It was truly uncomfortable to read. The hero was racist, manipulative, and so entitled.
I couldn't understand why the heroine was so taken with him, in some parts, he and the villain didn't have many differences!
I don't think romanticizing abuse and manipulation is the correct way to write a romance. Downright disturbing.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Fri-enemies to lovers. BFFs forever. A big mystery and a few steamy scenes.

In regency England we find Lara, who is part Indian navigating the Beau mode though they barely tolerate her because of her connections. Luckily she is loved by her guardian and best friends Anne and Camille but constantly faces remarks by Anne's brother Tristian, Duke of Wolverton. Lara and Wolf have been at each other throats since Lara came from India after her parent's deaths.
One night Lara finds Wolf at a masquerade that she and Anne are not suppose to be at. As Lara steers him away from Anne she traps herself. Wolf finds himself ensnared by Lara and share a passionate kiss.

Both see that pursuing each other is futile, but can never seem to resist. It doesn't help when Wolf finds that someone is trying to hurt Lara and then add scheming mamas and an obsessive earl into the mix. The story will keep you reading chapter after chapter.

Big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and a new author.

I enjoyed the writing, especially the characters. Love it with a headstrong heroine who gives a good as she takes and though there's things that felt degrading and rude in this story, it was for the characters demeanor so I didn't mind at all. Thank you netgalley for giving me an arc

Dare to be a Duchess was a gorgeous story from start to finish. I loved the south asian main character, and especially since her background was tied into the main tension of the narrative. The story also contained a little bit of mystery and drama, which I think added the appropriate level of excitement/intrigue. The relationship between the main character and her friend was well developed, and didn't just feel like it was there for plot, and the relationship between the main character and love interest was also really thorough and well developed.

New to me author. I really enjoyed the story. I loved the characters and their friends. Would love to read Leo, Cammy and Hawke's stories. There are few modern words and statements used but not enough to make me stop reading. All in all a great read. I look forward to more of this author's books

I really enjoyed this introduction into this world and I just couldn’t get enough of it. I just so thoroughly enjoyed meeting these new characters and getting to go on their journey. I will most definitely be reading more wonderful books from this author.

If you are dying for a historical romance with Kate and Anthony vibes (specifically from the Bridgerton show, not the book), you NEED to read this book IMMEDIATELY. The Kanthony vibes include:
-A hate to love romance with great banter
-half Indian heroine
-hero is obsessed with the heroine’s scent
-hero and heroine love to ride/race horses together
-scorching sexual tension & chemistry
-forbidden romance with lots of angst

So yes, to say that I loved Tristan and Lara’s romance is putting it quite lightly. The writing sucked me in from page 1 and I can’t wait to read the next book in this series ASAP!!

**Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review**

Sapna Bhog is a new to me author and I really enjoyed this book.! I'll for sure be looking into her other books.

It grabbed me right from the beginning with the steamy attraction at a masquerade ball. I loved the spunky heroine and that she was half Indian. The racism she had to deal with was present but not overwhelming and didn't dampen her spirit. The sparring between the main characters added to the sizzle in this romance! Wolf was a bit irritating at times throughout the book, but redeemed himself at the end. All in all, an enjoyable read. I look forward to more by this author.

The best thing about this book is that the heroine is Indian. With that being said the rest of the book just didn't grab my interest. The historical accuracy was off especially in the dialogue.

This had a great idea behind it, but it was a little too roughly written and edited to really get me into it. I would love more diversity in books, because more diverse people did exist then, so I was really hoping to get into this book, but it was just a little too hard.

Dare to be a Duchess was a quick historical romance read. I enjoyed that the heroine was half Indian, and the plot was enjoyable to a point. But the writing seemed to need a bit more editing, I found myself getting bored with it. I think I may have enjoyed it more if I was in more of a historical romance mood. 2.5 stars

[Thanks Netgalley for the ebook. This review is my honest opinion but just another opinion, you should read this book and judge it by yourself]

