I usually strictly read contemporary romance, and this was my FIRST historical because I HAD to read this dang book, and y'all, it was so GOOD. Do not skip this book, Vasti is EXCELLENT.

Honesty, this book just lost my interest. *SPOILER AHEAD* I enjoyed the tension, but I felt like they got together too soon, and then there was so much of the book left, and I no longer felt motivated to finish. From the beginning, I felt like I was missing something. The main characters already knew each other and had a history together, which I knew nothing about. I looked into the author's other books to see if I had unknowingly jumped into the middle of a series but I couldn't find any evidence that I had. The plot is adorable, and I love feisty Selina and swoon-worthy Peter, but it just wasn't enough. Maybe I'll try to finish it at another time.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for the eARC!

What a fun, lighthearted, and cute historical romance book. This is the first I've ever read by this author and I can't wait for more. I loved the banter, characters, and guardianship aspect of it. I liked the mmc and how much he loved his younger siblings and I liked the courtroom setting and the marriage of convenience plot. The mmc's had instant chemistry and I like that they got married early and we got to see them navigate some other issues. This book was also steamy and I was here for it, I loved the steamy scenes and the chemistry between the main characters. Overall a good read if you like a cinnamon roll hero and a matchmaking plot then you should read this book.

After literal months of one of your employees spewing Islamophobic nonsense toward an influencer and then DOXXING her, SMP released the weakest statement that seemed to double down on this employee’s racist stance. #SpeakUpSMP

I'm in my regency romance era and this book definitely delivered. It seemed to move at a pretty fast pace throughout. Jumping a week or two here and there. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was fleshed out a bit more. It really jumped into Selina and Peter's relationship fast without much buildup besides mentions of the past.
It gave some bridgertonish vibes with the whole woman going against her station secretly thing, with Selina running Belvoirs.

She wanted someone to look at her and see more than just the sister of a duke or the recipient of a substantial dowry. More than difficult and prickly and too opinionated and too much.

What is it about the marriage of convenience trope that has me in a chokehold when it comes to historical romance? I’m not sure I would be able to unravel that thought in a review much less therapy, but I know that when it comes to Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti, Selina and Peter’s hijinks that lead up to their nuptials were so comical and endearing that they won me over with their romance.

Ne’er Duke Well features Peter, the newly titled Duke that has the (mis)fortune of being raised in America, and now is tasked with taking the reins of a title in the peerage. What Peter is most concerned about is getting legal guardianship of his half siblings, but unfortunately the judge that will inevitably decide the fate of his half-brother and sister is less than enthused about Peter’s political opinions in Parliament.

He supposed he liked clever women. With ruthlessly efficient fingers. Eyes that danced and flashed by turns, eyes that soothed him and challenged him at once.

This is where Selina comes into play. Sister to Peter’s ally, and dare I say, friend in the ton, Selina nominates herself as coordinator in the scheme to get Peter in the judge’s good graces by way of marriage. That’s right, Peter needs a wife, but it’s definitely not Selina. Can you see where this is all going? You see, our heroine Selina has a delightfully scandalous secret. Obviously, her secret would ruin whomever she would marry, so naturally, marriage is off the table for her. It’s too bad that with every disastrous interaction with other eligible ladies of the season, Peter becomes more besotted with the forthright and witty Selina.

I do have to say that the shenanigans of Peter’s comical courting of the eligible ladies of the ton, and the inevitable realization that Selina is the one for him had my heart from the get—go. Once Peter and Selina accepted their courtship, feelings, and finally got married, their relationship took a backseat to the second half of the book which centered around the battle of guardianship of his half siblings. While equally important to the overall story, it did bring heavier tones to the plot which varied greatly from the light-heartedness of the first half.

He was good with words. He could tell her that she was extraordinary. He could tell her that when she walked into a room, all the candlelight gathered itself upon her face.

Overall, Ne’er Duke Well was such a fun read. I loved the inclusion of the different women in the ton, and I can’t wait to see if readers will get to know more of them. Alexandra Vasti always delivers on spice and this debut full-length novel is no different. I cannot wait to see what else Vasti has in store for readers in the years to come.

I am loving historical romance as of late and this is another winner. It reminded me a bit of Tessa Dare’s The Duchess Deal in terms of tone and humor. I loved the idea that the main character, Selina, runs a secret women-centric circulation library. A fun, steamy, sweet and loving Regency romp..

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. all opinions are my own.

I will post my full review once SMP address the insensitive comments of their employee.

