A fun historical romance romp with a side of mystery and political intrigue.

The Duke's Best Friend is the story of Kate, a young woman accustomed to roaming the halls of London's embassies and who finds herself unwelcome there once her famous grandfather passes away, and Henry, an unremarkable youngest son who has just entered service at the foreign office at the recommendation of his uncle. She can provide expertise and connections, he can provide access to the halls of power, so they quickly enter into an alliance that morphs into something more.

I really liked the characters. Kate is clever and headstrong, and her upbringing has made her into someone very ill-suited to the roles a well-born young woman might have been expected to fulfill in the Regency era, without falling into nlog territory. I liked that she took pride in her abilities and personality while still wishing for more female companionship in her life.

Henry is less flashy as a character than Kate, but I still liked him a lot as a leading man. He's respectful and just as smart as her, and much less stubborn. He doesn't let his preconceived notions blind him to the truth, both about Kate and about his uncle, and isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes in. His and Kate's banter was a lot of fun to read, particularly in their early interactions when they are still struggling to get along with each other.

However, with the intrigue plot and a vast amount of secondary characters, the book ends up being a touch over-crowded, not leaving enough space for Henry and Kate's relationship to develop and gain depth beyond the initial chemistry and their ability to work well together. This makes the realizations of love ring hollow, as they come before they have opened up with each other in any meaningful way.

Overall, though, this was a fun, fast read, and I'll definitely be picking up more books by this author.

This is the fifth book in a series with different couples, and I haven't read the first four. I had no trouble following it, but the intrigue plot makes frequent references to the events of one of the previous books, and the main couple of the first book makes frequent appearances, so you might want to do as a I say and not as I did and check out the other books in the series first.