This was the first book I have read of Olivia Drake and I could not put it down once I picked it up.

I loved this story, it was not your usual historical romance. Maxwell and Abigail were wonderful together and the story line was a refreshing change. Interference has separated these two and it takes a lot for them to trust each other again.

Olivia Drake’s latest entry in the Cinderella Sisterhood reunites Max and Abigail, two childhood friends and lovers, who have been separated by time and by their families. Abigail has been a devoted daughter and younger sister, taking care of her dying parents and her siblings’ large brood of children. Max has become a dissolute rake in London.

We know that Max will be redeemable, but it takes almost 2/3 of the book to start to uncover his better features (well, er, except for some of the more obvious ones…) Abigail is clearly still in love with him, but it is hard to see why, given the present company he keeps, and the less than ducal way he treated her in the past.

I think my favorite characters in the book are Max’s sister, and Abby’s niece, who form a friendship that I hope will continue in future books.

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

This was a historical second chance at love story. The hero and heroine were friends as children and he promised to marry her when he reached his majority. When his father removed the family from the estate after the death of his wife and went to London, their letters to each other went unanswered. He assumed that she rejected him and she assumed that he preferred to be a libertine. She was the much younger sibling of a large family and spent the last fifteen years caring for her elderly parents and once they died, her siblings argued over who would get to have her live with them as basically an unpaid servant. She chafes at their deciding her life for her and decides to apply to be the governess to the hero's sister figuring he would never come back and everything would be fine. He unexpectedly arrives with a group of dissipated London friends and a woman he planned to make his mistress. Unsurprisingly, they are still attracted to one another but are miffed because of the unanswered letters.

I like this author, but this book wasn't the best. It kept me interested and was an easy enough read, but it didn't stand out from a hundred others just like it. The heroine could have been more interesting, but when it came to her family and their treatment of her, she saw nothing wrong with it. I was pleased that the hero didn't like it, but beyond reminding them that it was her birthday when they paid a visit and her family put her to work getting glasses and minding a fussy baby, it went no further. The mystery of the lost letters was easily resolved and everything ended kind of abruptly with a marriage proposal. The supporting characters were kind of flat with little to offer beyond the almost-mistress causing mischief.

It was an okay read, but doesn't stand out from the crowd.

Abby’s will to live her own life was so refreshing! Loved the beautiful relationship between her and Gwen! Then in comes this wonderful mixture of the Max of the past and present and the struggle of which would win and I was hooked!

Maxwell Bryce, the Duke of Rothwell, hasn't been back to his ducal seat in 15 years, not since the tragic death of his mother. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he and his guests land there, and Max comes face-to-face with his childhood love, Miss Abby Linton. Abby who is nearing 30 years old is tired of being shuttled between her siblings. She loves taking care of her nieces and nephews, but she wants to take charge of her life. She becomes the governess to Lady Gwendolyn, the duke's younger sister. Max hasn't been home for years and Abby is content to go into service without worrying about running into her first love who deserted her 15 years ago.

This is the first book I've read by Ms. Drake. The plot moved along well. I liked Abby and was happy to see her finally stand up for herself. I detested her family though. They were selfish and treated Abby like a servant. I have mixed feelings about Max. I wanted to love him, but I found him to be shallow. He basically ignored his beloved sister for years while he lived the bachelor/rake life in London. It was only by happenstance that he ended up at home and even then, he didn't spend much time with her. I did enjoy the second chance at love aspect of the story between Max and Abby and there were some good scenes full of tension and angst. While there was an HEA, I would have liked an epilogue to see how her family reacted to her new status.

I enjoyed this book, a sweet romance that was relatively fast paced. Historical isn’t my normal go to genre but I just may read more after this. A meddling family, an old, secret relationship, some old wounds being exposed. Overall, a very enjoyable book.

Skillfully written, greatly enjoyed! I don't know why I personally love stories where childhood sweethearts or friends reconnect and fall in love. This one did not fail to disappoint!

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the start of a new series by Olivia Drake. Abigail is an under appreciated and seeks to have her own life. I enjoyed the story a great deal and I am hoping the next one is good as well.

