in at the same inn as the beautiful woman.

When Lady Isabelle’s maid becomes sick on her journey to her brother, she poses as a common widow to tend to her at a posting house. To make matters worse in her quest to uphold her reputation, a blizzard hits and they get snowed in.
Also tailor Calvin McAlistair is trapped by the weather – and what better use of their time than engaging in a little affair? The tailor and the widow – who is, unbeknownst to Calvin, the daughter of a duke and sister to the man whom he tries to win as an investor …

This was a fun romcom of a couple that falls in love in the worst circumstances, and I loved the typical “duke/serving girl” trope being turned around to a plot where the female protagonist is the one I the higher social standing.
Another very cute, romantic, and well written romance novella set in the town of Christmas, where the holiday cheer goes on all year round.

Lady Isabella is on her way to her brother the Duke of Nottinghams Yetide gathering.when her maid falls ill with flu and they get caught in a snowstorm. She has no choice than to stop at the next village and book into the coaching Inn.

Unfortunately as her maid is so ill she is kept in the sick bay with the staff from the in also suffering.

That and the fact that the only room available is on a floor full of male guests and as a single lady she shouldn't be travelling alone Isabelle creates the character Mrs Lepine a widow and hopes to hide away in her room until her maid recovers or the snow clears but then she meets Calvin McAllister the man in the room next door, she can have her meal with him then never see him again without causing scandal can't she?

Calvin is putting the final touches to his designs for his Fit for duke clothing designs and is waiting to go to a meeting with the Duke of Nottingvale along with his business partner but due to the heavy snow gets caught in the coaching inn.

When Isabelle realises that she can't button and unbutton her clothes without help she makes a deal with Calvin to help but she can't get involved with him any further she knows her duty.

This was a great book a modern like female character and a great plot, you obviously see where the story is going but has some really enjoyable twists and turns.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I have read many of this authors works and I have to say that this is my favorite. Well done! I look forward to reading more from this author!

The last in a good series. Charming, easy read.
THE 12 DUKES OF CHRISTMAS:

1. Once Upon a Duke

2. Kiss of a Duke

3. Wish Upon a Duke

4. Never Say Duke

5. Dukes, Actually

6. The Duke's Bride

7. The Duke's Embrace

8. The Duke's Desire

9. Dawn with a Duke

10. One Night with a Duke

11. Ten Days with a Duke

12. Forever Your Duke

Dawn with a Duke by Erica Ridley

Lady Isabelle is on her way to meet her possible suitor when her chaperone takes Ill and is stranded by a blizzard. They strike up a relationship as he thinks she is a widow and not an unmarried daughter of a duke.

A very unliklysituation though I normally like Erica Ridley books this one was extremely far fetched and very slow generally overall disappointing . 2.5/5

Sigh. Christmas isn't Christmas to me without an Erica Ridley Christmas novella to read. I'm getting close to the end of the series, so I am trying to space them out for my future Christmas reads.

This one was SO SWEET and WOW was there some HEAT to it! Not over-the-top, but my favorite scene was where he was going in for their first kiss and he paused and said "Stop me." She was the one who leaned in to continue the action that led to their first kiss. Understated, but powerful.

I also loved how the MC H and h had similar artistic drives, they could work together, which was so beautiful to read about and imagine.

I love the writing, the continuity, the characters, the village, this entire series is great! Even if you don't like one of the books as much as the others, they are all tied together into a larger whole that is just fantastic.

I highly recommend reading these in order, as past characters have cameos in many of the books after the ones they starred in, so you really get a feel for them as people outside of their love story and woven in the lives of the other characters as friends, family, etc.

5, loved the characters and how the MC h finally came into her own, stars!

My thanks to NetGalley and WebMotion for an eARC of this book to read and review.

This was fun and I enjoyed watching the two characters warm up to each other. Belle and Calvin are stuck at an inn waiting for a snowstorm to pass and find friendship and love where they weren't expecting it. There is something just very sweet about these two. Another great addition to this series.

4.5 rating

I wanted Belle’s mother’s reaction and I thought her brother accepted the relationship too easily. Wanted more from Jonathon. More of a back story on his and Calvin’s friendship. Ursula was an awesome lady’s maid. How Belle’s brother tried to dismiss the meeting😡 I was getting furious at his arrogance. Very good read. Now I need story of the Duke.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the plot was interesting without being typical. This series has been very enjoyable and I look forward to the next installment

I can see why a lot of people are giving a positive response to this book, but honestly what people saw as good points, i saw flaws..
Firstly, The female MC, she kept getting on my nerves with her thoughts towards everything, she wants to have a career and for her art to be published, but at the same time she can't stand up for her own wants and needs in front of her family, she thinks she deserves the world one minute, and thinks she has to mold her life per "her duty" the next minute, she was pretty hesitant.
Secondly, the male MC, i have mixed feelings regarding him, he was likable enough, his occupation as a designer was a refreshing change of the norm of historical fiction protagonists, but then, he had kind of inferiority complex, he kept talking about how we wants to blend in and help the common folks dress well, but i had a feeling he felt kind of inferior to the ton, especially towards the end of the book.
Thirdly, the storyline, i loved how the author picked two characters with artistic talents, the beginning of the book started powerful and had so much potential, but after around 50 pages, the story got so flat, it turned into a cliche of one of the characters to be from another social class, and one of them lying about their identity,,, it was pretty boring.
Lastly, the end, it was one of the tackiest ends I've read, the author wanted a happy ending, but didn't know to reach it, so she wrote one that doesn't make sense just to appease the readers love for a happily ever after, needless to say, i wasn't impressed.
Don't recommend it.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review via netgalley and the publisher*

I really enjoy this series. The storyline keeps you engaged and hoping the characters will find their HEA. Belle and Calvin are a great couple, with secrets from each other and problems to overcome.

Sexy , hot. This was another Great book by one of my favorite go to authors Erica . Always a pleasure !! Never disappointed

I’ve read a lot of historical and regency romances. This one, however, is hard to buy. The daughter of a Duke and a tailor... I don’t know if I can envisage this one. Still, I love the cooperative nature of Calvin and Belle’s relationship, and it’s slow build. While I don’t think a woman during that time, of that station would have been in the situation she was in without an escort or be willing to entertain the attentions of a man so beneath her station, I did enjoy the results.

As the daughter of a duke and a sister to one, her mother & family has high expectations. But She couldn't help but fall in love with the hero even though he was not of noble descent. Our hero, Calvin is very sweet and supportive. Their attraction grows stronger when they're snowbound for a long time. Each book is a delight in this series.