I LOVED Alexandra Vasti's Halifax Hellions novella series and eagerly awaited this full-length debut. I was sure I would love this book - and I was right. This was a great slow-burn, friends-to-lovers historical romance and I loved that the story had a progressive bent. It was great to see the way Vasti handled her MMC being a duke from the American south - I appreciated that the storyline had nuance and progressivism but still allowed me to experience the escapism I so appreciate about historical romance. The world is a hellscape and I read romance as a band-aid - but it's great not to have to turn off a whole part of my brain in order to enjoy a book set in the 1800s. This book was progressive, steamy, and just plain FUN. In my humble opinion, Alexandra Vasti can do no wrong. I'm already eyeing the calendar until her next release.

First of all, thank you NetGalley, St Martins, and Alexandra Vasti for the advanced reader copy of Ne’er Duke Well! What a delightful read!

Selina Ravenscroft,the younger daughter of the Duke of Rowland, has a pretty big secret she’s been keeping. In fact, her sterling reputation would be ruined and her future in the ton would be in jeopardy if anyone found out it was she who ran the scandalous library where women could read whatever they wanted to freely. Never again would a woman feel embarrassed to read “carnal conversations” and not be nice about what we on in the chambers between a husband a wife (or mistress!).

Peter Kent, the newly minted Duke of Stanhope, was raised in America. The American Duke is hoping to gain custody of his half brother and half sister, but isn’t having much luck convincing the law.

Can Peter and Selina strike a bargain to gain custody of the children while also keeping scandal down over the erotic library?

This historical romance was such a delight to read. Fans of Evie Dunmore will enjoy the strong female character, the banter, and the fight for human rights mentioned. This novel is out July 23rd!

Ne’er Duke Well is a historical romance then deals with Peter trying to become the guardian of his brother and sister and how difficult will be for him as a single man.

This was a fun story and even though I am child free by choice I loved the storyline with the kids. They were a great catalyst to get our two main characters together.

I loved Selina and her unapologetic want of independence and her desire to make sure the women of the ton are well educated. I also love how Peter totally supports her.

We all know a romance has a 3rd act dilemma but this book was so refreshing in how the couple talked it out and came to a decision together!! Loved that!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Alexandra Vasti for a copy of this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The humor in this story is so welcome. The emotions that each character feels are so real and well written. This book is such an enjoyable read! The romantic tension was well written and very believable. Very well done!

My first Alexandra Vasti book and it did not disappoint!’ Where should I start? This book is sweet and spicy. Funny and emotional.

Peter’s past is so tragic and I couldn’t stop the tears from falling from my eyes when he explained his childhood and death of his brother.

I loved Selina and how she just wants better for the ones she loves and goes to great lengths to help. Her association with her library, and the Venous Catalog, was so fierce! She wanted to “revolutionize female education” and that was my favorite thing about her.

I really liked that Selena and Peter figure out they want each other early on in the book and we get to see their marriage in its first stages. That was a fresh take, for me, in this historical romance read.

Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti was such a delight! Vasti has me giggling and swooning all over the place. I absolutely adored Selina, and Peter’s desire to bring his half-siblings into his home was so endearing. Watching the friendship blossom into love between the two leads was such a joy.

For some reason, at the beginning, I had trouble keeping up with some of the names, but that quickly fixed itself and I lost myself in Selina’s quest to find Peter the perfect wife. The side characters were all fantastic, the leads were passionate about their causes and families (and each other), and I adored the friendships (and romances) that were portrayed. Vasti has a gift for writing romance, and I’m eager to see what she comes up with in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A DELICIOUS regency romance. Alexandra Vasti is slowly but surely becoming one of my all time favorite romance authors. I love the matchmaking aspect, the feminist framing, and THE SECRET LIBRARY FULL OF ILLICIT MATERIALS. Yes yes yes yes yes. I CANNOT wait for the next book in this series!!!!

Absolutely fantastic. A true 5 star historical romance. Alexandra Vasti is an immensely talented author with a sparkling voice. This novel is funny, witty, sexy, and tender all at the same time. Loved everything about this book and will be recommending it to others constantly.

The first half of the book was good and I enjoyed it, but the second half was so boring and such a drag to get through. Anyone who said this was a slowburn was completely lying; yes the characters liked each other for a couple years before the events of the book but they proceed to get together with a little over 50% of the book left. It felt like I as the reader was dropped in the middle of things with regard to their relationship, and I would’ve loved to see some of that earlier development rather than them getting together so egregiously early. I actually really enjoyed seeing their banter and pining early on and the book, and that was basically ruined when they confessed their feelings for each other and became an official couple.

