Lady Olivia Swift and Tristian Cameron, the Duke of Keswick met by chance when Olivia, who is attending his grandmother’s house party, escapes out the stables. She mistakes Tristian for a groom and he makes no attempt to correct her. When she comes back to the stables to ride, Tristian accompanies her and they share a kiss. Later when Olivia is accused of a crime, she names Tristian as her alibi. This leads to a hasty marriage of convenience.

Tristian has a speech impediment, he stutters and has been shamed and ridiculed for a good portion of his life. He keeps to himself and has refused to marry and have children. He is content to let his cousin Spencer inherit. He is enraged and believes that Olivia trapped him into marriage – he makes it clear on their wedding day that he will never be a true husband – he then proceeds to tell her she is to stay in the country and leaves for London.

At first Olivia is devastated, but his grandmother sets her straight and sends her off to London. Once there Olivia meets Spencer and learns that Tristian never plans to father children, she is stunned, especially after she saw him interact with her niece and nephew, she knew he was angry, but assumed eventually he would want an heir. When she confronts him, he confirms, he will not share her bed. Olivia doesn’t give up and enriches Tristian’s life in many ways. For his part, Tristian wants Olivia, but he is not willing to risk having a child, yet the more time he spends with her, the more he is falling under her spell and finally gives in to his desire, but almost immediately regrets it and stubbornly refrains from physical contact, but still spends time with her. Olivia is encouraged and is ready to tell him she loves him and to share her secret, but her hopes of a HEA are shattered when someone leaks a secret about Tristian to the papers and he immediately accuses her and her sister. It is the proverbial straw and leads her to leave him. Will he finally open his eyes and see Olivia is perfect for him or will he keep them closed and lose the love of a lifetime?

The idea of this story was good – mistaken identity, marriage of convenience and a hero who has to overcome emotional and physical impediments – but for me, it fell flat and I place that blame squarely on Tristian, he was such a jerk to her, always assuming the worst and pushing her away, right up until the last chapter and then he did a complete about-face about everything - I just didn’t believe it. There were also formal address issues and I was not happy that the reader never finds out what happened to the villain. Otherwise, it was well written and the story had a lot of potential and if I had been able to connect with Tristian, I might have felt differently, because Olivia was great and I LOVED Ellie in this book.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*

I loved Olivia and Tristan's story!

Their meet cute was fun--bonding over a mutual love of horses, though there is that pesky detail where she thinks he's the head groom and he's really the duke--until it all backfires into a rushed marriage to save her reputation. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Yeah, me neither. ;)

I liked that Olivia stood up for herself (with a little encouragement from Tristan's grandmother and her sister Ellie) and didn't let her new husband hide her away in the country. She also figured out a way to help her husband in Parliament, even though he hadn't been confiding his difficulties to her at that point. She is definitely exactly what he needed--grandma was right about that! The villain of the piece was well done--I'd had a few inklings early on that things might not be quite as they seemed, but definitely didn't expect to see what happened there. And thank goodness all the drama gave Tristan the push he needed to really let Olivia in at last, because he was killing me there...

How to Capture a Duke is the third book in the series, but it would work fine as a standalone. (Confession time: I've only read books 2 and 3. I really need to get to Ian's story ASAP...)

Rating: 4 stars / A-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Lady Olivia, the youngest sister of the Earl of Castleton, has no patience for the boring gentlemen of aristocratic society. She longs for a more adventurous life like the ladies who visit the Raven Club. But her plans are thwarted when her family drags her to a country house party to meet the elusive Duke of Keswick. Tristan Cameron, the Duke of Keswick, finds Olivia in his stables. She believes him to be the stable master, and he doesn’t dissuade her of the notion. He has no interest in entertaining one of the spoiled, self-indulgent ladies who’ve invaded his home. Except, Olivia is neither of those things, and their shared kiss during a ride results in combustible passion.
This was a pretty good story. I really liked Olivia and my heart felt for Tristan. I thought both characters were well written. Yes, Tristan was a jerk for a bit, but I thought it was very understandable why so it didn't hinder my feelings towards the book. I can’t wait to read more from this author.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I recieved a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. While this is the latest in the Raven Club series it is possible to enjoy this book as a stand alone. Tristan has grown up isolated due to his stammer and the bully he faced as a result by his school mates and mother. However Olivia will not allow her husband to hid once a mistake forced them to wed. I love the book. Tristan was frustrating at times because it was just a stutter but he was so sweet. Olivia was a strong character who was strong enough to fight for her marriage.

