I really wanted to love this one. Just look at that cover! It’s gorgeous. But a few things just missed the mark for me. There is ALOT for Wyatt and Fredericka to work through and overcome and unfortunately it ended up being pretty tangled with several plot lines sort of thrown in and then dropped (Fredericka’s abusive brother in law for example). And while I liked certain aspects of the MCs relationship, Wyatt felt very immature and Fredericka felt so inconsistent. They were complete opposites and I think they ended up being TOO opposite. The chemistry was just not there. It would have been nice to see a bit more of their relationship really forming but they always seemed to end up in an instance of miscommunication and it got tiresome very quickly.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

This is Book 1 of the new "Say I Do" series. It's a marriage of convenience trope.
Wyatt, the Duke of Wyatthaven, needs to marry within 7 days, to keep his inheritance from his grandmother. His solicitor tells him of a very acceptable young lady who also needs to marry.
Frederick Hale needs to marry in order to keep custody of hers sisters children. She has been searching for the right man to help her with this.
What is better than a Duke? Fredericka knows this Duke by reputation only. He is the complete opposite of her. She is prim and proper. He is a rogue.
They agree to marry and go their separate ways. He gets his inheritance and he promised to see to it that she will get custody of her nieces and nephew.
This leads to a lot of interesting situations. Many characters are introduced., Since it is the first in a series. But all in all a good book.
4.5 stars rounded up.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'd like to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Marriage of convenience is one of my most favorite tropes and this book had all the good makings of a really good MofC story. Duke need a wife to gain an inheritance ✔️, Unmarried woman needs a father for her deceased sisters children ✔️, Villain cousin is threatening to take said children away via the courts ✔️. Everything is ripe for a perfect book, our MMCs slowly falling in love while they fight a common foe. But it just really fell flat. They kept arguing about stupid things and either of them understood that raising children is a unified effort. I also wasn’t aware that this was a fade to black book. Now, I have nothing against fade to black or close door sex scenes, but waiting until 82% for the first sex scene in a marriage of convenience is just too long of a wait. Especially when the author has made it a close proximity MofC.
To say I was frustrated and disappointed by the end is putting it mildly. I felt this book had so much potential but it was just wasted on 2 MCs that were too focused on not compromising their set ways. By the time they (sort of ) figure it out in the end I had just stopped caring.

A marriage of convinance, but is it?

Frederika needed to find a husband to keep her cousin from getting custody of her sister's kids and Wyatt needed to marry to get the inheritance from his grandmother. They made a deal, but found it harder and harder to stay apart.

Frederika and Wyatt are definitely opposites, but they found ways to meet in the middle. I liked Wyatt's character a lot since he was east going and got along so well with the children, but Frederika wasn't nearly as likeable. I felt she was way too stiff. I wanted her to have more of an additional passion other than fighting for keeping the kids. Not sure what could have made her less dull.

The overall plot was done well, but I just wanted more from the main characters.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

Fredericka Hale needs a husband to make herself look better for the courts, as she's trying to keep custody of her deceased sister’s three young children. While she isn't interested in marrying a stranger, the Duke of Wyatthaven needs a wife to avoid losing his inheritance from his grandmother. They plan to live apart and have a marriage of convenience, but of course, Fredericka and the children show up needing a home. There's an attraction between them, and now they just might act on it.

The pair marry, and they clearly are meant for each other. As sweet as Fredericka is, seeing her cousin Jane grandstand and manipulate her to try to get custody of three traumatized children is terrible. It forces the pair into closer proximity than they expected, and of course, it's not an easy thing to fix. This forces her to learn more about her husband and what Wyatt's actually like, not what the scandal sheets say about him. He actually wants the kids to run and play, and interacting with him means she can't overthink everything and be as rigid as she usually is. Wyatt is kinder and generally thinks well of others, while Fredericka internalized her jealousy and anxiety. They know they balance each other out, but they don't realize it until much later. We get our happily ever after even though it truly seems dire, and we get insight into the family dynamics that made Fredericka so afraid of failure. While she doesn't think she can repair the relationship with Jane, there's still a smidgen of hope for the future for everyone involved.

Thank you for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the book. I thought it was good and had an interesting plot and interesting characters. I love a good Bridgerton type romance as well as a marriage of convenience trope.

The writing of the book was solid. It flowed well. But at times the dialogue felt cheesy, especially in conversations with the children, and at other times it felt like the things the characters were saying didn't match the time period that the characters were in.

