I wasn't prepared of this spice lol I really enjoyed it. I loved the chemistry and the characters. I couldn't get enough.

I love this series of steamy, historical romances with self-advocating heroines. I don't always like when modern norms are inserted into historical fiction, but I do like the way Amy Rose Bennett has made it believable.

Excellent audio narration.

Was it a good regency romance, yes. Was it memorable, not really. I did like the narrator but the storyline fell a bit flat for me.

It’s a good audiobook but I know if I would have just read a physical copy I would have probably DNF’ed it.

Thank you for the gifted copy for my honest review.

This book I really like at all every time I tried to read it I fall asleep sorry to say that but it's true others May enjoy this

I did not complete this book. It did not hold my attention. The story was boring and I did not feel any particular interest in the characters.

THE HERO
Dominic Winters, the Duke of Dartmoor, lost his first wife tragically and mysteriously. Since she died, he has thrown himself into his work and raising his daughter. But Celeste is older now and rebelling against her loneliness and confinement. He has his hands full, but suddenly Artemis stumbles into his life and she brings an energy he hasn’t felt in a long time and he can’t stop thinking about her.

THE HEROINE
Artemis Jones is an independent woman who never plans to get married and has hopes to open a college for women. She is also a secret author of Gothic romance novels! She lost her heart (and her virtue) when she was making her debut and has decided to never get married.

THE PLOT
Artemis comes up with this crazy idea to fake a compromising situation where her aunt discovers them and disowns Artemis and she can finally be left alone in peace. But Dominic has other plans and a fake engagement is born and slowly he chips away at Artemis’s resolve to remain single.
Artemis and Dominic are just to cute together! They have the best flirty banter and are honest with each other (which is a refreshing change), no hidden feelings. This was a pretty dynamic story with many interweaving plot lines…the budding romance between Dominic and Artemis, Artemis’s sisters debut, Dominic’s daughters rebellion, the snooty governess, the evil brother-in-law…as I list them out, I feel like I should be overwhelmed, but it really wasn’t and hopefully it is just great setup for future books in the series!

TROPES
Historical Romance, Victorian Era, Beta Hero, Single Dad Hero, Titled Hero, Widowed Hero, Bluestocking Heroine, Bookworm Heroine, Compromised Heroine, Experienced Heroine, Independent Heroine, Spinster Heroine, Working Heroine, Fake Relationship, Hidden Identity, Author Heroine, Orphan Heroine

This was my first regency romance and I think I’m addicted now. Artemis dad such a strong, amazing character and the Duke was a perfect match for her. Their chemistry was off the charts, but I loved watching two lost souls fall in love. Such a perfect, cozy romance with spice!

Steamy, but just the right amount! Romantic, but just the right amount! Tension, yep, just the right amount! If you like historical romance, this will be your jam. Love the secondary female characters. Does the job it sets out to do! Thumbs up.

I just do not enjoy these historicals that wink at the camera. Having such a confident, modern heroine pulls me out of the world. I found the snarkiness, the worldliness of this character which seemed to come from nowhere, really confusing. Also I thought this book could use a lot of editing; it’s much longer than other romance novels. Having it be on the humorous side and really long just makes it very unattractive.

I very much enjoyed this book! I love a story of a strong woman who knows what she wants, society be damned!

This is an enjoyable historical romance book. It's the first book in its series and I do plan to read the next. I love when they write a strong female character. It's not typical of the time period, although it probably happened more than we will ever know. It's those women who paved the way for the rest. The steam factor was great and the romance was fabulous!

This was a fun read! This was the story of Dominic, the Duke of Dartmoor and Artemis, a finishing school teacher who secretly writes romance novels.

Dominic and Artemis don’t get along at first, but quickly learn that they can help each other. Dominic needs help with his teenage daughter and Artemis needs a patron to help her start her college for women.

Sparks fly between them as they spend time together helping each other with their goals. They were sweet and sexy and funny.

I will say I listened to this on audio and the narrator wasn’t my favorite narrator ever, but the audio wasn’t bad.

I also enjoyed the references to famous literature, like Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, and Lord Byron. I always love a bookish heroine! 🥰

A fun and quick read.

This was a good but not great historical romance. The elements were all there but it never really sparkled. I note below some things that I think didn’t work, but this may be a book that hits differently with different readers. It might be more enjoyable for someone who has not read a lot of historical romance. It did not feel new or fresh compared to other things I’ve read in the genre. I am giving this 3 stars because the writing is at a quality level that 2 stars seem too low. I also think the narration brings it from 2 to 3 stars.

First a note on the audiobook format. I did think the narrator, Sasha Higgins, was fantastic. I enjoyed this book more listening than I would’ve if I had read it due to her excellent work. I thought she handled the different voices nicely, including the male voices, especially Dominic. Her voice has a nice cadence and tone and is very easy to listen to. I will definitely look for books narrated by her again given my experience with this book.

Back to the story… Artemis is a teacher and blue-stocking who secretly writes gothic romance and has no interest in marriage or having children. Dominic is a widowed duke with no male heir, suspected of killing his first wife and struggling to manage his rebellious 15yro daughter. The relationship between Artemis and Dominic starts as a mutual arrangement, he is looking for help with his daughter and she wants a suitor so that her aunt will leave her be and allow her younger sister to pursue her season. She is also hoping to get help and funding for a school she wants to open for women. Of course they catch feelings along the way, and the path to HEA is really more about Artemis‘ hangups than Dominic‘s.

