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

When Ellen Burney realises she needs to flee her brother with young Gwen, before it's too late, she hatches a plan to become Miss Ellen Smith, a spinster turned lady's companion with the wonderful Dowager Lady Faye. Arriving at the home she's been directed to in London, she's shocked to find that the only inhabitant is the grumpy Calum Callaghan, once injured in the Navy fighting Napoleon's forces, and new Duke of Woodall. He's never quite got over his brother's death, which many in society blame him for. Cal has hidden away from London, so finding the beautiful Miss Smith at his door, climbing through a downstairs window, he knows his solitude has been broken, but even he could never expect what was to come.

This was a really enjoyable read. Ellie was such a light character, counteracting Cal's grumpiness perfectly. They bounced off each other so well, and though both fought the attraction between them, they still fell in love, and Cal fell hard! Ellie had been abused by her wicked brother, and needed to hide both herself and Gwen, and where else is the perfect place to hide, but as a spinster and lady's companion? Cal immediately realised that Ellie had suffered, and went straight into protective mode, but she was not a shy and retiring type, and gave as good as she got. She wouldn't let Cal get away with hiding himself from the world any more, and in return he wanted to show her off to the world, and treat her how she deserved. I guess why Ellie's brother was so hateful towards her and Gwen quite early on, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. A lovely Regency tale!

After reading the latest upcoming release by the author, I went to check as I remembered I had this one too and at the time of its release I had been unable to read it too.
The formatting once more impeded my reading.
But I kept this book on the side in hope to be able to read it.
But after so long, I was never able to.
I would recommend to edit the books to fit the standard ereaders, else it makes it a difficult task

Im a huge historical fan so i was excited to read this one!. im always a sucker for a Beauty and the Beast type tale which this one was!. the gorgeous grumpy duke calum made me laugh! i also just wanted to give him a big hug!. i also loved Ellen she is so independant and not araid to stand up to Calum. i did think the ending was a tad anticlimactic but overall i really enjoyed this story.

Ellen Burney is backed into a corner, with no options as an unmarried woman, despite her nobility. She does what any desperate woman would do living in an abusive situation: she assumes a new identity, procures a position as a lady’s companion, and flees to London. Meanwhile, she sends her little sister into hiding under the care and direction of dear friends of her late mother.

Ellen is a strong-willed, perhaps stubborn, young woman with a strong measure of intelligence. She’s not one of the feather-brained women of the nobility. She is going to do what she has to do to sustain, survive, and support her life as well as her sister’s.

Ellen (now Ms. Smith) follows things to a T, which is why she is shrouded in secrecy. If not, such horrible rumors will get out and compound the already existing trouble. With letter in hand, she arrives ready to assume her new life as Lady Faye’s companion.

Calum Callaghan, the Duke of Woodhal, spent a decade in the Royal Navy. During his service and on assignment together, his half-brother is lost to the vestiges of a fiery ship burning at sea. Calum, the first-born Callaghan but Scottish-raised, is eyed suspiciously by all. He is accused of murdering his brother. He is now a hermit in his own house, devoid of servants or staff, craving quiet and peace, which still only haunts him. He drowns his life in alcohol.

Upon her arrival to her post, Calum’s life is quickly turned upside down. Marching in comes his grandmother, Lady Faye, his dandy “cousin” Owen, and a scurry of servants for the Season. Lady F is a force to be reckoned with, which matches Ellen. She doesn’t necessarily err on the side of social graces. In fact, she was the one who demanded young Calum, living in Scotland, move to London and be raised by his father. His new stepmother was not on board, but it was an arrangement that her mother, Lady F, would not back down from. It continues to cause friction between the dowager and the Duke.

The friendship and relationship that builds between Ellen and Calum is sweet and sour, sugar and spice. We really get to see their flaws and live entrenched in their own living hells. It all seemed natural. One thing I was not expecting was the level of heat! This is a steamy read for sure!

I enjoyed this story with its fiery heroine, witty banter, and characters with hearts of gold.

I liked this story. Calum is a scarred duke who has a lot of guilt over his brothers death. Ellen is a young woman who will do anything to save her sister. The best part of the story for me is Lady F, Calum's grandmother. Whenever she was in a scene there was humor and levity.