I don't think I liked one of the characters better than the other. I think both Wyatt and Frederika were kind of insufferable. They did not communicate well, and I am not a huge fan of miscommunication. Especially when the miscommunication isn't reconciled until the last 3 minutes of the book. It made for a quick wrap up and an infuriating read the rest of the time.

They were supposed to be pitted against each other, but I definitely think it was framed to make Wyatt more desirable. Frederika was just sort of an irritating and annoying character. She was a bit hard to deal with at times. It felt like there would be developments and then back to regressions. And Wyatt was made to look much better but he was kind of questionable as to how well he could actually handle children. It was like the biggest clash of parenting styles except neither of them really know how to parent.

I'm not sure what else I feel like was missing from the book. But it just didn't feel as well developed as I think that it could have been.

3.5
I enjoyed this one, but it definitely isn’t my favourite historical romance I’ve read but I thought it was done very nicely! We have Wyatt and he is a Duke who is looking to marry to get his inheritance from his grandmother, he is planning on using it to help fund hospitals for the men damaged in the war. The Duke goes into marriage thinking that wife’s can never be pleased, as this is what his father told him. He finds the perfect candidate Fredericka who lives in the country as a guardian to her recently deceased sister children, Fredericka needs to marry because her cousin Jane is going after the guardianship of the children and she knows a husband will help her case. But when a Duke shows up on her door she really can’t believe it, he thinks she will be perfect Because she will continue living in the country with the children and he can go back to his carefree life. But that goes all wrong when Jane still won’t give up the fight for the children and Fredericka and the children are forced to flee to london to the dukes house to prove to the world that they are a happy family. As they live together, they start to feel that this isn’t a marriage of convenience at all. I really loved the Duke in this story Wyatt was amazing, he was so caring and all the scenes with the children had my heart fluttering! He was so good with them! And the way he really wanted them to just be children and enjoy life was so sweet. Fredericka was why I am kinda rating this a little lower, she was so annoying!! She wanted everything to be proper all the time and I understand why she was like that but she fought Wyatt the whole way with anything he wanted to do with her and the children. There was also a poetry plot line where she loved it and he hated it due to a bad experience at bordering school, it just felt like it added little to the story. This is also a pretty clean HR if you’re looking for one! A few passionate kisses and a very quick/mild sex sence! Over all this was cute and I did enjoy it! Just not my favourite ☺️

The first in the Say I do Series, Yours Truly, The Duke, is a lovely historical romance. It features a fierce female protagonist, a thoughtful Duke and adorable children that come together in the wake of tragedy to a form a family. The family finds themselves in a fight over custody of the children with a cousin who feels she's better than their aunt.

Frederick and Wyatt are a wonderful pair. Their bickering was often because Wyatt couldn't never quite say what he needed to say correctly. Yours Truly, The Duke slow-burn was swoon worthy with their constant lip locks. I consumed this book in a day. I especially enjoyed the few verse of poems to open each chapter.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Paperbacks for the complimentary copy.

⭐️⭐️
Yours Truly, The Duke is the first novel in the Say I Do series by Amelia Grey. First, I am a huge fan of Amelia Grey and have loved everything I have read about hers. Unfortunately, I could not invest or relate to this book. The first novel in this series fell flat and did not create a world that kept my attention. The main characters were unlikable for most of the book. There was too much miscommunication and assumptions throughout the book, making some scenes tedious. The character development wasn’t good, and I had a hard time warming to Wyatt. I am sure many will love this book as this is only my opinion. I have to compare this book to the others I have read of Amelia Grey’s and it sadly didn’t measure up for me. However, I will continue to be a fan and read other series by her.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book features a classic marriage of convenience trope in a first novel of a new series from Grey. Wyatt needs a wife and quick. Without one, he will lose his inheritance and his ability to easily fund the hospital he supports. He learns of Fredericka and her need of a husband so she can permanently secure custody of her two nieces and nephew after her sister's death. After maybe the most practical and direct proposal I have ever read, these two agree to a quick marriage where they will lead separate lives but with each getting what they want out of the bargain.

The wrench in their plans comes in the form of Fredericka's cousin, Jane, who wants to fight for custody of the children. This causes Fredericka and the three children to quickly relocate to Wyatt's house in London, upending all their lives. This book was a like, not a love. While I did, overall, like Fredericka and Wyatt they were not the best of communicators and their differences came across as mainly superficial. It was hard to wrap my brain around a Duke having so little influence and power so the problem really never felt tense or dire to me. Fredericka and her cousin were plain juvenile at times. While the book isn't closed door, there really isn't any steam at all, so if that's not something you are interested in this may be good to know. The children were not overly obnoxious and I really enjoyed their interactions with Wyatt. It was fun to see a Duke playing with the children and I appreciated his views on their behaviors.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. While it wasn't my favorite marriage of convenience I have read, it was entertaining and kept my attention.

