3.5 stars

This was an enjoyable hr read. I did love the fact the heroine was Indian. It was one of the reasons I grabbed it. My problem was I didn’t connect with the love story between the characters. I like an a**hole hero as much as the next reader but something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. Beautiful settings and scenery had me drawn in & I would definitely look for more from this author.

So lovely!

This is the story of Lara, a girl of Indian heritage, as she navigates the London society (after her parents died) and as she finds love very close. The duke, her friend's brother, also, takes some time to realize that all the banter and heated talks they had from teenage years were all signs of romantic feelings he had for her.

This was a lovely written story, there was nothing unlikeable about the characters, the atmosphere, the action. It was pretty faced paced for a historical romance which I loved, there was not a dull moment. What I didn't like much was how hurtful the Duke was in the beginning, but he payed it all with how caring and persistent he tuned out once he realized his true feelings.

I loved the tight group of friends, I cannot wait to read Leo and Hawk's stories! Loved the adorable adoring Uncle, the balls and the social functions they attended and all the charming details the story was sprinkled with: the enchanted rose garden, her passion for blue and their heated encounters to name a few.

It was quite refreshing to read the story of a girl born in India and her life in London from the beginning of the 1800s, it added a memorable note, it was the first book with this theme I have ever read. The whole book was infused with her feisty, proud and full of life character. I loved how she was angry, fought a good fight, how dearly she could handle animals, what a loving friend she was. Just a wonderful heroine!

3.5 stars

I loved Lara. I adored her festines and fierceness. I love how she wasn't going to be intimidated by all the people that was rude to her. I'd love for her not to hide her heritage for as long as she did because in the end it didn't really matter because people was still treating her badly. I love her friendship with Cammy and Anne and Wolf's friends were awesome. I'm really intrigued and invested in the whole Cammy/Hawk/Leo thing. What I didn't really liked was Wolf's behavior towards the end. Its been happening lately that I adored the male lead and suddenly by the middle-end they do something that made me dislike them and I'm not okay with that. He did things that were irredeemable and somehow didn't let me enjoy this book as much as I wanted to.
Overall it was a good book. A fun and bingable read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was given an ARC from the publisher through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

First of all the cover is absolutely gorgeous. It definitely catches the eye. The book summary was intriguing. It brought my attention to look further. The story was just ok.

I do love the enemies to lovers storylines but this one didn't stand out. My biggest issues are how the author suddenly flips the POV and too much telling versus showing.

Again, just okay and left me wanting more.

He’s a powerful duke. She’s his uncle’s ward. They have forever been at war, until one night, one masquerade, and one kiss…

Dare to Be a Duchess by Sopna Bhog is a historical romance with own voices Indian representation. It came out on February 8th 2021. I received a copy for free from entangled publishing via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. However my opinions are my own.

Characters – I gave the characters 4/5 I loved that this was own voices for the Indian rep. Bhog identifies as Indian and it gives merit to the struggles that Lara faces. Speaking of I LOVED Lara herself. We often hear about these heroines that are called trouble makers because they’re stubborn and defiant. But I loved that Lara is a schemer. She’s the ringleader of her group of friends always getting them into and out of some sort of mess. And we actually get to her see her scheming in the book. I also mostly liked the hero. I felt like he was well developed and we really get to see his journey throughout the book as he becomes the duke he was always meant to be. My one qualm is that I felt like the side characters were under developed. I felt like where those side characters were concerned there was an awful lot of telling instead of showing.

Plot – Overall I felt like the plot was good so I gave it 4/5 stars. I could see the struggles and they felt legit. I enjoyed Lara and Tristen’s romance and how they fought their whole lives only to kiss at the ball and be like “WOAH that’s some sexual tension!” I took off a star because the villain’s actions at the end felt over the top and it just escalated way too quickly. And Wolf/Tristen then turned around and shut it down really quickly.