Then to make matters worse, the second half of the book is barely a romance. There was just a focus on Belvoir’s and the custody battle with Peter’s siblings. I signed up to read a historical romcom, and I got half a historical romcom and half something entirely different. Also the way that both side plot wrapped up just felt so unrealistic but at that point I was so done with this book that I was ready to just believe that it could somehow happen.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

As a reader, I thoroughly enjoyed “Ne’er Duke Well.” The book’s endearing and charming characters immediately captured my heart. From the Duke’s young siblings to Selina’s inspiring friends, each person felt like a delightful companion.

The author’s witty writing style had me laughing out loud at the characters’ antics. Yet, amidst the humor, the relationships portrayed were equally heartwarming and endearing. I found myself rooting for Selina’s friends and I hope they all get their own book!

“Ne’er Duke Well” is a promising debut, and I eagerly await more from this talented author. This author will be an auto-buy for me!

Ok, I get that we are experiencing a shift in Historical Romance to modernize our heroes and give more autonomy to heroines, but sometimes it seems we are spending so much time conveying that the characters are fresh and new and modern, that we really lose out on the romance and relationship building. I’m not sure what the answer is, but this book feels like new adult contemporary romance, dressed up in theater costume.

In this case, the plot line of our fmc helping our mmc to find a wife is completely overshadowed by the mmc trying to adopt his siblings. We learn that our main characters, Peter and Selina, had met before, but we don’t get to see that interaction or really learn about it at all, other than that they got along well and are friendly enough to reconnect. It feels like a bummer to not see that. (I think knowing that Peter was immediately taken with her, for example, would have really helped lay some groundwork). Another miss for me was the lack of backstory for Peter. He’s from New Orleans for goodness sake! The culture of society during that timeframe alone would have really added some more dimension to his character. Is he part French? Is he Creole even? What led him to be so fiercely vocal about abolitionism?! (This plot fact could have been epic but was just stated to make us think he’s a good guy)
Last, the sharing library storyline added nothing but chaos. Again, it’s a plot device to modernize Selina’s character. The trouble she runs into with her lending library was maybe unnecessary and took away from the romance. It felt chaotic with multiple storylines that didn’t support their romance, at times disjointed.
Overall it’s fine. It has cute moments and decent banter. The chemistry is there, the execution could be better. 3 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the early opportunity to read and review this book.

Alexandra Vasti may be an auto-buy author from now on! I loved this book! From the humour, surprises, and enjoyable characters, the story felt fresh with all the classics of the best historical romances.

Peter knows Selina is brilliant, that she is clever and sweet, and Selina knows Peter is kind and sees her as an equal, that she matters and is not too much. As they work together to make Peter an excellent candidate to be guardian of his half-siblings, they fall hard.

As Peter and Selina have known each other for years, we go into the story already seeing signs of how they care for each other. Now that they have an excuse to work closely, they fall HARD.

The only issue, Selina is secretly the owner of a library with erotic and educational materials for women. If revealed, she believes Peter would not be granted custody of his siblings and she cares too much for them to prevent that. But as they'll learn, they really are best when partners.

The author did have an interesting style with time and side characters. She would reference other characters and things that happened that usually would tie into another book, but usually it didn't refer to her other books. My first instinct was feeling left out and confused, but once I accepted there was no book before this, and that she wrote only necessary scenes, I got past it. I do think the story would have flowed better with showing the full scene instead of the character reflecting back on what happened as time passes quickly. Some may enjoy it, but as I wasn't used to the style I did have to get used to it.

They definitely fall quickly, and even end up together quickly, so the drama is not what you think. The story moves so quickly that you feel like you get so much time with the characters as so much happens, which I enjoyed.

Overall, I really enjoyed Peter and Selina. They were perfect for each other and the respect, care, and love they show to each other was lovely. They fear disapointing the other or ruining their life, but grow as a couple. Despite marrying (woohoo compromised) early on, that fear keeps them from admitting their love. As I enjoy seeing how the couple works when forced together/married, I really enjoyed the story.

I can't wait for Lydia's book and will be eagerly awaiting it!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Read for: friends to lovers, compromised into marriage, poor American to English Duke, businnesswoman FMC, slight "Emma" vibes, independent heroine

4.5 stars
2.5 spice