This story was a delightful surprise. It is fresh and unique with characters that are out of the element and the norm of society!

This is the second book I have read by this author and I was excited that she allows her imagination to roam.

What would normally be droll and boring characters come alive in Four Weddings and a Duke. Unexpected and fun, cranky and focused, sweet and endearing. The author hits all of the notes in this one.

I especially love the deep connection between the two, the unabashed steam, and the “daring” displays of affection at the end! These made the difference in this romance!

Loved this story! So much so that I could not put this read away. Many likeable characters in the narrative, none more so than Alex and Liv. Their character growth was strong and their journey was truly a joy to read.
Review copy received from Entangled Publishing via Netgalley

Four Weddings and a Duke had some great moments, especially in the beginning. Alexander, the Duke of Beaubrooke, and Lavinia, meet at a wedding. Their "meet-cute" drew me in right from the start. Both could easily be described as wallflowers. Alex is the second son, the "spare" who is now the duke. He's a botanist who is quiet and kind. Lavinia is the middle sister, blue stocking. These two introverts enjoyed each other's company and had an instant spark.

The duke's family and Lavinia's family had some sort of old agreement where the Duke of Beaubrooke was to marry one of the sisters. Before Alex's brother died, it was assumed Lavinia's older, outgoing, born to be a duchess. sister Harriet would be chosen. But Alex was instantly connected to Lavinia and picked his wallflower. Super sweet.

This book really should have been novella length, because it dragged a whole lot in the middle once Alex and Lavinia married. There was a lot of manufactured drama, like Harriet's rushed wedding (that made no sense with the character we were introduced to). It felt thrown in, and would have made for a really interesting story if it was fleshed out more.

One thing I loved was how Alex wanted Lavinia to wear her glasses, he didn't care what society thought, he wanted her to see and be comfortable. Lavinia wanted to be seen, as she felt she was overlooked by her family in favor of her two more gregarious sisters. This was the cause for tension between Alex and Lavinia, as she took to the social scene much more readily than Alex, once her social station increased when she became the duchess.

I liked Lavinia's friend and Alex's rival, Nigel. Even though Alex and Nigel bickered like they were young school children, I thought they were funny. Isn't it odd though that the duke and Lavinia's family had promised their children to each other, Lavinia was best friends (since childhood) to Alex's rival (that he also knew from school), and yet over the years Alex and Lavinia's paths never crossed?

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own and freely given.

“Four Weddings and a Duke” by Michelle McLean
Communication, Priorities, and Learning
I did love this story. The trials and tribulations of learning to communicate, listen, share, and accommodate to make a marriage not just work but be a happy refuge from the world. All is not always the way it seems, and old habits may be hard to break. A fun page-turning romance, a worthy read. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley

Four Weddings and a Duke features an arranged marriage between our heroine, Lavinia and our hero, Alexander. Unlike most couples in the genre with this specific trope, these two are actually pretty eager to marry each other, which I found very refreshing.
I really enjoyed the beginning of the novel, it was great to have a hero who is quiet and reserved, but kind instead of your usual broody rake, and I liked Lavinia even more. It was refreshing to find a heroine, who despite starting out as a wallflower, becomes more interested in parties and participating in society.
However, after they married and finally had their wedding night, I started to lose interest. There was a lot of showing and not telling and Alex's research taking priority over his wife so often made me not really root for them as a couple, and I don't think he groveled nearly enough at the end for how he behaved.
The writing was good, so I'll probably give another chance to the author, but I don't think I'll ever revisit this specific title.

2.5

Alex and Lavinia came together due to a family marriage arraignment. They met by chance at a wedding and they enjoyed each other’s company. I had really high hopes for this book. There were times that I enjoyed it and other times I felt it was painful to read through the scenes. I guess what bothered me were how weak and naive Lavinia was portrayed at moments. Alex truly did not appear to appreciate his wife and at times thought negatively about her. I didn’t feel the connection between the characters even if I tried.

A good interesting romance bewtween Lavinia and Alex who come to find that they really are made for each other.
A fun story with some family drama.
Enjoyed readng.
Voluntarily reviewed.