Setting / World Building – I gave this category 5/5 stars. This was my kind of story. I was never pulled out of the story due to a lack of cohesiveness. I was always able to suspend my belief and just melt into the story.

Writing Style – I gave writing style 4.75/5 stars. This was an easy read. I mean that it was easy on my soul. I enjoyed Sapna Bhog’s writing. I only came across 3-4 grammatical errors so it wasn’t like be consistently pushed out the story. There was also just a nice flow to the writing. Each scene flowed into the next and I was never like “WHAT is happening here??”

Problematicness – I gave this section 3.75/5 stars. Hear me out. I know the whole plot deals with racism and overcoming those prejudices that we grew up having ingrained in our minds. But I felt like the hero said some things that went beyond to racist to just Cruel. And not like sexy cruel. More like saying the very things that he knew haunted the heroine’s nightmares. And yet we forgave him bc he swears he didn’t mean it??? Also suddenly the hero loves her and woosh he’s not racist anymore. He can see that Lara IS being verbally assaulted and abused by the aristocracy. Idk it felt like too little too late.

Personal Enjoyment – I gave this category 4/5 stars. This was a fun ride and never wanted to get off of it. That being said though, it also wasn’t unputdownable. It was a good read and worth my time. And I’m def interested in reading more from this author. Especially with more Indian characters.

Overall that gives us a a 4.24 rating.

They are at odds.

For years, Lara, who is half Indian and not accepted by the ton, has been sparing with Wolf, the Duke of Wolverton. Wolf's uncle is Lara's uncle and guardian. Wolf is determined to be proper and scandal-free due to his father's many indiscretions. But Lara tempts him with just one kiss, thereby changing the entire tenor of their relationship.

Fast paced, sensual and addressing some timely issues, as Lara is seeking acceptance and love, but as she is biracial, this proves difficult. Even more so with Wolf issuing a six month ultimatum to wed ( not sure why he thinks he can do that, as he is not her guardian).

I liked the chemistry between Lara and Wolf and that Wolf's control is always tested by her physical appeal.
Recommend, Enjoyed and look forward to the other characters stories.

This was my first read from the author and overall I liked the story and characters. I thought both Laura and Tristan and the secondary characters were interesting and fun to read about.

I didn't click sometimes with the writing style, as it was more show than tell but I would still try another book from the author.

This book is one of the best I have read in a while. Tristan and Lara have chemistry from their very first kiss. She is not the person he expected to fall in love with the one person he is always at odds with. She knows the only member of the ton she can possibly find happiness with is Tristan.This book was so good, it had me smiling and then so much more.

My journey into historical romance continues with Dare To Be A Duchess by Sapna Bhog. I have to credit Sam @ Fictionally Sam for telling me about this book, and I happily fell off of my self imposed ARC ban wagon for it. I honestly didn't know what to expect when I picked this book up, except for a great time. And I got that so I win. And so do you, because I'm here to share all my thoughts and feelings.

Lara is fantastic. She is the kind of character that thrives on mischief and I loved her for it. She loved challenging societal rules and norms, and I loved that she wasn't doing it to be the center of attention. There was no malicious intent behind the way she acted, she was just tired of being seen as different. Being half Indian made her the target of gossip, rudeness, even bullying, and she just realized she was never going to be accepted, so why not act differently and be her own person? I how she wasn't going to ever use her family heritage to win her place in society. Most young ladies in her position would have done it, but she didn't and I respected that about her.

Oh Tristan. Tristan is very proper, he sticks to the rules, and he is very strict. He loved to have a very tight hold on his emotions. So he is constantly confused by his feelings for Lara. I wish he would have accepted his feelings earlier. I understand why he felt like Lara wasn't the best choice for him, but at the same time I kept wishing he'd have the courage to accept society rules and even his mother's pressure dictate what he wanted out of his life.

The book is pretty fast paced and I enjoyed that. I would have wanted to see them explore the emotional side of their relationship more, as opposed to having most of the focus on the physical aspect, but I still had fun seeing them grow as a couple.

