I read Always Be My Duchess last year so was very excited to read this one. This gives me Emma vibes. Our heroine is a matchmaker. But refuses to acknowledge our hero is perfect for her.

I love historical romance. This one actually had a lot of history in it. They talk a lot about the Lunacy Act because Aspen's father was falsely put away. It's all in the content warnings.

I related to Vesper. She wanted to find love for others, but refused to find love for herself. She has trust issues. And it's actually rooted in her relationship with Aspen. This is childhood lovers to enemies to lovers. A great trope.

I found myself reading this very fast. I just kept reading another chapter. It was a very easy read.

Can't wait for Briar and Lushing's story!

4/5

Never Met a Duke Like You is a delightful regency romance that met all my expectations!

Lady Vesper, aka the matchmaker, has said love isn't in the cards for her. But when she lands in a locked room with her past friend, the Duke of Greydon, her mind is about to be put on its axis.

The Duke is back in England to try to save his family's name. He doesn't want anything to do with his past flame, Lady Vesper. But fate is about to make its name known.

Amalie Howard's writing shines in the second in her Royalty Romance series. I enjoyed the dual point of views featured I each chapter and rooted for the Duke and Lady from the beginning. Narrator Mary Jane Wells enhanced my reading experience! Her different tones for both points of view made it easy to follow and allowed me to feel even more for the characters. Fans of regency romances, enemies to friends to lovers and spicy courtyard scenes will adore this!

Thank you Forever Publishing for my earc in exchange for my honest review.

This one was just okay for me! Overall I liked it well enough, but I had such a hard time focusing on the book. For whatever reason the plot just did not grip me.

There were a lot of things I liked, the Emma/Clueless vibes, the cat, the childhood friends to enemies to lovers vibes, the ADHD rep

Like with the first book I had such a hard time keeping track of the friend group. I don't know why but I could not tell the different women apart (except for Neve who was the MC in the first book).

The plot line with his mom was pretty dark and while it did provide stakes I really did not like when blackmail got introduced, it just made me dislike the last 20% of the book.

Overall this one was kind of a miss for me which is disappointing because I've really liked the other Amalie Howard books I've read.

Taming of the Dukes, Never Met a Duke Like you book two (2), is exactly what I needed for Vesper and Aspen's love story. This couple sharp tongues built incredible sexual tension boiling over into the bedroom and beyond. Their romance was entertaining, humorous and an absolute joy to read. Indulge in the ton, matchmaking, friends, politics and a feisty feline friend.

I definitely look forward to the next installment in this series.

Thank you Forever for the complimentary copy.

Lady Vesper Lyndhurst is everything a proper Lady should be, beautiful, popular and the daughter of a Duke too. So why at twenty-four is she still unmarried? She has had offers and turned them all down why? Although she has given up on love it turns out she is good at matching people and has seen three couples wed. She does a great deal of Charity work and helps children. What the ton sees is just what she wants them to see and nothing more. Since she was terribly hurt by the one person who was not only her longtime friend but first love. She and Aspen Greydon, Duke of Greydon were kids when in a fit of temper, she broke his nose. It was so embarrassing to a young man to be bested by a girl. When she had her coming out and Aspen was back from school, he gave her the cut direct and caused much harm. It changed her from a careful girl to a very proper lady never doing anything to cause gossip again. After his father died in a mental hospital Aspen left England and was gone for seven years. Of all the ways for our couple to meet they get locked in an Attic together! This story has a lot going on. With tons of history, secrets and misunderstanding between our couple. What they are feeling is the cause of much banter, witty interaction and passion between them. There is also a much deeper, nasty underlining topic of people being committed to mental hospital when their families tire of them or want them just gone. Aspen and Vespers father are working together to change that. This is a story that will play with your emotions both for the good and the bad. I loved the cat in the story. It is so perfect for a first-time cat owner! Ha All Cat owners will understand and laugh a lot. Even with everything going on it is first and foremost a story of lost and found love and understanding from our couple. There are many great characters that help make this story so good. It is a book not to be missed, I do wish that the truly evil person didn’t get off as easy as they did. It was way too light a punishment for what they did and all the hurt they caused. I received an ARC from the author and wish to thank her. This is my honest opinion and am freely giving it. This is one of those books that you hate to see the ending but also want to know how it ends.

This was another wonderful entry for this delightful series. Fun, cute, emotional, dramatic, sweetly familiar and endearingly fresh, Aspen and Vesper's story stole my heart and left me swoony.

Childhood Frenemies to Lovers.

Trigger Warnings: Mental Health and Abuse.

He refers to her as Lady Viper and she calls him Lord Ass.

Lady Vesper Lyndhurst is an extinguished member of the of the Ton and the daughter of a Duke. She considers herself an excellent matchmaker but fills her days with friends and events that she doesn’t have time for her own love life. Her favorite companion is her cat, named Cat who is ornery and very cute at the same time.

