I really enjoyed the banter between Beatrice and William. I also enjoyed the scenes involving his brothers they added a light-heartedness when William is feeling glum.

Lady Beatrice is looking forward to confronting William, the Duke of Blackheath. She has sent him letter after letter expressing her concerns for the rights of women. But she is warned by her uncle and cousin to be on her best behavior.

Even though William has agreed silently with Lady Beatrice's concerns about women's rights, he's never reached out. When they finally meet is shocked that the fiery lady is also a stunning beauty.

William has sworn off love and Beatrice never plans to marry.
The sudden loss of her fortune means she must now seek marriage. It pains her to know that she doesn't have the skills to support herself. So imagine her surprise when the Duke offers to marry her.

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

After being abandoned by his mother as a boy, the Duke of Blackheath is determined never to fall in love. Lady Beatrice, meanwhile, has determined she'll never marry for any reason *but* love. When her fortune is lost, Blackheath offers to marry her. Can these rivals come to an understanding?

I loved the banter and the light-hearted tone of this book. The writing is brilliant. The pacing felt a little slow leading up to the loss of her fortune. After that, the plot picked up, and the novel was a joy to read.

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

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was fun, clever, steamy and fast-paced. It held my interest and I wanted to find out what would happen. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.

Life is for the bold.

Lady Beatrice is a fierce bluestocking fighting for the rights of women.
Will, a duke (and soon to be cousin-in-law) finds her magnificent. But due to his parents unhappy marriage id dteremined not to feel or fall in love. Will had already admired her passionate letter writing. In person, its chemistry and wit.

So, when Beatrice is without fortune, Will proposes they wed.
I enjoyed their banter and how much Will is determined to fight his attarction to Beatrice. It was fun to see him wake up to passion and feelings.
Recommend.

Eva Devon's newest release is simply a fanciful delight. Beatrice has set her mind to never marry, committing to a life labeled a Bluestocking. Her only mission - improve the lives for women for generations to come. She is a staunch supporter of charities and enjoys voicing her opinion on women's rights outside of parliament.

Her nemesis, so she assumes, is The Duke of Blackheath when in actuality he wants to join her in her work to give women rights in England. He has shunned love after harboring deep abandonment issues after his mother's departure in his youth. His main mission has always been the care of his younger brothers and securing their matches rather than his own.

They are soon besotted with each other. This insta-love story pairs intellectual rivals from friends to lovers in a marriage of convenience for a perfect regency romance. I look forward to the next installment in the series Never a Wallflower.

Thank you Entangled Publishing for the complimentary copy of this novel in paperback.

Lady Beatrice is a bluestocking who is dedicated to pamphlet writing and public speaking to further her cause while despising Dukes and all they represent. She has no desire to marry believing the love her parents had an impossibility for her. Will, the Duke of Blackheath, has no desire for love or passion, but has secretly admired Beatrice for a while.

When Beatrice finds her financially independent spibsterhood dreams ruined, Will offers her marriage in name only. Because they definitely won't fall in love.

Shakespeare quotes and themes thrown around, marital duties happen, the Duke grovels and they get their happily ever after.

The premise of an om the nose bluestocking and the Duke who helps her hand out pamphlets is a hard sell for me. Its very, very difficult for this premise to dwell in subtleties and nuance without being over the top. And that's exactly what happened here.

This is a pleasant book, but not outstanding, and lacking grit and tooth for a feminist historical that will work for me.

3 1/2 stars rounded to 4. Based on the blurb, I was expecting the H of this book, Will, to be arrogant and on the alpha-jerky side. Instead, he was a pleasant surprise. Kind, understanding, moral, fair, protective of his family. Afraid to show emotion and feel too much, yes, based on his mother leaving him and his brothers when they were young. As the oldest, he's always felt that he needs to be the strong one. As a duke, he promotes bills in Parliament that help those in society who are less fortunate and gives to charities. (Plus, as a bonus, he's gorgeous.)

