I love a good royal romance and this one does not disappoint! Max and Dani have such good chemistry that it sucks you into the book and makes you want to follow along on their journey! It's swoony, feely and everything you love about a romance book!

While I didn't feel lost because I didn't read the first book, I really enjoyed this and want to go back to reread the first.

I read it during Christmas in July and it was just such a DELIGHT. Picture a Hallmark movie, but a little spicier.

Things I loved…
🎄Texting. Banter. (Always a fave and this was GOOD STUFF)
🎄 Royalty romance!!
🎄 NYC Christmas vibes
🎄 Character development
🎄 “Enemies” to friends to lovers
🎄 Slooooow burn


Add it to your Christmas reading plans! This is a sequel to A Princess for Christmas (which is still on my list). I read out of order and it still worked for me!! But I’m looking forward to going back to beginning and seeing how this all started to unfold.

"Since I don't have Patrick Swayze to come rescue me from my corner, I'll just have to rescue myself."

With odes to my favorite comfort movies, Dirty Dancing and Love Actually, the romantic comedy Duke, Actually by Jenny Holiday has put a permanent smile on my face. Told with humorous wit and swoon worthy falling in love moments this book has captured my heart.

Dani is dealing with a taking too long divorce from a narcissistic cheater, fighting for professor tenure at a job she is not sure she still wants and trying to keep custody of her dog Max when human Maximillian von Hansburg, a real life Baron, comes into her life.

Human Max is a bit adrift when he seeks out Dani instead of getting to know the woman his parents have decided he should marry for financial and royal lineage reasons. They met when his best friend the princess married her best friend the cab driver in the author's previous novel A Princess For Christmas.

I did not read this first book but I will now. Duke, Actually completely works as a standalone rom com that will make you smile from beginning to end. I fell in love with the witty banter between Dani and Max as they develop a strong caring friendship over phone calls and texts.

As he helps her navigate Tinder and she helps him with a literary project no one would expect from the rakish " Depraved Duke" they start to rescue each other from their expected lives.

From snow angels in Central Park to Egg McMuffins on Long Island, from Dani's "Things I Will Never Again Do For A Man" list to Max's Dirty Dancing lift in the ocean you will feel warm and fuzzy reading this movie ready love story. So get your hot chocolate (or wine) and let this charming story rescue you for a few hours.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was in the mood for a fun, sexy holiday romance between two charismatic leads & this book did not disappoint! To quote the hero Max, it was a "goddamn delight!"

Max von Hansburg, Baron of Lauden, travels all the way from his home near Eldovia (a fake kingdom from Holiday's previous book in this series, A Princess for Christmas) to meet up with his best friend Marie's fiancée’s best friend, Dani Martinez. Dani, an English professor in NYC, has been dumped by her husband for a much younger women who used to be his student and wants to show up at the university holiday party with a hot, debonair almost-Duke on her arm. This party leads to a friendship between Dani and Max, that eventually takes them to Eldovia for the Christmas wedding of their respective best friends.

To say Dani and Max have fun banter is an understatement. What's even better, behind the jokes "real" issues are addressed. Max's public persona as the "Depraved Duke" or "man-whore" (why, indeed, Dani, do we have to qualify that word with "man" when referencing an actual man's sexual activities?). Dani's repressing of her dreams for her domineering almost-ex. Max's tense family life and his parents' insistence on an arranged marriage. There are plenty of fun holiday nods (The Nutcracker in NYC! Snow angel making in Central Park!), including homages to my favorite movie of all time, Love, Actually. I expected to enjoy this because of the title, but I was pleasantly surprised by the real vulnerabilities expressed by the main characters and how they worked with the support of each other to find their HEA together & as individuals.

A fab romance and a holiday-themed one at that! Loved it!

Thanks @NetGalley and @Avonbooks for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

After reading A Princess for Christmas last year, I was excited to get another Christmas book from Jenny Holiday.

Dani's husband left her for a younger woman - who was one of his students - and she is done with relationships. Max has a reputation as a ladies man who likes to have fun, but there's more to him than meets the eye.

I loved how they connected and built a friendship that developed into deeper feelings. They had excellent chemistry and banter from the very beginning. It was so much fun seeing them get to know each other better via messages in addition to spending time together.

If you are looking for a book to make you smile, laugh, and swoon you cannot go wrong with this one!

I hadn't realized that Duke, Actually was the second book in the series. I think it would have been beneficial to read the first book prior to this. I was lost at the beginning because I didn't understand how Dani and Max knew each other,

I did enjoy this friends-to-lovers holiday book though. It was very much a slow burn, but it gets very steamy and is a nice twist on the classic Hallmark-type holiday stories.

