This was a quick, fun read. It is book 4 in a series and while I have read one or two of the others it is not necessary to read the first 3 before reading this title. The heroin was very unconventional for the time period but that made it fun. It was also very very interesting to have a long term health condition thrown in. This is a book I could see myself reading again.

Duke of Lockwood is low on funds and has traveled to New York in search of an heiress bride. He meets Eleanor, "Nellie" Young as he is swimming in the ocean. She mistakes him for someone she was expecting and after some frolicking they part ways. Nellie has been invited to a house party in which one of her dear friend's suitor is expected. She is surprised to find that her friend's soon to be fiance is none other than her moonlight swimming partner. Though the Duke is interested in pursuing the relationship, Nellie puts him off. After the relationship with the duke and her friend falls through, he is then attached to another of her friends. It is only after that relationship falls apart that he and Nellie are free to involve in a relationship. He is smitten but Nellie rebuffs his offers of making their relationship more permanent because of her fear that she is not an acceptable candidate to be a duchess. She is also very active in women's independence, education and reproductive health and does not feel as if this would be and appropriate role for the duchess of Lockwood. This is a very steamy story that also addresses fears of committment and grief.

I received the books as an ARC From Netgalley and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

The Duke of Lockwood really needs a wife. Like, yesterday. And after multiple rejected proposals (from the same group of friends no less!) he needs to marry an American heiress quickly to shore up his estate. When he meets a mysterious lady at a house party, little does he know that fiery, unpredictable, wild Nellie Young will ultimately be his perfect match!

Really really liked this one. We’ve been waiting for Lockwood and Nellie’s story for 4 books and the wait delivers. In fact, it was my favorite of the series! Nellie is a great heroine - strong, fearless, and uninhibited. Loved her confidence and feminist spirit! Lockwood was totally swoon worthy! After seeing him as an obstacle in the first two books, a friend in the third and now the leading man, it was worth the wait! The spice was on point!!!

I loved the characters, the story and the spice and would recommend it for any lover of historical romance!

I adore this series. It’s a delightfully smutty version of a period of history I don’t see as commonly written in romance novels. I’m so glad to see the Duke finally get his happy ending. Poor guy’s been getting the short end of the stick for the previous three books. I loved the constant sparks throughout the story. There’s so much sass. Getting to see inside Nellie’s mind is fascinating, especially as she’s coming into her own. Her extended family is an utter delight. If you haven’t read this series, you absolutely should!

An entertaining story that flows nicely with witty banter, steamy love scenes and genuine characters.

Nellie “Eleanor” and Andrew are so mismatched, yet a perfect pair together despite their clashing personalities. Sparks fly each time they are together.
Nellie is such a spitfire, a quick-witted and authentic character with profound inner strength and resolve, but not without insecurities. She is unconventional and not ready to give an inch for what she believes in.

Andrew’s life has been shaped by the weight of his legacy. Many people depend on him and he is in New York to find a wealthy bride to save his family estate. He is a man of propriety, repressed and respectable, but there is much more beneath the surface.

What was great about the relationship between Nellie and Andrew was that you really do see it form before your eyes. There is real chemistry from the start, their first meet is fierce, sizzling and romantic. They have a healthy relationship with deep understanding of each other needs.

I was happy with the way things worked out for them in the end. This book is part of a series but works perfectly well as a standalone.

Joanna Shupe is my new favorite author. I really enjoyed this story of a Duke who came over to New York to meet an heiress in order to save his bankrupted estate in England.

Andrew, Duke of Lockwood, comes to NY to meet an heiress he has been corresponding with. Just before he proposes, he meets Nellie, an heiress who is infamous for doing what she wants and not following society's norms. Lockwood is passed over by most of Nellie's friends so he's required to court the "vanilla" heiresses in order to save his estate. Meanwhile, he meets and is entranced by Nellie.

Lockwood and Nellie have an affair, and fall for each other but she's so afraid of losing another person after her mother died, that she decides she can't give up her independence and marry him.

Meanwhile Nellie's passion project is to help women learn about and purchase birth control. She decides that she's too much of a scandal to be a duchess.

