I really enjoyed 'Always Be My Duchess'! I've been in a bit of a historical romance kick recently, so this getting approved came at just the right time. Amalie Howard does have more of a modern style of writing than maybe the Lisa Kleypas' of the world, but it was enjoyable to read nonetheless. There was a fantastic amount of tension between Stone & Néve. Their meet-cute (can we call staring down the barrel of a gun a meet-cute?) might have been my favorite part of the book. I also fell in love with the interesting assortment of side characters. I'm really hoping Briar and Lushing are the main couple of the next book... if so, I'll be pre-ordering that ASAP.

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, if you like Bridgerton, you need to read Always Be My Duchess. There are so many great tropes in this book: strong female heroine, business agreement turned romance, hard-stony guy that's only soft for one girl. It's got some steam for sure, and oh does it build tension. While the variety of characters aren't necessarily "authentic" to the time, they make the book enjoyable and lovable for today. I'm so glad this is the first in a series as I can't wait to watch the next member of the Queen's Club meet her match - and hopefully check in with the Duke and Duchess of Montcroix.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and this is my freely given opinion.

OK, to be truthful, I was conflicted about this because of the blurb... I generally like-ranging-to-love the Amalie Howard stories I have read. But I absolutely can't stand Pretty Woman and generally any Julia Roberts-related movie of any kind (I know I probably am outvoted here, it seems to have a mega cult following, but I feel it, and she are highly over-rated). So I was prepared to be disappointed and rather hate this.

The Duke of Montcroix, Lysander Blackstone, is a stern, cold, emotionless man who seems driven by succeeding in business. He suppresses his emotions because of various disappointments in his past, from family relationships to relationship betrayals. But his bachelor-state may impede a major business deal he wants to push through to succeed in his other business ventures. To that end, he proposes a ruse to Neve, an out of work ballerina he runs into one night. She is in London to try to find a job at a theatre, to help her sister in France. She is actually a gently raised daughter of an aristocrat, but down on her luck due to a loss of fortune in the family; she and her sister are forced to fall back onto the dance training by their mother to try to make their way in the world. She is also distrustful of men, because of what she has observed, especially as a ballerina, considering they are often treated as mistresses and whores.

However, she does need money, and Montcoix offers her a grand amount that could go a long way to help her and her sister, so she agrees to his ruse.

I loved Neve and her sassy, sarcastic unfiltered mouth, and her rather weird little French-isms. Montcroix is quite cold, but it sounds like his father was a right bastard whose behaviour stunted and stymied Montcoix, trying to mold him into what the former Duke considered to be strong. Neve brings out his inner heat and passion and I loved that development of their relationship. I also liked the sideline characters, including Montcroix's aunt, who obviously is a lot more awake, alert, and wily than she lets on, and I enjoyed her support of Neve and the love and support she shows Montcroix. Also loved the group of female friends that Neve meets, the horribly named "Hell-kitties" and would love to hear more of their stories; they dynamic added some lovely lightness. I presume that we may hear about more about Montcroix's big mouthed friend, Lushing, and Neve's new friend, Briar, in the future?

I was slightly disappointed, however, that the villains of the piece, the horrible bitch ex-fiancee, the cheating businessman/viscount, and the abusive Marquis, do not get any definitive comeuppance. A bit of justice and karma would have been satisfying.

4.5 stars out of 5.

Always Be My Duchess by Amalie Howard
Taming of the Dukes #1
Historical Romance
Publication Date: July 12, 2022

A gargoyle on the run from some locals runs into a butterfly and together they make a run for it only to find themselves in a cramped alley space. Attracted to the butterfly, it’s not long before the gargoyle (a duke whose nickname is Stone) propositions the butterfly (a struggling ballerina), who he initially mistakens for a lady of the evening, with an offer she finds difficult to refuse.

This book will definitely satisfy fans of the relationship of convenience trope and those with a preference for open door romances.

This book had pretty much everything I look for in a romance: the swoon, the sass and the spice. This book was also full of zingy one-liners and moments that made me snicker. I’m not one to normally annotate my books but I actually used the highlight function on my Kindle on a number of occasions.