The Duke of Greydon, Aspen Drake, was living in the United States after his father passed and has just returned to England to his estate and to deal with his manipulative Mother. After not seeing each other for years Lady Vesper and Lord Greydon end up locked in an attic where they get their friendship/relationship starts back up the rocky path.

After reading this I didn’t a few things: 1) this was a second book in the series, so this could be a standalone but don’t quote me since I will have to read the first book. 2) apparently this was supposed to be attached to the movie Clueless and I would have never guessed. I would have compared it to Bridgerton. I know mental health had a stigma attached to it back then but this does show a glimpse as to how times were when things weren’t socially normal.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Amalie Howard for the eArc copy. All opinions are my own and I look forward to going back and reading the first book in the series and continuing on.

From the start, I absolutely adored this book. I love the clueless retelling and love Amalie Howards writing. I will absolutely be recommending this to people I know.

Never met a Duke like you

This was one of my most anticipated books after absolutely adoring Always Be my Duchess! It started off a little slow for me, but I ended up grabbing the audiobook and then I couldn’t put it down. As always, the narration by Mary Jane Wells was perfection.

I enjoyed the childhood friends to enemies to lovers! Vesper was such a strong caring woman but Aspen has already made his judgement against her because of their past. I loved how they kept being thrown into social situations together. Despite their instance to the contrary, Aspen and Vesper are quite drawn to each other. I liked the Clueless matchmaking elements. I liked seeing Stone and Neve and I hope we’ll get more books for the rest of their friends.

Never Met a Duke Like You tells the story of Lady Vesper, the well-to-do daughter of a duke with a spicy temperament, taste for matchmaking, and, unwed at 23, borderline spinster status. The boy next door is Aspen, also known as the Duke of Greydon, who is forced to cut his archeological travels short to return to England to try to salvage his floundering estate. As Vesper tries to find Aspen his match amid the ton, it seems fate may have different plans.

Never Met a Duke Like You is a historical romance that takes many liberties. While I usually don't mind that (I loved the first book, Always Be My Duchess!), it just didn't work for me in this one. You may enjoy this book if you're into:
- enemies to lovers energy
- empowered boss babe female characters
- conniving mothers and the cattiness of the marriage mart
- a Clueless meets Bridgerton plot line

Thank you to Forever for gifting me with an ARC to review! All opinions are my own.

I feel like when this was initially marketed to me, it was listed as an Emma retelling, and I am a huge Emma fan, so I was instantly intrigued (I'm also a huge Amalie Howard fan, so there was no way this could go wrong). I loved this book, but not as an Emma adaptation (and I see now that the marketing has been changed to a Clueless reimagining, but I still feel like that is off in my opinion). I did absolutely love the story though, the chemistry was great and I loved the way the conflict was resolved.

Amalie Howard books are a must read for me and Vesper and Aspens story was delicious. Their banter and bickering was so well-written you could feel the sexual tension between them. They are probably two of the most likeable characters I’ve read in a long time. You have to love them and their romance. As hard as Vesper fights him, it’s for the very best reason or is it just an excuse? Aspen will figure it out for her and it doesn’t take much convincing. Guaranteed fun read and you won’t want to put it down.

Never Met a Duke Like You was a cute regency romance that definitely had the Clueless meets Bridgerton vibe. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I adjusted to the writing style I flew through this book!

I love a good enemies to lovers, and Vesper and Aspen with the witty banter and snarky comments really nailed it for me. The build up of angst is just enough to keep you frustrated while rooting for them to get it together already. I also love that he didn't try to change her, and instead enjoyed riling her up to bring out her fiery nature that he remembered and loved.

4/5 stars and thank you to NetGalley and Forever Pub for the digital copy for my honest review.

Lady Vesper has no desire to marry, but she is a skilled matchmaker. When she isn’t setting up her perfect matches she attends parties, enjoys time with her friends, and devotes herself to a few secret projects. When her childhood friend turned enemy, the Duke of Greydon is forced to return home and leave his archeology passions in America, the two instantly butt heads whenever they cross paths. Though they despise each other and are skilled at trading cutting insults, there is a fiery attraction heating up between them!

Usually retellings feature a modern take on a classic tale, but here we have a regency setting of the 90s movie “Clueless”, and it totally hit the mark! The banter was immaculate, the spice was incredibly rewarding, and the nicknames (Viper and Lord Ass) were funny and fitting! I love a historical romcom, and Amalie Howard will always deliver!