This is the first book I have read by Tina Gabrielle. Great story with wonderful characters. Flawed hero and a fearless heroine that will tug at your heart and maybe even a few tears before the Happily Ever After.

An enjoyable take on mistaken identity. Was a fun read and entertaining. Will be recommending to customers for sure!

So, I loved the "mistaken for a commoner/servant" trope and how it played out, and I loved the #ownvoices representation with Tristan's stutter. It had charm!

But novellas have so much ground to cover in a little amount and it's difficult to achieve; more often than not, the overall affect suffers. I think that happened here, because while some of the elements were lovely, others fell flat, and I think the author could've rescued it with a longer book. Like, Olivia's family played too prominent of a role for so few pages when I hadn't read the others (which isn't great for overall sell-ability) and it was just too abrupt in places.

Still, it was good. Plus, it prompted me to read another Gabrielle book.

I enjoyed this book! It is part of a series but can be read as a stand-alone. I loved the hero and the heroine as well as the secondary characters. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

4.5 stars - I loved the hero in How to Capture a Duke. He’s a sensitive man who has had to learn to be hard to protect himself from the ridicule his stuttering has always brought his way. When he meets the lovely, forthright, and honest heroine, he finds himself a good thing. The problem is, she doesn’t know he’s the duke and he doesn’t tell her otherwise. When a necklace goes missing and the heroine is blamed, the stable master is her alibi, only problem is he’s really the duke and their secluded outing compromised her. Now he’ll have a wife, that he’s never wanted, and she has a husband who doesn’t trust her.

What follows is a captivating story about learning to trust, love and conquer your personal demons. It’s fantastic!

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

This book is part of a series but can be read as a standalone. There are overlapping characters as the series focuses on the Swift family, I read the first in the series and missed the second, and it had no impact on the story. 

The series seems to rely on the forced marriage trope, in the two books that I have read both relationships involved the couple getting married because they were caught in a compromising situation. 

I like Olivia, she was headstrong and independent. She refused to be ordered about, Tristan did not have a happy life, bullied and humiliated because he has a speech impediment he was determined to never marry. When he is forced to marry Olivia, he believes she trapped him and refuses to have anything to do with her. Tristan has no wish to become a father as he fears passing on his speech impediment, but Olivia won't take no for an answer. When something is leaked to a newspaper, he once again leaps to Olivia or her sister as the culprit. Tristan brought a lot of hardship on himself by not communicating and distrusting the one person who could have helped him. 

There is an added plotline where Olivia gets kidnapped, the entire thing could have been left out as rather than add to the story; it made the plot worse. If this had been excluded, I would have given the book a higher rating. 

It is a good read, and I enjoyed watching Tristan overcome his stutter, but there were too many small plot issues that detract from an otherwise entertaining read.  

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I just really enjoyed this book. It was just really easy to get lost in this book. I will definitely be reading more by this author.

This book was good though I will say it lost some of its momentum towards the end. I enjoyed the characters, but the love triangle was smothered what felt like far too quickly and easily when we finally had everyone all together. All in all it was a fun read I just felt it could have been even more. I wished there had been more details and plot reveals in the end instead of the drawn out beginning and short end we received.

I have not read histroricals in a while so this was a different type of story for me. It is about a houseparty where the heroine, Olivia meets a groom who turns out to be a Duke and beliving she is compromised they wed. He thinks she tricked him and such he is very bitter about it all. And up to that point I enjoyed the story but that plot twist kinda bugged me.

That said it is a well writtend and enjoyable romance and I absolutely loved Olivia. She really made this story for me.

Expect to do nothing else for about 4 or 5 hours, since you'll be reading this book and can't put it down.
A house party at Rosehill in Kent, a restless young lady named Olivia, a beautiful horse named Atlas, a handsome stable groom and a beautiful necklace. Suddenly Olivia finds herself married to the groom, only the groom is the Duke of Keswick who's been hiding from his grandmother's house party. Ridiculed as The Stuttering Duke, Tristan has been tormented his entire life for his speech. Fearing his own child having the impediment, he didn't want marriage and children. Olivia is stubborn enough to try to change her husband's mind, but someone is trying to thwart any progress she makes and to discredit Tristan's work in the House Of Lords.
A definite 5 Stars plus more read!