However, I will say the author deploys the same gimmick on multiple occasions. How many times can a person stumble upon another doing something in secret? First time, it happens. Second time, now they are even with each other. Third time… does no one know how to close a door and lock it?

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. Also, there was a time gap in the last chapter. Our Duke shows up as a changed man after a length of time has passed. What changed in a few pages? How did he find himself educated? I started to see an inkling of change in his thought process but not enough to make the last chapter satisfying. I don’t like when a character who is really set in their ways has an epiphany off of the pages.

Overall, I’m looking forward to the next Hell Kitty to become a victim of Cupid’s Arrow.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

✨ ARC REVIEW ✨

Always be my Duchess
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Release date: July 12, 2022

“He was the moon: cold, hard, distant. She was the sun: fiery, passionate, hot-tempered. He saw things in absolutes, in black or white, while she viewed life in every hue imaginable. He was winter; she was summer.”

🩰 Highlights:
- insta lust 🙈
- Opposites attract / grumpy sunshine
- Laila, Briar, Nève, and Effie’s friendship
- Fake dating/engagement
- Lysander’s growth

🩰 My thoughts:

It took about 40% to get to the main plot of the book as there was a lot of build up getting there. There was a lot of emphasis on physical attraction throughout Lysander and Nève’s relationship. I really enjoy a friendship before lust- however, the characters did have sweet moments together when they were getting to know eachother. It was a heavy focus on the physical aspect but it wasn’t JUST physical between them. I felt the chemistry between them and I loved seeing Lysander grow and change through Nève’s love. It felt very Beauty and the Beast. A beast needing someone to see deep within and pull out the prince that’s inside. Nève was the Belle to Lysander’s beast, and I really loved their ending together.

⚠️ TW: abusive parent/childhood trauma mentioned. Sexual assault attempts mentioned.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Amalie Howard for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Such a good book, I think people are gonna really love this one. Keep me wanting more the whole way through. Thank you!

I absolutely loved this book!! It's a historical retelling of Pretty Woman with a female lead who is a French ballerina named Genevieve Valery and a neurodivergent duke, Lord Lysander Blackstone, Duke of Montcroix, They meet when she rescues him drunkenly trying to avoid a group of men trying to rob him in Convent Garden. She has just left a theatre after refusing to be a wealthy man's mistress.

After she helps him to escape in a hired carriage, Lysander sees the potential that she could pretend to be his fiancee for the season - this proposal will help him look respectable to an older lord whose land Lysander wants to buy for his proposed railroad. Even though he initially irritates her and seems very haughty, Genevieve has a good reason to eventually agree and then Lysander moves her into his house with his elderly aunt visiting there, so a chaperone is sorted.

This book has so many tropes I adore in a historical romance - pining, fake dating, forced proximity, opposites attract, pining - did I say pining already?!, grumpy/sunshine, character growth. It's also the first book I've read by this author and I look forward to reading all of her books.

The best news is this book is the first of a series and I hope the future books are based on the group of wonderful women who Genevieve befriends.

HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I just reviewed Always Be My Duchess by Amalie Howard. #NetGalley

If Bridgerton and Pretty Woman had a baby it would be this book. I read the whole thing in a day and I loved it! It was so cute and the banter was on point. I also loved the secondary characters in this especially Vesper and the rest of the Hellfire Kitties.

✨Synopsis: The Duke of Montcroix is only interested in increasing his fortunes and investments. When his reputation for being cold and heartless jeopardizes his new business deal, he finds himself looking for a solution.

Geneviève Valery is an out of work ballerina in need of money to help her sick sister. After a chance encounter with the Duke, Montcroix makes her an offer she can't refuse - act has his fake fiancée for the season and gain a fortune.

Always Be My Duchess will be released July 12!

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Amalie Howard for the advanced copy!!

