Back in 2017, when I was on Netgalley for the first time, Duels and Deception was one of the approvals I got. Unfortunately, I forgot that Netgalley existed for five years after being approved for it and never read it.

Well, I finally got around to it. Unfortunately (I fear I am using that word often), this book was very much meh for me.

I must admit that Regency romance is something that I don't usually read. While I have a soft spot for historical romances despite my usual dislike of most straight romance novels, regency romance feels like an entirely different genre. I was expecting it to be far more historically based than it was. Of course, that's the whole point of a Regency novel, to base it off that period, it's just that the history aspect isn't the real focus. This is fine, but having gone into this book not knowing much about regency traditions and setting, I didn't get the world-building that I was looking for. There just wasn't much in the way of telling me where we were or what was happening in the world. I felt like it was just assumed that I should know about everything that was happening.

The romance itself was a little lackluster. Our two main characters didn't spend that much time together. Most of their relationship was spent thinking about the other person. Which is fine, I suppose, but it didn't make me feel as though they were actually romancing each other. I don't know. I think it just didn't feel real to me.

I did enjoy the mystery aspect of the story, however. I thought it was well done, and I liked that it gave the story a plot other than just being a straight romance since I wasn't really enjoying that part of it. The mystery gave our characters something to work together towards, rather than the end goal just being a marriage or engagement, which seems to be the theme for most Regency novels.

I thought that Duels and Deception was a cute, fun story. Perhaps there wasn't much depth, but it was still fun.

Duels & Deception by Cindy Anstey.
Duels & Deception is a clean regency historical romance for teens. The hero and heroine are likeable. Robert is poorer and lower in status than Lydia. He is also very honorable and seeks to do the right thing. He is attracted to Lydia soon after meeting her, but Lydia isn’t really interested in love -- until she finds herself well into it.


Lydia is kidnapped, and Robert happens to be there. For the longest, it seemed they didn’t take the kidnapping very seriously, and I wondered if it was going to be forgotten, but eventually all is discovered.


I thought the story was on the slow-side except during the kidnapping until Lydia was back with loved ones and during the duels. As with romances, all ended with their loves. I feel some high school romantics will enjoy the story. I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book.

I adore, period dramas and YA fiction. This book is a perfect pairing! I’ve had so many teachers check out and read this series. Did the students have started checking it out too. I find that if the kids read a manga classic like pride and prejudice, then it is easier for them to picture this world.

Duels & Deception was so, so cute! I love adult regency romance and tend to stick to those, but this Y one had all the makings of the historical romances I love so much, just without the sexytimes. And honestly, sometimes I'm just not in the mood to read those. lol. So many historical YAs offer steampunk, paranormal, supernatural, or mystery elements and it's rare that we get a nice, plain historical romance. Lydia is a sweet and clever, and I really liked her. Robert is such a gentleman who goes for what he wants. The romance between them is so swoony and adorable and I smiled so much reading this. I have struggled with most of the books I read from the Swoon Reads imprint, but Cindy's are gems. The ending was lovely. Highly recommended!

I really liked Lydia. I loved how strong she was. The kidnapping confused me a little bit, but I would read other books by this author. The cover is really cute.

This one is perfect for anyone looking for a clean romance. I personally like a little more steam in my romances, but I did enjoy this one. It was a little insta-lovey on one side, but the characters were fun and charming. Not sure yet if I'll read anything else by this author, as Duels and Deception was really in the middle for me and a little forgettable, but it was an easy, moderately fun read.

Duels and Deception is a delightful take on the historical fiction genre.

Light-hearted yet fully realised, Duels and Deception is the perfect balance of everything that makes fiction entertaining, as well as the golden nuggets of detail that give books that historical twist.

Lydia is an intriguing main protagonist.

I will admit that at times Lydia - as a character - came across as a little too 'cliche' (in regards to her role in the plot and her tendency to follow repeatedly utilised Regency tropes). However, the further I delved into Duels and Deception the more she grew on me, as layers were slowly but surely revealed.

Disheveled and rumpled VS the elegant Parisian gown.

One of my personal favourite character revelations was the struggle within Lydia to discover who she truly was. This was especially strong during the part where she mourns her inability to project the 'better' version of herself to Robert and the rest of the world.