The person who is actually the more arrogant of the two is Beatrice, the h. Tbh, I had a hard time warming up to her. Her comments are supposed to be clever, but come across as goading, smug, and naive. Most of her early interactions with Will consist of her needling and trying to push him into saying negative things about women. He's consistently classy in his responses. She sees him as entitled and lazy simply because he's not the loud, aggressive person she is. Finally, later in the book, she seems to accept that maybe his intelligent, well-researched speeches in Parliament might be effective and that he might be a good guy. But she never conveys her feelings of respect to him. For her part, she yells slogans at members of the government during sessions and attends her women's meetings. But she never gets her hands dirty by volunteering at shelters or soup kitchens, for example. So why the derision toward Will?

In the last 30% of the book, I started to like Beatrice more. But when she and Will have a falling out, she tells him she can't bear to be near him, she wants some time apart from him, and she storms out of the room. How is this demonstrating love or even friendship? This is absolutely the worst way to handle someone who has a fear of abandonment when they're upset. Of course, Will is expected to do all of the groveling on the way to their HEA.

I'm giving this 4 stars based on my liking of Will and his brothers, and the Shakespeare references. The writing is strong overall, and there are some good points made about what love truly is and that we can't control others, only try to help them find a sense of agency if we care about them. But female characters who show their strength by being snarky, judgmental, and difficult aren't my cup of tea.

Steam level: 3. The love scenes are spicy but still tastefully written.

I read and advanced reader copy of this book and this is my voluntary review. Opinions are my own. Thanks to the author, Entangled Publishing, and NetGalley for this opportunity. Reviews left on Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub.

I absolutely loved this one. This series is loosely based on different well known stories. Book 1, The Spinster and the Rake, was a mash up of Pride & Prejudice and My Fair Lady, and this book is a loose interpretation of Much Ado About Nothing. Book 3 seems to be a vague reimagining of Cinderella and I’m excited to read it!

Back to Much Ado About Dukes! Our Beatrice is a womens rights activist who is trying to rouse up support from her parliamentary representative, Duke of Blackheath. She’s sent him countless letters berating him and positioning her points, with many a pamphlet for support. She imagines he is ignoring all her attempts and avoiding her. Unbeknownst to her, the Duke reads every letter and pamphlet she sends and admires her more than anyone needs to know. Beatrice thinks he’s just like every other man in power, and he wants to avoid a confrontation with her that he may well enjoy more than he should. Unfortunately for both of them, they are thrown into each other’s path by the impending nuptials of her cousin and his brother.

I really loved their banter back and forth. It was fun and zingy, but it was nice to see them both have to confront their ideas of the world. Watching their relationship develop and change throughout the story was such a delight. It was also really nice to see their individual interactions with their more non-conventional families. Beatrice is in the care of her uncle and has grown up beside her cousin Maggie. I liked watching their sisterly relationship play out and how much they both cared for their uncle/father. It is a sweet little family unit. William, the Duke, had to grow up rather early and take care of his younger brothers, which contributes greatly to his more stoic and rational personality. But I adore his relationship with his brothers. They are all quite different. William is responsible and rational, Kit (who is Maggie’s love interest) is emotional and open, and Ben (WHO IS MY FAVORITE AND I DESPERATELY NEED HIS STORY) is light hearted and funny with a theatrical bent. I love how they interact with and understand each other.

If you like: Kinda enemies (to one person) to respect to friendship to lovers; marriage of convenience; outspoken female characters; Grand gestures, this book is for you!

P.S. Again I say, Ben is the best and I love him and need his story. We need more heroes that are funny, lighthearted, and charismatic!

3.5 stars
Lady Beatrice and William Easton both have their own reasons for not wanting to fall in love or ever get married. I loved the back and forth between them when they were in each other's company. Will was a thoughtful person and took the time to think about Beatrice's arguments. The side characters added to the story. However, Will's reaction in trusting Beatrice and suspecting her of derailing the engagement between Margaret and Kit was disappointing. Overall, an enjoyable story.

