This was an easy read, but I think it held potential for a "little more." Overall, I enjoyed the plot and the characters and the setting - it was entertainment in the moment for a quiet night in.

The best part of this book for me was the beginning and the end. The middle was a little drawn out for me personally but the end picked up

I loved the fact that Tabitha has a perfect memory and that she was using it to enhance her situation. I did wish she used this gift more intellectually rather than for random remembering. Like perhaps if she had a desire to attend college or something. I liked the conflict and the need for her to find a husband.

I like the juxtaposition between Arthur and Tabitha's personalities. Arthur being more rules-based and stiff but of course, we find out more meets the eye.

I loved the concept, the journey and the love story between these two.

Tabitha is making her debut at 27 and it is not going well. Arthur is a Duke who is on a mission to find a perfect bride but he cannot seem to find one.
Tabitha is introduced to Arthur several times and each time she uses a different name, that is until he finds out and threatens to out her to the Ton.

I absolutely loved reading this book. It was entertaining and had me grinning like a Cheshire Cat. I adored Tabitha and Arthur as a couple, they had lots of chemistry and great banter that made me laugh.
What a fantastic start to the series can’t wait for book two.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for preview and this is my freely given review of it.

This is my first time reading a work by this author and I found this story to be a charming, light piece of escapism. The main character, Tabitha, is a rather mature woman of 27 who is having her first Season, and feeling rather pressured to find a husband. She is the eldest of 4 daughters to a Marquess, and feels responsible for them as she believes she was responsible for their financial downfall and her father's subsequent illness. A little far-fetched considering the lack of power given to women at the time, and also why so-long before debuting? Apparently she lost her mother around the time she should have had her debut, and the loss of a parent and memories of a loved one are a bit of an enduring theme in this novel. Regardless, she finds that she and her small group of friends are spending more time propping up walls than meeting any eligible men. To pass the time, the ladies invented a little game amongst themselves, involving silly dares.

Tabitha and her friends do not seem to have a great deal of reverence or respect for some members of the Ton, and/or feel that they are overlooked and forgettable, as wallflowers, and her part of the dare game is to seek introductions and re-introductions to notable members and have herself introduced in silly names. She has been introduced several times to the Duke of Collingford, a very eligible bachelor who seems high in the instep. Of the five introductions she has only given her real name twice, and at other times as Priscilla Pickles, and other such names. They meet again at a ball of her friend and Tabitha gets introduced as another improbably name. However, Arthur, the Duke, is neither as dim or lacking in memory as Tabitha was thinking or hoping, and is seeking a wee bit of revenge.

He is also, however, seeking a wife. Though he is annoyed, yet intrigued by Tabitha and her game, she is definitely not suited to his needs, as he is seeking a Perfect Duchess. As per his father's will, he will only get an unentailed estate if he marries a woman that the entire family, consisting of his mother, his brother, his grandmother, and his uncle, approve of as being suited to being a perfect Duchess of Collingford.

Tabitha is worried that the Duke will ruin her chances of being able to marry and starts to consider marriage to one of her father's elderly bachelor friends, when she realizes that she may be able to offer a solution to Arthur. She has a wonderful memory and ability to learn and store information and thinks that she could study to become a Perfect Duchess and if she is able to prove this to him, he could marry her and they could solve each other's problems. Arthur eventually agrees to this, so long as she can prove that she is able to pass some challenges he poses, which could showcase her suitability to be the Perfect Duchess.

This was a rather lighthearted, sweet, story, with a lot of stretching of belief, but it was fun and enjoyable, and I did enjoy the characters of Arthur and Tabitha. He first came across as quite a stuck up prig with his ideas of what a Perfect Duchess should be and his desire to marry just to get that estate, and she initially seems rather silly and immature with playing with dares. But as the story goes on, he is revealed as being a man with greater warmth, humour, and love for his family, as well as insecurity, who misses greatly the father that he lost at a young age. She is also shown to be a woman who loves her family fiercely and misses her mother also, and who is willing to do whatever she can to bring happiness, as she perceives it, to those she loves.

This is probably not one of those great stories that I will read again and again, but it was a story that I enjoyed and does make me look forward to the next in the series, especially as I presume it will involve one of Tabitha's friend, and hints of that story were played out in this book, and draws my interest.