I really enjoyed this.
This is a bit of a slow burn but I was enjoying the story so much that it wasn't something I noticed until much later. Fredericka and Wyatt really seemed to balance each other out. And even though their marriage wasn't based on love there was no denying their attraction to one another.
This was a great start to a new series and I can't wait to see who gets the next book.

Fredericka and Wyatt both need spouses like yesterday.
Fredericka wants to keep her nieces and nephew, they've been in her care since her sister's death. She loves them and wants to keep them from further trauma. Her spoiled cousin is used to getting her way and wants to raise the kids herself because she's barren but believes she and her husband can offer the children more stability.

Wyatt's grandmother left a stipulation in her will. He would not inherit her fortune if he's not married by the end of the week. His solicitor has suggested Miss Fredericka. It works perfectly for him. Once they marry they can lead separate lives, she'll have the protection of his title and be able to stay in her country home.

Wyatt is surprised by how lovely and intelligent she is and soon finds himself wanting to spend more time with her and the children.

But he's caught even more off guard when the lady and children show up on his doorstep after Fredericka's cousin insinuates that her marriage might be real.

Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin's, and NetGalley for this ARC to review.

Yours Truly, The Duke by Amelia Grey was wonderful! The plot is a trope seen in many romance novels: a marriage-of-convenience that turns into love. However, I love the historical setting. Felt like I was in Bridgerton or Pride and Prejudice. I loved the characters, Wyatt and Fredricka! Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to find love and this is what the book does. This was my first time reading this author and I love her! Plan to read more!!

This was such an enjoyable romance A well-crafted combination of emotion, heart, drama, humor and heat reads easily and I found it charming. The chemistry between Fredericka and Wyatt was obvious and I appreciated realistic these characters felt. It made them relatable and easy to root for. I'm very much looking forward to the next book.

“Wyatt” Duke of Wyatthaven has just been given the news that he needs to marry to keep an inheritance from his grandmother. He needs to marry to keep the money. Wyatt is about to find that his life just won’t be the same. Fredericka Hale is guardian to her two nieces and nephew. Her guardianship is being threatened by a family member. Fredericka is looking for a husband. Fredericka and Wyatt may find that a marriage of convenience becomes more when Yours Truly, The Duke leads them to love.

Amelia Grey starts her new regency era marriage of convenience story, with the book Yours Truly, The Duke. The first book in the Say I Do series. Two people who need a marriage to solve their individual problems. The Duke of Wyatthaven is looking to keep an inheritance from his long dead grandmother and the only way to do that is by a marriage of convenience. Fredericka Hale is looking to marry to keep guardianship of you nieces and nephew. A marriage is the only way to solve their individual problems. Yours Truly, The Duke is the first book in the Say I Do series by Amelia Grey. A marriage of convenience may become more when desire, helping each other with their problems when they start getting to know each other. Feelings and love grow as two strangers spend unexpected time together and figure out that they're not who they thought each other was. Opposites attract in Yours Truly, The Duke and happiness rains as two people work their way to love. Amelia Grey takes a common regency themed type of romance and spices it up with two people who don’t want to fall in love or change their lives but are forced into when something threatens their way of life. As the first book in the Say I Do series the reader gets to know the characters and their friends and family. This reader loved reading about how knowing each other changes the main characters lives and the precocious children keep the characters on their toes. That perfect isn’t always best and there’s always time for some fun. Which Duke gets his story next Hurst or Rick or maybe their friend Ben, I can’t wait to find out.

This book follows the classic and fun marriage of convenience trope. Fredericka and Wyatt are in situations where they both need to marry quickly. Wyatt must marry to get his inheritance and Fredericka needs to be married so she can keep custody of her cousin’s children. Some of my favorite parts of the book are when the Duke interacts with the children.

As much as I liked these characters, there were some issues that got in the way for me. For a romance novel, the bedroom scenes were missing…less than fade to black and more of ‘did I skip a page…what happened here?’ They were just left for the reader to assume or guess that something happened.

I also thought the ending was a little strange, especially because there was a character that was awful to Fredericka throughout the entire book. Yet, here comes the Duke trotting in with this person at the end so they can have a grand reconciliation. It didn’t really make sense and needed further explanation for me to buy into this ending.

Amelia Grey is usually a must read for me, but this first book in a new series was a miss for me. I liked the premise, and looked forward to reading about the spinster unexpectedly being left to care for her nieces and nephew. The theme of a duke being required to find a bride and marry in a week to earn his inheritance was a bit unmotivated, but this *is* fiction after all.