This book was very enjoyable in story and setting.
Our heroine is typical of a woman under the care of male relative who is only concerned with how he is seen by society. She is down-trodden, abused and taking care of others. Her brother has been doing all he can to keep her under his control. She is able to master mind an escape for herself and the two others in her care. She chooses a fake name and is meeting the lady that she will be a companion for. But when she gets to the address, there is a man and dog there, no lady.
The hero is a recently placed duke, but he doesn't feel very duval. The lady in question is his grandmother and she wants a season in London. So, he drags himself along with them to London.
This story was well written and I really enjoyed the dialogue between the characters. The thing that surprised me was the level of deceit placed upon the heroine. Life was so unfair for woman at that time.
This was a traditional historical romance. The setting was appropriate for the time period. There were no spelling or grammatical errors and the story just wrapped around me and took me away.
I recommend this book with 5 stars.

Regency romance fans are going to be completely enchanted by Charlotte Anne’s wonderful debut historical romance, The Unworthy Duke.

Ellen Burney is desperate. Sick and tired of her brother’s Geoffrey’s violent fits of rage and temper, Ellen had vowed to escape her brother’s sinister clutches. Having secured a position working as a lady’s companion, Ellen fled her brother’s house and hoped to make a fresh start and a new life for herself in London. When she finally arrives at Yew Tree House, she is taken aback by the dilapidated condition of her employer’s residence, but with a storm brewing, no money and nowhere else to go, Ellen has got no other option but to dismiss her concerns and knock on the door. Only little does she realise that rather than the sanctuary she had envisaged, at Yew Tree House she is going to find herself coming face to face with danger and desire when rather than an elderly aristocrat, she finds an infuriated Scotsman who isn’t exactly overjoyed at the prospect of finding himself with an unexpected – and unwanted – houseguest…

Calum Callaghan would rather be anywhere else than in London. Having spent the last ten years in the Royal Navy fighting Napoleon, Calum never imagined that he would inherit a title nor did it ever cross his mind that he would have all of London speculating about his brother’s murder and inferring that he was somehow responsible! Having locked himself into his townhouse for four long years, the last thing he wants is to have company in his domain, however, he cannot turf Ellen out of his house when she has nowhere else to go- especially when he hears how his match-making grandmother had manipulated her and led her to believe that she was going to be her companion at Yew Tree House without mentioning Calum!

As Calum and Ellen find themselves thrust together by fate, they initially vow to keep out of each other’s way. But that soon proves to be far easier said than done. As they keep finding themselves drawn to one another, a blossoming friendship quickly leads to something far deeper than either one of them ever imagined. But will they find the courage to take a leap of faith and a chance on love? Or will Calum and Ellen continue to allow their fears and insecurities to hold them hostage?

Charlotte Anne’s The Unworthy Duke is an absolute joy from start to finish. Charlotte Anne deftly and exquisitely blends humour, intensity, emotion, sizzle and heart in a wonderfully written historical romance that readers will find impossible to resist. Ellen is such a brilliant heroine. She is courageous, brave, loyal and a character readers will relate to and empathize with. Calum is a brooding, flawed and devastatingly handsome Scotsman who is certainly more than a match for Jamie Fraser.

With The Unworthy Duke, Charlotte Anne has cemented herself as a writer to watch out for in historical romance and I am already counting down the days until her next book!

Who doesn't love a Beauty and the Beast theme? This inexperienced author really hits it out of the park. Sparks fly between our main characters and I loved that Callum's main skill was that he baked. This led to some hilarious moments. I figured out Ellen's secret early on but I loved how it was handled. This is a family of unique characters and one that is not a blood bond. They are family regardless and it just goes to show that it's not the family that you were born into that creates the strongest ties.

This was a fantastic read, humour, steam and angst blend together to create a real page-turner. I loved it. I highly recommend this book.

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

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book.

I found the pacing to be troublesome and distracting. It was like watching a soap opera and realizing the characters are at the SAME party for the third week in a row. Throughout the book, tidbits of information would just be added into a conversation - not in a fun Easter egg kind of way, but more like the author didn't realize they hadn't told us about that thing, yet. Then, the ending was rushed and messy - with the big reveal, the resolution, and the happy ending all in the same short space.

Stars: 2.5

Ellen Burney is fleeing from her home, dominated by her cruel brother. Penniless she changes her name to Smith and takes up a paid position as companion to an elderly lady intent on staying with her grandson for the London season. Callum Callaghan, the aforementioned grandson, is now a duke due to the untimely death of his older brother. Scarred inside and out by rumours that he had a hand in his brother's death while they were both serving in the Royal Navy, he's become a recluse. His grandmother intends to shake him out of it and, after gettiung off to a bad start, Ellen is part of that plan. Yes, you can see where this is going, but it gets there in an interesting way. A very decent debut novel.