I did like the character of Lady Beatrice, she was a lady before her time. She was an active supporter of women’s rights or rather improving them. Beatrice didn’t give up and was a very determined and honest person. William, the Duke of Blackheath was also unusual for a man at this time, he too, believed in similar objectives to Beatrice. Although, his views on a number of things were affected by his childhood experience. I loved the way the duke and his two brothers looked out for each other and the usual sibling banter! I also enjoyed the emotional ending, William had a lot to come to terms with before he was honest with himself. This was a little slow at first but I did enjoy this book. I was given a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved the concept of a regency romance based on ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. There is a lot of witty banter and great dialogue throughout the book, which I really enjoyed, but I really struggled to like or relate to Beatrice, the female protagonist. I found all the ‘in your face’ feminism rather irritating and it detracted from the story for me. William, the male main character seemed a nice enough chap, but I just felt sorry for him being constantly berated and judged by Beatrice. If it weren’t for this, I would have given this book a five star rating.

This banter filled romp is a delightfully inspired retelling of Much Ado About Nothing. Eva Devon draws inspiration from the original source work without telling a beat by beat retelling, which was a really wonderful choice. I liked the subtle nods that Devon uses to draw from the play while creating her own unique story. This novel is charming, quippy, well paced and an all around enjoyment. This is a sweet and endearing second installment in the Never a Wallflower series and I am excited to see where the next book goes.

Beatrice and William, are both determined never to marry, but when their relations become engaged to the other, these two find themselves orbiting the same societal circles. These two definitely know how to challenge the other and their quick banter and lively conversations draw them together in friendly competition. When Beatrice find that she is destitute and her fortune gone, Will convinces her to enter into a marriage of convenience because they are both friends, and they have their own ambitions which will keep them from falling in love.

Eva Devon does a wonderful job emulating the original relationship between Beatrice and Benedict through William and Beatrice. Their conversation sparks with life. These two challenge each other perfectly. And they also learn to see situations through the other's mindset. Beatrice and Will's interactions build the perfect intensity in their chemistry as they turn from "enemies" to friends to lovers. I love that we slowly see these two come to respect and understand the other on a deeper level. I love that Beatrice, who was so against love and marriage, see that she can build a loving and thriving relationship with the right person. I love that William is often able to take a breath and not jump to swift conclusions, I love that he lets Beatrice have her own space, her own desires and her own goals. And, I absolutely love that Will also sees the value in what Beatrice is fighting for and he leans a calm and quiet hand in support of her, while not overstepping his bounds. The chemistry between these two sizzles and they have such a great physical relationship that steams up the pages. I love that through their physical relationship we can see that these two trust each other and a deep level and also that their physical relationship is a new fun and exciting way for them to interact with each other.

If you are a fan on Shakespeare, you will definitely find this to be a lovely and inspired retelling of a favorite well know play. If you love Eva Devon, this book is surely not to be missed. And if you have yet to explore Devon's works definitely pick up with book and this series!

This is the second book in the Never a Wallflower Series and features a self-made wallflower whom dreams of being an activist and the Duke she is trying to influence.

After sending pamphlet upon pamphlet to the Duke of Blackheath, heiress and activist Lady Beatrice finally gets her chance to meet the aggravating man at a party where her cousin is set to meet up with his cousin.

But instead of the mutual loathing and animosity each expects from each other , when they finally meet, Beatrice finds a new ally and supporter for her causes and the Duke finds himself enthralled by her passion!

But neither one wishes to marry… so they will be friends and allies… that is until the truth of one of their circumstances changes, prompting a marriage of connivence between these friends!

This was a fun read and I loved seeing and the Duke both come full circle on their views of marriage and love. A perfect paring from the start in my opinion!

The only thing that nagged on me as I read this book, was that I could not easily see the connection between this book and the characters in the first of the series. Perhaps I missed something or it is simply just about different wallflowers finding their matches, but I was looking intentionally while reading for the connection.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Entangled Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#MuchAdoAboutDukes #EvaDevon #NetGalley #pinkcowlandreads

William Easton, the Duke of Blackheath has spent his adult life avoiding emotional entanglements or the slightest mention of love. He has his work to occupy his time and his mind along with a secure fortune. What he didn’t account for was his reaction to headstrong, outspoken women's rights activist Beatrice Haven, or his reaction to her.

