While the Duke Was Sleeping by Samara Parish is a captivating regency romance where a woman with a secret identity and a charming bachelor find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. The novel transports readers to a different era, immersing them in a world of intrigue and passion. Once I started reading, I was completely engrossed and found myself wishing the story would never end.

I adore While You Were Sleeping, so I was really looking forward to reading this historical romance retelling of the movie. Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me. I'm not sure why. The premise is great, and I initially liked the main characters. They definitely had a ton of chemistry. But as the story progressed, I lost interest.

Adelaide (Della) is great, and her personality shines from the very first scene. She's smart and strong, and she's a bold woman who longs to have a home of her own. Della is a lady's maid for Cordelia, who has run away from a duke on their wedding day. Her, I did not enjoy, though I thought her character contrasted Della's well. Cordelia has a spoiled, petulant personality and is so unlikeable, as are several of the other minor characters.

I did like some of Rhett's siblings and am assuming they will probably be more of a focus in future books in the series. That could be interesting. As for Rhett, he was charming, and he fell hard for Adelaide. However, he's kind of immature, which frustrated me. The story had some good banter, especially when Rhett was part of the conversation, and there were several comical scenes that I loved. Some of the sibling antics are also great. But, overall, this was just an ok read for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ebook and this is my freely given opinion.

This is a Victorian retelling of While You Were Sleeping, with a differing social status/swapped identity theme as well, with a hint of runaway bride.

This has a rather bold, nomadic female main character, Adelaide Rosebourne (Della), who is lady's maid to her near look-alike, a spoiled duke's daughter, Cordelia, who decides to make a run for it rather than wed another duke. Della, spirits her away, and they have a rather interesting meet cute with the MMC at the docks, as Della tries to spirit her unasked-for charge away.

Rhett Montgomery is the second son and heir to a duke, and has been living a life of adventure and reckless abandonment gallivanting around the world for years after having had his heart broken many years before. His ventures have been so notorious that stories of his escapades have even made it back to the ears of his family and Society in general. Unfortunately that comes to an end
when his brother reels him in and cuts off his funds. He is welcomed back to English shores with an unexpected run in with a bold, beautiful spitfire on the docks, that ends with them both having a foul dunking in the Thames. He never expects to see her again when they part, even though he cannot get her out of his mind.

The last place he expects to find her again, is at the bedside of his comatose brother, introduced as the Duke's affianced!

A cute Victorian era remake of the movie with well drawn and interesting characters in Della, Rhett, and his sisters. Cordelia comes off as rather one dimensional initially as a selfish, impulsive, rather spoiled creature who starts to get interesting in the end, and I am left wanting to know more about the sisters and Peter and what their life paths will take. Della's interesting past makes her an intriguing and colourful personality, and I liked the chemistry she and Rhett had. Rhett came across as emotionally immature, wanting to run away from conflict, his feelings, and responsibility, whereas Della was seeking roots and a place to land after having nothing of the sort through her life. I found the uncle character quite slimy, and feel that his villainous potential was not reached, or fully addressed.

A generally enjoyable story with warm and familiar vibes because of the movie.

3.75 stars out of 5

As always, I enjoyed the book written by this author. The story was a sweet one and focused on the need to love your body - and how a person can have a negative view of how they look. I liked the message of the story: that we should love the body that we have; and that we are lovable.

Solid 4 stars
Raunchy and romantic. This reminds me of Anthony’s book from Bridgerton. The way he barges to the wedding. Swoon

Many thanks to NetGalley and Samara Parish for the ARC. All opinions are of my own

This was a fun regency romance. The book starts when Cordelia, daughter of a Duke, begs her maid Adelaide to help her run away from her wedding. Adelaide is baffled by the request as she would give anything for a home and security, but she makes a snap decision to help her run away. As they are trying to run away they switch dresses, and try to get passage on a ship to take them away. While trying to get on a ship, Adelaide (Della) has an encounter with a rogue and they both go tumbling into the disgusting Thames. Rhett is fascinated with the jeweled woman with the mouth of a sailor and tries to help her find a places to wash the stench off. Their encounter ends with a kiss neither can forget. A week later Cordelia finds herself in a jam when she ends up betrothed to a Duke and accidentally puts him into a coma. She begs Della to switch places with her and get her out of yet another jam. Imagine Della’s surprise when she gets to the Duke’s residence and finds out his brother is the rogue from the docks. Della then must act for her life trying not to let Rhett know who she really is, while fighting her growing feelings for him. And Rhett struggles with his growing attraction to his brothers betrothed and what it will mean for him if his brother never wakes up. A funny heart warming story with lots of longing. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Hello! It's me, the marketer/publicist for this book. Just leaving a review to keep up my NetGalley ratio.