Overall I enjoyed this story. It is steamy from beginning to end. The characters are sufficiently strong and in love. My only complaints, which bring it down for me from a 5 star to a 4.5 star book, are 1) that I really feel like in this time period people wouldn't be using the "f" word and also the grating shortening of her already shortened name. Eleanor calls herself "Nellie" and then her friends shorten it to "Nels". Yes, I hate that type of shortening in this time period but I definitely don't feel like it would have been happening in the 19th century.

I can't wait to read more of this series and Shupe's books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Duke Gets Even is the fourth book in The Fifth Avenue Rebels series by Joanna Shupe. I am an avid fan of Joanna Shupe and love her writing style, unforgettable characters, and heart-pounding passion. That being said, this was not my favorite book of hers. I always have an instant connection with her characters. I love their faults and idiosyncrasies that she writes so effortlessly.

I tried adamantly to connect with Nellie personally, but I could not. She sabotaged herself so many times. She was downright mean to Lockwood at times. I felt it confusing that she embraced woman’s rights – for them to embrace what makes them happy, yet ruthlessly shuts down her feelings for Lockwood due to thoughts of scandal - something she has actively promoted for years. Nellie explained her reason for ruining her reputation so she wouldn’t be forced to marry. Yet she had a father who’d never forced her to marry anyone. Unfortunately, Nellie was a conundrum I couldn’t reconcile.

On the other hand, I genuinely liked Lockwood. Poor Lockwood has been the dumped fiancé and second choice too many times. I was happy he found his match in Nellie, yet I found him more forgiving than I would have been. Lockwood is burdened with responsibilities and a feeling of urgency to secure his line. My heart melted for the scenes where he is brutally open and honest with Nellie when she wouldn’t do the same.

The writing was, as usual, superb, yet the plot circled the couple’s differences a bit too much. The couple had off-the-charts chemistry and the passionate scenes were incredible. Usually, I find the amount of angst in these books exhilarating, yet there were times I wanted less drama and more romance. Although not my favorite book, I’d still recommend this book due to Lockwood finding his well-deserved happily ever after. I am still an enthusiastic fan of the author and her books. Personally this was not my favorite.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a fantastic romp this book turned out to be. This was my first book by Joanne Shupe, and it was definitely memorable as well as extremely enjoyable!

Nellie/Eleanor was so spirited and determined to live her life under her terms. Her midnight swim was a steamy opening to a book brought plenty of spice and sizzle. Nellie’s shock at learning her midnight swimming partner was her best friend Maddie’s soon-to-be fiancé put her in a moral quandary.

The interactions between Lockwood and Nellie because so combative which seemed to just amp up the physical attraction between them. I loved the spirited debates and snips that Nellie made until she eventually could no longer resist his appeal.

This was so much fun to read, I loved the humor and social commentary on the injustice Nellie was standing up against along with the sizzling romance and push/pull dynamic between Lockwood and Nellie. Her family members were awesome and added nuances to Nellie’s character and how her past influenced her present fay decisions.

I received a free ARC from the author and Valentine PR; and I am voluntarily leaving an unbiased review.

I don’t read as much historical romance as I used to, but when I saw the blurb, I couldn’t resist. While this is the fourth in a series, I read it as a standalone. There were cameos from previous couples that I suppose would have had more emotional heft if I was familiar with their stories, but the central story worked well for me.

Nellie and the Duke of Lockwood may have a scandalous first meeting, but it’s the next day at a society party where the battle lines are drawn. Lockwood, an English duke of an impoverished estate, needs to marry well and while rich heiress Nellie may fit that part of his requirements, her scandalous reputation doesn’t. But they can’t help getting under each others skin or the attraction that comes with it. One time to get it out of their systems can’t hurt, right?

Nellie is the apple of her father’s eye and as as his heiress, she doesn’t need a husband to support herself. She’s never had any interest in giving up her freedom for some man, so she deliberately “ruined” herself and has continued to cultivate a scandalous reputation. But with her friends partnered off and about to start families, she feels adrift and abandoned. Besides tending her late mother’s garden, she has no idea what to do next. But whatever she wants to do with her life, it’s certainly not becoming a duchess and moving to England.

