This is the PERFECT Christmas romance - it really flows across a whole year landmarked by two Christmases, our leads have just wonderful chemistry that sparkles off the page, they inspire each other through beautiful arcs of self-growth, and it's just so much fun.

Also, and this is maybe something only I notice: but this is a rare m/f romance that actually realizes that non-penatrative sex is sex. This shouldn't be so impressive, but it IS. Listen, my queer self has read SO many romance novels, and often I just accept a particular level of passive homophobia if it's subtle enough because publishing is what it is. But this book never falls into that trap for even a SECOND. None of our characters are weird about what does or doesn't "count" as having slept together. None of the characters we're supposed to like are weird or standoffish about a minor character coming out. The narrative doesn't even treat that as anything more or less than any other kind of personal reveal! It's just really refreshing.

And this really nice lack of prejudice also extends into other issues in the novel: our heroine's mixed-race identity is handled with care, our leads understand that the undergrad our heroine's ex-husband manipulated isn't to blame for his affair and is just another woman he took advantage of, our hero gets to stand up to his antagonists on his own terms and deal with the emotional baggage in a real, human way rather than as some Tough Man idea. It's just...listen, this is a really wonderfully comforting book. It's a warm hug. It's Love, Actually without all the weird 2003 baggage. (As much as I love that movie!)

This is my first Jenny Holiday book, but it's not going to be my last, because I'm told that she always does this. This is a structurally-traditional romance with progressive, kind ideals, and I LOVE that. And I appreciate it, as a reader!

this was pure bliss to me: fun banter, Christmas cheer, a cute slow-burn romance (probably too slow, this book felt long). The third act conflict is an annoyingly contrived miscommunication, but the resolution, reminiscent of a Love Actually scene, is so adorable.

Duke, Actually is a hit new rom-com! You can feel the chemistry between Max and Dani literally sizzle off the pages. I am obsessed with their relationship!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Duke, Actually was a heartfelt and enjoyable read filled with an amazing friendship, characters, and romance. This book is a standalone however, it is part of an interconnected series that follows after A Princess for Christmas. I would recommend reading the first book in the series just for more context and backstory for this book.

The plot and storyline in this book was a bit predictable and slow at times but still very entertaining. There was the friends to lovers trope used in this book as well, which was just great. It also is dual POVs of the main characters, Max von Hansburg and Dani Martinez.

Both, Max and Dani were well written characters that were struggling with personal and life issues. Their growth and development throughout the book was just fantastic. I also loved how supportive and understanding they were with each other. Their romance was definitely a slow-burn but absolutely worth it. Their journey from friends to lovers was so adorable and filled with amazing banter and chemistry.

The ending was a bit rushed and there were a few plot points unresolved but still a very heartfelt conclusion to their story. Overall, this was just a cute holiday romance read that included some spicy moments.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this heartwarming Christmas romance. I really liked the main characters and the plot kept me engaged throughout the whole book.

Loved it! Really charming! I was not expecting how much fun I would have reading it. A really joyful holiday romance. The dialogue and texting sparkled, there was tons of chemistry between the main characters and the story worked on more than just a romantic level. My expectations were Hallmark holiday royal romance and this elevated that concept in very sexy spades. I will recommend this to all my holiday romance readers!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well, this book was utterly charming, and somehow the perfect holiday read. Releasing on October 26, definitely add it to your holiday romance TBR list. This book is a sequel to another holiday romance, A Princess for Christmas, but can be read as a stand alone. The first couple in the series - a princess and a former NYC taxi driver - are getting married, and their two best friends are thrown into each other’s company.

Maximilian von Hansburg, baron and heir to a duke, is best friends with and former fiancé of the princess of Eldovia. He has a playboy reputation, and is unhappy with his duties and joblessness.

Dani Martinez is best friends with the former taxi driver turned groom, and lives in NYC as an English professor. She is coming off the heels of a terrible break-up (cheating ex-husband) and a long, drawn-out divorce, and has sworn off men and dating. Of course, sparks fly when the baron and the professor meet.

To say that this book is a delightful and charming read, gloriously reminiscent of all of the best romcoms, is putting it lightly. Jenny Holiday boldly references Love Actually and Dirty Dancing throughout the book; although it’s not referenced, I also get When Harry Met Sally slow-burn, friends-to-lovers vibes.

Things I loved:
💕 watching both main characters grow because of their friendship, working through their trauma and reaching for their dreams
💕 the emotional back story of the hero (trigger warning for child abuse and alcoholic parent) and the struggles the heroine goes through as a biracial woman in academia
💕 the romcom-like references (including the swooniest airport scene) and beautifully depicted friendship that develops between Max and Dani

Overall, if you enjoy romcoms, slow burns, and friends-to-lovers, you will love this newest book from Jenny Holiday.

Thanks to @avonbooks + @harpervoyagerus + @netgalley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this work.