3.5 Stars

A second chance for thwarted romance between two former friends, set in historical England. This is my first Olivia Drake’s books and I jumped at the chance to read this because this is the first installment in her new “Unlikely Duchess” series.

I generally liked the story, although I found the heroine’s (older) siblings rather overbearing. Abby Linton herself was quite pragmatic as well as resourceful. While her heart was broken when she thought her first love abandoned her and pursued much more exciting live in London, she hadn’t dwelled much on it and focused on caring for her family instead. Only when her aging parents had passed away, did she had the urge to live her own life and took up position as governess for a young noble girl on the neighboring estate. Problem occurred when the girl’s brother, Max - the new Duke who was none other than Abby’s first love, showed up and took umbrage of his sister’s new governess. Apparently, Max thought Abby rejected him years ago and hadn’t fully moved on from it.

It was almost too easy to predict how and where things had gone wrong between Max and Abby; what happened with the missing letters they had sent to each other. As disappointed as I was with Max for being quick to assume Abby’s rejection - yes, I took side on this issue because as woman of that period Abby couldn’t be expected to gallivanting to London looking for Max while she had to care for her ailing mother as well - I was also glad that he considered the option, contrite enough to admit his shortcomings, and came to the most plausible possibility without much needed nudging; then planned accordingly.

I applauded that the author threaded carefully on the returning flame between Max and Abby. While the Duke didn’t necessary care what others thought, he also didn’t want to sully Abby’s reputation; a rare trait for a male character. What I didn’t care for was the token malicious gold-digger among the secondary characters (I was initially unimpressed with certain spoiled family relation who took advantage of Abby’s innate kindness, but they returned the favor in the end). Personally, I wish the plot had taken turn where the cad got their appropriate punishment - I’m blood-thirsty that way.

As an intro to Drake’s writing, I consider “The Duke I Once Knew” as a win. There was no over the top angsty drama and the hero/heroine were both level-headed in dealing with what life threw at them. For sure I’m going to check out Drake’s backlist titles and also looking forward to the next installment of the series.


Advanced copy of this book is kindly given by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Duke I Once Knew is the first book in the newest series by Olivia Drake. I just love this author because I always know that I can easily get into her books. I was very curious to see how she would handle this book here though. And it was such a great book to read here. I was really fascinated with seeing how this book evolved. It does have some enemies to lovers qualities, but its more over a misunderstanding between Max and Abigail. They fell in love when they were teenagers, but then Max was sent off to school and his father deliberately seperated them because he knew that Max was falling in love and wanted to give him distance.

And now its been many years, both Max and Abigail are older in their early thirties, and when Max comes home, Abigail has taken a position as a governess for Max’s sister. We see though that both of them had tried to communicate with each other but somehow the letters never reached their intended destination. We see Max and Abigail reconnect with each other and seeing them get over their past assumptions and hurts and be honest with each other is truly refreshing. I loved seeing them find each other again and the love that has always been there between them. What I really admired about the complexities about their relationship especially since we have other factors involved. With all the distractions that could cause some contention between Max and Abigail we see that they have something vibrant and real that rises above all the negative moments that they have to face and seeing them come together in this book was simply an adventure and a fun filled journey to join them on!!! A true pleasure to read in every way!!

I don’t know if I’m getting a little burned out on romance, or if this book just wasn’t for me, but I found this second-chance historical romance perfectly sweet but a little uninspiring… First things first, I think I should say that there’s nothing objectively wrong with this book. It’s a light-hearted, sweet romance between two former childhood sweethearts who, due to someone’s meddling, each thought the other had jilted them. It’s fluffy, but I found it unfulfilling.

I think perhaps I just didn’t love either of the main characters, or really see much chemistry between them. Abby is a people-pleaser who has great difficulty standing up for herself, which is a personality type that I find extremely annoying in real life, let alone as a heroine. Max is aloof, and to be honest, not that nice to Abby – plus, he spends the whole book stringing along another woman who he had seduced and brought to his house for a tryst… and then sort of just failed to do anything with. He just keeps her hanging about with no closure, which is kind of dickish. Also, I found the ‘mousy brunette heroine is an intelligent good person where as busty blonde rival is a vapid sexpot’ thing to be deeply outdated and gross.