“Will you hold back with me, pretending to be someone you’re not, or will you be real? As you were the other night.”
“I cannot be anything but myself when I am with you, it seems. Much to my dismay.”


After inheriting the estate his father mismanaged, Lockwood’s worked hard to fulfill all of the duties and responsibilities of his position, though finding a nice rich duchess (and a quickly produced heir) has proven harder than most. Unlike the bumper crop of unusually fit dukes we see in historicals, Lockwood has a good reason for the amount of exercise (specifically swimming) he does. The navigation around his diagnosis – and his prognosis – was handled skillfully, from his resistance to seeing yet another doctor to his grim acceptance.

An unexpected anonymous meeting in the ocean at night kickstarts their chemistry. Perhaps it’s that first meeting that makes it so easy for Nellie to see through Lockwood’s mask that he puts on for society, the dutiful duke who dances with debutantes. And in return, as Lockwood comes to love her, he sees her clearly as well. Lockwood quickly realizes that Nellie is the one for him, but knows that springing that on her will not go well.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so much of the plot revolves around choice. There’s a subplot about Nellie’s work supplying contraceptives to bypass the Comstock Act, but it’s also part of the characters. Lockwood has never been free to do what he wants, while Nellie has always been able to. It’s just that now she’s not sure what that is. When Lockwood finally makes the choice to pursue Nellie, she’s stuck being unable to chose what she wants – after she eventually admits it, of course. Sure, some of it is that she knows Lockwood needs a wife with a spotless reputation, but a large part of that is fear, as well. Sometimes it’s easier to continue with the life you’ve known rather than upend everything you know in the search for happiness.

“You think I love you despite your recklessness.” He pressed his face into her hair and spoke quietly. Solemnly. “I love you because of it, you daft woman.”


One of my favorite parts of romance novels is the banter, and wow, this book delivers. Nellie is fierce and unwilling to back down and Lockwood meets her step for step. They absolutely lit up the page, and well, steamed it up, too. Neither Nellie nor Lockwood are as vanilla as society would expect, and they’re as much a perfect match in bed as they are in banter. I also loved Nellie’s Irish family, especially her aunt who acted like a surrogate mother for her.

Overall, absolutely delightful! I’ve already added the first in the series to my TBR list and can’t wait to read it!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

3.5 stars

This one took me a bit to get into. Frankly, I don't remember any of the characters (even the mc) appearing from previous books. Nellie I had to warm up to her characters. I guess she was too wild for me (hence rebellious in the blurb) and that wasn't the type of heroine I was expecting in this book. I loved Andrew. I guess I was just having a hard time just seeing these 2 as a pair because they're polar opposites. The last 40% was the best of this book and books 2 & 3 still remain favorites for me in this series. I REALLY LOVE THIS COVER!!!!!!!

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

It's no surprise the final book in the series is also a masterpiece, as all the rest.

We've really seen Lockwood go through so many broken understandings that I was so excited to see his happy ending. I loved watching him develop throughout the series, but mainly this book. He's a sweet but dirty duke and I'm here for it.

Nellie is jus one of the most stunning heroine I've met in a historical romance, in every sense of the word. She's incredible, and has always been, but watching her defend women's rights and all that went down was otherworldly. I loved it.

Every part of this book is magical, I couldn't put it down.

Lockwood and Nellie!!! WOW!
Words cannot explain how wonderful this love story is. There are so many emotions that encompasses their journey to HEA. It had been a slow build that started them out as adversaries to lovers.
Lockwood and Nellie’s first introduction was combustible. It was a chess game through their time together until finally they decided to go with what they were feeling. Lockwood loves Nellie with all his being. He loves her for her regardless of what anyone says. He loves her enough to understand what he needs to do every step of the way. He is one of those swoon MMC. I love him. .

3.5 stars rounded up.

Vivacious heiress Eleanor Young has always eschewed the institution of marriage, sabotaging her own reputation to make herself unwelcome on New York City’s marriage mart. She lives for herself and her own pleasures, including indulging in kisses with a handsome stranger on a moonlit beach.

Andrew Talbot, the Duke of Lockwood, needs to marry a wealthy heiress and quickly if he has any hope of saving his dukedom from the debt his father left it languishing in. He’s the ultimate gentleman to all of New York high society, but he’s hiding a much darker side of himself and determined to avoid another scandal after being jilted by the last three heiresses he courted.