Lady Beatrice has always sworn she’d never marry but instead spend her life and her inheritance fighting for women’s rights. She’s happy to provoke the duke even if he does claim to agree with her own beliefs, as she firmly believes all dukes are inherently her enemy. She can’t account for the pleasure she derives from her verbal sparring sessions with the duke.

When Beatrice suddenly learns her fortune is gone and she could soon lose any semblance of security, she reluctantly agrees to a marriage of convenience with the man who makes her blood boil. He’s not prepared to tap into his emotions, but he knows they can at least enjoy one another in the bedroom if they can put their animosity aside.

Phew. This book. It had some good qualities, and the writing was solid, but the characters and dialogue, mainly the heroine, just did not work for me. I’m all for women’s rights, of course, don’t get me wrong there, but I do read romance to try to escape from the problems and injustices of the world at least to some extent, so having the feminism thrown in my face constantly and belligerently by this heroine got old fast. I also feel like I’ve read this book before with the bluestocking, loudly feminist, manhating heroine and it’s honestly getting old for me as well. This review may devolve into a bit of a venting session, but oh well; it happens sometimes.

This particular heroine specialized in monologues and diatribes that grew very repetitive very quickly and she literally never said anything new. She believes her way is the only way and is very judgmental and set in her ways from the get-go. She starts out very clearly stating her view that all dukes are her enemy and must be against her cause, not men with titles or rights to sit in Parliament, just dukes, even though she doesn’t actually know any dukes. She came off as arrogant, judgmental, and very narrow-minded, which I found ironic given her goals. She put me off from the beginning of the story when she was belaboring all the reasons, she hates the duke (brother to her cousin’s fiancé) and making her cousin’s courtship all about her, then we find out she has never actually even met the duke. She’s just decided to hate him because he has that particular title. What rubbish. She basically hates all men, even those who support her cause, because they have rights where she doesn’t and I’m not a fan of this blanket generalization. She built the duke up in her imagination and then was somehow surprised that he was different from her stereotype, and she amazingly seems upset that he doesn’t fall in line with her presumptions.

For his part, William suffers from depressive tendencies, and I found this to be very relatable and it was admirable that he admitted this weakness fairly readily, at least to himself. Beatrice didn’t seem too concerned about William or his feelings and actually did her best to alienate him for a while, despite the fact that he was the one man who agreed with her and might be able to help her cause. Even as he was telling her he agreed with her, she was still coming after him. Because he was a man, she refused to listen to anything he had to say. This wasn’t helped by the fact that William feels connected to Beatrice (though for the life of me I can’t see why), and this makes him terrified because she makes him feel. These two may have agreed on a great many things, but Beatrice wouldn’t concede that they had anything in common or give him any credit, so I was just puzzled about the connection that was supposedly growing between them. Beatrice spends a great deal of time bemoaning William’s arrogance, but I found her to be much more arrogant than he was, perhaps made even worse by the fact that she thinks she knows everything but it’s very clear that she’s incredibly naïve and has a lot to learn.

Beatrice saw her parents’ love match and somehow determined from this that no man could ever possibly catch her eye and that love is a myth. This makes no sense to me that she’d be so jaded and not believe in love after seeing it so firsthand. I’m not a fan of this trope and William’s background wasn’t much better. His mother left him and his two younger brothers when they were all children and never saw them again, so he has abandonment issues and is determined never to love again so as to never be hurt. I’m not a fan of that trope either so this might’ve just been a lose-lose for me. Even after their marriage, I struggled and it’s probably only the narration that kept me going here because I never felt any romance between these two. Somehow, they develop feelings for one another, and William’s infatuation with her did come across on the page, but true love between these two just didn’t really show well, especially on her part and we never saw any change in her. In fact, she was angry when William was giving her space after their marriage, though she’d done nothing but made it seem as if her freedom and a separate life is exactly what she wants. It was honestly a bit sickening the way he bows and rolls over and does anything she says to do. He gives her a lot of support, but it never feels mutual because she castigates him so much without ever really praising him. When their big disagreement comes about, and he cares more about his brother than women’s rights she decides she’s done with him, and she can’t see why he’d think that way.