From the first meeting of the characters I was hooked. The fake dating trope is always a great one and this book had the right amount of tension and chemistry between the two love interests. I also loved that the heroine stood up for herself and knew her self worth. Overall a great rom-com!
Thank you NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Always Be My Dutchess was a fun read light read it's a 3 star read 🌟🌟🌟
Thanks Netgalley for a arc copy of this book for a honest review

Happy Reading

Lisa 📚

Always Be My Duchess is delightful! It is a great start to this new series. There are so many tropes packed into this book - grumpy/sunshine, fake engagement, and hidden identity. Lysander Blackstone (aka Stone) is an icy duke trying to establish a rail line. He needs to impress owners of the land through which he wants to run the railroad. To do so, he takes on a fake fiancé, Miss Genevieve Valery (aka Neve), a French ballerina. The two meet in a fiery encounter in Covent Garden and their chemistry is immediate.

Amalie Howard writes fantastic banter. The teasing between Stone and Neve is essentially verbal foreplay. There is a steaming hot scene in a music room where Stone plays Neve like a cello. I have never read so many sexy instrument similes in one book! Always Be My Duchess is unique in that it features a neurodivergent, feminist hero and a confident, smart, and modern heroine. Neve befriends a group of women with similar modern sensibilities and they form the “Queen’s Club,” and I assume the women all get their own book in the series. This series is perfect for fans of “wallpaper historicals” like the Netflix version of Bridgerton or books written by Evie Dunmore and Sarah MacLean.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC.

Always Be My Duchess was a fun read. I started several books, but wasn’t feeling them. I as soon as I started this book, I knew I was going to finish it. I liked the characters. It felt like a different twist to a historical. I look forward to the next book.

I voluntarily read an early copy.

Pretty Woman meets Bridgerton sounds like something that should be up my alley, and historical romances are my favorite. But alas, this wasn't it for me. Ultimately, I think it's because the first act was a bit of a chore, quite slow and hard to get through. I do love the ND rep, and wish there was a bit more with this.

I would recommend it to others, if they know to expect a more traditional historical romance and not a romcom like the cover would make it seem

Always Be My Duchess is the latest from Amalie Howard and I jumped in upon hearing this was a Pretty Woman-inspired historical romance with a ballerina heroine and a cold, sensible hero.

Lord Lysander Blackstone, the very pragmatic and always sensible Duke of Montcroix, has his life accidentally saved by Miss Geneviève “Nève” Valery, once an up-and-coming ballerina who is now hopelessly out-of-work. Lysander has a proposition for Nève, one evening of her time attending a ball with him so he can convince the current landowner he is not a rake/eternal bachelor and does intend to settle down. When the arrangement goes so well, Lysander quickly negotiates for more time with Nève and she soon finds herself acting as his fake fiancée.

Nève has been taking care of herself and her sister, who also did ballet before a recent injury (she refused the attentions of a titled male suitor and he injured her feet). Because of this, Nève is very wary of Lysander’s attention at first but sees over time she can trust him. This had a kind of lust at first sight for them both, but then a slower build of the actual romance. Some moments that stuck out to me: his aunt Millicent and her relationship with Nève, Lysander and Nève playing the piano together, he breaks his “no dancing” streak at a ball with her, her friendship with Laila (Marchioness of Marsden) who becomes her friend and modiste, he gives her an archery lesson, he converts a room in his estate into a space for her to dance (even installs a wooden ballet bar), the nods to Pretty Woman. The hero is also described as neurodivergent in the author’s note at the end of the read. I did like the premise of the story and this historical romance class difference setup, but the middle definitely dragged for me and I just wasn’t sold by the couple’s chemistry or romance. So while this book ended up just being okay for me, I have read a handful of historical romances from this author and continue to pick up her newest reads. I will say nothing has topped my first read from her, The Beast of Beswick.

Thank you to the publisher (Forever) for an e-ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts in this review are my own. Always Be My Duchess has a pub date of July 12, 2022.

This book was honestly a breath of fresh air. Such a cute and witty romance book! I loved the characters and the storyline. 5 stars!

Pretty Woman meets the Bridgertons.