While you were sleeping, but regency? Yes, please! It was hard to get into at first though, probably because I was constantly comparing it to the movie haha 😝

What an awesome book! The writing is exquisite. I laughed so hard in so many places as the action and dialogue were so fun. It wasn't only the dialogue between Della and Rhett, but also included all of the supporting characters. The story is so deep and rich. This is a must read!

I have been a long-time fan of the film While You Were Sleeping. So much so that it is a yearly rewatch for me in that time between Christmas and New Years. I went into this book with great excitement, and I was not disappointed at all. While I do think some moments read a little modern, that did not take me out of the story one bit. I absolutely loved it. All of the warmth and love that the family had and Della's deep desire for that love, along with the development of the romance, had me absolutely enthralled.

Rhett and Della were developed beautifully, and I do hope in the future of this series we see more of the family and perhaps a romance one day for Peter.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy.

This was such a cute read. I have been a fan of Ms. Parish since How to Survive a Scandel. Her writing is fantastic, she always does such a great job at giving the reader fully developed characters that you can root for as well as swoon for. I really enjoyed the class difference as well as heroine in disguise trope. It was an engaging and wonderful story, I can't wait for her next release.

I throughly enjoyed the book. This was the first Samantha Parish book that I have read and I will plan to keep an eye out for her next book. Adelaide, is a current ladies maid who is posing as her mistress after an unfortunate meeting with the titular “sleeping duke.” Rhett, the hero of this funny novel, is the duke’s brother. Close quarters, hilarious attempts to wake the duke up, and a nosey family are some highlights of this book. I would highly recommend this to anyone who may be leery of historical romance. While set in the 1800s this book reads like a modern novel. Loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing this book, with my honest review below.

While You Were Sleeping is such a comfortable classic I was delighted at the idea of doing this with a historically set romance. Lucky for me, I enjoyed how While the Duke Was Sleeping played with that premise in this story but made the appeal of that movie its own. Starting with a bang with a runaway bride, Cordelia, and her lady’s maid, Adelaide, the plot was inventive and the characters, even when note ones you love, very entertaining. For fans of historical romance, this story doesn’t really go into the details of its time and setting as much as some others may, but if the appeal for you is a cute romance, unique amongst its 1800’s peers, that is absolutely what you will get.

I found myself at times feeling that the webs that were woven were perhaps a bit too derived for their own good, which stifled some of the fun, but if I let the fantasy of it take me away I enjoyed the shenanigans. Rhett, brother of the Duke, had a really touching journey of growth as well, and I loved that this book didn’t just paint its male characters as one secure in his family’s wealth and born self confident.

If you’re a fan of While You Were Sleeping and lighter romances in general, give this a whirl.

Thank you to Netgally and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

While the Duke Was Sleeping is a fun and enjoyable historical romance. I like the characters and their chemistry together. The romance is swoonworthy. I had an amazing time reading it!

A thoroughly amusing and engaging read. The main characters seem to get themselves into very awkward situations, which makes it quite entertaining. Add some uniquely interesting siblings and you get witty ribbings. He didn’t know what he was searching for until he met her and she was looking for a forever home until she found it in him. Excellent read!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalkey and leaving my review voluntarily.

There are definitely not enough While You Were Sleeping retellings out in the world, so I was excited with the premise of WHILE THE DUKE WAS SLEEPING, what I was hoping to be an easy reading romp into the historical romance equivalent. Unfortunately it wasn't the book I wanted it to be, and not for the reasons others are saying (reading too modern). It just didn't have the pizzazz and fun of the WYWS trope I wanted. I wish authors would stop trying to set up for future books or a series and just let us enjoy the ride of the book we're currently in, but it would be cool to see this as a series of loosely inspired by 90s rom-coms!

This book says it takes place in 1893. I'll be honest, I didn't feel like I was reading a historical at all. It almost felt like a parody and closer to a "Weekend at Bernies", rather than a historical romance.
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Fun, sweet, large cast of characters. The tension created by the premise stressed me out a little bit, but overall a fun book. The supporting cast of characters were very fun, a well-thought out family dynamic. It made the whole story better, I don’t think I would have liked it as much without them. Low heat, very funny.

Two kindred hearts find each other under unusual circumstances. Adelaide goes along with a crazy scheme I order for her to reach her goal. Everett is coming back to England as he was summoned by his brother.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I was able to connect to the characters. I also enjoyed the family dynamics. I did struggle with understanding why the truth was not told by Della to Rhett give the amount of opportunities that were presented. A pleasant read.

Unfortunately this was a complete miss for me. I was ready for a romp of a Historical Romance, inspired by WYWS, but this read like a contemporary with a veneer of history occasionally slapped onto it. The overall tone, speech style and words, and even events and places were just so extremely contemporary I kept getting pulled out of the story in disbelief and confusion. I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy, but a story should still feel somewhat appropriate to the time it's set.