This book was fantastic! It took me on several twists and turns (usually this is annoying, but Jeffries finds a way to make it charming). Saint Sheridan and Vanessa are the perfect combination of sugar, spice and timid behavior.

This can be read as a stand alone novel, but I wouldn’t recommend it. There are references to other books that probably made the book richer. This regency romance mystery gives us more than the characters to rely on and allows us a few chuckles.

Jeffries does it again!

Sheridan Wolfe, the new Duke of Armitage, is sinking under the weight of his new responsibilities. The dukedom was in sad financial shape when his father inherited it and had no time to improve the situation before he himself died. Sheridan is worried, uptight, and barely hanging on as he makes hard financial decisions. To complicate matters he and his brother and stepsiblings are convinced their fathers' deaths were suspicious. The family have narrowed down their list of suspects and Sheridan is charged with investigating the awful mother of Vanessa Pryde, his stepbrother Grey's cousin. He feels a strong attraction to Vanessa, but isn't ready for any romance under the circumstances. This last entry of the series does a wonderful job of balancing romance, humor, family, and mystery.

I am a huge fan of Sabrina Jeffries, I've read so many of her books and they are all super excited, adding romance and a mystery. I hadn't read the previous ones of this series,
The reason I've always enjoyed her books, because they are more then just regency romances. They don't take forever to get to the romance, and the hero and the heroine are always on a mission together, which is always fun.
This book is amazing the chemistry between "saint" Sheridan and Vanessa is amazing, especially when he constantly gets jealous of Juncker ( the entire book I thought he was "junky") I look forward to reading all about his romance in the Christmas book, coming this fall.
Ladies if you haven't read the previous books and want to read just this one, go ahead, the author gives you a briefing so your not confused on what is happening throughout the book.

I received this book from Netgalley, but all the opinions are my own.

The mystery is finally solved. Unfortunately, the romance fell by the wayside with all the investigating going on. This was probably the weakest book in the series.

I loved the premise of this and I loved the interactions of the two leads.

Fake dating and nasty guys are two of my buzz words.

The story had me at the beginning then unfortunately lost me towards the middle

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I received "Undercover Duke" from Netgalley and voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Sabrina Jeffries is an exceptional story teller. She weaves her readers into her tales. Sheridan Wolfe, Duke of Armitage wishes to find out who killed his father, and one suspect is the mother of Vanessa Pryde, the woman of his fascination. Caught in a compromising position,  one thing leads to another and secrets of the past are revealed. Superb story!

I have been looking forward to the story of Sheridan and Vanessa!

It was the perfect conclusion to the "who done it" theme that has been running though all the novel.

Part mystery, mostly romance, I enjoyed the banter and the heat between the two main characters. Sheridan has always seemed uptight, but his relationship to Vanessa showed us a different side to him that I loved.

Perfect ending to a great series!