A Wallflower no more. I laughed so many times. What a great read. Lavinia was a wallflower and could also be considered a blue stocking but when she found her way, look out. Alex had no idea what hit him or how to deal with this new person who had so much spunk for life. Such an entertaining read with a great story line.

Lovely and quite complex in matters of the heart!

This is the story of Alex and Lavinia, who have a lovely first meeting while attending a wedding. They bump into each other several times until they find out they could be betrothed . To everyone's surprise, Alex, the duke, chooses with his heart the quiet Lavinia to be his wife. So begins their journey of finding their way in the world, in their marriage and in balance with each other.

Both are lovely characters, and their love for each other, and finally, their self awareness, makes them very likeable. His passion for plants gets a bit too much, as her trying to do what she thinks is the best, but their love shines beautifully. And the help of their dear ones.

What lacked for me was the seduction, the heat, not the actual hotness, but the heat that builds it. And at times, especially in the epilogue, I felt the infantility of Alex and Nigel's rivalry went too far. It was funny, nevertheless, but at the expense of building stronger characters.

This book was very nice written and well paced, there was never quite a boring moment. Even the drama was not much out of the ordinary and I loved the complexity of the feelings and how, no matter the mess they created, the characters evolved beautifully.

I received a copy of this in order to offer my view on it.

At one point during their climax argument, Alex, the main male character said this to Lavinia, "The reason I married you was because we were alike. Or so I thought. You craved quiet and solitude. You hated social events. You’d rather hide in corners and read, remember? Yet the moment we married, you changed into someone I didn’t recognize. The only thing on your mind was the next ball or soiree. You were obsessed with hosting your own, and worse, you kept dragging me into all of it with you"

AND THAT was my biggest issue with this book!!

Because I expected that too from the moment Alex and Lavinia met. I thought Lavinia would enjoy her solitude and her books. I thought the romance blossomming between Alex and Lavinia would be the meeting of the mind, and the join forces of two people loving solitude rather than social events. I thought, the story would be fulfilled with the two of them on Alex's garden or the library, or reading together, and such. I thought Lavinia was like me ... one who prefer the quiet and that she would dismiss all the "duties" of being a duchess who entertained.

Alas, that was NOT what I get.

Apparently - as the author explained in the end, it wasn't that Lavinia craved solitude ... it was rather than she's never seen, so she WANTS to be seen, and she enjoys all those parties and social events, and she apparently also like hosting balls, and wanting to do it. I didn't get it, and I thought it felt like Lavinia got a change of characteristics... and I was ANNOYED and DISSAPPOINTED that she didn't end up like what I wanted in the beginning.

So this one was a failure for me, because I totally felt like Alex, and no matter what the author explained about Lavinia, for Alex to see differently, I couldn't. So I didn't enjoy it at all.




The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of Four Weddings and A Duke by Michelle McLean. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for this ARC.

I was a bit disappointed with this story. I really liked the beginning, where Alexander and Lavinia's personalities were quirky and unique. But once they got married, so much of that initial cute banter disappeared. The rest of the book was OK but didn't live up to initial expectations. I give it 2.5/5 stars.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was actually a really good read. I was very not happy with how the sisters treated each other. The story was really good. I just wish the character would have talked to each other more.

Librarian Review:
I do not intend to recommend this book for purchase as I do not believe it would be of interest to our students or add something new to our collection. I would likely not recommend it in reader's advisory, either.

Reader Review:
I found myself very apathetic to this book and struggled to finish it. There was little momentum, but I was more frustrated by the characters and choices the author made that felt random rather than as a vehicle to move the plot forward. For example, Harriet's entire character and storyline. Her tantrum in the beginning did not match up with her later explanation and eventual marriage to a guy she apparently loved the whole time--and then suddenly she was supportive of her sister again out of nowhere. It became clear to me that Harriet existed for one reason and one reason only: To have a wedding randomly thrown in so that the author could title the book "Four Weddings and a Duke." If Harriet is going to exist, and if she's going to be one of the weddings, she needs to actually matter in the plot so the reader has a reason to care. Otherwise all her appearances are just wasted word counts.

