The American Duke

this was a great historical novel, it was what I was hoping for from the description. it does a great job in staying with the time-period and it does a great job with it. I really enjoyed the romance going on and loved the chemistry with the two main characters. The historical aspects worked well together and I was glad I read this. August Jade Sterling does a great job in the writing and it left me wanting to read more.

"Jacob let a few moments of silence emphasize his discovery. They all understood the consequences for carrying
contraband. “The records show nothing. There is no bill of lading for the cargo, and there is nothing else in our records.” Jacob continued to talk as Sar studied the reports before him. Sar laughed wryly to himself. On top of everything else, we’re in the smuggling business."

What an interesting book! There is murder, romance, intrigue, espionage, smuggling....so much is happening that you can't help but get pulled into it.
What I most enjoyed:
1. the women in this book are incredible...not a single dunderhead in the bunch! That is sooo very refreshing to see in a book that has romance involved.
2. the acknowledgement of the fact that British society has been mixed for a long time...it didn't just start through the imagination of Shonda Rimes and Bridgerton series. It's good to see that black people didn't just exist as slaves...that a good chunk of us were and are part of British aristocracy, whether folks want to believe and accept that or not.
What confused me: the way how it ends without figuring out who the mastermind of the various plots is. It didn't seem to me like this was the start of a series, and it certainly wasn't described that way. However, the confusion is tempered by the fact that some of the players in the plots are finally revealed by name; therefore going forward, some of the mystery regarding that will be gone.
It was also a little difficult to grasp everything happening at first because it seemed like events jumped all over. One minute, it's a sensuous love scene; the next, it's a murder; the next it's a clandestine meeting happening between 2 or 3 nameless people. Once you acclimate to the pace being set, you do get swept up in the story. A suggestion: write down the character list at the beginning on a separate piece of paper and have it handy as you read, so you can keep all the characters straight.
This book is great for anyone who likes a little bit of everything in their historical fiction. I'm looking forward to the next book in this tale.

I really enjoyed the storyline, as well as the characters. Well written story, it was a very enjoyable book.
I would recommend it to my friends.

Thanks to Girl Friday Productions and Netgalley I was able to read this as an ARC. It was pleasant and a quick read for me. I liked the characters and the plot fairly well.

August Jade Sterling's historical fiction book "The American Duke" follows Anne, a mixed-race descendant of former American slaves, and Avery Roxbury, a British nobleman, as they navigate love and peril among the British nobility. The book explores the intersection of Black Americans and the British elite in the Regency era.

The characters in the book are well-written and likeable, with the two major characters having particularly good chemistry. It's an exciting read because of the plot's quick pacing and lots of romance. Though, the plot bounces from one scenario to the next without much foreshadowing, which some readers can find jarring.

Despite this, the story's historical elements are thoroughly researched and interwoven into the plot, making it an interesting and informative read. The book is also an own voices novel, meaning the author belongs to the same marginalized community as the story's characters. For those who like historical fiction and romance, "The American Duke" is an easy read.

Thank you so much August Jade Sterling and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for my honest review.