While the set-up appears on paper to be in the vein of a lot of recent “feminist“ historical romances, I felt the story didn’t live up to that. Dominic does shift some of his thinking to meet Artemis’ views as he gets to know her, but by the end she does change course on some of her earlier bedrock principles. I also found that they were both a bit hypocritical in how they handled his daughter and her emerging “love” life. While she’s very young, she is old enough to have some agency over her own feelings and relationships, and I thought Artemis treated her exactly contrary to how Artemis herself wants to be treated vis-a-vis relationships with men. There’s also a lot of muddled messages about what it means to be ruined despite the fact that Artemis appears not to care about those societal mores.

I also thought this book couldn’t decide what it wanted to be and had too many subplots. At times rompy (Artemis‘ colorful language and exploits in writing secret scandalous novels), then some Austen-type subplots (selfish younger her sister who won’t heed the warnings about the cad she is pursuing), then veering into gothic territory (spooky moors, hints of ghosts), then traditional romance (everyone is in peril thanks to the caricatured villain). Artemis’ reading interests and the literary references are similarly all over the place - Austen, Brontë, Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. I suppose this matches what bookish types of the time would’ve read, but it felt like a lot of forced literary references in order to give us the bluestocking vibe, but not in a way that created a consistent theme.

All of this adds up to a somewhat confusing mess with a lot of plot threads that might’ve been riveting with a bit of editing but instead left me somewhat bored. It was hard to find something to care about to pull me through the book because there were so many different things going on. I also found that the dialogues and inner monologues were tediously detailed and didn’t feel natural. Characters thought and said a lot more than was necessary to propel the story. And the romance, despite being pretty steamy, feels rather mechanical.

Overall, I found the author to be a good writer but the pieces added up to a story that nonetheless left me feeling rather flat.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

Beware: this book is not workplace appropriate! I found this audiobook available on netgalley so I thought I’d request it. If you know me, you know that I love historical fiction especially the regency era. I think this book is very much inspired by Bridgerton. This one talks about a certain blue stocking lady who didn’t have any plans of marrying and having children until she had to accompany a friend to the season and meets the dastardly duke who has a very infamous reputation. No this is not an enemies to lovers trope, more like fake dating. I loved how it was written and narrated. And I repeat, this is not workplace appropriate. 🥵

I'm on a historical romance kick and this book offered me a fun new take that I haven't had the chance of reading a lot, strong independent woman who have no desire to marry! Nothing against past historical romances I've read but I thought it was kinda cool to have this little group of spinsters who don't really care what society thinks of them. I think the reason Artemis speaks to my heart is because she reminds of me of Jo March, my all time favorite character in fiction.

I'm excited to see how the rest of the series progresses!

I had such fun listening to this audiobook. I loved Artemis and Dominic. Artemis’s expressions and insults were hilarious. I mean, she nicknamed Dominic’s dick “Dartmoor’s titanic truncheon” and I will never be the same after hearing that.

Artemis is a proud bluestocking who doesn’t want to get married, and instead wants to open a college for women. She has very progressive views on women and sex. She’s also secretly an author who writes spicy gothic books under a pen name. Dominic is a Duke with an underserved bad reputation who is a single dad of a 15-year-old, and looking for a wife. Dominic is so sweet and considerate.

Artemis meets Dominic and fall head over lust over him. Our girl Artemis is THIRSTY for this man from the first moment she lays eyes on him. She’s no shy virgin, so they quickly let each other know they are ready to GET DOWN.

In between all of this, they agree to an engagement of convenience since Artemis needs money for her college and Dominic needs help with his daughter. Sexy times ensue, although I do wish we had gotten more sexy times. Considering how horny these two were from the beginning, I was expecting the spicy level to be scorching.

All in all, I had a lot of fun with this book and I’m looking forward to reading the next books in the series.

CW: brief mentions of death of child, death of spouse, and mental illness.

Be forewarned there is steamy in this story, but the story plot is really good. Artemis Jones has her reasons to leave her position at the finishing school she teaches at. Help a friend, answer to her aunt’s request to have a season with Artemis sister while avoiding her overbearing aunt and find a way to fund her dream of opening up a ladies university. She happens upon the Dastardly Duke and doesn’t quite see what is so evil about Dominic Winters. Matter of fact she would like to know him better, but marriage isn’t on her mind. She has to many plans to complete and that is not on her agenda.
Dominic is living in the mysterious shadow of his wife’s death. Many believe he is guilty of murder, even though he is founded innocent. Meeting Artemis has awaken feelings in him and together they come up with a plan to help Dominic with his daughter, a typical teenager, with the promise of funding for Artemis school. This they do by pretending to be engaged, but is there more to it?
Several subplots and steamy scenes. The narrator was fantastic! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley #UpallNightwithaGoodDuke

I was super bored for this I had to force myself through it contemplating DNF in it like a dozen times I was super bored for this I had to force myself through it contemplating DNF in it like a dozen times

Artemis Jones has the perfect plan to foil her aunt's plans to find her a husband. She'll stage a ruining and once her aunt is thoroughly done with her, Artemis will be free to enjoy spinsterhood and find a patroness for the women's college she plans to open, but things go awry when the Duke of Dartmore proposes and Artemis is drawn into a larger and larger lies to everyone around her. I thought all the characters in this novel were wonderful, and I did not want to put it down.

I liked this book. The characters were interesting and I felt the chemistry between Artemis and Dominic. However, the book felt entirely to long and by the end I was just waiting for it to end.