The pacing is a little slower than I would have liked, and I found a fair bit of the plot quite repetitive. Really, once Abby and Max had realised that their letters had gone astray, they probably should have just talked and admitted they had feelings for one another, not spent the middle two thirds of the book dithering in case the other’s feelings had changed… This could have been a very cute novella, but as it stands, I found it dragged.

That is not to say I think that this is a bad book – I just think it hit some tropes that for me, aren’t my favourites. As a sweet romance read, this is perfectly fine. And it has some great kittens in it. So it’ll get three out of five stars from me, but I think others might like it more!

Second chance romance, where both main characters have resigned themselves to a life alone on their terms.
Fifteen years ago Maxwell the Duke of Rothwell and Abigail Linton had what they thought was a romance that would last a lifetime. When Max’s father took he and his sister to London after his wife died, their romance ended even with promises of love letters and marriage.
Abby cared for her parents for fifteen years until their death, now with her older siblings fighting for who she must help with next she has decided to apply as governess to Lady Gwendolyn Rothwell.
Max has strived to stay away from his boyhood home, but a case of the Measles at his friends home has sent he and is traveling companions to Rothwell Court. This throws him directly in the path of the one person he has no desire to see, Abby. Max did not know his Aunt hires Abby as Gwen’s governess and will see that she is relieved of her post immediately. Max agrees to let Abby stay on until he and his companions leave and to stay out of his way.
The more time spent in the company of each other the more they realize they just might of wasted fifteen years and what a lonely life they have lead. And just maybe there’s a fine line between love and hate.

The Duke I Once Knew is the first of the all new Unlikely Duchesses series. Olivia Drake reunites two people once in love in their youth after years of misunderstanding and forgotten dreams.

Abigail Linton is stepping out of the shadow of her older siblings who treat her like their personal servant. She was never meant to be a spinster, but circumstances took away her chance to come out into society and make a good match. Her family expects her to be there for their every whim, so her decision to become a governess to the Duke of Rothwell's sister comes as a complete surprise. When His Grace unexpectedly comes home they must confront their pasts and explore the passion that still rises between them.

Maxwell Bryce, the Duke of Rothwell, has a chip on his shoulder. His personal past is a dark cloud that follows him especially so when he returns to Rothwell Court. The Duke I Once Knew is full of emotional drama that pulls you in. I loved watching Abby stand up for herself even when no one respected her decision to work or the position she chose. She knew what she wanted from life even when it didn't unfold as she planned. Fans of Kerrigan Byrne will enjoy this story of two people whose connections draw them together even after years apart.
*ARC provided in consideration for review*

This was a new author to me and having finished "The Duke I Once Knew" I think I'd like to read more of Olivia Drake in the future; while it wasn't perfect, for example I very much enjoy reading epilogues and this one didn't have any, so that was kind of a let down but overall it was an entertaining read.

When it comes to the main characters, the heroine Abby wants to be independent and while she shows a fierce resolution and determination I didn't quite liked that imo she was too quick to come to conclusions, also her attitude with Max seemed to bitter and that she could easily get angry or confrom him about things but not others, so that grudge was a bit strong for my liking; but she did had other redeeming qualities. Same was with Max, he has flaws but also good quialities.

This was not as steamy I think as other books in the genre, but the romance was still there and I was rooting for them to get a HEA. Since this is the first in a series it'd be nice to see them in a cameo on a future book.

I loved Abigail and Max's story! It was a reunion story, which is always one of my favorites.

Tired of always doing things for her older siblings, Abigail is ready to make a life for herself. She becomes the governess for the Duke of Rothwell's sister. Abigail was once in love him, but since he hasn't been to his estate in 15 yrs, there is no chance that she will run into him. Too bad he unexpectedly shows up not a week into her new job.

