Juliette and Lucas were a sleeper hit for me. I loved the interaction between Lucas and Sheridan and Juliette and her cousin just as much as the romance between them. This book makes the reader feel like they are right there as one of the characters in the book. Definitely a must read.

This was a lighthearted and entertaining romp of a novel. It left my heart feeling light and unfettered.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

My Favorite Duke follows Lady Juliet who should be one of the happiest women in England, but she's not. She's been engaged to the sought after Duke of Sherwood for over a year, and he keeps postponing their wedding. Once others start giving her pitying looks, and some even let slip that Sherwood may be spending time with other women, enough is enough. She needs to find out once and for all what is up, and plans to sneak off this his nearby estate, and have it out. While travelling to the estate, the carriage her and her cousin, Genevieve, are travelling in is beset by highwaymen, who try to take them hostage but fail. Lucas, the Duke of Ainsworth, appears to the outside world to be bookish and interested wholly in science. However, this is a ruse, as he's really helping the government to discover a counterfeiting ring in Cumbria, and he thinks the carriage travelling the roads at night may be linked. When it's revealed that Lady Juliet is inside, he's still suspicious, and organises a trip to her home to see if she's involved, and when she steals his clothing and disguises herself as a man to travel to Sherwood's estate again, he can't help but follow. Stuck together overnight, they overcome their initial differences, and band together to work out who is behind the crimes, and soon fall in love. Will Juliet be able to back out of her engagement, or is Sherwood more dangerous that they thought?

We met both main characters in book 1, All You Need Is A Duke, and I was intrigued by them, especially Juliet who wasn't that big a character last time. She's slightly annoying at first, being completely self involved, but as we learn more about her childhood - with a father who hated her mother, and was cheating on her - and why she wanted to marry so much, she grew on me. I really enjoyed seeing her growth too, and how she wasn't going to accept how her dad and stepmother treated her any longer. Lucas, with his spying background, and painful first love, just pulled at my heartstrings, and I found his chapters the best. When they were both together, their mutual growth was amazing to see, and though their romance seemed quick at times, I loved how it came to a conclusion.

Lucas, the Duke of Ainsworth, wants everyone to believe he's a bumbling botanist when in fact he's actually do work for the Home Office. While on a mission that goes wrong he meets Lady Juliet and is intrigued by her, but she's engaged to the Duke of Sherwood. Lucas continues to investigate a counterfeiting ring and he doesn't like where it leads. Can Lucas convince Juliet that he is the better man?

Ms. Blythe introduced Juliet in the first book with a few small scenes and I was wondering why to include a non-essential character. Now we have Juliet's story. I didn't like this book as much as the first one especially with some of Juliet's antics of going off on wild goose chases regarding her absentee duke. It was very modern and out of character for a regency young lady. I liked Lucas much more and especially his back story and connection to Sherwood. I'm looking forward to reading the next story in the series.

I've voluntarily read the advanced reader copy and all opinions are my own.

Bianca Blythe is one of my favorite writers of romance. She does not disappoint with My Favorite Duke. Juliet and Lucas have the most unconventional HEA. The witty banter, the highwayman who is accidentally shot, the best friend who does the shooting, the fiancé who waits a year to marry, to even see his betrothed, the secret passages, the ‘cottage’ with surprise servants, all add up to a delightful story.

Juliet struggles with her attraction to what amounts to the absent minded professor who really is not so absent minded. Lucas has his own past demons to overcome. Yet, these circumstances make for a sweet romance.

First, book by this author.
A fun quick read.
Likeable characters. Lady Juliette is happily engaged. Waiting and waiting for her betrothed. An adventure leads her to Lucas, a Duke hiding out in a cabin
Interesting premise.

Will she open her heart in time and realize she might have decided to fast on the wrong man ...

Now that I am to write my feelings about this read, I do remember that the first time I have read Mrs Bianca Blythe’s work, I thought she had a very specific voice. And the previous book, the first in this series, was everything I loved, witty, funny, romantic. But with this second, I felt a bit lost, it has the funny moments with the internal musing of both main characters and their no-nonsense thoughts, but I did not really connected with them but it is probably me the problem as both are kind characters, they switched their feelings toward one another for fast for me.

For a kind of spy, Lucas is not really the best at his job, he adopts a facade but it is only a facade, one scratch and everything might crumble. Yet he is willing to find the culprit.
Juliet is completely delusional about her betrothed duke, always making excuses for his absence and soooooo innnn looove after only two encounters. Even risking her safety to rescue him from whatever fate might have befallen on him and prevented him to attend once more an event, thus for a full year she has not seen him.

The highwaymen scene was just hilarious, their inner dialogues full of fun and derision.
In all it is a very enjoyable read with two sweet characters who made some mistakes, up to them to correct them the right way.

On a special note, I must disliked the heroine’s father. He was an awful husband to her mother, and disparaging her mother in front of everyone is very ugly.

4 stars, I was granted an advance copy by the author, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

Unique Style Becomes Wearing

At first, I was utterly delighted at the way that the author wrote this story. It almost seems as if it is written to be a spoof of Regency or historical romance, though I know it isn’t. It feels very tongue-in-cheek. The heroine is very naïve and an unreliable narrator (though charmingly so), which becomes clear very soon. I like stories with an unreliable narrator if it's well done, as it is here. The sections told from the hero's point of view are not as naïve, but they are a bit blithe. Funny incidents happen and are described in a similar tongue-in-cheek blithe or naïve fashion depending on who the narrator is at the time. A little while into the hero’s section, though, I found the style a bit wearing, almost like I had to read very closely to catch all the in-jokes. So while I found this book to be enjoyable, it was best in small doses. I am a person who prefers to just sit and binge-read a book or two when I have the time, so I found that mildly annoying. Still, though, this unique style was an interesting one to read.

This book was entertaining. The story was good and it was a fast read. I didn’t care for the writing style but that is just personal preference. Otherwise, this was a quick fun read perfect for an escape from reality for awhile.

I had been having a bad few days: washer quit, faucet leaking, I decided to read for a while and try to regain my sanity. All I can say is " This book hooked me from the very beginning. A heroine who is not typical at all:, practical, and willing to go toe to toe for what she thinks is rightfully hers. No shrinking violet here! The hero is handsome, .' if you like strong heroines, flawed but gorgeous heroes, and witty dialogue....this is it!

An enjoyable book by Bianca Blyth. It was hilariously funny in parts, with a really dizzy heroine who has a habit of getting herself into trouble. A perfect read for a hot sunny afternoon.