I would say this was a 3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars.

This checked off everything I look for in a book. Was not disappointed. Really enjoyed this book. I will read more from this author. Must read. Historical fiction oh yeah. Love me some Duke's

Nice predictable romance about a duke who needs to marry and a lady who needs ti marry money to replenish the family coffers and keep her 3 sisters from having to go into service. Their initial irritation with each other quickly becomes attraction. A couple family members attempt to stand in their way but without much delay, the couple move on to their HEA.

I must say the opening few chapters really grabbed my attention I just couldn't stop reading after that.. It had great chemistry between the hero and heroine. They story was interesting and kept me turning the page. It had a good amount of steam but kept to the plot and we see character development between Author and Tabitha. I also loved the side characters which can either be hit or miss in stories. I really felt the story flowed and it had good amounts of humor, romance, along with the main storyline. It was a great read and I can't wait to read more from Lane. Her writing really pulled me in and kept me reading which is what you want with a great historical romance.

Lady Tabitha must marry well to save her family from ruin. Arthur needs a perfect wife in order to inherit the family home. Can the irreverent bluestocking transform into the duchess he needs?

I enjoyed the banter and the writing style in the book. This is something of romp, the plot not particularly believable but a lot of fun.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

A wickedly funny story. It has a witty conversation and humor at every turn. Tabitha and her two friends in an effort to make the season more interesting have come up with creative dares. Arthur is a Duke on a mission to find a bride and also got caught in a dare. The story is highly entertaining as Tabitha and Arthur come up with a marriage pact. It follows a series of tests that always have some hilarity. As they spend time together they see that love becomes a part of the bargain.

Tabitha, Jane, and Lillian are accustomed to watching the ball instead of participating. They are, for the most part, easily forgotten or ignored completely. To deal with the snub and boredom, they play a game of dares. One of their dares even brings Tabitha together with Arthur, Duke of Collingford. The next dare is a doozie. She dares him to marry her, claiming that her fantastic memory will allow her all she needs to know to be his perfect wife, the one who will gain the approval of all his family so that he can inherit his childhood home. Interesting, but iffy.

Tabitha and Arthur are opposites. They take notice of each other, but it is not love at first sight. I love the way the romance built slowly. Both work hard, maybe too hard, to be perfect, but realize that perfect, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. The characters are all great, even Uncle Brutus, who makes the perfect villain. Tabby’s friends and sisters and Devon are fun, and Arthur’s mother is smart, caring, and gives very good advice. There is a bit of drama as it all comes together, but in the end all is well. Interesting story. I enjoyed and recommend it.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

This was a well-written, entertaining Regency romance. It was clever, funny, steamy, captured my interest and I didn't want to put it down. This is the first book in a series, though it can be read as a standalone story. I enjoyed this Regency romance and look forward to reading more books in this series as well as others by this author.

3 stars

The best word I could use to describe this book is adorable. I don't know whether it was the language or the characters or the conflict, but everything about this book just felt very fluffy. It felt like I was reading a romance between two young teenagers rather than adults in their late 20s and early 30s. None of the conflicts ever felt insurmountable and I think that Lane set herself up well for the rest of the series based on some of the teasers that we got at the end of this book. A good time was had by all!

Thank you to NetGalley and WOLF Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Tabitha has an incredible memory, and some of those memories she would rather forget, like when she made a bad investment with her family's savings and lost it all. Arthur is in need of a duchess and Tabitha has caught his eye. After all, she's been introduced to him multiple times under different names, something that is a little beyond the pale in the Ton. Unfortunately,. he needs to find the perfect duchess in order to finally inherit his childhood home in the country and the rules of his inheritance are strict! However, when he does confront her about her about her deception, she makes a counter proposal. She will act as his duchess to be, which will allow her a position to take care of her family's needs. Naturally, Arthur is skeptical. How is this daring bluestocking supposed to become a demure duchess overnight?

To Arthur's surprise, she's actually pretty good at. To his further surprise--and hers--this ruse begins to become less of a ruse as they begin to lose their hearts against the better judgement of their heads!

This book was really good. I finished in in two nights while on vacation and it was a totally different take on Ton life than I'm used to. I loved the characters and their families. I look forward to further adventures in Lane's take on the Ton. It was sweet, fiery, and funny, and that's everything you want in a light-hearted historical romance read!