I enjoyed both Dani and Max's individual journeys and the development of their friendship. If you're looking for a cozy book, check this out.

I just LOVE this book. I'm obsessed with the depraved duke and how wonderful he is to Dani. I love the slow burn. I love their wit and sense of humor. This book is just a wonderful romance! It is easy to read, funny, and perfectly timed. I will recommend this to everyone. I can't wait to read more from Jenny Holiday.

I will post this review on Amazon today and on Instagram @Mzcookzbookz.

This slow-burn, friends-to-lovers contemporary romance by Jenny Holiday is a standalone book in an interconnected series. As the best friends of the couple in the first book, the couple interacted a lot in person and more, tackling personal issues and other obstacles in their book. I liked how the couple respected and supported each other in this book. I enjoyed the secondary characters that were there for them. It tackled some serious subjects in a nice way, though it also needed some more details in some parts of the story. The author has a pleasing writing style and the book gives a holiday vibe that makes the story better in my eyes. Overall an enjoyable Jenny Holiday book.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**

Duke, Actually was such a cute friends to lovers romance that reminded me a lot of the movie The Princess Diaries with more spice. Max, a baron, and Dani, a professor in NYC when they’re best friends get married. They quickly become each other’s new best friends and we watch their slow burn romance happen. I enjoyed their story, all the great characters and the world building.

A cute story! I really loved this friends to lovers romance. I liked that each character's flaws really shined and how there was a lot of tension that was built up before we finally saw it culminate into something special. I really liked Dani as a main character, she had that headstrong and determined personality that made me root for her and Max is such a sweetheart. This was a really fun story that got me excited for the holiday season and I would definitely recommend it for a great winter read.

The author describes this book as "Hallmark but spicy," and that fits perfectly. Max is a Baron of a small European country in the Alps, and Dani is a professor in NYC. They met because their best friends are marrying each other. This is a long slow burn, as Max and Dani become each other's new best friend and "person." Watching them encourage, support, and bring out the best in each other, all while developing feelings, was sweet. I enjoyed this book and many of the side characters. There were lots of humorous moments and special details. While the whole book spans multiple years, there are good chunks that are holiday related, so it's a perfect book to read now.

Max is a playboy Baron of a small European country. He is handsome with a complex personality that he only shows to very few people. Dani is a Literature professor at a New York university. She is searching for a new normal in her life post separation from her husband. The story is an exploration in finding purpose in life. Each of the characters is searching for what will give them most fulfillment. It is a look at family dynamics and how they after children even when they are adult. Max and Dani create a friendship that allow them to help each other fly free. Along the way they fall in love and get a fairytale ending.

I absolutely adored this book! I think it's going to be my favorite holiday book of the year, and will likely be one I reread for years to come!

This is definitely a slow burn, but I didn't even mind because it was so much fun watching their friendship grow and develop. I absolutely love when authors include texting in their contemporary romances, so those were a highlight for me! This also spans the length of a year (plus if you include the epilogue) but it still maintains the holiday vibes and hopefulness throughout. I genuinely kept finding myself smiling along with these characters!

What I really loved is that this book shows that you can tackle some really tough topics (her ex, academia, his abusive family) without bringing the whole story down. These are all parts of their lives but they don't let it take away from the joy they have with each other. I really appreciated that it could have gone in a negative direction but didn't! Their relationship felt so real and genuine, and I loved how they were so connected and there for each other. It's the kind of friendship and relationship you dream of.

I could go on and on about all of the scenes and characters I loved, but all you really need to know is by 25% I was completely sold on this book and started telling all my friends to pre-order it before even making it to the halfway mark! I absolutely loved this!

A fun romance that encompasses an entire year. I loved how the relationship between Max and Dani slowly progressed from friends to lovers. Their friendship was the best and the way that they leaned on each other for strength made me swoon. The eventual romance seemed like an inevitable conclusion after all that they'd been through. I'm glad useless hurdles weren't thrown their way. I also loved the relationship between Max and his brother. Sebastian's storyline was awesome as well. This was a delightful romance with a hint of Christmas.

Last year I read A Princess for Christmas and shared how much I enjoyed it and thought it was perfect for anyone who loves Hallmark Christmas movies but would like it with some more steam. Duke Actually is a perfect follow up and keeps that trend going.

Dani and Max met in the first book but their friendship really takes off at the start of this one. Despite living in different countries, they become the closest of friends, turning to each other for discussions about topics big and small. This was a delicious slow burn that came together so well.

Unfortunately at about 90% there was one of my least favorite types of conflict in a romance and it took things down a little for me - but overall I still really loved this story and definitely recommend it! Thank you to Avon Books and Netgalley for the free review copy.