Sheridan Wolfe is the impoverished Duke of Armitage. He needs to marry a rich heiress to save his estates. However, Sheridan and his siblings need to solve the mysterious deaths of their mother’s three husbands. He re-acquaints with Vanessa Pryde, his older half-brother’s cousin, in order to question her mother. Sheridan tries valiantly to resist temptation. Will Sheridan finally let go of the past? Can he and his siblings find the culprit behind their fathers’ murders?
Miss Vanessa Pryde is the cousin of the Fifth Duke of Greycourt. She has always wanted Sheridan since his family’s return to England. Vanessa feigns romantic interest in a famous playwright to gain his interest. Her calculated scheme works, in a roundabout manner. Vanessa learns that Sheridan is secretly investigating the deaths of his mother’s husbands. Will Vanessa be beneficial in Sheridan’s investigation? Can she make her saintly duke fall in love with her?
Sheridan is so different from his older half-siblings. His phobia of losing those that he loves prompts him to keep people at a safe distance. I love Sheridan’s sense of duty and loyalty. He tries desperately to take care of everyone under his care, even stumble through his weakness with numbers. What I adore the most about Sheridan is his willingness to endure Vanessa’s shrewish mother. He knows how important family is, so he will never demand Vanessa alienate her mother.
I have been wanting Vanessa and Sheridan to pair up since book one. She is the perfect contrast to his stuffiness. And Vanessa did not disappoint me! I like how she does not make excuses for her mother’s abrasive behavior. Vanessa knows how difficult her mother can be, so she tries to spare everyone from having to deal with her, including her cousin and Sheridan. What I adore the most about Vanessa is how she does not adhere to society’s views on a noblewoman’s appetite. She refuses to starve herself over some silly rule.
UNDERCOVER DUKE is the fourth book in Sabrina Jeffries’ historical romance series, DUKE DYNASTY. It is essential to read the prior books and novella to understand the story’s sub-plot. I like how the author strategically stretches the investigation throughout the series, giving new bits of information in each book.
UNDERCOVER DUKE is a brilliant conclusion to a fun and entertaining series. I hear the author plans to write a Christmas novella involving the playwright Juncker. I cannot wait!

This was a strong end to the series. I’ve enjoyed both Sheridan and Vanessa over the course of the series, and it was good to finally see them get together. It was also good to have the mystery finally be sewn up. This wasn’t my favorite series by Ms. Jeffries, but it was enjoyable and ended well.

Sabrina Jeffries is one of my go to authors. She is a wonderful story teller.. I didn't feel the connection with this book as I did with the 3 previous stories. It was nice to have all of the couples part of this book. I did enjoy Sheridan and Vanessa's story and the conclusion of the who done it mystery.

Let me preface this by saying, this is the first Sabrina Jeffries book I've ever read and it's in the middle of a series. I feel it would definitely be easier to care for the characters and understand their motivations if I had read the first three books so I wouldn't say it's a standalone, it would be more appreciated within the context of the series.

As a standalone reader, I was confused about the dowager Duchesses many complicated marriages and children so I kind of just breezed through the quick explanations because I was more interested in the romance between Sheridan & Vanessa than who killed all these characters I never got to know.

There are a LOT of characters referring to a LOT of backstory and the main heroine, Vanessa, has probably appeared in the other books so I can understand why she wouldn't be as developed here. I just felt like I didn't really know Sheridan or Vanessa too well at the end of it and their romance was the story I was interested in, not the family murder mystery. I needed more romantic dialogue between them. Maybe a real honeymoon chapter would have helped.

I also guessed who the murderer was as soon as the character appeared, and I didn't even understand the backstory. So, the characters felt a bit dumb and out-of-touch because they were on the wrong track completely.

It's an okay book, the writing is solid, there's a happy ending and a resolution to the murder mystery, but I probably won't remember what it was about in another month.

The last of Jeffries’s “Duke Dynasty” series concluded with an expected result, both romantically and the business with the family’s mystery.

Sheridan as the leading man is much better than as secondary on his siblings’ books. His backstory allowed readers into his reluctance - after a fashion - to assume the mantle; making him - to me - the least annoying of the four (siblings) despite the somewhat stuck-up values. Vanessa too was way more tolerable in UNDERCOVER DUKE than when first introduced in “Project Duchess.” That said, I was hoping for more sparks between her and Sheridan considering the attraction they actually felt (for one another) for quite a while. Their crooked courtship was the result of both h/h’s partial deception (thus the title “undercover”). The run of events was pretty predictable. But what delighted was they didn’t dilly-daly too long where it counted.

As a closure to the family mystery, it didn’t take a leap to figure (who) the true baddie. Considering the gravity of the matter - such as how many life lost - I would’ve thought these dukes would paid more weight and focusing on solving the issue first and foremost. As it is, the wrapping up felt more as a rushing summary (the reasoning etc of the killings).