It made her all the more real - after all, it's a struggle many modern women know well! We're always seeking to project the 'put together' version of ourselves; a concept very much a part of the Regency era. Image was everything, in a sense. As Lydia fights to keep her family name intact, she also begins to realise that some things are more important than image. One of them being love.

Overall Duels and Deceptions is a well-paced Regency romance that is perfect for those that love tales of blossoming affections, kidnappings, and (of course!) pineapples.

I didn't really enjoy this collection. I DNF'd each story. I just didn't care for them. Maybe it is because I really wanted to get into anthologies, but I truly don't enjoy short stories. I like a full length novel.

This book was adorable. I have added Cindy Anstey to my list of authors to keep up with. My only problem with the book was that it wasn't memorable. Other than that it was a delightful bunch of hours.

I tried really hard to get into this book but it was just not for me. The characters were dull and the writing was just not a style I like.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

I must be in a slump. Nothing sounds good and I could not get into this at all. It was too cute. Everyone is too perfect or too bad. I love YA books so it makes me sad that I did not enjoy this. It was very slow to start. The first 20% of the book could have been summarized in the first 15 pages. I liked her first book and hope to try the others but I will wait until I am more in the mood for cutesy love stories.

"One of Entertainment Weekly’s 35 Most Anticipated YA Novels of 2017, this compelling and witty Regency romance is perfect for readers who like their historical fiction with a side of intrigue.

Lydia Whitfield has her future entirely planned out. She will run the family estate until she marries the man of her late father's choosing, and then she will spend the rest of her days as a devoted wife. Confident in those arrangements, Lydia has tasked her young law clerk, Robert Newton, to begin drawing up the marriage contracts. Everything is going according to plan.

Until the day Lydia is kidnapped―and Robert along with her. Someone is after her fortune and won't hesitate to destroy her reputation to get it. With Robert's help, Lydia strives to keep her family's name unsullied and expose the one behind this devious plot. But as their investigation delves deeper and their affections for each other grow, Lydia starts to wonder whether her carefully planned future is in fact what she wants...

Fans of historical romance will delight in Duels and Deception, a young adult novel from Cindy Anstey, author of Love, Lies and Spies."

Regency Romance, I'm in.

Anstey remains one of the better offerings from Swoon Reads, which really says more about how bad a lot of those titles are than it does about the quality of these little Regency comedies.


Both Love, Lies and Spies and Duels & Deception have adorable premises and a ton of potential as base ideas. Unfortunately, they aim for a madcap, hilarious, laugh-a-minute vibe, and Anstey’s writing is simply not funny enough to pull that off. She would do better with light comedies of manners perhaps, but these just don’t work. They’re so obviously trying to be uproarious but instead they’re boring.

Lydia and Robert could have been a cute ship, but they’re both lacking in character development and the banter isn’t on point, so it’s basically a shrug. This whole book is a shrug. I may end up reading Anstey’s next anyway because I’m garbage but I really shouldn’t.

I love this series! Anstey's writing flows beautifully and the stories are full of charm and wit. The characters have depth and I find myself cheering them on as they wade through the mysteries set before them. So much fun!

A highly refined young woman, with her future fixed in her mind, has her plans abruptly interrupted by kidnapping! A great favorite of mine, recalling Austen's regency era with romance, humor, mystery and adventure! A definite must read for Austen fans!

A stunning cover is what drew me in here. I was glad to discover that the cover was not all this book had to offer! It was such a cute and endearing story and this time period always manages to draw me in. It was a book that made me laugh (it was very comedy of manners in that way) and each of the POVs was interesting to me. I found it a sweet novel and I'm interested in seeing what else will come from Cindy Antsey.

Thank you for the chance to review this book, however, unfortunately, I was unable to read and review this title before it was archived.

Ahhh historicals

I believe that you are in either camp. you either love them or you don't.

And I'm 100% convinced Im in the don't. I really wanted to love this book but alas it did not work for me so it really did end up in my DNF pile.

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillian for the chance to read this book.

Tons of fun - I absolutely love YA historical fiction, and Regency anything, so this book was perfect for me.