This book has a great starting point but a rather uneven development. The idea of the Indian lady and a proper English duke falling in love against all rules is great but sometimes you feel that this book loses its track and don't know what's telling you. Is it a love story? Is it a pamphlet against racism and colonialism? Is it everything? Sometimes I felt it was none of those things because the story forgets its own base.
It's easy to read but sometimes the relationship between the main characters loses its appeal and the secondary characters steal the story.
It starts great but deflates bit by bit to an rushed and flat ending.
But I'll keep an eye to Sapna Bhog and the rest of the series (if she writes it!), because Leo and Hawk have caught my attention.
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La sinopsis no tenía mala pinta y una no deja pasar la oportunidad de leer una autora nueva de enaguas, así que pedí este libro en Netgalley. Y, aunque no ha sido una mala experiencia y Sapna Bhog no escribe mal, el libro se me ha quedado muy cortito y me ha resultado decepcionante.
El punto de partida, una chica medio india que se cría con una familia bien y que acaba enamorada (y enamorando) a un duque, es estupendo, y es genial ver los conflictos sociales y lo que sufre por su procedencia. Pero no sé qué acaba haciendo la escritora con todo lo que ella misma crea, ya que en un determinado momento parece que lo único que importa es que les ardan los bajos. Digamos que todo parecía una cosa y al final ha acabado siendo otra mucho más plana y superficial. En la parte final parece recordar todo lo que tenía que resolver y pasa lo de siempre, se mete ahí todo junto y se soluciona de modo apresurado y simplón. Es una pena porque podría haber hecho unas enaguas modernas estupendas y se ha quedado todo en mñe.
De todos modos, estaré pendiente de si sigue escribiendo la historia de los secundarios, que me han llamado la atención casi más que los protagonistas.

3.5 stars
ARC provided by netgalley
Rep: Half Indian-Half British heroine, British Hero (Duke)
CW: Racism toward the heroine (Not from the hero)

This was a very refreshing read. As an Indian reader, it is very rare for me to see a person form Indian descent as a heroine of a Historical Romance. So big kudos for that. I loved the representation. I loved how colonization was dealt with. So definitely plus point for that.

What I liked:
- enemies to lovers
- Banter
- Chemistry was great
- Conflict was great
- Great friendships. Heroine and hero's friends are great. Their presence and role in the book are pretty substantial.

What I sort of disliked
- The POV jumps were sudden. I would be reading the heroine's POV and suddenly, the hero's POV began with no indication of the shift in POV. I didn't get used to that for the entire book
- The book was very predictable and with an abundance of balls and masquerades
- There was nothing extraordinary about anyone

It was a decent read. I enjoyed. I was hooked in some parts and pausing in others. But I will be rounding it to 4 stars for the great representation, solid friendships, and good groveling.

I do recommend it.

DNF at 25%. I just couldn't.

I really, really, really wanted to love this book. But at 25% and absolutely no desire to continue I must admit defeat. This just wasn't for me.
Something I highly value in historical romances is that the writing style and used language fits with the historical timeframe of the story. It makes it so much more real. This book however fails in that aspect, in my opinion. Sometimes sentences, words that were used, were way to modern for a historical book. It completely took me out of the story and instead of having a great time with it, I just became more and more annoyed.

I also did not feel the connection between the characters. It was kind off like watching people falling for each other and wanting each other instantly but without much reasoning behind it. At one point our main girl continuously says no and the guy just does not get it. That was for me the point where I had enough.

There were however a few positive points which I do want to highlight. Just because this book wasn't for me, doesn't mean it's not for someone else. I thought it was so great to have a main character with part Indian heritage. I read from some other reviewers who have the same heritage that this own voices is very well done and they can relate. This book made me chuckle which is always a good sign, definitely if I already chuckle in the beginning.

Since this was a DNF I do realise my thoughts are unfinished and some may be based on wrong impressions I got from the beginning of the book and are challenged throughout the story. Sadly I just didn't feel the necessary curiosity for me to want to continu this book and find out.
Thank you still to NetGalley, Entangled Publishing and Sapna Bhog for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dare to Be a Duchess is the first Historical romance that I’ve read that was not written by Julia Quinn and I’m happy to report that this did not disappoint! Sapna Bhog hit it out of the park with this cute, fun, and devilishly charming enemies to lover story.