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This book is everything I wanted it to be and more! I had recently read a very similar book, but contrary to that one, this one delivered on easiness to read, character depth descriptiveness, and plot.
To start off, I recently learned I have aphantasia (I don't see pictures in my head when imagining things) so now my reviews include that little perspective as well. This one gets a 5/5 for aphantasia friendliness: it describes everything, I always knew who was speaking in the dialogues, what people were doing in the scenes, and even though there were a lot of different characters and moving pieces, I never felt lost while reading it and always followed along.
The other thing I really liked about this book was that it's a mix between Clueless & Bridgerton, it was spicy but proper, it was sweet, it was funny, it gnawed at my heartstrings, and even though it was an era piece, I could relate to a lot of things that were mentioned/said in the book.
Overall, I really enjoyed the plot, the characters were endearing, it was the perfect length, and I actually want to go back and read book no 1, and hoping there'll be book no 3 in the series too.

Note: received a free ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Never Met a Duke Like You is a spicy romance about a matchmaker and her childhood crush reuniting after several years apart. There are several conflicts in this book, including a conniving mother, reluctant attraction, and the conventions of the time. I gave this one three stars because I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't read it again or recommend it to a friend. If you're looking for a breezy romance, this might be right for you.

oooh boy, I need MORE. I had read the beast of Beswick and enjoyed it pretty well, solid historical romance. Then I saw this one on netgalley and knew the first in this series was a little pretty woman-esque, so I requested. Then I went on a little beach trip with my girlfriends, read the first one and absolutely fell over with how much I loved it, and immediately started this one, and loved it just as much, if not more – months before it was supposed to publish lol. August me was VERY happy with this choice, but November me currently does not remember enough to leave a detailed review, oops. But, I loved it.

Historical romances is not a genre that I read everyday, but while reading this book, it reminded me why I like this genre so much. I love feeling transported back in time when Dukes and Duchesses were around and it’s a wonderful break from our everyday reality 🤭 One thing I really loved about this book was that it’s inspired by the movie ‘Clueless’, so I was able to follow the story based on a movie that I love!

This was a really easy read and I really enjoyed it! I love how it was childhood friends to enemies to lovers, and I loved the dynamics between Lady Vesper and Aspen. I loved how they challenged one another and how they loved each other. I loved how everyone could see that they were meant for one another while they were unaware of it for a very long time. I loved their chemistry and the spice in this book!

Another thing I really liked about this book was that it adresses a lot of important issues, such as mental health and being your authentic self. I loved the author’s note at the beginning explaining her characters and how Vesper has ADHD; I loved the ADHD representation, especially in this book as Vesper is presented as someone who acts perfectly in public but withholds her urges and her true self, which I really related to, especially before knowing I had ADHD. I had a “mask” on so I would be considered “normal” and I loved seeing that part of ADHD in the book as I found it believable and relatable. I loved seeing Vesper learn to embrase what made her different as well as her sexuality, and not needing to fit in exactly like the ton needs her to be.

Some of the bickering between Vesper and Aspen was a bit too repetitive at times, and there were times where I was not the biggest fan of Aspen, but overall, I loved the story and the characters, and I can’t wait to read more books by this author!

4⭐

I am officially convinced Amalie Howard is incapable of writing a bad historical romance. She has a way of writing characters that instantly gets you invested in their lives and their happiness. Add in the fact that this story is about childhood friends who became enemies and end up as lovers who verbally spar/flirt like it's an Olympic sport and Howard would have had to work to intentionally make it bad.
Lady Vesper Lyndhurst and the Duke of Greydon were childhood friends who had a fight due to a misunderstanding and then spent years apart thinking the worst of the other. Until fate and the Duke's conniving mother force them to spend time together once again and they realize that things might not be as they imagined.
There are a lot of moments when I wanted to bash their heads together and force them to talk things out, but their keeping things to themselves and being martyrs is so fitting for how their characters are that you can understand why they do the things they do. It's infuriating in the best possible way.
Overall, it's a great enemies-to-lovers story that has some dark undertones without getting dragged down. It touches on some tough topics and some very good ones about women's rights without ever feeling like that's the point of the story, the romance is always front and center.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the wonderful read!

A great enemies to lovers story.

But were they truly enemies? Antagonist, yes, but not really enemies. They never undermined or hurt each other...the nose was more of an accident and provoked. ::wink wink:: Lady Vesper Lyndhurst and Aspen Drake , the Duke of Greydon, are brilliant together. They have spirited, feisty conversations and while on the surface it is hard to see, they respect each other.

Ms. Howard wrote Lady Vesper beautifully. She approached her unknown affliction, ADHD, so well and relatably. I loved that Vesper's family and friends accepted her for the wonderful person she was and helped her during times of overload. Thank you Ms. Howard for your grace.

This was a fast paced story with colorful secondary characters. Vesper's brother, the Earl of Lushing is WONDERFUL! He is fun, irreverent and very observant when it involves others. For himself, not so much, he isn't seeing what is roght under his nose. Vesper's friends are a joy. They are supportive, protectibve and a great tribe for each other.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this story and all opinios are my own.