Max hasn't been home since his mother passed away. He sure didn't expect to find his former love working in his home. But Abigail seems angry at him whenever they encounter each other. Since she was the one that cut off all contact with him, he doesn't understand why she is acting the say she is.

As they once again get close, they learn that all is not as it seems. Can they recapture the love they once shared?

I really enjoyed watching these two come together. My emotions kept going up and down right along with them on this journey back to each other. This was a great start to what I am sure will be another great series by Drake. I'm excited for the next book in the series and can't wait to see what she has in store for us!

Perfect change of pace and sweet romance. 3.5 stars
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This is one book that I had a love/hate relationship with. I loved the theme. Older women in the Regency era definitely were frowned upon when it came time to try and marry. Plus, I love the second chance romance portion too. So sweet!

But I had issues with some of the personality characteristics the author chose to give Abby. Just some of the things that came out of her mouth didn’t sit right. She was bitter that Max was able to live his life in London and have plenty of women friends. Even after the mystery of the letters was solved, she held the fact that he was free to see whomever he wanted against him. She got quite snarky a time or two.

I did really enjoy Max's character. He never forgot her and was curious why she was still un-married and why she was even working. You could definitely tell that he still had feelings for her even though she was kind of mean to him off and on. Max definitely made the story come to life and made it a pleasure to read.

This is the first time I have read a book by Olivia Drake. I enjoyed the story in many ways. Traditional Regency style romance with a female character that did have some great redeeming qualities and a hottie, Max, who understood her better than anyone. Sweet and a great change of pace!

Looking forward to reading more from this author.

The Duke I Once Knew by Olivia Drake is at time warm and sentimental and at other times steamy. I is a complex story with well developed characters. The secondary characters are bright, distinct and integral to the story. A delightful read for the twists and turns in plot. I especially enjoyed the way that Abby's family is portrayed. At points, some of the characters seem to act slightly out of character, yet isn't that how a complex human acts? Enjoyed the elements of plot that are more unique in writing of this time. Delightful! Highly Recommend.

This was a new to me author and I love second chance romances coupled with childhood friends. Sadly, I am wondering if 3 stars is too high.

I liked Abby well enough. She wants to be independent and I liked her strength and desire for something of her own. Max is just okay. He was stoic and I never warmed up to him. The scenes between the two of them lacked chemistry.

Plot wise, it was meh. Things felt repetitive and rushed {especially when it came to the letters. And while the ending was good, I wanted something a bit more and would have loved to see an epilogue. There were several snide comments about the personalities and fragility of women. I get that it’s the time period, but this seemed fairly excessive.

Overall, it was an okay story. I’m not entirely sure why I kept reading it and I’m not sure if I’ll continue the series.

**Huge thanks to St. Martin’s Paperbacks for providing the arc free of charge**

The duke she once knew refuses to be foolish enough to fall in love.

Abby and Max enjoyed a brief but meaningful teenage romance that ended when Max's life took a tragic turn. Years later, he's convinced himself that love is for fools and he'll never give anyone the chance to break his heart like Abby did.

Abby has devoted her young adulthood to caring for her aging parents, but after their death she wants some semblance of independence from her dear but demanding older siblings. The only option she sees is to become the governess to Max's young sister, which shouldn't be a problem since Max hasn't returned to the family estate in more than a decade.

Ah, but of course their paths will cross, and all the emotions of their youth - the affection, the intense attraction, the anger and bitterness - all come into play as they try to make sense of the past in order to move on with their futures. Realizing how they've been manipulated - and continue to be manipulated - forces Max and Abby to look deep into their hearts, past their hurts and prejudices, to discover the happiness that lies before them.

This was a charming, outstanding Regency romance. Max comes across like any debauched rake of the time, until we get to know him on a private level that he keeps well-hidden from society. Abby surprises herself with her unrealized depth of emotions and begins to think about life's possibilities in far grander terms than she's ever dared before.

The writing is beautifully lyrical, instantly captivating, and effortlessly draws the reader back in time. The vividly-described setting and genuine, multi-faceted characters make this a memorable love story that I'll read again and again. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.