Nellie sees right through Lockwood’s façade and knows he’s much more than he seems. The more she uncovers of the real man beneath the proper duke, the more irresistible she finds him. This fascination leads to an affair that soon burns much hotter than either Nellie or Lockwood anticipated, but Nellie isn’t willing to compromise on her unconventionality, leaving Lockwood to decide how much he’s willing to give up to be with her.

This book is so difficult to rate because there were parts of it that I absolutely adored and others that didn’t really work for me at all. I’m not sure where exactly to begin, so perhaps it is wise to first include the caveat that I had incredibly high hopes and expectations for this book. Nellie has been a favorite supporting character for me throughout this entire series and it’s impossible not to want unlucky-in-love Lockwood to finally get his HEA. There was also clearly something between him and Nellie this whole time so there’s been a lot of build up and anticipation for me to figure out just what that was.

This was a very emotional and character-driven story, which I loved, but the pacing definitely felt off. Not a lot happens in the first half or two-thirds of the book other than Nellie and Andrew getting to know each other better and having some pretty great steamy times. That’s the character-driven aspect of this book and I was here for it. However, in the last quarter or third or so of the book, a ton of things are packed in, and a new storyline is introduced for Nellie that just didn’t really seem to fit since it wasn’t really mentioned in the first half of the book. I’ll discuss this in more detail below but read the book first as it may get spoilery.

Lockwood was a likable character I could really root for, though I still wanted more of an in-depth characterization for him than what we got. I wanted to explore his fascination with pain during sex more, for instance, and it felt like that door was opened just a crack and then slammed shut. Nonetheless, I liked his platonic friendship with Katie as it was so genuine and showed and male/female friendship in a romance in such a healthy way, something that I think is pretty rare. It was also nice that, though he was struggling and had no money, through no fault of his own, that wasn’t what defined him and he didn’t mention it all the time with any sort of woe-is-me attitude. The fortune hunter is usually the villain of the story, so it was nice to get the humanizing story of how this had happened to him.

Nellie was hard to like as a heroine for me. She was very judgmental of Andrew without even realizing it, too caught up in her own views and her assurance that he must be a stuffy aristocrat. Even when he proved himself to her over and over, she still persisted in doubting him and judging him and that got so old for me. It’s behavior I wouldn’t want in a romance hero and it doesn’t fly any better for me coming from a heroine, especially when it’s couched as her being independent or however it was supposed to come off. It annoyed me that she made decisions for Lockwood (that he couldn’t have a future with her because she’d ruin his reputation), yet this is the very thing she doesn’t want happening to her. This smacked of blatant hypocrisy and it got on my nerves. If he’s not allowed to make any sort of decisions for her, then why is it ok when she’s doing it for him? She pushed him away so much and went through her reasoning of how she was leaving him or couldn’t be with him for his own good that it became very repetitive and a bit tedious.

Nellie’s antics seemed more frivolous than I think they were meant to. She’s meant to be this feminist powerhouse but really she’s naïve and has no concept of consequences for others that may result from her actions. Again, fair warning there may be spoilers ahead. Nellie’s desire to help women get access to contraception was great, noble even, but her way of going about it was less so. Case in point: her storyline with Mrs. Ingram. Nellie went off rashly, albeit with good intentions, but without a thought to how she could be putting an innocent woman in even more danger, all so Nellie could have a public platform for her crusade for access to contraceptives. I don’t disagree at all with what she was trying to do, but the way she went about it was narrow-minded and failed to consider the potential consequences to others with less privilege or access to funds than she had. She acted as if an arrest was something she intended to happen all along and that it was good for her platform, but for me that was just another example of Nellie being reckless and not really considering others.