Heat Factor: This is a slow burn with a bit of boning at the end; if you’ve read other Jenny Holiday books, this one is on the tame side.
Character Chemistry: Dani and Max are adorable, separately and together.
Plot: Dani and Max become best friends. Then they fall in love, but can’t admit it—not to themselves, and definitely not to each other.
Overall: It’s cute.

I, like Dani, watch Love Actually every year at Christmas. In fact, the first time I saw it was with Erin. In subsequent years, I watched it with my mom, or my sister, or my husband. (He insists that we keep up the tradition, and I am not about to argue.) I don’t care that parts of this movie are extremely cringeworthy. It makes me happy. So I appreciated Dani’s defense of the film. And also the scene in the airport. If my membership to Romancelandia is revoked because of this: so be it.

But don’t worry, haters! Duke, Actually isn’t much like Love, Actually at all. The story focuses quite closely on Dani and Max as they become friends (mostly via text) and support each other through achieving their New Year’s resolutions and slowly but surely fall in love. There is very little in terms of plot, though of course both Dani and Max have some baggage to jettison. Rather, the stumbling block to their being together is about character. Max is a playboy (kind of) who will never settle down. Dani is just coming off a nasty divorce and is post-love—but more importantly, has vowed not to modify her life to fit a man’s. (Note: I often find this trope irksome, but Holiday handles it well here, as Dani slowly processes her hurt and moves toward being open to love once again.)

What works with Duke, Actually is that Dani and Max are so stinking charming and easy to like, even when they’re being prickly. I enjoyed spending time with them. I liked watching them fall in love. And I appreciated the way they supported each other in dealing with their shitty relations.

You may see where this is going. While I liked a lot about this book, it was missing that little ineffable something that really makes a book hit home. Maybe my expectations were too high, because I’ve loved so many of Holiday’s books. But this one fell a little flat (in that I neither laughed out loud or cried real tears or really connected emotionally to what was going on), and I’m not sure why. An enjoyable read? Absolutely. Is it going to be one that sticks with me and that I think about next year? Probably not.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins publishers for this eARC! I really enjoyed this book. It was one of those feel good, binge worthy romances you can't help but fly through in a day or two! I loved Dani and Max together and how their relationship went from friends to lovers. Max was a super nice guy who did so much for those around him and he always notices the little things. He was so attuned to Dani and I loved how they opened up to each other about the not so nice sides of life they were experiencing so they could get through it together. It was just so enjoyable to experience the natural chemistry and watch them fall in love with each other before they realized it. on a different note, can I say how much I love Seb? I love his representation and how he helped Max put his feelings and himself first for once. Very cute rom com book. 4.5/5

I'm gonna start this off by saying that I 100% requested an ARC of this because the FMC and I have the same name... I'm not at all ashamed of that.

That being said, I absolutely LOOOOOVED Duke, Actually. It's such a cute, well written, friends to lovers romcom! Seriously, like I cannot even express how much I fucking loved this book. Dani and Max are E V E R Y T H I N G, and I loved watching their friendship slowly turn into more.

Please read this. Feel all the feel goods. Love these characters as much as I did.

PLEASE!

This was a good book to read. The author was able to keep me wanting to read to find out what would happen next. The major ding for me was that the time frame wasn't clear there were parts where it went from December to summer. with no warning.

****************I received an ARC from Net Galley for my honest opinion.****************

Duke, Actually had all the things that I love about a heart-warming Rom-Com. Dani and Max were so much fun to have rolling around my head over the past few days and I want more! This perfectly sweet (while also dealing with heavier issues) story left me laughing, crying and rooting for these two love birds.

Dani Martinez is your average New Yorker working her way through a divorce. After her best friend Leo met and became engaged to an actual Princess, she finds herself reassessing her own life’s trajectory. Maximilian von Hansburg, Baron of Laudon, and not actually a Duke yet, has a reputation he never really wanted to maintain. An impromptu trip to New York and a random text bring these two together. What unfolds is a funny, sweet, and heart melting story of love and finding it where you least expect it.

This book is easily one of my favorites in the genre and I will most definitely going back and reading Leo and Marie’s story in “A Princess for Christmas”. I highly recommend this one if you enjoy easy reads with all the emotions.

Perfect for fans of: The Princess Diaries series (and movies), The Royal We series, and a little royalty with your romance!

*Love for the movie Love, Actually not required.

This was such a cute book! This book is the second book of a series. I felt that you didn't need to read the first one to understand what was going on. Dani and Max were well-rounded characters and very likable. I enjoyed how their love story took place over a long period instead of over a couple of weeks. This made it so I was able to get behind their relationship, I will definitely check out other books by Jenny Holiday in the future!