I honestly enjoyed this story. I wish the author would write a book for Lara and Wolf's friends, who absolutely hate each other, so...they must have something going on, especially knowing their families want them to marry each other. If that story comes out, I will definitely read it.

Beautifully crafted and sinfully sensual, this book stole my heart from the first page. I loved this book more than I can describe. I am always on the hunt for books with Indian heroines, but so many of them tend to disappoint. This was not the case with this book in the slightest. I loved Lara and her story as a half Indian woman in the ton.

This book is full of my favorite tropes: feisty heroine, grump hero whose world gets turned upside down by the heroine, enemies to lovers, publicly spurning the heroine then groveling, protective hero, I could go on.

The colonization of India and the hate against Indians from the white community during those times is a subject very dear to my heart as an Indian woman. So many books have characters that were a part of the East India Company and will make insensitive and hurtful comments about Indian people. While I understand that is accurate to the times, it hurts a lot. I was worried going into this book that we were going to see Lara facing constant tongue lashings from other characters and we were going to have to read that. But not including some of that treatment would be a disservice to the Indian narrative. Bhog did a wonderful job of balancing that. She included many instances of people degrading Lara to her face and behind her back to convey the reality of that time without it being overwhelming for the reader. Lara's experience was realistic and conveyed the POC community's struggles beautifully. Another thing I was worry about with books with diverse MCs is that their race and the discrimination they face become the MC's only personality trait. Again, Bhog did a wonderful job with Lara. Lara was a wonderfully done character, she embraced her Indian heritage fully and was more than just an Indian woman. She had passions, wit, desires, hobbies, and more. The book wasn't constantly pushing her Indian heritage into our face. When authors flesh their characters out like this while still making them diverse, it normalizes their presence in the publishing world. For achieving that balance, I commend Bhog.

Don't even get me started on Wolf and Lara's relationship. These two had sizzling chemistry from the very first chapter. While they began kissing and lusting for each other very quickly, the hurdles in their way and the progression of their feelings for each other were slow-burning and amazing to read. I loved watching Wolf grow emotionally and mentally as the book progressed. He started out as an arrogant, prideful, and stern asshole and ended the book as an emotionally mature, understanding, and respectful man. Reading his inner monologues as he thought about Lara made my heart sing. I loved how independent and strong Lara was without being obnoxious. So many times characters are sassy and witty to a fault, they'll make brash decisions and will defy people for the sake of rebelling. Lara was smart and adaptive. She didn't let her pride get in the way and always stood up for herself when she knew she deserved better.

I loved the side characters. If Leo and Cammy do not get their own book, and our rakish scoundrel Hawk doesn't get a happy ending, I am going to riot. The way Bhog was able to establish chemistry and relationships between side characters all while wonderfully developing Wolf and Lara's relationship is astounding.

Long story short, this is definitely a new favorite of mine. I implore anyone and everyone to read this. If I don't' get my hands on a physical copy of this book, I will cry.

- 5 stars -

Thank you to NetGalley, Entangled Publishing, and Sapna Bhog for an eARC for this amazing novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

Oh my what a great novel! I love our strong willed, half Indian heroine who doesn’t let the bastards get her down. She was bold and a bit brazen and all of her felt really alive and genuine. Wolf, on the other hand, could have used a slap or two every once in a while, but he was overall a decent guy. Their attraction is electric and so this really is a romance-filled romance novel—and a rather scandalous one for the prim British society it is set in. The mail focus is on the couple so if you are looking for a more involved plot with huge conflict or even a mystery subplot, this isn’t the one. But if your idea of a great romance novel is one that deals with the difficulties of a budding relationship and focuses on that, then this is the book for you. There is a bit of intrigue toward the end—it rather reminded me of It Happened One Autumn—but it is short lived. Overall I heartily recommend this book to historical romance readers like myself. It was absolutely lovely and at times made my heart ache. Wonderful stuff!