Lara is probably one of my most loved characters in this story as she was the realest out of all of them. Headstrong, independent, and fiercely loyal—Lara had to grow up fast and with a thick skin as she faced the ton by being the only biracial lady in the room. All eyes were on her since her Father’s best friend took her from India after her parent’s death—some good and some not good—and I loved watching and reading how Bhog handled the biracial representation in this story. Although I am not half Indian, I am biracial so I felt more so connected to Lara on a deeper level than any other character that we have been introduced to so far.

Tristan, our hero in every sense of the word was the alpha that I wanted to both run away with and choke at the same time. Like Lara, Tristan is fiercely loyal and would do anything for the ones he loves—especially his sister and Lara. The tit for tat that Tristan brought out of Lara was the literal cutest and steamiest banter I’ve come across in my albeit limited historical romance reads. Tristan brings out a different vibe from each person in the story and I absolutely adored having the chance to see things from his perspective as the story continued to progress.

What I didn’t really care for was the predictability of the ending—I knew what was going to happen and who was going to do it before the end was near which bummed me out some as I would have loved to see the plot twist in a different way. Also wasn’t too keen on how we weren’t able to fully delve into the characters farther than the surface level. I kind of hoped to watch that emotional connection grow more between the characters as we got to see them grow individually; however, because there wasn’t much depth with the cast we weren’t able to get that.

But, all in all though, I really loved and enjoyed this story to the fullest. It was lighthearted, airy, and just a down right good ol’ time. An Own Voice historical romance that will have you smiling and maybe even swooning a time or two—I definitely recommend Dare to Be a Duchess to anyone wanting a nice escape read!

This book was set in London, during the season. The heroine was a young lady who was half English and half Indian. She was being raised by her uncle and her best friend's brother was related to her uncle. The heroine and her best friend were always getting into trouble because her best friend was always meeting her love in secret. When it came out, the heroine had to control the hero and prevent him from hurting her friend's love. So she kissed her best friend's brother, the hero. They had kissed before and he was attracted to her, but he gave her an ultimatum that she needed to be married by the end of the season or he would choose a husband for her.
This is a misguided story where the two main people deny their feelings for the other. I was hoping it was more about acceptance of people different from you, but it is just about lust. I was really hoping for more as I read the story, but it was just parties and balls. Not very much history or solidity.i give this story 3.5 stars because it did transition and flow nicely and was an easy read. I find that I want more to my historical romance and not just parties and balls.

I received this digital ARC from Netgalley. It is a #ownvoices HR about a biracial orphaned Indian heroine in London. The beginning was choppy, the very end was rocky, but the characters were good and the plot was engaging. I liked how things about Lara's childhood were revealed later instead of info dumping at the beginning, but there were a lot off things we're told but never see - like their rebellions against society, their feminist viewpoints, etc. I hope the writing style develops a bit for the sequel.... especially with the sex scenes which I skipped, for the most part, because except for the one in the rose garden, they felt kind of awkward. I'll still read the next one!

Lara is a fierce woman of British and Indian descent. She has noble bloodlines but refuses to acknowledge them since they view her as inferior due to her Indian mother. I adored Lara because she is so unapologetically herself so when she finds herself falling for her "Uncles" nephew, a Duke who avoids scandal and lives by societies rules she is surprised. However, as gossiping Ladies and dangerous Lords force Tristan to defend Lara he realizes that she is more than just the trouble maker he sees.

I really liked this story and how Tristan was able to overcome his archaic views and realize love was always in front of him. I liked hearing about Lara's childhood in Indian and felt for the losses she had suffered. Looking forward to more HistRom from this author.

i liked that the heroine was indian, but not much else about this book was memorable to me. there was a lot of telling instead of showing, so the characters felt extremely flat to me. because of this, i didn’t really care about wolf and lara’s relationship or understand why they wanted to be together. i also refuse to believe wolf and lara didn’t know who was behind the attempts on her life because it was so glaringly obvious. but even if they were that naive, the fact that lara was left alone to wander the gardens knowing that someone wanted her dead really irked me. i know it was needed for there to be a perfect opportunity for her to be kidnapped, but that also seemed unnecessary. i was really intrigued by the premise of this book, but was ultimately left wanting more. thank you to entangled publishing and netgalley for the e-arc. ♡