Neither she nor Lockwood was really the person they portrayed to the world, and I wanted to see more of them uncovering one another’s true selves on the page than we really got. There was a lot of this in a delicious build-up in the first half of the book and then it just sort of fell off and never really recovered. The same thing happened with the steamy scenes. Nellie and Andrew really came together and learned deep rooted secrets about one another in the bedroom and yet, we have no steam past the 66% mark. With the physical aspect of their relationship being such a key factor in cementing their emotional connection, this was incredibly disappointing for me. I wanted at least one culminating scene with them together after they were finally on the same page, had admitted their love, and solidified a future together and instead we get two weirdly implied, fade-to-black scenes. Even in the end, after her grand romantic gesture, Nellie is still bargaining and demanding, trying to get the upper hand on Andrew, holding things over him and keeping the threat of divorce alive if he ever steps out of line, wanting property in her name rather than both their names, and generally ensuring that he always feels like he’s on the back foot. I’m sure this wasn’t actually the intention, but that’s how it came off to me and I just really wanted more of a partnership. As it stood, even after Nellie and Lockwood are reunited and the grand romantic gesture is over, there was too much negotiation still going on for this to feel like a solid, permanent relationship to me.

I loved Nellie’s Irish family and definitely wanted to see more of them interacting with Lockwood. I have a ton of highlights from Aunt Riona’s advice to Nellie and I’d love to see more of her, perhaps a spinoff series for Finn and her other two sons? I loved how Nellie and Lockwood grew together but there were a few too many rejections on Nellie’s part and too much lack of stability in the relationship for me to love this as much as I wanted to. For a series conclusion with so many high hopes resting on it, I did want a bit more.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The meet-cute is hawt and wet between Miss Nellie Young and the Duke of Lockwood in “The Duke Gets Even” by Joanna Shupe!!

Lockwood finally gets his HEA after the attempts of finding a heiress in the first three books of the Fifth Avenue Rebels series! However, this book can be read as a stand-alone!

I enjoy their attempts to keep away from each other, but their chemistry is undeniable!

I love Nellie’s passion for woman’s rights and helping others in general. Although, she helps Lockwood to catch a heiress, but fate has other plans involving their mutual pleasure!

The ending is unexpected however how could I expect anything else? How Nellie and Lockwood finally got together shows how stubborn and in love they are! I love the surprise aspect and the portrayal that women, during that time period, is capable and should have the same rights as men.

If you enjoy midnight trysts, enemies to lovers, friends with benefits, and strong females to name a few then this book is for you!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Joanna Shupe is an auto-buy author for me, and this is a great addition to The Fifth Avenue Rebels series. I loved Nellie immediately, and I had been waiting for Lockwood to finally get his HEA! They're perfect together and had wonderful banter. Plus this book is HOT! The cover is steamy and this book does not disappoint! Lockwood is the definition of proper in the streets, wild in the sheets and it was incredible. I'm so sad that this is the end of the series, however this is definitely a fitting conclusion. Joanna Shupe continues to amaze me and I can't wait to read whatever she does next! I would give this book more than five stars if possible and I highly recommend this entire series and honestly anything Joanna Shupe writes!

The series ends just how I wanted it to… with a bang.

Throughout the entire Fifth Avenue Rebels series I wanted the continuously jilted Duke of Lockwood to get his redemption story and a chance to fall in love. Shupe delivers and once again provides a fresh historical romp blending reality with fantasy. It doesn’t get better than this.

Headstrong Nellie Young isn’t going to marry. Nope, she’s got big plans to do things her way, and turning her freedom over to a man isn’t one of them. She’ll sample the wares and discard them when they no longer suit her, which is exactly why she’s amazing. But the carefree life can also be a lonely one as she watches all her other friends get married and partner off with men who love and adore them. She fears being left behind and discarded, but that’s still not enough to give up her freedom… even for a man she can’t get out of her mind.

Andrew Lockwood, our lovely duke, is just looking to save his family’s estate from ruin, and he needs a rich wife to do it. Nellie is everything not suitable to the role of a duchess. Headstrong and not willing to put up a façade for the sake of society’s conventions. Still, after a midnight tryst, Lockwood can’t get Nellie out of his mind or life. She’s everywhere he goes, even in his dreams. So naturally, they have to get this out of their systems.