I was excited for this first part of a Regency romance trilogy, since this is a genre I really like to indulge in every once in a while.

I very much liked the idea of the story and was excited for a light-hearted romance with lovable, funny characters.

However, there was little to no plot at all and it dragged on forever. Especially the ending was unnecessarily drawn out - Tabitha could just have given the same line to the grandmother five chapters earlier, had there not been the necessity of setting a premise for the second book in the series.

But let’s start from the beginning.

Lady Tabitha is a twenty-seven year old debutante looking for a suitor to ensure her family’s well-being and her sisters’ introduction into society after a failed attempt at increasing the family’s savings has left the marquess virtually poor.

Other than being reprimanded for that mistake over and over by one of her sisters, this whole backstory isn’t important at all to the plot. Tabitha herself is only coming out because of a generous aunt, and that on its own (a wealthy aunt sponsoring a poor but titled family member) would honestly have served the purpose of the book just as well in my opinion.

When Tabitha and her friends Jane and Lillian grow bored of being largely ignored by the other attendees, they give each other dares to make the season more fun. One of them is that Tabitha gives another name whenever she is introduced to the Duke Arthur of Collingford - but he notices and reprimands her.

However, he is in search for a suitable wife as well, and Tabitha insists that she can learn to be a perfect candidate due to her perfect memory.

The Duke must be the most un-interesting love interest I’ve read about in a long time. He had little to no character traits from the start and I could honestly not care less about him. On top of that, the whole obsession with perfection (was there a single page that didn’t have that word printed at least three times?) got old quickly and I wish he had dropped it somewhere around the middle of the book.

As funny as Tabitha was at times, I couldn’t quite warm up to her and her quirkiness. As I said before, the whole backstory wouldn’t have been necessarily for the plot, and its existence just seemed to make Tabitha more of an obnoxious “I’m not like the other girls”-character. It’s aLeo possible to allude to mind palaces and the like without explaining it at several points throughout the book.

It bothered me how childish both Tabitha and Arthur seemed again and again, and how random the walk and all the incidents on it to Rose Hall were. Especially the later certainly didn’t help with how slow of a read the book was for me, no matter how interesting the idea of the plot itself was.

At times I was also a bit lost in the many descriptions, because they served the purpose of showcasing the author’s eloquence better than it helped create a picture of any scenery.

2/5 stars.

A perfectly imperfect romance!

First of all, I loved the change of pace that gave us a heroine who regrets some mistakes she's made - even the huge ones are not excused away, but faced head on. I adored her determination to convince Arthur that she could be a proper duchess, and it was refreshing to see that he simply dismissed her without even considering her proposal, so convince was he that she couldn't fit his idealized image.

These are not typical romance characters; instead they each have a bit of an edge and are clearly self-serving in the beginning, so watching their love grow was especially rewarding because they had so very much to overcome.

I love the compassionate yet proper example his mother set, and how she helped him understand exactly what the position of duchess required. Arthur's brother and Tabitha's two friends were absolutely intriguing additions to the cast and I hope to read each of their stories in upcoming books.

The HEA was sublime, and I loved the role that Arthur's grandmother played. This was a joyous journey from adversaries to happily in love, and I enjoyed the story immensely. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

This one was odd for me because on the one hand I enjoyed it and read it through but then on the other, it is so very predictable, not very in-depth, and drags in many parts.
Yes, the writing is good which makes me think this was just a so-so book for the author and she can do so much better because there is talent there. This is my first book by Charlie Lane and I will look into some of her others.
The romance is nice, steamy in some ways but again predictable.
Storyline- yes predictable and so overdone by other authors. The 'dares' or banter from Tabitha was good however. Starts off really good and falls short by the end.
Charaters- ok, not much to them, a bit shallow (and I agree with others that the age of Tabitha was far too old for a first season coming out)
Again, with such a great beginning and strong writing, I expected more and it fell short. I finished with an "ok, won't be reading that one again". Not memorable at all.
Recommend? - Yes, for a nice regency, romantic story, but I wouldn't rush to read it.
I received an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

I recieved a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book that I have read by this author and I throughly enjoyed it.
Tabitha is 27 and having her first season. She must marry well to bring her family back from the brink for financial ruin, which she caused.
Arthur must marry a woman his family approves of in order to fulfill his father's will and get his childhood home.
Tabitha fascinates Arthur and she is put to the duchess test.
I liked Tabitha and Arthur although I do feel like all of Tabitha doubts in the 2nd half of the book seemed a little out of character.
I enjoyed this book and can't wait for Jane and George's story next.

