This is the third book in the Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series. Alwyn, Duke of Llewelyn is a lion shifter and Tabitha Barrington is a healer, who learns some shocking information about her little town she just moved to with her brother. Tabitha is tasked with helping Alwyn overcome some issues he is having. I loved the chemistry and the secondary characters. Out of the three books in this series, this is probably my favorite.

I received a copy of this book via Net Galley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

The third book in this inventive Regency shapeshifter series follows Alwyn, the Duke of Llewelyn, a lion shapeshifter who was trapped in his animal form by a golden chain and confined to a traveling menagerie until a thief who tried to steal the gold chain unwittingly released him. However, due to his years in his lion form, he’s half feral, has lost his human connection to his lion, and has to relearn how to use his hands and feet instead of his paws. Prince George, the head of all shapeshifters in Britain, sends him to stay with the Duke of Lowell and his new wife (from book #1). Meanwhile, Tabitha, the heroine, an independent, well practiced apothecary who has been traveling on the Continent for many years returns to England with her brother who has recently been hired as the Lowell Hall tutor. Prince George sees an opportunity, and requests that Tabitha try to help Alwyn re-acclimate to human society. Being inventive and perceptive, she is quickly able to figure out ways to help him and connect with him, plus, it doesn’t hurt that Alwyn starts to realize that she is his fated mate.

I enjoyed this story very much, especially Tabitha who was practical, sensible and eager to learn more about this new world of shapeshifters that she previously knew nothing about. Alwyn was a lovely hero, initially hardly able to function but quickly, with Tabitha’s help, gaining confidence and coming back to his former self. The author has a distinctive, rather flowery way of writing that is not to some readers’ tastes, but once I got used to it in the previous books, I quite liked it and feel that it is appropriate for the story and the setting in Regency England. I did find myself confused occasionally by the number of characters introduced seemingly randomly, and near the end of the book, the plot started to go a bit off the rails, but it was still a fun read and I’m curious to see what the author comes up with next. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

I enjoyed being back in this world but as others have mentioned, I struggled a bit. I felt very impatient waiting for them to finally figure out that they are fated mates.

After being held captive for years, Alwyn Ap Lewin, Duke of Llewelyn, refuses to shift into his lion form. The longer he denies his inner lion, the sicker he gets. He'd rather die free than ever be held captive again.

All the residents of Lowell Close are wary of Alwyn. Except for Tabitha Barrington, an apothecary, tasked by the King to help the duke.

They strike a bargain and begin spending time together. Figuring it the best way to determine what ways she might help him.

Thank you so much to the author, Sourcebooks, and NetGalley for this ARC to review.

A lion shifter is freed after several years contained by a gold chain. Losing himself as a human, His Highness sends him to recover in Sussex with other versipelles. A lady apothecary is tasked with his recovery. Slowly he starts to heal with her attention. Unexpected emotions follow as he becomes aware she is his vera amoris. His task is persuading her to accept her place in his life. Life is good until an evil shifter shows up in Sussex with dangerous intent. Different from anything I've read lately.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

The third book in the Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series. Alwyn Ap Lewin, Duke of Llewelyn a lion shifter and Tabitha Barrington's story is well written with drama, a villain and romance. I enjoyed reading. I received a copy of this book via Net Galley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

A Duke at the Door is the third book in Susanna Allen's Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series. This is the first book I've read by Allen. I wanted to love this Regency set paranormal romance between a lion shifter and an apothecary, but more times than necessary I found myself not only confused but a tad bored.

I never invested in the romance between Alwyn and Tabitha. They needed more time together and more growth. A lot of time spent on secondary characters.

The writing style was a distraction. I'm not a dumb person, but the $3 words were sometimes way too much. Put down the thesaurus! The book blurb sounded so exciting, but the plot was way too slow for my tastes and I put it down more than once.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book. Thoughts and opinions are my own and freely given.

This was a bizarre story. Elwyn deserved more time to recover from his trauma and Tabitha was annoying and too much "not like other girls" for me.

