WHY DID I LISTEN TO HER NIGHT WITH THE DUKE BY DIANA QUINCY?
Diana Quincy’s Her Night With The Duke sounded pretty unique compared to the other historical romances out there. Not that I am dogging on the other historical romances, because I do enjoy them quite a bit. However, the big draw to me for this book is that the heroine was half Arabic. I might just be reading the wrong books, but it seems like the majority of historical romance I come across features a white heroine, with the exception of the books by Beverly Johnson. I really enjoy listening to historical romances, so grabbing the audiobook via Libby was a no-brainer for me. Also, it was a great opportunity to test out the Powerbeats I got for Christmas.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Lady Delilah “Leela” Chambers ends up at a country inn for the evening when a rain storm occurs and she’s attacked by ruffians. A man helps her fend the group off. As it turns out, Leela and the man have some chemistry and so they give into their urges and spend the night together, hooking up. The next day, they both go on their way. It is then that Leela finds out the man she hooked up with is the Duke of Huntington, Elliot Townsend. Oh and he’s supposed to be marrying Leela’s stepdaughter. Leela and Elliot intend to avoid each other and to not be tempted. Of course, this is a romance novel with the title Her Night With The Duke so you can likely guess what is about to happen.

WHAT DID I THINK OF HER NIGHT WITH THE DUKE?
I thought Her Night With The Duke was okay. I was not super invested in it. Nor did it ever merit my undivided attention. Leela was an interesting character in that she wrote books about her travels to the Middle East and earned money from the income. She was a capable, somewhat independent woman. I did think she was a bit too self sacrificing. What was more interesting to me was the story of her step daughter and how everything played out with her (it’s quite wonderful and I wish it had merited its own book). As for Elliot, he’s okay. Again, I wasn’t very into this book.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The audiobook of Her Night With The Duke is narrated by Zara Hampton-Brown. It is 8 hours and 56 minutes long. I listened sped up to 1.5x. The audiobook isn’t bad. There’s nothing that was a big turn off. I was glad to have ear phones, however, because it does have some adult scenes that I did not want to listen to in front of other people.

This one just didn't work for me - thank you so much for the opportunity to read this early, but I may revisit sometime in the near future!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon books for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this after hearing some good things in the romance community but I should have thought about how my taste differs from the person who recommended it.

The premise seemed interesting, a woman of color and a widow in a historical setting and the slightly dramatic and taboo nature of the pairing and I won't spoil anything. I found the relationship was a little thin like many of the other reviews. There isn't much chemistry other than physical that happens very early on in the story which was a little shocking to me and after that I found it hard to really root for the couple in a long term fashion.

The situation did set up a lot of drama but when the couple doesn't really feel like they would be together without that one night of passion, it feels a little contrived.

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers/ Avon via Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Not really a fan of this but I suggest for those that need it most definitely a trigger warning.

Her Night with the Duke was an interesting historical romance because of the ethnically diverse heroine and her struggles for acceptance, contentment and happiness. The beginning, which began with an intense one-night stand, was a little shocking. This event sets up the plot of the story involving the step-daughter of the heroine and her engagment to the hero. Interesting characters, relationships and resolutions -- not all believable but an entertaining read, nonetheless.

A young widow’s once in a lifetime one night stand turns out to be a very inconvenient tryst when the man she met at an inn turns out to be her stepdaughters’s betrothed. No matter how hard they try to deny it, they have a connection. They’re also up against the fact that Leela is marginalized within her husband’s family.. Her stepson resents her and most of the family freezes her out due to her biracial heritage and the fact that she dares to buck convention. There’s a nice subplot about her secretly being a popular travel writer. Unfortunately Leela’s relationship with the Duke is thin and more convincingly grounded in the physical than emotional aspect. Overall a little unsatisfying.

Pluses: interesting and varied personalities - rule bender/breaker of social mores of time period such as mixed marriage, female author, unexpected legacy in will, turning down a Duke for his secretary; overall plot line had some unexpected lowkey twists however somewhat telegraphed early on. Passion graphic in description but emotions not really felt by reader

I love this romance! The main female character is strong and insightful. I recommended the title to our eBook buyer. This is a keeper.

Not a bad way to start a series.

Been a while since I truly read a Historical Romance and I like it enough. I loved the storyline of a clandestine meeting, even though said meeting was in the shadows of some obvious discrimination. In some ways I'm glad the author didn't overlook this little detail, no way could someone of Leela's birth and background could easily breeze through regency-era without a few thorny bites. I find Leela a bit exotic, but very polished to fit into English society. Hunt, Mr. Duke, ha, is all manly and staid. While I wasn't scandalized and clutching my pearls by the desires these two ignited, I was satisfied.

This was a fun romance with some unexpected twists. I loved that Leela was an author seeking to find her own way in the world even when it was frowned up for women to do so. And I love how she teaches Elliot that there is more to life than just following the rules. Overall an engaging and exciting romance!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the eARC!

Her Night With the Duke was a very sumptuous and sexy book about a duke and an earl’s widow of middle eastern descent. I enjoyed all of it including the secondary characters especially Victoria. The tension in the story was expected but overcome in a satisfying way. 5 stars.

First book I read from this author. I am not sure if this is her debut or if she has a back catalogue but this was a fresh take on the one night with a stranger trope. I enjoyed the book and will continue to read this author.