What bothered me about this story was the somewhat stilted language. I was beginning to wonder if Fredericka had some stomach ailment, as her stomach rolled (with lust and love) through most of her encounters with her husband. Her behavior towards the children she loved was also stilted, and left me wondering where the story was headed.

There were no surprises in the plot after all. The heroine's stomach settled down, and she and the duke resolved their misunderstandings for a romance novel happily ever after.

I'll probably try again with the next book in the series.

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

Wyatt the Dyke of Wyatthaven has a problem. His grandmother, unknown to him till now, had made part of her will stating that he had to be married by a certain time or a large part of her property would go to a charity for poetry! Wyatt will never let that happen. He has a very little time left to find a woman to marry him. As he hates poetry, he must act fast. His solicitor has found a woman who also needs a husband quickly to stop her cousin from taking her late sisters' children from her. Miss Fredericka Hale never would have dreamed she would be raising three children on her own. A year after the death of her sister and brother in-law she couldn’t love them more. Her cousin Jane is trying to get legal guardianship using the fact she is married and has more money to raise then. Fredericka needs a husband as soon as possible. She has made a list of possible man, but none have worked out till a Duke show up out of the blue and ask her to marry him!! She is shocked, she knows him from what she’s read in the gossip sheets. He is a rouge, with the worst reputation. He and his two best friends are always in the papers. Why is he here? She found out they both have the same problem; both need to marry and quickly a marriage of Convenience would solve both their problems. Plans have been made that her and the children will be taken care of and can stay in the county home they know while he will stay in London with the life he knows. Sounds great but they forgot about evil cousin Jane, and she has other thoughts on how to gain what she wants. Oh my, what a wonderful story of how two people overcome their past hurts and guilt to save the children, put Jane in her place and just maybe fall in love after all. I loved the banter between them, she is not Afraid to tell him just what she thinks and feels. Wyatt is not quite about how the children are too disciplined and not allowed to be just kids. This story has so much heart, passion and love that it all takes time for our couple to find and deal with it. This is a pretty clean story, but the thoughts of both Wyatt and Fredericka are anything but left to your own imagination. Ha, I received an ARC of this story and wish to thank the author. This is my honest opinion and am freely giving it.

I hate to say that this was a miss for me. The subject matter--child custody--is one that is highly emotional, but I felt that the conflicts were handled in a pandering way, with the children becoming pawns just like in the betting book at White's. The adults were stuck in their own heads for 90% of the plot. Neither of the MC's was likable, and the "villainess", Jane, did not earn redemption. There's also no steam for a book that seemed to be promising it.

Although you know why Fredericka is rigid in her views on child-rearing, she's frequently over-the-top and seems to want to pick fights with her husband, Wyatt. There's a jarring scene toward the end when she becomes physically violent. Scenes like this turn my stomach, especially when, as a reader, you're aware of the abuse Wyatt witnessed when he was younger.

Wyatt (we never learn his full name, who knows why) was easier to like at times, but the way he pushed away Fredericka and the kids at the beginning, unrealistically believing that he didn't have to behave like a husband or actually consummate his marriage to help Fredericka's case, really bothered me. Even worse, he has a mistress during his marriage. It doesn't matter if he has stopped sleeping with the woman, why hasn't he parted ways with her?

Wyatt and Fredericka's chemistry started with promise, but sputtered when he kept obsessing about taking things slow when there was no reason to. There was just scene after scene of them noticing each other's beauty with nothing real happening. Wyatt believes their "instalust" equates to love at the end, which only highlights the lack of development of their relationship throughout the storyline. They never communicate, never open up. The actual sex is only hinted at (I think they had sex?? Maybe??). Honestly, I was done with both of the MC's by the 80% mark.

The best things I can say about this book are that it had a good premise, the writing style is generally lovely, and the kids are endearing as opposed to being annoying. They were the only reason I kept reading.

I read an advanced reader copy of this book and this is my voluntary review. Opinions are my own.

Amelia Grey is a new favorite author. This is the first in a new series. Loved the characters and setting of this one. Romantic and fun! Will definitely read more by this author.

thank you to net galley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was my first book by this author but it wont be my last. I loved the instant family element in this book and the way Fredericka and Wyatt come together slowly as they get to know each other.

The marriage-of-convenience trope was so well-written in this book and I loved the way two people living their separate lives grew to change their lifestyles and accept the other.

While this book is on the low side of steamy, I didn't seem to miss it. We got to see some action and tense scenes.