I enjoyed this historical mystery romance with the two main characters that were Lady Emily and Ambrose Hawkins. And also the rest of the characters to.

Lady Emily is a duke's daughter. She has been living with uncle after her father passing. But when her uncle pass way she must rely on her cousin to take care of her. With the passing of her mother her father didn't keep up things. Now her family is hurting for money and her cousin might be sent to debtor's prison. They must find a way out of this.

Ambrose Hawkins is a shipper, importer and a former pirate. When a woman rejected him he must settle for a different woman.

This was a fun story with all the twist and turns. It was fun guessing who the murder was.

I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley.  This is my honest unbiased opinion.

The book did not hold my attention and I am not sure if it was the writing style or something else. I skimmed, skipped ahead, read the end so got the gist of the story and it wasn't bad but as I did not read all of it and don't feel it fair to give a review with a lower rating to a book I could not read fully I am DNFing. That said, thank you very much for the ARC to read.

This book was super hard to finish. I didn’t like the main character who is weak and judgey. The plot was hard to follow and I didn’t get a lot of chemistry from the characters. Just not my cup of tea.

This is a competent story of Beauty and the Beast - here identified as a refined Duke's Daughter and a rough shipowner and businessman, but it lacks any real spark.
For me, the characters seemed 2 dimensional with little depth. I also dislike women who knuckle under to stereotypes. The girl seemed particularly wishy washy at the beginning.
The story idea was reasonable, if not new, but needed to be better situated historically to give validity to the shipping, politics, coffee houses and fashions at the very least.

This book surprised me. I thought it was going to be another romance that I would enjoy, but had no substance. This story had a plot that drew me in. I enjoyed the characters and story!

1741
It seemed through the ages the Dukes of Normande had not overly taken care of the estate but muddled through and such was the case with the current Duke. Such was the case was with Henry, the eighth duke of Normand, Emily Saintonge's cousin. After her father had passed away, Claude had taken over and then his son Henry. It seemed the finances were in dire straights, thus she could not fathom why he had brought her to Covent Gardens to see a play. She could only wonder about the cost!
That is when she was introduced to Mr. Ambrose Hawkins. Her cousin had arranged for her to marry him if he found her pleasing, thus helping with the debt owed. A time honored way of things?
This story is the journey of Emily and Ambrose and overcoming their marriage of convenience with some suspense and mystery thrown into the mix. An enjoyable read!

I did not got into this book as much. I liked the premise, but I skimmed most of the book. I think I need to read this at a later point in time, and try it again.

Lovely story. I wiuld have liked to have seen more of a relationship between the main characters. I don't want to spoil the story so I won't! The plot was very interesting and well executed. Ambrose is a self made man. Emily a duke's daughter. Lack of money is the catalyst that starts the whole affair. Good story, just not as intense as I like.

This book was really hard for me to get through. It had very lengthy opinionated passages and some of the language was annoying with some words being used repeatedly. The characters were annoying; Emily in particular. She was very rigid and judgmental. Her lack of affection and emotion for her husband made her hard to relate to in a main character. Her only concern was her standing in society and how others would think of her; vs. her husband and his situation. Yet at the end, she seemed to do a 180 in wanting to stand up for him.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I was initially drawn to the fact that the main character, Ambrose Hawkins, is a pirate - and that the book takes place in my favorite century, the eighteenth. My expectations were naturally heightened, and I was not disappointed. The author's ability to weave the most apt of words together to embroider the whole is just brilliant. From the very outset of the book, I was captivated by the characters and description of the period. In some of opening scenes, we see Ambrose in a tavern - with sights and sounds of the period to match. And, in a later scene, dressing and contemplating his choice of coats...purple velvet. Something that connotes great wealth and respectability. Having been to Williamsburg, Virginia, more times than I can count, I can absolutely picture Ambrose in that suit. And I must add that the romance between Ambrose and Emily was lovely. A perfect book for those looking for something taking place in the eighteenth century!!

i found some parts of the story to be rather clichéd or overdone, there’s perhaps too much winking, and the romance has quite a few references to “warmth” and “sensations,” which gets repetitive. Also, though this isn’t an insta-love story, the eventual jump to love still felt rushed to me, on one party’s part in particular, especially since they both began the story so opposed to marriage.