I reviewed this title for All About Romance:

https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/her-night-with-the-duke-by-diana-quincy/

As soon as the heroine mentioned being barren, I flipped to the end and — spoilers! — saw she ended up with a magical baby. That’s a hard pass from me.

Her Night With The Duke is a perfect forbidden romance between Lady Delilah (Leela) Chambers, and the Duke of Huntington, sweet, honorable, handsome, silver-tongued Elliot Townsend.
This romance was like nothing I'd ever read before... a random, chance meeting at a roadside inn, Leela & Hunt's chemistry was off the charts immediately. Only for them to both realize a few days after they spent a wild, passionate night together, do they discover Hunt was en route to court & eventually marry Leela's stepdaughter.
Leela was married to her late-husband when she was only 17 years old, leaving few years between her, her stepdaughter, and her crappy stepson, who was older than she. There are few background characters who were compelling enough to remove the focus from the love story of Hunt & Leela, save for Hunt's mysterious friend, the Viscount Griff. I am GENUINELY hoping he's next in line for an HEA... Lord knows the man needs it. We get hot, steamy sex right off the jump, and have to wait quite awhile to see it again, understandably so... but the lack throughout the middle of the book was made up for how fervently these two coupled up so frequently.
I love the culture Diana Quincy has brought to this novel, as I have such small knowledge of Arab people and again, their culture. This was my first novel by Ms. Quincy and I know after this, it will absolutely not be my last!. I urge you all to take a chance on this one!

I recieved a free copy from netgalley 8j exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book but it ended up being a dnf for me. It appears from the other reviews that people liked it but I couldn't make after the first 25% which I fell is giving this book a fair chance before putting it aside.

Lady Delilah has an epic one night stand with a mystery man who turns out to be the Duke engaged to her former daughter in law! GASP, scandal!

I was hooked in with this premise, but ultimately was not won over by the romance.

The overall arc, going from epic night of love making, to discovering both Elliot and Leela are connected by the young woman Elliot intends to marry, and fighting their pants feelings for each other never made me feel like they actually got to know each other or were actually in love, not lust.

Elliot didn't earn his HEA with Leela, and ultimately I was not thrilled with the way some of the other plot points played out, and I found myself skimming to get to the end.

CW: cheating (depends on how you view it), attempted sexual assault on page, racism, vomit, pregnancy

The rest of this review is spoilery

(view spoiler)

Thus, I enjoyed learning about Leela's character but I did not enjoy the romance.

I received an ARC from the publisher for review, and checked out a copy from the library

3.5 stars!

The standards for men are low, folks!

Ok, this is one of those times in bookish history where I can honestly say that the heroine would THRIVE without a man...or at least, this one.

You may be confused by my rating then, but that’s only based on Leela being SUPERB and the writing being fantastic! I was hesitant at first (debut author, hello!), but I’m so glad I finally gave this one a listen and I seriously enjoyed it! It gave me whiplash, yes (c’mon same old song and dance), and perhaps there were a few loose ends (character growth, for one) or unwarranted beginnings (brother, what was your purpose?), but overall I’d still recommend you give it a read! Definitely looking forward to the author’s next book.

Why are they always dukes in historical fiction, and billionaires in modern romances?

Anyway, this was an enjoyable Regency romp with a diverse heroine and a crisis that was actually a truly difficult situation--the heroine discovers that she has had a tryst with her stepdaughter's soon-to-be betrothed. She's also fighting for her publishing rights a la Charlotte Bronte. I would have liked to read more about some of the supporting characters, especially Leela's brother, but hopefully there will be more books in this series.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

What a breath of fresh air this novel is! With vividly depicted characters, emotional depth, fiery passion, and enough twists to keep me guessing until the very end, Quincy has penned a novel that captured my interest and kept me involved from start to finish.

Leela is a treasure. She is the heart of this book and one of my favorite romance heroines this year. I love her strength, her intelligence, and her hard-won independence. I love her adventurous spirit, her confidence in her value, and her refusal to accept less than she is worth. I especially enjoy how Leela embraces the heritage of her Arab mother that was denied her while growing up. This is an "own voices" novel with Quincy exploring the history, culture, and cuisine of the heritage she shares with her heroine.

I also love how Leela embraces the passion between Hunt and herself during their agreed upon night together, but places a higher value on the bond of love and trust she shares with her stepdaughter, Tori, once she discovers Tori is to become Hunt's betrothed.

Hunt is stunned by the passion he shares with Leela but bound to her stepdaughter by his honor, even though he barely knows the girl, as well as his determination to outrun his family's reckless reputation. His heart knows what it wants but his head, and stuffy English bias, disagree, especially after certain facts come to light. He has quite a growth arc in front of him if he has any hope of being worthy of Leela's love.

There are several colorful secondary characters who enrich the story but my favorite is Tori. What a surprise she is! Her relationship with Leela is not that of a typical fictional stepmother-stepdaughter. Instead of an adversarial relationship, these two share deep love, deep liking, and mutual respect. I love how they support one another, no matter what. It's not hard to see from whom Tori gained her unexpected independence and strength of character. I enjoyed her journey almost as much as I did Leela's.
4.5 stars
*ARC received for fair and unbiased review