Regency romances aren’t really my thing, but I was drawn in by the synopsis of this one. When the request for extended blog coverage came out I jumped on it. I’m very excited to say that I really loved it!! Totally surprised myself, and well done to the author! How to Capture a Duke is the third book in the Raven Club series, but it can completely be read as a standalone. The other two books are based around Lady Olivia’s brother and sister, and after reading this one I really want to read their stories – but it is definitely not necessary to have done so before diving into this one!

I loved Olivia’s spunk and the way she continually made the best of a bad situation, and my heart absolutely ached for Tristan. Despite his privilege as a duke, his heart and soul have been badly trampled by society. It’s really a wonder he didn’t turn out to be a complete ass! Oh, and they’re completely hot for each other. There are a couple of SIZZLING sex scenes. You have been warned! Also, Tristan’s grandmama is the bomb. I love her so much. She is absolutely amazing and I want to be her when I grow up.

I have a lovely excerpt to share, so I’m keeping my review short and sweet. You really don’t want to miss the excerpt so be sure to keep reading! There’s also a giveaway at the end of the post, so be sure to enter that as well. 🙂

Tristan Cameron, the Duke of Keswick, and Lady Olivia Swift met at a house party held on his estate. Neither wanted to be there. When they met in the stables, Olivia mistook him for a groom, and Tristan didn’t correct her. Accused of theft, Olivia said she was out of the house when the incident happened, and that the groom could vouch for her. When it is discovered that the “groom” is Tristan and that the two of them had been out unchaperoned, her mother and his grandmother insist that they marry. Thinking he’d been tricked, but seeing no way out, Tristan goes through with the wedding and promptly leaves for London without Olivia. She follows him, determined to make the best of their situation. No matter what she does, Tristan resists. She gives up and goes to tell her sister she is leaving. She never makes it. Where is she? Will Tristan realize too late that she is exactly what he needs and wants?

Tristan is an honorable man and cares for and helps others, especially veterans and others with disabilities. Bullied in school and called the “Stuttering Duke,” he avoids interaction with society. He fulfills his Parliamentary obligation, but cannot bring himself to speak on things his feels are important. Olivia is independent and adventurous. She supports Tristan completely. Antonia, Tristan’s grandmother, and Olivia’s family, especially her sister, encourage her efforts with him. The villain (besides the bullies) might surprise you. How to Capture a Duke is a well written emotional story. It is essentially a journey to acceptance, especially for Tristan, whose greatest challenge is to accept himself as he is. Happy ever after might be possible, but it will be a tough trip. The epilogue ties everything up nicely. I enjoyed this story. I like the series.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

I loved this historical read. Lady Olivia isn’t interested in marrying a boring gentleman with a title. While at a house party she visits the stables where she meets Tristan. She thinks he is a stable master instead of her host. What will happen when sparks fly and she learns the truth. Fast-paced read with loads of drama and steamy chemistry. I loved the characters and the story is entertaining and fast-paced from beginning to end.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was actually a really good read. This was the next addition to the Raven's club series. Olivia is definitely not looking to marry but after an incident she is forced to marry a duke Tristan. Tristan was a cranky dude for lack of a better term. I was glad when he had his redemption moment. Overall a good addition to the series.

This was my first book by Tina Gabrielle and I enjoyed it. Will definitely be reading more.
I love a good forced marriage trope and this one was great. A duke that didn't tell the lady he was a duke. A lady alone with the duke thinking he was a stable hand. A duke who doesn't socialize much because of a disability, one who doesn't trust easily because of past hurts. A lady trying her best to help him to trust again and, just maybe, feel something for her.
This was a shorter book and I would have liked it to be a bit longer, especially the ending. Overall, quite enjoyable read.
I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

Fabulous setting and a wonderful storyline makes this one you wouldn't want to miss, loved it.

I received a copy from Netgalley and I am voluntarily leaving my own honest opinion