After being captured and held captive in a travelling menagerie, Alwyn Ap Lewin, Duke of Llewelyn, refuses to shift into his lion form. The longer he denies his inner lion, the sicker he gets, but he'd rather die free than be captive ever again. The denizens of Lowell Close live in fear and suspicion of Alwyn―except for lady apothecary Tabitha Barrington. Tabitha, alone, can help the shapeshifting duke, and with her by his side, the Wild Lion of Wales discovers he has something to live for, and to fight for, after all.
This is the third book in the series & I’ve not read the other books & felt like I was wading through mud & was downright confused, so I’d definitely recommend reading the series in order. The characters had depth & were likeable. I’m on the fence about it & need to read the earlier books & then a re read of this one to be able to give it the justice it needs
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I was intrigued by this paranormal historical romance book. I have not read another book that combines paranormal romance and historical romance. I'm a huge fan of both the genres but had never read them together before.

I felt like this book did not hit the mark. The plot was confusing and it was hard to keep reading when I lost interest often.

I love the idea of mixing the paranormal romance and historical romance genres and might try another book like it in the future.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was the third in the series, and though this is a little different setting for shifter romance, it was definitely entertaining. The world building has been well done in this series, and the characters are well fleshed out. I liked that that this was about more than just the insta- romance in this- there’s healing, and learning about each other’s past and the side characters, who I hope get their own story later.

I enjoyed the main characters and their growth during the story. Many of the side characters added spice and interest to the story. I found the premise very intriguing and the story itself interesting. The mystery subplot add interest to the story, but I wish that it had been more developed than it was/more integral to the story.

I’ve read shapeshifter stories before, but this was the first time I’ve read it within a Historical Romance. While I found the story interesting, I wasn’t as engaged in it as I would have like to be. There were a few subplots that felt incomplete to me – I wanted more than what we were given. The romance was good, but I wanted more from it. This was the first book in the series that I read, and this may have played a role in my enjoyment.

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

I can't believe there has been a shapeshifter historical romance around for 3 books now and I'm only just discovering it! I'm sure the two previous books are great and I definitely plan on checking them out, but I have to say that I'm kind of glad I'm jumping in with this one because I LOVED Tabitha's personality and how she just took everything in stride.
Tabitha's surrounded by people that turn into everything from bees to lions and all she's concerned about is feeling trapped by being back in England after a long time and finding the plants she needs for her remedies. That she's tasked by the highest power in the land to heal a broken shifter whose ailments are not physical annoys her enough that she focuses on it just to get over the annoyance. That the shifter is a very handsome Duke with a sweet personality and a very broken heart in need of mending is just icing on the cake.
There are some very serious topics touched on as part of the plot, particularly the trafficking of shifters by evil people, but it's primarily a sweet and joyful story full of lovable characters and memorable situations.
My one negative is that the very thing I loved about it, the complex worldbuilding and lore, made jumping into this series on book 3 quite complicated and confusing. So many names and concepts and Latin words to keep track of made this one a harder read than I was expecting.

Extremely happy thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the wonderfully entertaining read!

This is such a great premise, that I feel falls shy of great execution. The story started out slowly. I spend the first 35% of the book going, holy moly all of these characters, all of this conversation that feels redundant. And then all of a sudden I was at 75% and really had no idea how it happened. You definitely need to read the other books in the series, even though the plot stands on it's own. I've read the first book and was excited for two of my favorite genres, paranormal and regency romance, to be combined. But it just falls a little flat. Enjoyable, but I probably won't read the others in the series.

You enjoy this book more if you have read the previous ones, The story is captivating on its own, the characters are good too. I recommend this book when you like your love stories with a little bit of other things.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book, and there were a lot of fun elements to the plot. Unfortunately, the writing was a weakness for this book. The author gives no context for the world building or characters at the beginning of the story, so I would not recommend reading it as a standalone, even though the plot is self-contained.

Alwyn Ap Lewin, Duke of Llewelyn, has recently escaped his captivity of several years. During that time, he was forced to remain in his lion form. Now that he is free, he cannot shift to his lion, and he is having trouble coping with life, all of it. He is sent by the Bear-shifting Prince Regent to stay at the estate of the Duke of Lowell, where he will be under the care of Tabitha Barrington, a talented and eager apothecary. She also has a special gift of recognizing shifters. Much to his surprise, he becomes comfortable with Tabitha. He may even have found his fated mate. She is not so sure. It could happen. This is a fast-paced story with a store of drama, some humor, and a wonderful romance. The villain, the one responsible for Alwyn and others being in captivity shows up. A surprise, this one.
The characters in this story are quite entertaining. Timothy, Tabitha’s brother, is intelligent and a little reckless, Lowell and Felicity and all the wonderful shifters in their household are here. Great story! I look forward to more stories in the series.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, and am voluntarily reviewing it.