If you enjoy Hallmark Christmas romances but with a little more heat, then this Christmas romance, a follow-up to the delightful A Princess for Christmas, should definitely be on your reading list this winter! You don't have to have read the previous title, but it does introduce the characters and worldbuilding that are the foundation for this one.

This is a friends to lovers romance, a slow burn with feelings, and it's no wonder, with two characters who are definitely not looking for love. In Max's case, he's trying to avoid his own royal wedding at all costs (especially now that his planned arranged marriage to best friend Marie has gone awry since she's going to marry Leo). Whereas Dani is fresh out of a relationship and definitely not looking to have another one. Still, when Max fortuitously shows up and she can use him as a fake boyfriend in front of her ex, she's not going to throw away that lifeline. They also happen to both be in the wedding party for Marie and Leo, giving them an excuse to spend time together. Coming to each other's rescues happens more than once, and along the way, their friendship starts to get a bit complicated with feelings, the sexy kind. Next thing you know, that complication means they have to decide if their relationship can withstand the pressure of Max's family obligations and secrets. Though this is mostly lighthearted, there are some tough revelations (CW for alcoholism, child emotional abuse) as Max learns that he can trust Dani and that she'll support him no matter what. The worldbuilding, especially the fictional country of Eldovia, makes this a modern fairytale with a very well earned happy ending.

This story does an impressive job of toeing the line of several topes, even poking fun at them, without making it overly cheesy. This story follows the story of newly separated, soon to be divorcee, Dani and an actual Duke, well Baron, as they start off as enemies, to friends, to lovers. I loved that this story gave me the warm fuzzy feelings that Christmas Hallmark movies do, while also making fun of Hallmark Christmas movies. It reminds me of the Netflix movie, A Christmas Prince, in that it knows it's being a little kitschy, but doing so without being cringey. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It made for a fun, light hearted, festive, and quick read.

I loved Jenny Holiday's last Christmas romance, A Princess for Christmas, but I adored this one even more!

Dani Martinez was in the last book, and is Leo’s best friend. But with Leo a world away, getting ready to marry the love of his life (the Princess of Eldovia) things have been a bit lonely. To top it off, Dani is going through a rough divorce and has vowed that she’ll never let a man impact her life in that way again.

Enter the Princess’s best friend, and proclaimed manwhore, Max von Hansburg Baron of Laudon. Honestly, Dani can’t stand Max but they’re thrown together for wedding preparations as best woman and man of honor. They start texting and spending more time together and it turns out that there’s more to Max than just being the Depraved Duke. He ends up being there for Dani more than anyone ever has and the two of them get to know each other better than anyone else. And do they start to develop some serious chemistry? Oh yes, yes they do.

I loved watching their friendship and relationship unfold, and the banter between the two (both in-person and via text messages and calls) was my favorite part of the book. Jenny holiday knows how to write dialogue that will have you laughing out loud and turning the pages with abandon. They each learned a lot about themselves throughout the book too and had some hard decisions to make for their future.

Basically, if you need a good holiday romance, with dialogue that jumps off the page and that will make you laugh out loud one moment and pull at your heartstrings the next, you absolutely can’t go past this one.

Thank you to Avon Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Finally I've found an open-door Christmas romance book! I'm so excited this book exists!

Okay enough with the exclamation points and onto the story. Duke, Actually is a Christmas-ish friends-to-lovers romance that follows Maximillian von Hansburg, Baron of Laudon, and Dani Martinez, a professor in NYC. Both are best friends of the love interests from Jenny Holiday's previous novel A Princess for Christmas. As Leo and Marie are set to get married this year, Dani and Max are getting to know each other as they'll be in the wedding party. Max is a known playboy and Dani is trying to get divorced. On New Year's Eve, they make resolutions to each other as their budding friendship grows. Dani and Max are opposites in every way but as we know in romance novels opposites attract.

Although this novel is marketed more as a Christmas romance, a lot of the action within it takes place outside of Christmas. Dani and Max played really well off of each other as characters. I fell in love with Jenny Holiday's writing with her Matchmaker Bay series published by Forever and I'm so glad to get into more of her writing. Although Duke, Actually is set within the same universe as A Princess for Christmas you can easily read them out of order. As I stated before this is an open-door romance. The Christmas romances I've read, so far, have all been closed-door so it's delightful to see an open-door romance. If that isn't your thing, you can easily skip those portions, but personally I'm here for it. Duke, Actually had a lot more substance than your typical Christmas romance which was another breath of fresh air. I'm in love with these characters and I can't wait to read A Princess for Christmas.

I wish it was written in first person POV. Sadly it was a DNF for me, and all due to my personal preference. I am thankful for the opportunity to review! Much thanks for the ARC.