Pro: Interesting characters, good story, steamy scenes, Indian character
Con: I hope this becomes a series cause I want more
Verdict: I want more!

I really enjoyed Dare to be Duchess, there were some things that I did not expect to happen, which was nice from always being able guess which characters will go after whom. This was my first book from Sapna Bhog and it did not disappoint. I read it in two days and am very excited to read the other hero's books, especially Leo.

Lara Ramsay is half English and half Indian; her parents were a love match. But it caused her dad to be cut off from his family, and most of her mom's family to push them away. So when they pass she is surprised to find an Uncle shows up to claim her as his ward and present her in England. She is 13 and tries to fit in at her school. When it becomes apparent no matter how she acts they will never accept her she decides to be herself and be as outrageous as possible. Tristan Wentworth, The Duke of Wolverton, her best friend's brother and her Uncle's grandson and her clash at every point. It was great to see some of their banter but wish we would have seen more, before their relationship was forever changed with a kiss.

There were some points that made you hate the hero, but he redeemed himself very nicely, and his mistakes made it all seem even more real to me. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next in the series.

The book is set in 1823 and features a mixed-race Indian heroine, a first for me in all my years of reading historical romances. In fact when we first met her, Lara Ramsay was at a masquerade wearing an Indian saree, embracing her Indian heritage. Lara and her friends have been attending these social events that are outside of the usual boundaries because her best friend Anna was interested in a social recluse, and these events are her only hope for meeting him.

The hero is Anna’s protective elder brother, Duke of Wolverton—better known as Wolf. Tristan Wentworth (the duke) and Lara known each other since he was 22 and Lara was 15, when Lara became his uncle’s ward.

Being part Indian, she never fit in with the ton (even though she was secretly the unacknowledged granddaughter of the Duke of Calster). Ostracised with hurtful, derogatory remarks like filthy half breed, her connection to the Duke of Wolverton was the only thing that kept her within the social circle.

When he caught her at the masquerade, he issued an ultimatum for her to find someone from the ton to marry in the next 6 months, even adding to her dowry to help the case. But Lara was convinced that she needs to meet someone outside the ton to find someone that will overlook her skin colour.

While it was interesting to have a heroine of Indian heritage, I didn’t like much else about her. Or Wolf, for that matter. They were kissing each other at 10% of the book and kept kissing each other even though they “hated” each other (for no apparent reason). I just really can’t have lust-driven MCs kissing each other when they don’t even develop their friendship/relationship. Like, perhaps pry your lips apart and get to know each other.

They’ve had 10 years to know each other, but I didn’t feel their history. Everyone showers her with compliments, willing me to believe them but I don’t really because I’m only told these great things about her but I don’t see it myself. For example, that she was a wild cat that damned the rest of the world and often battled wits with him. That she was so brave and has such a strong heart. That she taught someone to laugh, to derive happiness from small things, and to care about people and animals. That she was sharp, keenly observant, could converse on a variety of subjects, and is not like the other girls. Yeah, this was not the impression I got from her. I didn’t think she was any of those things.

So Wolf began sending her missives and they started having clandestine meetings privately. We know where it goes from here. They need to come to terms with their feelings and overcome the judgment of the ton. But I cringed when she planned to “thoroughly seduce him” and her friends whooped in delight and helped to refine the plan - one of those friends was the sister! Ack.

I don’t mind a cliched story – if you read as much historical romance as I do, there’s no escaping the romance tropes and plots and hero/heroine combinations. I just want the book to make me swoon and fall in love and cry.

What I liked, though, was how much I got to rage at all the ton with their racist taunts. The satisfaction when she *drumroll* dared to be a duchess.

I love historical romance and this book is a great addition to this genre. I love a good enemies to lovers trope, characters who play by their own rules, and own voices rep. This book has all of that. Lara and Wolf are sassy, sexy, and steamy. I also really like their relationship. Neither of them try to make the other compromise their ways. I really hope this becomes a series because I want to know more about side characters and to see how their lives play out.