Among the other installments, UNDERCOVER DUKE is on a line with the previous in the series. However the second book starring the only sister and their cousin is still my favorite of the “Duke Dynasty.”


<i>Copy of this book is kindly given by the author in via <b><a href=“https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/217278”> NetGalley</a></b> in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This could probably stand on its own, but previous couples do show up quite a bit, and there is an overarching mystery that culminates in this one, so it's probably best read in order. I was pretty certain I'd solved the mystery two books ago, and I was right, but I'm really here for the romance, so I didn't mind that much. In the beginning they both have ulterior motives that bring them together, and I thought it was handled well. I like that the heroine reached for what she wanted, and that the hero slowly fell for her despite himself. Both characters made a couple foolish choices, but were overall likable.
The last few chapters really leaned heavily on long explanatory conversations to bring everything together, and it felt a bit forced and flat. I'd also already guessed how the ending would play out a couple chapters earlier, so it wasn't a particularly interesting ending for me, but it wasn't too shabby how things turned out.
Overall I would rate the series:
1: 3
1.5: 2.5 rounded to 3
2: 4
3: 3
4: 3

I received as advance copy for reviewing purposes, but my thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

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

The love story between Vanessa and Sheridan has been a long time coming. This is an opposites attract story, but Vanessa isn't quite as frivolous as Sheridan has always believed, and "Saint" Sheridan isn't quite the stiffed shirt that Vanessa has assumed him to be. A little trickery is in order for Sheridan to be able to question Vanessas mother regarding the death of his father, and Vanessa isn't above turning the tables to make him jealous by declaring feelings for another man. When circumstances force them marry, neither wants to admit it is exactly what they wanted all along. Still it takes a turn of danger for them to admit their love.

Unfortunately this book was a bit draggy. It took me longer than it should have to read it and I found myself easily distracted from it. It just became one thing after another. The second half picked up but too little too late for more than 3 stars rating. I felt that there was no genuine chemistry between Sheridan and Vanessa at first. I admired these two as individuals and I liked them on their own but their "romance" had no spark. But overall it was a well written book with likable characters. Oh and also the mystery about the murders was intriguing enough and had a satisfactory conclusion. I think the intrigue part throughout the whole series was nicely done. It wasn't obvious and it kept me guessing till the last book.
So, I liked this book, even though I didn't love it, and I'm going to keep chugging on the Sabrina Jeffries train because her writing is, as usual delicious.

Sheridan Wolfe, Duke of Armitage, has a problem. Actually, he has several problems, but the first one is try to figure out who is responsible for killing his mother's 3 husbands--all being dukes. Secondly, he needs to find funds to keep the dukedom afloat and he's desperate. His tasked by his siblings to get close to Vanessa Pryde's mother as she was at two house parties where the men died. The more time he spends with trying to pull information our of her, the more he's attracted to Vanessa, but he can't afford a wife. Vanessa has loved Sheridan for as long as she can remember and is thrilled that he's been calling on her. Now, she just had to get him to propose.

This was an enjoyable book and we finally learn who's killed the 3 dukes!! Even though I've read the other books in the series, I had a hard time keeping everybody straight. I would suggest new readers read the other books in the series for all the clues sprinkled along the way. I loved that Vanessa wasn't a wilting wallflower and she was willing to do whatever to finally gain Sheridan's attention. I felt the lust between Sheridan and Vanessa, but there was so much time spent on the mystery and not enough attention paid to the romance between these two in my opinion. It seemed they went from attraction to love very quickly.