This series is definitely and intriguing one for me. I love the intermixing of paranormal and historical and I think Susanna Allen does a lovely job in crafting her historical world full of paranormal mystery. This is the third installment in the Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series. I found the first installment to be truly delightful with a light hearted touch and feel to it. I have yet to pick up the second novel in the series, but the tone of this third novel definitely has a slightly less comedic feel and feels like it has a level of gravity and angst that the first novel steered away from. While I did enjoy this novel and the exploration of Allen's world, I did miss the light hearted ness of the first which has a really lovely comedic levity that gave the overall tone a really lovely feel.

This novel explores the romance between Alwyn, a lion shifter duke, was held captive in a traveling menagerie for years and refuses to shift into his lion form, which is causing him to get sicker and sicker. So Tabitha, an apothecary, is brought in to help him shift again. Through their interactions, Alwyn learns that he might have something to live for again.

The plotting and concept for this novel was very interesting to me. I enjoyed Tabitha as a heroine, she is intelligent and hard working and she determined to help Alwyn. Alwyn is stoic and guarded because of the torment he faced, and watching him learn to trust someone again is really delightful and heartening. Tabitha and Alwyn because the perfect balance for each other and their trust of each other is beautiful to watch grow. Overall this is a very plot driven novel, the plot and the romance almost become parallel in their importance to the story. I think this was an interesting tactic but it does draw away from the central romance which makes me a little sad to miss out on the opportunity to see Alwyn and Tabitha grow in their feelings.

Ultimately, this is a unique story, a unique series that is well written and definitely worth exploring. I love the intermixing of paranormal and historical. I think Susanna Allen's writing is interesting, well paced and definitely something I will be continuing to explore!

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥 (2 full, a short one I considered a partial and some kisses)
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
I’m going to say yes, only because I picked this one up alone and was a touch confused. I’m hoping some of the world was set up and explained in earlier books.

Basic plot:
Alwyn has been rescued from his captivity in a menagerie and now refuses to shift. Concerned for his life, Tabitha, a lady apothecary, is asked to help heal him.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency time period (1817)
- Country setting
- paranormal shifter fun – various species are featured
- lion shifter/Duke/Welsh hero and apothecary focused heroine (human)
- Low to mid steam – 2 scenes I counted, a partial and some kisses
- heroine nurses hero back to health

Ages:
- Heroine is 35, didn’t see mention of the hero’s age

My thoughts:
I’ll admit I struggled a bit with this one! I do think it might have been my own fault though starting in the middle of the series. There was a lot of world building and some language that it kind of threw me for a loop throughout the book. Perhaps if I would have started at the beginning I would have a better grasp of everything.

I found Allen’s writing unique. I did like it. But I did have a hard time following it at some points (which as mentioned above, maybe it won’t be like that if I pick up book 1).

I love what she’s doing with this series. I see desire for paranormal historical frequently so I love being able to add a new name to my recommendations. Love the idea of shifters in Regency time.

I did like the main characters Alwyn and Tabitha. I think I just wanted to know them better. There were a lot of side characters I think took away from them a bit and it did take awhile for them to come together in the beginning of the book (I know, I just want them together alllll the time haha). I think going in I was hoping for more of a heroine nurses hero vibe in this book. Yes she’s there to help him and heal him but I didn’t feel like there was a lot of that going on really.

Overall, I am intrigued and will probably try book 1 of this series at some point!

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was clever, fun, steamy and held my interest. I wanted to find out what was going to happen. This book can be read as a standalone story, though it is book 3 in the Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books in this series as well as others by this author.

Unfortunately, this book was not what I was expecting when I discovered it was being marketed as a "historical shifter romance". I love the HR and PNR genres separately, but I did not love this mashup. It seemed tedious and not quite as action-packed as I would have liked.