This heroine was just incredibly arrogant in her own ignorance and the hero didn’t hold up well against her. I wanted to see a partnership and some actual romance, and I never felt like we really got that here. Nonetheless, that’s merely my take on things and I think there are tons of readers who will, and clearly already do, love this incredibly headstrong, feminist heroine, it just didn’t quite do it for me.

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

Unusually I'm in two minds about this book which doesn't tend to happen. I have liked other books by this author and expected to like this. The good parts are the witty banter and fun between the brother's and our hero and heroine. However it wasn't well passed with some bit's dragging too much and I just wasn't sure about. Also I found Beatrice a bit annoying and the whole thing had a bit of a modern feel with them dressed in regency dress to make it historical, Had to call on a rating so I settle on 2.5/3. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'm going to be totally transparent here: I've been really trying to get into this book for over a month now (I'm just over a quarter of the way in) and for whatever reason, I'm just not feeling it. This could be because maybe I'm just not totally in the mood for a historical romance book lately, but more likely it's because the two main protagonists are really annoying me. Every time I go to jump back in, I read a few pages and I'm reminded why I stopped in the first place, and usually that reminder comes from Beatrice. While I'm all for strong female protagonists (and Much Ado About Nothing is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays), so far Beatrice has just been super pushy and almost hostile to the point where I would like to smack her upside the head and tell her to be nice for a change. And then there is Will. Apparently Will is smitten with Beatrice from the start but A) doesn't know what to do about it, and B) even if he did want to make a move, it seems like he's too busy to bother. So I get very frustrated and end up picking up a different book to avoid finishing this one, and at this point it's unlikely that I'm going to finish it.

I will say there is lots of good humor and witty dialog between the characters, and I love that Margaret is more involved in this scenario, but this book just didn't do it for me. Maybe if I was more in the mood for this type of romance I would stick it out, but unfortunately for me, this just didn't hold my attention enough to make me want to try.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

William Easton, the Duke of Blackheath isn’t interested in love afterall why would a man need passion when he has wealth, a stately home, and work to occupy his mind? But no one warned him that a fiery and frustratingly strong-willed activist like Lady Beatrice Haven could find a way to get under his skin...and that he might enjoy it. Lady Beatrice is determined to never marry. Ever. She would much rather fight for the rights of women and provoke the darkly handsome Duke of Blackheath. So why does she feel such enjoyment from their heated exchanges?
This is the second book in the series & it could easily be read on its own. I thoroughly enjoyed it & really liked both William & Beatrice & loved their verbal banter, which was the highlight for me. I loved how their relationship developed & changed but I didn’t feel any passion between them & felt it could easily have been so much more
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

A fun historical with a feminist twist! So happy to start seeing feminist heroines portrayed in historical romance novels alongside historical men of the world that are all for progress and inclusion. Loved this one - also, I loved the reverse grump/sunshine trope!

Listen, I hate to say it but this book does not work for me. I've tried to get into it but I just can't. Beatrice is a feminist, but in an awkward, hostile way. She is determined to push her agenda even to the point of ruining her family's lives. William is hopelessly smitten with her from the beginning but of course he doesn't have time for love. Why, I ask? What is the attraction here? What is the conflict? They are both in love with Beatrice. I want to be into these modern-spins on historical romance, but I just found this cheesy and annoying. I think this would be a good book for someone looking for more humor in their historical romance.

I really enjoyed this book! Lady Beatrice has stated that she never wants to marry, instead she wants to focus her efforts on supporting the rights of women. However, when she is found to be penniless, reality sets in. She knows how cruel and difficult the world can be for a woman without resources.

William, the Duke of Blackheath, is a lot like Lady Beatrice. He's busy in government and sees no reason to marry. . However, he can't keep his mind off of the beautiful, smart and passionate Beatrice. He reads her letters and admires her efforts, and most especially their fiery debates. But, when Beatrice finds herself in a predicament, he can't help but offer an arrangement that will benefit both of them.

But, are these two able to keep their arrangement professional? Or will their fiery personalities and the attraction they feel for one another win over?

If you enjoy enemies-to-lover, definitely check out this story!