Still, I very much enjoyed this read, ate it up in one evening,

Emily, the daughter of the late Duke of Normandy, must marry if her cousin, the current duke is to avoid debtor’s prison. A marriage is arranged with Ambrose Hawkins, who is involved in shipping, so his involvement in ‘trade’ is beneath her social standing but this elevates Ambrose’s status whilst providing funds for the family. When a crime is committed and Ambrose found to be the obvious suspect, life soon changes for a couple only newly married.
Whilst the premise of the story was interesting, I felt that the story was quite drawn out. The two main characters showed potential, yet the dialogue between them is quite stilted. At times, their inner thoughts proved to be of greater interest. The novel seems true to the manner of the time period, yet I didn’t quite feel that I was engaged in the storyline. Otherwise, the attention to detail was well developed.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This story was very unusual in that it was a very matter of fact story. The heroine was. Duke's daughter, but her father has passed away, her uncle became duke and her passed away and now her 22 year old cousin was the present duke. When her father died, she had not been resented or had a season yet, but her uncle had her become her cousins' unpaid governess. She was 19 when her father passed, 21 when her oldest cousin turned 18, went away to have a season and marry and 23 when her younger cousin turned 18, went away for her season and became married. She was now 27 and her cousin told her to save the estate she and him had to find rich spouses. He would have the pick of the beau monde since he was a duke, but she would have to marry a rich merchant who wanted a highly connected wife. (Can you say short end of the stick?) The heroine described herself as dutiful to the estate. The hero is a rich travelling merchant who ran away to the sea when he was 12. He also was pressed onto a pirate ship until the crew was able to get off. This story may seem familiar, but it was more in depth that that.
The story seems well written, but at times the reader has to decide what the author is saying. It was a slow read. The hero and heroine do not engage like other stories. They are likeable, but dull. There is very little romance, and the ending is abrupt. While the sun plots all nicely ended, the story was a long, slow read. I would read this book once and then put into the trade pile. I give this book 2 stars and recommend very lightly. Yes, it is readable, but not memorable.

This is an interesting story. Ambrose Hawkins was into shipping. He owned several ships. He is still single but wanted a mate. He had tried to woo Olivia Cantarell but he made a whopper of a mistake. So needless to say, that she rejected him and went with another. Someone suggested a moneylender as a matchmaker. Apparently, he had been successful. So Hawkins went to him. The Duke of Normande was financially in dire straits and was only twenty-two. But it had happened through three dukes mismanaging the estate and the Dukedom. So he decided to get a rich wife and he also went to Solomon. He put his cousin, Emily Saintonge, on the block also. Mr. Hawkins saw her at a play and liked the looks of her. Then he came to the house to meet her and learn a little more about her.
I thought it was well written and the plot kept my attention. There were some twists and turns that were eventually explained. The only problem I have is she seemed to dwell on she should not do this because they were lower classes, like when she befriended Sarah. The characters were realistic and engaging. I fell very lucky to have the chance to read this book.
I received this ARC from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed it.

The copy description of a historical marriage of convenience and a non-peer hero is usually something I'm very keen on. However, Ms. Buckley's writing style was somewhat still, and I could not engage with the material. It might very well suit other readers. Unfortunately it was a DNF from me. 2.5 stars.

This was an easy, light story that almost read like a Jane Austen classic.

The story was set around a merchant, Mr Hawkins, being wrongfully accused of murder, very shortly after his marriage to Emily, daughter of the late Duke of Normandy. The story plays out as Emily struggles to navigate the month following his arrest, trying to imagine her husband couldn't be a killer and won't hang for this horrible crime. As Emily was orphaned at a young age and given into the care of a cousin, she has little experience with independence, and was horrified at what her social standing would become if she were to be the widowed wife of a murderer. While Emily comes off as weak and helpless, some chance encounters lead her to discover the true identity of the murderer, and ultimately win his release from prison.

I say this novel read like a classic Jane Austen novel because the author really wrote it like a book written in the early 1900s. The language and behaviours of the characters were fitting of the time period, the women useless and stifled as is often the case with classic literature, and while the subject matter had the potential to be rather thrilling, it was written with little excitement and exclamations of emotion from any of the characters. I enjoy reading classic literature, and have no issue with reading of events written without excitement and thrill, but some readers may find this book to be somewhat boring and dry.

Overall, it was an alright read, but not super exciting or overly enjoyable.

A good quick easy regency romance read. I like both the main characters, although I would have liked more about their stories, and I had hoped that Emily might have developed a little more backbone and stood up for herself a bit more. A quint tale and one that I found enjoyable to read. Ambrose's story also could have been told more at length as he seemed to have quite an adventurous life before meeting Emily.
Thank you for me ARC, I did enjoy it.

Overall a decent book. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did I felt the story was pretty good and a little different than the standard historical romance. I did think the characters could have overall been developed a little more although I did like that there was a pretty good group of secondary characters.

This is my fair and honest review, in my own words, given voluntarily for this ARC. Very easy to read, well written tale. There is no graphic sex, no mushy love but yet there are strong bonds that you assume will grow with time. It is a rather good tale.