One Season with the Duke by Addy du Lac is a wonderful historical romance. I loved the strong female character as we don't often see a black woman in historical romances. This book is definitely slow burn and the plot pretty much sums itself up in the beginning. But overall it was a good read and a pallet cleanser from deeper, emotional reads.

This was the first book I've read by Addy du Lac, but I will be reading more. I didn't care for some of the trope and plot points involved in the story. I did think it was quite well written, and I look forward to reading more by this author.

I was fortunate to receive an ARC of One Season with the Duke from Netgalley. Addy DuLac is a new author to me and I am already looking forward to reading more of her stories. Henrietta Montfort is being blackmailed into marriage by her evil conniving cousin insisting that she is illegitimate and doesn't deserve her standing in society, or her family money. Finn, the Duke of Montrose has been infatuated with Hettie since he was a young man. Without knowing what she is being blackmailed for, he offers her marriage to escape a forced unwanted marriage while at the same time, be able to gain the hand of the woman he has always admired. This story reminded me of how easy it is for us to mistrust someone with just a few unsubstantiated words whispered in our ears and how we must fight for the one we love and admire regardless of what society may think and whose opinion really matters.

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for the chance to read and review this ARC.

The unfortunate part is this; that the book is unmemorable. I read it a few weeks back on vacation and while I normally don't take this long to review, I, for the life of me, could not remember what I disliked about the book. It's not a resounding yes, even if it's not a resounding no.

I do find that the main characters conversations with her cousin are something any Pakistani woman can relate to. So many Pakistani men feel the need to control their conversations and the way they interact with other people, and dress, simply because they are men. The cousin, and his whole line of, people like us belong together, felt like that.

Hettie is a woman of mixed race, and is being blackmailed by her cousin, who is attempting to force her to marry him. All hope seems lost for Hattie, until Lord Findley comes to her rescue by marrying her. Once that happens, another issue surfaces that test their commitment to each other.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Hettie and Finn, as well as the flow and pacing of this story. The mother in law irked me several times throughout the story. This was my first book from this author, and I really enjoyed it and will be reading more from this author.

I received a copy of the book via the publisher through NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review of my own thoughts and opinions.

I love seeing black women and other POC taking the lead in historical romance. They have been missing for far too long.
I enjoyed this story and how she had to find away to get to deal with her blackmailer while trying to find the truth about her family.

This is a historical romance where Henrietta (Hettie to her loved ones) is blackmailed into being engaged to a fellow peer, her cousin and resident pain in the butt. Well, Lord Findley, a Scottish Duke, helps Henrietta out by marrying her instead. He tells her that he doesn't care what the blackmail is and that he has had feelings for her for a loooooong time. They've been friends for years (though they hadn't seen each other in a while due to Findley being in Scotland).

To me, this book starts off slow but I will say that it builds up and pays off in such a good way into the third act. And I did like the second act! I think this is a book that needs time to cook. The third act of this book is my favorite one of the year so far. To try and not get too spoilery: Even though the characters love each other, the both of them have a hard time trusting each other because they are new into a relationship and they both have different ways of handling conflict and challenges. Also, Henrietta's experiences lend themselves to her actions in a way that just makes a lot of sense.

While the two characters come to love quickly, their trust and learning to forgive each other is well earned and makes this for a very awesome read.

DNF unfortunately. The book didn’t make sense. The time period is the 1800s but they speak modern English? After the 1st 30% the book is just hard to get into. I found that once I put it down I actually had no desire to pick it up again. The storyline is promising so some of you might like it.

4 1/2*STARS*
Hattie Monfort is of mixed race and raised by her aunt and uncle along with their children, never knowing her own parents. Blackmailed by her cousin, Philip Fletcher, she fears abuse and unhappiness in a forced marriage. Enter Lord Finley, a friend of one of her Monfort cousins. It's been several years since she's seen him. He is now a Duke and a Laird in Scotland. He offers marriage and a home in Scotland. She feels safe, but her cousin persists in pursuing her with his threats and brings suspicion and unhappiness in her marriage.
Talk about a tearjerker! It almost seems hopeless for a happy ending.
Very hot🔥!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

While some aspects of One Season With The Duke were unconvincing, I enjoyed this story which brings mixed-race heiress Hetty together with her teenage friend Finn, who has held a torch for her from afar for ten years. He needs a bride and she needs to be saved from her heinous, blackmailing cousin Phillip, who claims he has proof she is illegitimate. I couldn’t believe that she would accept the claim without proof, nor that her aunt and uncle, who had essentially raised her for her parents, would also accept that claim. Nonetheless, the blackmail is central to this story, which takes place mainly in Scotland. Racism, belonging, trust and betrayal also play a part in making this an unusual story. The sexual sizzle between Henty and Finn and few plot twists also add interest to this book.

This was a solid debut and definitely put this author on the map for me. Thank you to Entangled for the opportunity to read this!

The plot and the cover absolutely captivated me from the start. I love a messy historical romance however there were a few things that I don’t particularly enjoy.
Finn and Hettie started out really good, I really liked him he was very good to Hettie and I appreciated that he also defended her against her mother more than once.
Hettie also was very strong willed and didn’t let her mother in law intimidate her.

I feel like personally everything fell apart when the blackmail came back around full force sigh and I just didn’t like how Finn reacted to Hettie’s secret. It was unfair of him and I feel like he didn’t grovel or apologised enough to her for what he told her.