I received this book from NetGalley.

Lady Tabitha Hampton is quite a lady. Late to the Ton season at age 27, she needs to find a husband, and fast, to help her family. The issue - she's a redhead and speaks her mind. She also does not have a mother to teach how to act refined as she passed away several years ago.

The Duke of Collingford needs to find a wife and he is running out of time. Due to a quirk in his father's will (as has been done by his father, etc), he cannot inherit the place he wants to call home. He must find a wife that is approved by all living family members.

When their paths cross, Tabitha plays a trick on the Duke thinking that the Duke would not remember her. Little does she realize, he cannot forget about her. Will this union work? Can Tabitha become the Duchess the Duke needs?

This is the first book in a new series. I am really looking forward to the remaining books.

Lady Tabitha Hampton has a very handy knack for remembering everything. Yet this talent has not prevented the family falling close to ruin, through poor investments. So Tabitha realises that she must marry. Yet before she does, she can’t help but accept a dare from her friends, and in doing so, puts her family’s fate at risk.
Arthur, the Duke of Collingford is in need of a wife, if he is to push for social reform in parliament. Yet when is involved in the dare by Tabitha, his interest is piqued. Yet Tabitha is not the duchess that he imagined with her red hair and lack of social contacts. However, he finds himself captivated by her ability to transform into a duchess and her charms have him enthralled. Now all he has to do is convince his family to accept her, which may not be as easy as it seems.
I found this a lovely and quite unique story. Tabitha is such a refreshing character as are her two wallflower friends. Arthur is also an intriguing character as are his family members. Towards the end of the story, I found myself hoping that this book would just go for a bit longer as it did seem to be a bit rushed. Otherwise, I am now thrilled to read more by Charlie Lane and look forward to more books in this series.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The opening chapter was fun, I loved Tabitha and her friends banters, sure for her age, she can appear a bit naive and childish but women were allowed few to none freedom, and days and evenings were probably tedious when you had nothing else to do than sit or watch from the outskirts life pass by you and nothing else to do than wait for the night to be over.
Arthur is not the perfect picture he is referred to be, why he is so set on finding the perfect counterpart to his supposed impeccable persona, to make do with his flaws. His family is weird from the grandmother to the uncle, only his brother, but he seems to be known for his spleen periods, and mother appear to be loving persons, enjoying life.

The dynamic of Arthur and Tabitha’s relationship is fun, and while the wager is improbable, which person in its right mind would risk its legacy with some meddling person they know to be all wrong. How I disliked the Duchess mask, it was like Tabitha was part-time inhabited by a robot, yet it was fun to watch Arthur regrets Tabitha true self.
Each is the other’s answer, she is in need of money to rescue her kin while he is in want of the perfect spouse to assist him. As they get to know one another, it is each other’s flaws that endear them to the other.

I confess I am have been left with many questions about Tabitha, she is 27, why so late a debut, she lost the family money only a few months prior to the beginning of this book, so what held them all back, and why not choose the younger sibling instead. Why was she the one to manage the family’s businesses, she is the eldest but they are all adults and we’re no more kids when their mother was killed. Why is there need to explain her incredible memory outside a photographic one, and they are marquess’ offsprings not really lowly creatures so why the disdain.
I’m a bit illogical, but I felt the story dragged for too long, yet at the same time, their relationship moved forward too soon. It was like the narrative went in too many directions but never really focused in one. Arthur is a nice and caring fellow caged by his duties and family expectations, Tabitha sets him free, even if she is even more flawed than he is.
I love the author’s talent with words and her usually spunky feisty heroines, yet this story has not the usual vibe, a bit too deconstructed.
3.5 stars

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 onscreen lovemaking scenes

I have been granted an advance copy by the publisher Wolf Publishing, here is my true and unbiased opinion.