Except all the wrongs make rights. There is so much heat between these two it helped keep me warm on a cold winter’s day. Nellie is fabulous as a do-what-she-wants female in a world and society that prefers to have women follow their rules. Lockwood is a man who is trapped in conventions and expectations, so what better than someone like Nellie to make him question everything. The story is on point, the sex heavy, the intros to some other characters lead me to believe Shupe is readying for a fun spinoff. Pacing and story work very well, and the ending kept me surprised.

Overall, Shupe provides this nice balance between fantasy and historical reality with plenty of character development and a swoon-worthy romance. There are callbacks to other characters and locales from the earlier series books, but readers who are hopping in won’t be in the dark at all. This is for readers who enjoy Maya Rodale or Delilah Marvelle.

~ Landra

Once again I am frustrated that HarperCollins refuses to meet with their union because I have a lot of thoughts on this book and I am not sharing them because HarperCollins won't meet with their union and give them a fair wage. What a shame for the author!

I've only read the first two books in this series, but I was very excited for Lockwood's story and I'm so glad we finally got it! Also, can we take a moment to appreciate the covers in this series and how steamy they are? Love them!❣️😍

Coming to the story(which runs parallel to the other books in the series - so it can be read as a standalone), the Duke of Lockwood - twice jilted and in need of a bride with a hefty dowry (to save his estate) meets his match in fiery Nellie who has a ✨scandalous✨ reputation!😂 Both of them are not what the other is looking for, as Lockwood needs a prim and proper heiress and Nellie is not even interested in marrying. But, sparks fly from the very first moment they meet each other in the ocean and though they try to pull away from this attraction, life keeps bringing them into each other's orbits! Will they give in and fall for each other?

I loved the first meeting between Lockwood and Nellie - it was such a perfect and steamy encounter. But it does get a little awkward after that when we learn that he plans on courting her friend. So, it took me a while to get past that(and reminded me of Mayne from Pleasure for Pleasure by Eloisa James where he was sorta involved with the other Essex sisters). But, as things progress and Nellie's friends fall in love with other people, we see that Lockwood and Nellie keep circling back to each other. There's a bit of animosity between them but lots of attraction and tension too. And Nellie is known for breaking the rules - and she doesn't care much about what others might say. Though they try to fight hard against the attraction, they find themselves liking and appreciating each other as they get closer.

I loved the fact that Nellie was experienced and not afraid of being honest about her desires(gets a bit tiring to keep reading about virgins that need to be *taught* in HR). And Lockwood was equally filthy in the sheets while being a bit starchy outside!😂 It was so good when they finally got together!
I just didn't understand why Lockwood didn't just go after Nellie from the beginning itself - like he needed an heiress and her father's got plenty of money. And though they do talk about her scandalous reputation, I never got this feeling that he cared too much about it, like his estate needs money not a virtuous duchess, so it doesn't really matter in the long run. So, he needn't have courted other heiresses at all lol😂 But then we wouldn't have that little bit of angst at first 😆

I enjoyed the parts where we got to meet Nellie's aunt and her cousins and saw her involved in helping women fight for their reproductive rights - very relevant considering what's happening right now. I understood her hesitation about marriage and how her grief made her scared to lose others, especially when Lockwood revealed some of his reasons for wanting to marry an heiress. It was nice to see her courage finally come out and I loved how her dad was so supportive(though I didn't understand why she wanted to have such a scandalous reputation when he always loved her no matter what. Like I'd get it if she just wanted to have fun or to explore, but I didn't understand why she needed to be so notorious to thumb her nose at society, when it was also making her lonely at times).

In the end, I really liked how everything was wrapped up with both Lockwood and Nellie taking equal steps to reach each other while letting go of the very reasons that kept them apart at first! This was such a satisfying conclusion to this series and was so steamy and lovely at the same time!

Fantastic story with 2 wonderful characters, you can’t help but love. Nellie and Lockwood are a couple who can’t help but be drawn together. Despite all the obstacles to the practicality of them being together, they are fantastic together. I loved seeing their journey to work out how to be together. Lockwood needs an heiress with appropriate societal standing and Nellie craves her independence and to shun the judgment of society. This is an enemies with benefits and these two have a remarkable chemistry that really brings the story to life.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was steamy, fun and fast paced. It held my interest and kept me reading. This book can be read as a standalone story, though it is book 4 in the Fifth Avenue Rebels series. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.