*I received a free copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I loved this! It was a slow burn, but in the best of ways. I loved the way Dani and Max's friendship grew and blossomed. It was so beautiful and written so well. They were both so cute and fun. There were a couple things towards the end I would have loved to be fleshed out more - things with Dani and Leo and also with Max's dad. But I understand books can only be so long! Overall, I really did love it.

Dani Martinez’s life is falling apart. She just got out of a divorce, her best friend moved to Eldovia and she doesn’t even know if she likes the job she’s currently doing. Max, who is a Baron (not a Duke) meets Dani and immediately the two of them hit it off. Max being light hearted and not serious just seems to be what Dani needs in her stressful world. The two go on many adventures and become best friends. They’ve made promises to themselves and each other that their relationship is strictly friends. As their emotions change, Dani and Max reconsider If that’s a promise they want to keep, or if they want to risk it all for a happily ever after.

I was so excited when I saw that I was approved to read an e-arc of “Duke, Actually”. I absolutely loved “A Princess for Christmas” and was so excited to find out that Max and Dani were getting their own story! This book is the second in a series. It can be read as a stand-alone, but I highly recommend “A Princess for Christmas”. I absolutely adored this book! Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes in rom-coms, and Max and Dani had so much natural chemistry that I truly fell in love with them more and more as the story progressed! These two develop an enviable friendship. No matter what happens, these two are there for each other. You cannot help but root for their “more” to happen. And when it does, fireworks! In the beginning, they both just needed a distraction from their lives, but what they found in each other was so much more. I absolutely love Dani and Max’s characters and wouldn’t have them written any other way. It felt really natural to see their evolution from friends to more. What I loved about this slow burn friends-to-lovers romance is that it’s unique, Dani and Max aren’t anything more than distant acquaintances connected by their best friends and watching them grow to be friends first was special and endearing. They are so supportive of each other. It was adorable how much human Max and dog Max loved each other. Their witty banter and Dani’s snarky comments had me laughing out loud while reading.

I love that the author calls her books “Hallmark movies with a bit of steam”, because that is 100% a perfect description for this book. It is a literal Hallmark movie on paper, but with much more steam. I could see the scenes playing out in my head and in every sentence I pictured something new. This book was just so adorable! I love the writing style and how you were getting the story from so many different angles. I can't wait to recommend this book to friends and fellow rom-com readers. Thank you to Avon Harper voyager via NetGalley for approving me to read this eARc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Dani and Max don't meet in the most conventional way. Her best friend is marrying his former fiancee who also happens to be a princess. Dani is a literature professor who lives in New York and Max is a jet setting Baron who seems to live on the pages of the tabloids. Convention doesn't matter much when Dani needs a friend and Max rushes in to fill the void and then some. He saves her by being her plus one to a function where she will have to see her ex and his new, much younger, girl friend. One evening turns into more hanging out, long phone conversations, and the forming of a close friendship. Dani has sworn off men and Max is trying to avoid matrimony but can they ignore that their close friendship just might be more?

Max is the kind of royal you would choose for your own fairy tale. Charming as can be but with a heart that rivals his ability to flirt. He truly listens and looks out for those around him. Have I mentioned the charm? It is worth mentioning more than once. His chemistry with Dani is off the charts and Dani is a heroine who actually deserves him. Their relationship develops so sweetly making we want to wander New York in the snow or hike to scenic vistas and reenact scenes from my favorite romantic movies. I could done with less about the royals which seems silly when reading a book with Duke in the title but while I cared about Max I was not interested in reading about his one dimensional family.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know what it was but I could not get into this book. There is just so much dialogue going on between characters whether it be actual conversations or texts, that just made me lose interest.

Oh. My. Gosh. I absolutely LOVED this book so much. While reading this book, I caught myself grinning at the pages just enamored by these characters. Dani and Max's relationship felt so natural and if you ask me, they're soulmates. Not to mention how much I loved Max and Max (seriously, I ate up every single scene with the two of them). I did not expect Sebastien to have as big of a role as he did, BUT I LOVED HIM! We were not only able to see the growth in Dani and Max's relationship, but also Sebastien and Max's. So many important themes and stories were touched upon in this book, and I believe that EVERYONE should read this book. There was never a lull where I was hoping something would happen - everything from the timing to the plot to the characters was perfect. I believe our favorite author and our favorite Depraved Duke will stay with me for a long time. If you want a feel-good read with extremely enjoyable characters, this is the one for you.

This book was incredibly entertaining with very likeable characters. You ship them from the very first page. Perfect for most fans of Hallmark/Lifetime/Netflix romance movies.

4.7/5
I want to fist say thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me the eARC. I really enjoyed this book! I love duke, such a cute friends to lovers. The book is funny and there was no drama. I will say that this book is rom-com material, the chemistry of the characters had me dead, and they are so lovable! I saw a comment that said that the book feels like a hallmark movie and she could not describe it better, this book feels just like a hallmark movie that make you love all the characters and that make your heart stop from cuteness.