A regency romance with a nice twist, The Unworthy Duke is an entertaining debut novel for author Charlotte Anne. This story largely takes place in just one house, that of Calum Callaghan, Duke of Woodhal. Badly scarred from a fire on his naval vessel, Calum also bears mental scars over the death of his half brother in the same fire. I truly felt for him when the solitude he’d taken refuge in was overturned first by a very wet Ellen tumbling through his window, and later by the arrival of his grandmother. There are moments in this story that are really funny, but there are underlying themes that are less joyful. Ellen has escaped from unthinkable domestic violence, while Calum has been treated appallingly both by society and by his stepmother after surviving a ship fire that left him appallingly scarred and took the life of his half brother, whom he loved and who had been destined to become the duke. I debut author Charlotte Anne dealt well with these issues. While there is definitely room for improvement in both writing technique and character development this story has been an entertaining and enjoyable read.

A big problem that I had with this novel (which I am hoping was corrected in the final round of edits), is the formatting. New chapters often appeared in the middle of the page with no special formatting, not only making it look sloppy, but interrupting the flow of the novel as well.

Another problem I had with this one (which again the formatting did not help) was the way the narrative would randomly jump from Cal and Ellen to people living in her former hometown, and back again. I found it made it hard to keep track of just what was going on. This fact became even more obvious in later chapters when it seemed as though there were several different story-lines happening at once.

As for the characters, I adored Lady Faye. She was a delight in every scene you encountered her in, and Owen was such an over the top charmer that I would love to read more about him. As for Calum and Ellen? Meh. I wasn't sold on them or their relationship. Something about their interactions just didn't seem genuine to me, and I didn't buy the way he seemed to quickly warm up to her, going out of his way to help her with the (obvious to me) plot twists.

However, this being a debut novel? I definitely see potential here for bigger and better things from this author, and I will definitely read them again in the future.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

I love a when a story involves someone having to go in disguise. There is always the suspense of waiting for the truth to come to light. Ellen is a woman who has had to deal with a lot in life and deciding to take control of her own life. I really enjoyed following Calum breaking free of his self imposed prison. Watching them grow and bond was a real treat!

This is a fabulous debut by Charlotte Anne, can a scared hero and a heroine doing everything to keep herself and her young sister safe find happiness and love and also do their best to stop a scandal, theirs is a rocky road and I do hope that you will pick this one up and see what happens.
Miss Ellen Burney is doing her best to stop a huge scandal in the small village of Evendale and with no money she becomes Miss Ellen Smith and takes on the position of Lady’s companion to Lady Faye and arrives in London to start, but when she arrives this house is nothing like she expected and her arrival is a shock to the owner of the house.

Calum Callaghan, Duke of Woodhal is scared inside and out after fighting for ten years in the navy, he lost his half- brother and after being accused of murder he is now a hermit in his house, a recluse and that is the way he likes it, but there seems to be someone that is determined to change that, his grandmother Lady F, with her lady’s companion in tow are about to turn his like upside down.

Ellen is nothing but strong and determined to do what she must and no one even Mr. Grumpy Calum is going to stop her, she sees through Calum right from their first meeting which was witty and fiery and Lady F is there to push them all the way. Calum wants peace and quiet and now his house is filled servants and family and Ellie who he is finding hard to ignore in many ways and after one kiss he wants more.

When danger arrives Calum takes on the challenge to keep her safe, he might be Mr. Grumpy but he has a heart of gold and will do whatever needs to be done because he has lost his heart to Ellen even if she is refusing to acknowledge his love.

This is a great story, witty with lots of laughs along the way to their HEA, Ellen is a fabulous heroine, I really loved her even if she is a bit stubborn at times and Calum strong, caring and loving and hero any heroine would want, then there is Lady F what a character she made me smile and you can’t forget Owen I do hope he gets his HEA.

I do highly recommend this story, it is filled with witty banter, lots of laughs and emotion as Calum and Ellen find their way to a wonderful HEA. Huge congratulations on a fabulous Debut Charlotte Anne.

Broody heroes are my catnip, so it's no wonder that I picked up this book with high expectations. Charlotte Anne is a newer author, with The Unworthy Duke being her first professional published book, having published one book previously on Wattpad. I have read many books by authors at this stage of their career, and I am thoroughly impressed more often than not. This book was absolutely wonderful, with its colorful characters, unique plot, and a romance that was sweet yet sexy all at once. I started a new job the week I began reading, and I needed some romantic reading to decompress. This book fit the bill and quickly became a "comfort read" for several days.