Most importantly, this book is supposed to be a romance. But the guy was horrible. He was mean to his wife, ignored her, and disrespected her. He wasn't a hero, he was nearly a villain with ridiculous accusations and constantly disregarding the heroine. And his "apology" at the end was a tacky, cringe display that was so incongruous to the time period's social norms it really took me out of the story.

I really appreciated this super cute historical romance!! I love a like minded couple, and especially that both Alex and Lavinia were introverts. I also enjoyed the fact that their relationship continued to grow and developed after they got married. Alex's botany hobby was super cool and very unique compared to a lot of other historical romance love interests!! Overall, such a fun read!

This was a delightful read! Funny, adorable, and cute in every possible way.
Lavinia and Alex were perfect together, even if I would've liked to see a bit more passion between the two.
The reason for giving it only 3 stars, it's because sometimes it felt really heavy and long, the story was dragged a bit, and it took me a bit more time to read it as I usually would with books of this length,

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alexander Reddington, once the spare, has now become the Duke of Beaubrooke. He knows he must marry and produce an heir, but Alex doesn't care to move in society and simply wants a wife who will leave him to his research. After a chance encounter with an awkward wallflower, he thinks he’s found the perfect wife! But Lavinia Wynnburn is not exactly what he expected, and their quick marriage leads to unexpected consequences.

An agreement existed between the Reddington and the Wynnburn families that the Duke would choose a bride amongst three sisters, but Alex is not the same man as his deceased brother. He chooses sister Lavinia rather than her more popular and socially polished older sister, believing Lavinia would prefer a quiet life and he could simply continue with his botanical studies. While the story started well - with a meet-cute between Alex and Lavinia at a wedding, this book couldn't hold my attention at all. I didn't feel that the story had "teeth" and just sort of gummed through some misunderstandings and disagreements until their HEA. I didn't have the patience for it, so I'd say it was 2.5 stars but I'm rounding to three.

Tropes: Wallflower, Unexpected Title, Arranged Marriage/Marriage of Convenience

Weddings, balls, plants, and romance what more does a period romance novel need. A fun quick read for lovers of romance (smut level 3 stars).

I enjoy historical romances and this one was an entertaining read. Alex never expected to become duke and have to marry. Lavinia was the middle sister and a bit of a wallflower. Through a family agreement Alex was expected to marry her older sister, He chose Lavina instead thinking she would enjoy a quiet life and he could continue with his botany studies. After their marriage she was excited to be invited to social events and host parties. Alex was not expecting all this as all he wanted was a quiet life with his plants. They worked together to make it work. This was a heartwarming story and enjoyable. I would like to thank NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to review this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I just love Michelle McLean's writing. Great characters, excellent relationship development.

Lavinia is used to being the overlooked middle sister in a group of gregarious girls. She is shocked when Alex chooses her to be his bride. Her quiet, studious ways are in fact what draws Alex to her in the first place, but once she becomes Duchess she realizes she does in fact enjoy hosting parties and attending social events.

Alex is caught up with his time-sensitive plant research and is surprised when his new wife keeps putting more events on their busy calendar. The quiet, peaceful life he expected balancing his marriage, his work, and his estate proves to be more challenging than he envisioned. But he will have to learn how to prioritize all three in order to keep what he is increasingly finding is most important of all -- the love and affection of his smart, inquisitive, and supportive wife.

I just loved Lavinia and think she deserves all the spotlight and attention she so desires. Hoping we get more of her dear friend and Alex's research nemesis in a future installment!

Received a copy for review.

Sometimes I need a quieter love story. A story with low angst that isn’t boring.
Lavinia prefers to be a wallflower. She likes to read and remain unnoticed.
Alexander was never meant to be a Duke. As the younger brother he is a dedicated botanist with little time for the Ton.
Their families made an arrangement for the Duke to marry one of the daughters. Alex’s brother was expected to marry Harriet, the oldest sister but after a chance meeting, Alex decided that Lavinia suits him more.
I loved that they get to know one another and must navigate living with someone you barely know.