I will definitely keep an eye on this author because I liked her voice and the story was overall a good one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
One Season With The Duke is a novel by Addy du Lac. This was a strong debut! The blurb didn’t fully coincide with the actual plot; I was a little thrown and surprised. This was a more character-driven plot than plot centered, which seemed opposite the blurb. However, I was pleasantly surprised – I love character-driven stories.

Hettie and Finn go into marriage in a rocky way, and then the secrets Hettie keeps and the expectations Finn has almost destroy the union. I admired Hettie. She tries to be the duchess Finn needs while harboring a disastrous secret. Finn is hopelessly in love with Hettie, who does not reciprocate his feelings immediately. I liked Finn but was aggravated at his behavior in the last third of the book. However, Finn does wonderfully redeem himself.

The love story developed romantically and passionately through the first half of the book. It was enjoyable to see these friends turned lovers develop into something more. I loved the ending and epilogue. I was impressed with Addy du Lac’s writing and will gladly read more of her books. This was a fantastic start and I feel her books will get ever better!

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

This was my first time reading anything by this author, Addy du Lac, and I'm in love. In this fun story Henrietta Monfort has to marry to save herself and her family from ruin. Her evil cousin uses a past secret to con her into the marriage so that he can get the money owed to the heiress. When Lord Findley, who has always cared for her, discovers she is being black mailed he jumps into the rescue with out question. This fun adventure was wonderfully written. I felt like I was part of her turmoil and as she falls in love with the Duke I did too. I loved the attention to detail. Of course the passion was there too, and it was perfect. I really enjoyed this story and I can't wait to have more from her. I hope you will enjoy this little adventure too. Truly worth 5 stars.

When Hettie is blackmailed by her cousin she doesn't see any choice expect to marry him, until Finn, a Scottish Duke, offers her an alternative. Now she's married a man she knew as a child and together they must figure out if they can work together to create a life for themselves.

I found some of the communication issues a little frustrating, but overall it was a fun read.

Lord Findley (Finn) had loved Henrietta (Hettie) from afar for years as she grew up in her Aunt and Uncle’s (a Viscount) home. When she is being blackmailed by an unscrupulous cousin, who is forcing her into marriage, she turns to Finn, who sweeps her away to his home in Scotland. There, she now faces a new marriage of convenience, a mother-in-law who hates her, a language she doesn’t speak , and acceptance as a mixed-race Duchess in a foreign land, with the black mailing cousin still coming after her. Quite a lot on her plate, especially when her secret comes out! A most enjoyable read!

This story starts with Hettie accepting a proposal from her cousin whom she despises. It wasn’t saying much for her character that she believed her cousins words with no proof and did not trust those who love her enough to discuss it. Thankfully her uncle knew something was wrong and once he pried it out of Hettie, he was only too happy to help her elope with Finn. Their marriage may have been impulsive but they have known each other for years and could be really good together. Too bad it takes them too long for honesty, trust and speaking openly about how they really feel; thus resulting in a bit of a disaster that could have been avoided. Finn was a great character until his feelings were hurt and then I really didn’t like him.. If you consider his discovery of Hettie’s secret a test, then he failed wholeheartedly. Hettie should have told Finn what her cousin was holding over her, but it should not have been so awful to someone who supposedly loved her. Of course this is a standalone romance, so you can rest assured that they will find their way back. The story is interesting and has some humour (I love when Finn’s mother meets Hattie’s dog), sadness and joy.

I really appreciate getting a chance to read this novel, and the opinions are entirely my own.

With a heavy heart, I have to say that I ahd to DNF at 45%. I am a huge supporter of BIPOC authors and characters and was excited to read this book, and I really gave it a go but for some reason I don't feel compelled to continue. I'm not sure if it is the writing style but the feeling that I got was that everything seemed to be resolved in the first bit, and maybe it has to do with the expectation based on the synopsis. By all accounts things should have been resolved but then I checked and I was only at 30%. I do believe there could be more tension throughout as at one point I really did feel like everything was okay and that she needed to deal with the fallout of marrying the Duke. I think for some reason I have lost patience for some childish antics which seem to take away from the main story. Storyline aside, I did feel that Hettie and Finn had some quite explosive chemistry and it has been a steamy novel. These scenes are well crafted and you get a vivid glimpse into their coupling and passion for each other. I thought maybe it was a mood thing but I don't think so based on other similar books I have read recently.

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Heart Flutters: ❤️

Heiress Henrietta Monfort has been blackmailed by her cousin who has uncovered some scandalous history that he knows she won’t want to be uncovered. He forces her to agree to marry him. Just as her childhood best friend comes to call from Scotland he is now much older and handsome. And of course he is a Duke. He sees her not as happy as he remembers and confronts her and takes her away to Scotland to marry her and save her from her scheming cousin.
This book made me cry!! Omg they were all caught up in their feelings they got me too. This book was so well done and there was a third act breakup but with a scheming blackmailing cousin he has to show up again somehow.
Def recommend this if you love historical and loved how his mother who hated their marriage at first was her biggest champion when he was being an idiot.
Also, look at this entrancing cover - the colors are amazing! And def envisioned this beauty for Hettie.

Thank you entangledpub for the e-ARC for the honest and voluntary review.

I wasn't sure what to expect as this is a new-to-me author, and one of my least favorite tropes - blackmail. However, I am very glad I gave it a try as the book ended up being very enjoyable. The characters were well formed and interesting, and the story kept a good pace.

It was a somewhat different take than your typical historical romance in that the main characters were persons of color. I really liked this aspect, and hope to read more like this.

I definitely recommend this book.

I love a story about a black woman getting everything she deserves. Receiving princess treatment and have a fine reach man spoil her and being so obsessed with her that he can’t help but give her whatever her heart desires.