When her brother turned his bad temper towards her sister, Gwen, Miss Ellen Burney knew she had no choice but to leave and ensure her sister would be safe. Believing separation would allow Ellen to make enough money to eventually bring Gwen, she leaves her in the care of a family friend and sets off to London to work as the paid companion of a dowager marchioness. Upon arrival, she is rudely "welcomed" by the Duke of Woodhal, a relation to the dowager and wholly opposed to the older woman inviting herself to stay with him for the season. Scarred from a fire that took the life of his brother and scorned by a society who believes he's at fault, Calum Callaghan has been in isolation the last four years, rarely leaving his townhouse. Ellen captures his attention immediately, at first for her intrusion into his life but then for the similarities between the two of them. Calum isn't the only one with a traumatic past, and soon he'll have to put his power as a duke to use in order to keep Ellen and her sister safe.

The cast of characters in this book really made the reading experience an enjoyable one, from the gruff yet lovable Duke to the flamboyant and youthful Owen. One of my favorite characteristics about Calum was that he cooks, and it's mentioned several times in the story. There's something about a broody duke who cooks that just makes my heart flutter, maybe because it shows a vulnerable side since dukes aren't known for doing any sort of labor, let alone how to use the kitchen at all. It was adorable how he was protective of his kitchen, and then he would bake a cake that was delicious. It's the little things in this story that will make you fall in love! Owen was a particularly enjoyable character, partially for the comic relief he brought to the drama. He's probably meant to be a side character forever, but I'm hoping he gets his own book at some point. I need more Owen in my life. Ellen was a lovely character as well, especially with her bravery and confidence to manage her difficulties. She had a few moments where I would get frustrated with her choices, but on the whole she was very relatable.

This will definitely not be the last book I read by this author, if she has another book in the works. I loved her writing style and look forward to seeing what she writes next.

Running from abuse and her brother, Ellen Burney becomes a companion for a feisty Grandmother of a Duke. The Duke is Callum Callaghan and he is a battle fatigued soldier that was injured. The two have an instant attraction that they both try to squelch their desires.
Things start to heat up in more ways than one and this book will keep you turning the pages to see where it goes.
The author is predictable in a few areas and she does leave some things unresolved so, I am thinking a 2nd book which would tie things up in a more cohesive manner. It just feels as though the ending is rushed and not put together with as much thought as the rest of the book.
I would still recommend this book because it is a good read.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

Reinventing.


Ellen is reinventing herself as a companion.
Calum is a duke with plenty of guilt, scars and avoidance.
I liked Calum.

Mayfair, London - 1817

Miss Ellen Burney has fled her home to escape her abusive brother, Geoffrey, and his gambling debts which have left her near penniless. She has a letter offering her a position as companion to Lady Faye, a dowager Marchioness.

When she arrives in London, she is ahead of the dowager and encounters Calum (Cal) Callaghan, the new Duke of Woodhal, living alone in the house with his dog. Cal had been wounded in the war with Napoleon ending up with many burn scars and a limp. He has been falsely accused of killing his brother to become the duke and has hidden in his home for four years drinking.

Ellen simply forces her way into the house and not long after Lady Faye and her ward, Owen Tattershall, arrive. Lady Faye immediately hires some servants and tells Cal that he will be putting up with her.

Ellen and Cal are attracted to one another and he finds he wants to protect her. When her brother discovers where she is, Cal heads out to bring her little sister, Gwen, to London to protect her from Geoffrey too.

As we get to know more about Cal’s family, we find there are lots of family feuds and bitterness.

I found this story to be convoluted and confusing at times. It really could have used a good editor to help it flow smoothly. The plot is good but the story was just too choppy. I’m also not fond of instant sexual gratification. But to be fair, I am giving this book 3 stars.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Unworthy Duke by Charlotte Anne is a steamy historical romance that pulls you in and takes you away to another time, another place. The characters are intriguing and well-written, with captivating backstories. The Unworthy Duke unfolds at a smooth, steady pace making it read like a movie.

To escape her abusive brother, Ellen takes a position as a lady's companion. But when she reaches the London townhome of her employer, there's no lady to be found—only a drunk, recalcitrant duke who resents the interruption of his solitude. Can Ellen coax Calum out of the seclusion brought on by his war injuries and the death of his brother? And can Calum protect her from her controlling brother?

I love grumpy heroes and fierce heroines. These two are particularly fun. This book also has a great supporting cast and a tense plot that keeps the pages turning. Loved it!

I received and read an advance copy of this book. This is my honest and unsolicited review. All opinions are my own.