This book was given to me as an arc from netgalley in return for a honest review.

3.5 stars

Trope: Enemies to lovers/interacial couple

I really liked the main characters Tristan and Lara. Having Anne, Cammie, Leo, Hawk was also a plus.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a fun read filled with lots of emotional pulls. The banther between Tristan and Lara is really cute and sexy. I loved the first kiss they shared especially because they don't like eachother nor get a long. It was sudden and she kissed him to distract him from something else. She was not expecting to like it one bit but ended it up wanting more. It surprised him and he couldn't get enough either.

One other thing I loved about this book
Is that they are a interacial couple. It's something different and because it's not often you get to read about interacial relationships. It made the book much more interesting and refreshing. Lara is half indian and half english. Tristan is a english Duke and she is a ward to his uncle. But the sad thing in this book is The ton. They have such a hard time accepting her throughout the entire book, which made me feel sad. But through this bumpy road you witness firsthand how her strong her character is. She stands her ground. She is hurt acourse but never shows her pain, giving her them no satisfaction.

Anyhow Tristan and Lara are both strong and stubborn individuals. They clash all the time and have been fighting since their whole existence together. Until that one kiss I mentioned in the beginning. I mean they still fight but after that it opened both their eyes and they fought together and in different ways. Their relationship was hard won. They dealt with so much problems from like her not being accepted from the ton, a hateful duchess(his mum), people trying to murder her, but they both had a strong support team. They had eachother, a group of wonderful friends and some family members who were there for them. The only thing that I thought could've been better was the ending. In my opinion they married too abruptly. So thankfully there was a epilogue, and I'm glad I got to see there happily after.

Explosive chemistry blows their friendship to pieces!

Known as Wolf, Tristan Wentworth, the Duke of Wolverton has his hands full keeping tabs on his secretive sister and her two best friends, one of whom, Lara, is never afraid to stand up to him and set him straight about just what is and isn't his business. Lara's parentage is full of secrets as well, but since she came to England as a teen she's been living with her guardian, who is also Wolf's uncle. Throughout their years-long interaction - mostly in her role as his little sister's best friend - their relationship has remained adversarial, until the one kiss that was meant to be a momentary distraction, not a complete reassessment of their entire future plans.

There's a bit of action and intrigue, but the meat of this story is in the interactions between Wolf and Lara as neither one of them wants to consider what a future together would mean, yet neither can they ignore the fireworks that are visible for miles around every time they're in each other's presence.

I loved the respect shown to Lara's heritage as well as to Wolf's social obligations. His one attempt to push her away for both their sakes was really hard to read, but it created a mountain-sized impasse that he needed to grovel his way past. Once he set his mind to the task, the story became a delightful pursuit that I couldn't have enjoyed more. The HEA was everything a reader could hope for and I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's work. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

It was absolutely refreshing to read the story of a heroine who is half Indian in a historical romance plot based in England. It was more honest about how she would have been treated by ton rather than making readers think it was no different or overly romanticizing her situation.

There is a lot of angst, like a lot, between Tristan and Lara which is evident from the first chapter so you can expect quite a bit of steam throughout the book. Lara is a feminist and is very principled. She is someone who is facing society on her own terms. I think of Lara as the key character in the book more than the hero who falls more under stereotypical heroes of the era.

The best thing was being correct about British and India’s relationship as most books are downright pathetic about this part. So the author is clearly knowledgeable about history and handled it correctly. Perfect for those who enjoy enemies to lovers trope and it comes with all the drama, scandals, villains, steam and some epic romance!

I really wanted to like this book. The writing and storytelling are good, and I was happy to see a half-Indian heroine. Ultimately, I couldn't get past the way the hero infantilizes and bullies the 25-year-old heroine. This book is just not for me. DNF.

My first reading of Ms Bhog!! Simply delightful. She really let us know Lara, and what drove her. Wolf came across as cold, but then we learned why. Great cast of characters, great plot! Hoping to get stories for all the friends!