This is the long-awaited ending to the series. The identity of the murderer revealed. Saint Sheridan, the taciturn, arrogant brother, is tasked with finding out if Vanessa's mother could be the murderer. Vanessa, after three dances with Sheridan over a year, has decided she is in love with him and schemes that she is in love with Mr. Juncker to make him jealous. She does wonder why he's suddenly calling on her but mostly trying to talk to her mother. They wind up compromised and forced to marry. O.K. do you think the following scenes as odd as I do? It's the afternoon, their wedding party is still going on in the house, they retire to their room for the night. After perfunctory sex, she falls asleep, Sheridan gets dressed to go look for leftover food at the banquet. He discovers his family having a meeting about the murders and joins them. Brothers joke about his short wedding night, Vanessa wanders down and overhears he only pretended to be her friend to see if her mother is a murderer. She's hurt about the friend part but isn't disturbed about the accusation of murder against her mother. Two of the wives' mothers are suspects but neither is upset by the fact. This is where it really gets weird. Vanessa gets tipsy so Sheridan's mother takes her back to bed and discovers blood on the sheets. "Your virgin's blood, dear girl." They discuss the fact that the blood is a good thing, the mother-in-law leaves to get a maid to change the sheets, Vanessa goes to sleep on the blood. Sheridan sees his mother coming out of the room, they stop to discuss "the act", the blood, and that it must have been good because Vanessa was asleep with a smile on her face. He carries Vanessa to his own bed, Mother follows to turn down the sheets and tells him he should leave her alone tonight to sleep. I had visions of Norman Bates from the Psycho movie saying "Yes, Mother." The murderer turned out to be the obvious suspect. I was hoping for a surprise twist in which Mother was the killer, but no. I gave it three stars because I enjoyed the series overall even if this installment was disappointing.

For readers of the Duke Dynasty series, this is an okay conclusion to the series. For readers starting the series here, put the book down and go back to Project Duchess if you hope to follow the plot.

The central mystery--who killed off a trio of dukes, all of whom married the same woman and whose sons and daughter are the characters finding romance in this series--does finally get solved in this last installment. However, to follow the mystery to its end and find the conclusion satisfying, you might have been needing to take notes when reading prior installments. That's where all the clues are, and until Vanessa Pryde is filled in on this central mystery 2/3 of the way through the book, you won't get any sort of recap about the amateur detective work done by the characters in past books.

If you're here for the romance and not the mystery, you might be wondering why this even matters. Well, as Sheridan admits at one point, he might never have thought of romancing Vanessa had this mystery not existed. He is asked by his older half-brother Grey, who is also Vanessa's cousin, to subtly interrogate Vanessa's mother, one of three suspects in the ducal murders. Vanessa has long had a crush on Sheridan and wants to marry him, and has been misdirecting everyone by claiming to actually have feelings for a playwright-poet. Sheridan wants to get closer to Vanessa and her mother to tease out information without her mother being the wiser, so he agrees to pretend to court her to make the playwright jealous. Vanessa hopes this will uncover feelings she is sure he has for her, and lo and behold, it works.

My problem with the mystery is that to solve it along with the characters, you needed to have come into this book with all the clues from past installments at hand. My problem with the romance is that so much attention is paid to the mystery that it felt at times like the romance was progressing because it was time to move to the next step, not because we are seeing the characters' love develop. The lust (such as it is) is there is from the beginning, but going strictly from what's shown on the page, the love we're told is between Vanessa and Sheridan feels unearned.

In this 4th book and final in the series, we get the answer to the mystery that the siblings have all been trying to solve.

Sheridan has always been an interesting character and I had high hopes for him and Vanessa but I didn’t think this was one of Sabrina Jeffries better written romances. I know angst of some kind is almost always included, but I thought some of Vanessa’s scheming went a little overboard. I did love all the interactions of the siblings

All in all, a nice conclusion to a very good series, even if the relationship between Sheridan and Vanessa wasn’t particularly satisfying.

I enjoyed finding the answer to the question raised in the previous novels in the Series, but in the end I thought it was pretty predictable. I liked Vanessa and Sheridan, but there was a little too much angst in this book for me to really enjoy. That is a trope I don't enjoy, and if that doesn't bother you, then you will probably enjoy the story. 3-1/2 starts. Thank you for allowing me to give my honest opinion on this ARC.