Say what?! Okay, this tagline spoke to me. I am the BIGGEST Bridgertons fan. I binge read the entire series long before it became even more popular on Netflix. And Pretty Woman? Classic! Nothing beats the movies from the late 80s/early 90s. So yes, the tagline said to me, "reeeaaaad me. reaaaad me." Okay, okay....I'm in!

Main characters:

Lord Lysander Blackstone, The Duke of Montcroix. He is more concerned with being successful in business and has no interest in finding love, having been scorned in the past (His former love married his DAD...yeah..dad)

Nève Valery is an out of work ballerina after refusing the advances of a wealthy patron in her last job, A girl has morals (respect, girl!)

On a chance meeting, Nève saves Lord Blackstone from a gang of thieves chasing him, Sparks were immediate between the two as they hid in the alley squished up together. By the end of their meeting, Lord Blackstone had hired Nève to pretend to be his fiancée. The amount of money he has offered to pay her is too good to pass up. (ahhh yes Pretty Woman vibes for sure!)

The character development was great. I truly did get to know them and their personalities. I loved Nève's spunk and fire temperament. I enjoyed the banter back and forth between them but found it took way too long for them to finally feed into the passion which was building up. When they finally got busy, the pages caught my attention. It was good. (fans self)

I turn to reading romcoms as a "palette cleanser" for my soul after the large amounts of blood, gore and murder I usually read. I have read some really great romcoms which have made me literally laugh out loud. I look for this when a book says it is a romcom. The book was good but for me, it was not the same caliber of the Bridgertons and the book was way more rom than com.

I recommend this if you are looking for a great beach read. It's light, easy and cute.

Thank you to Netgalley for the digital advanced reader copy of the novel!

I received "Always Be My Duchess" from Netgalley and voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Amalie Howard is one of the best, most versatile authors I have read. Her attention to details is fascinating.
Lord Lysander Blackstone, the Duke of Montcroix is saved by Genevieve Valery, a French ballerina looking for work, when he finds himself slightly inebriated in an unknown location, being followed by footpads.What ensues between these two charismatic personalities is electrifying chemistry with witty dialogs. The sense of self importance exists in both characters. For Lysander, the thoughts and words of his abusive father play a vital role in his daily emotionless dealings ... the harsh reality of cruelty. He eventually realizes that we have to lose a little to gain a lot, "When something you love becomes something you resent because of circumstance.”  I absolutely love how the characters learn to love, and allow one another to be loved.

So this was super cute.

He's a duke that has trouble trusting people and she's a ballerina that has trouble trusting people. I really liked their meet-cute and how they got thrown together and trusted each other rather quickly.

I don't think I've read an HR romance with a ballerina heroine and I really enjoyed that element of the book. I also really enjoyed how opposite they were, but how much they really complemented each other.

I also like that the duke wasn't a rake, and he was very grumpy and thoughtful.

I also really enjoyed her new friend group, so I'm excited to read their stories if they get them in the future.

Overall, this was a really cute read, and I really enjoyed reading it.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This book was a joy from start to finish. From the obvious Pretty Woman parallel which I thought I wouldn’t like but I really did, to the very real heat btn the two LIs, to the CELLO scene!! The female friendships were lovely. The description of Lysander as a gargoyle was fantastic. And did I mentioned the cello scene!? This book had a lot of heat and it paid off and I loved everything about it.

Well, this was a giant mess. It wasn’t so bad I stopped reading. I was kind of tired this weekend, and I just kept reading because by the time I decided this was a nightmare I was almost done. I thought this was going to be primarily farcical and tongue in cheek. Sometimes you can insert anachronistic elements into historical fiction in moderation and the story transcends basic tropes. This story was mostly just sloppy and illogical. The content warning in the beginning was also exhausting from the outset. No warning was required. This was entirely escapist and lacking in any real depth. The character’s weren’t unlikeable, but those friends... they were like Victorian woo girls. Every time they turned up I felt like I was being transported to a club and that at any minute one of them was going to demand everyone do shots...