I thoroughly enjoyed this historical romance inspired by Grease! All the Grease references were amazing, and even though I knew what to expect from the characters because I’ve seen Grease, Bell managed to put a fresh take on a classic love story.

Both main characters, Sandrine and Dane, were strong and likable from the start, and they went on beautiful journeys throughout the book that highlighted character growth. The additions of the side characters, all somewhat based on characters from Grease, made this a fully fleshed out world! Sandrine’s family situation was complex and interesting, I would have like to have seen more from that plot line. One plot I didn’t particularly care for was Dane’s family and the <spoilers> blackmail he faced. It just seemed out of place and unnecessary. However, it put out two characters in some very compromising positions so I suppose I approve! 😜

I look forward to seeing what comes next in Bell’s Thunderbolt Club books!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary arc. All opinions are my own.

I apologize for writing a short review but the one I wrote originally was not saved/published. If you enjoy Regency Romances and the stage/movie "Grease," this is the book for you. Lenora Bell does an engaging, fun, and humorous take on the story of Sandy and Danny from Grease and placing these characters in the form of Sandrine and Dane in Regency England. The story follows the typically tropes of a Regency Romance novel but anyone who has seen Grease will see nods to the movie throughout the book. In a nutshell, this books is so much and I laughed out loud a few times. I highly recommend this book.

If you're looking for a historical romance retelling of a 1970's movie set in the 1950's boy do I have the book for you!
Romances are having a retelling crisis. Beauty and the Beast retellings basically qualify as anything where the hero is grumpy/bad/damaged and the heroine fixes him in some way. Great, cool, fine! People We Meet on Vacation is heavily inspired by When Harry Met Sally, in that its essentially to friends falling in love. Retellings should be inspired by the original story, not a literal retelling in a different setting with different characters, which is unfortunately what I felt this was.
Listen, some of this is on me, for not reading the very clear description that this is 'Grease inspired.' I generally pick ARCs I want to read based on whether I have had a good experience with the author in the past, and I have had a lovely time reading nine of her other books!
I was really enjoying this book for the first third, or about 80 pages in, when I realized this was a Grease retelling. How did I realize this? Because Sandrine meets three London 'bad-girls' who wear pink sashes and literally refer to themselves as the pink ladies.
I then promptly spent the remainder of the book asking, wait, did this happen in Grease?
Listen, Grease, like many musicals, has a very weird plot structure. It is song driven which makes it fun, but the plot itself is clunky. This book is a VERY close retelling of Grease, with a B-plot about a secret society and blackmail thrown in.
I do enjoy Lenora Bell and will continue to read her new releases, this one just did not click for me, because I could not get over the fact that this is a Grease retelling.

** Thank you to Avon for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review! **

Like most reviewers for this book, I have to say that this book was predictable because of its source inspiration. Grease is a beloved story and a classic "Bad Boy and Good Girl" portrayal, and it is extremely easy to see that influence in this book. A rake x a good girl is a delicious combo, though a rake x an audacious girl is even better. Outside of the complete inspiration from Grease, I found this book to be enjoyable!

The characters are a little lacking because of how much they mimic the OG characters, and there were times where I wished there was a little more independence from Grease for the characters. The story was the same for me. This could've been super unique if the plot wasn't following the movie.

At the end of the day, this was a decent book and I'd probably re-read again once the book comes out in 2024. There are a few people I know that love Grease and I'll definitely let them know about this book!!!

As always, happy reading!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own." Thank you Netgalley.
When I found out about this delightful book
You're the Duke That I Want.. I was so excited that I got approved to read this arc I love the movie Grease I have watched the movie countless times it was fun read 5 star read 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟



Happy Reading
Lisa

3 Stars You're the Duke That I Want was a cute "Grease-inspired" regency romance. And when I say "Grease-inspired," I mean that it is literally the movie Grease if it had been set in regency-era England. While this made for a cute concept, it also made the entire story predictable, since the author kept the same elements and even the same or similar names. It was predictable, but cute.

You're the Duke that I Want follows sheltered and over protected Sandrine Oliver. Sandrine lives in a small sea side village with her worry wart mother who wants to shield her from everything in this big, scary world. But when Lord Dane Walker comes into the sea side village and finds Sandrine, he longs to take her on adventures and open her eyes to the world.

This was a cute book. The description describes it as "Grease inspired" which drew me to it, being a huge Grease fan, but what I didn't realize was that it was literally the movie Grease, set in the previous century. I wish the author would've put forth a little more effort to add some new elements into the story so that it wasn't so predictable. The characters were fun to read, but it was extremely predictable!
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a fun romp in the Regency with a Grease theme.. By theme I mead the entire story is exactly like the move with lines, character names and scenes directly from the film. I think it was a nice homage by the author to the movie but it was not unique and the characters did not feel like they were getting their own story or HEA.

A very light but entertaining regency romance based on the characters and action of the musical Grease. Sandy (I mean Sandrine) and and Danny (better known as Lord Dane Walker) meet on the beach, reunite under the gaze of the Pink Ladies, and ultimately live happily ever after (of course). Fun for fans of the musical.

I had so much fun with this one. Great plot, interesting well thought out characters, romantic, sweet, sexy all tied in together. I adored the Grease tie in and couldnt help but picture the movie actors as these characters. I absolutely cant wait to read more from this author in the future. Lenora Bell never disappoints! Thank you to net galley and the publisher for the pleasure of reading this book!

A ‘Grease’ inspired historical romance?? So cute, if a bit too on the nose for me - names and quotes practically the same as the movie. It was well written and I had a fun time reading.

Grief hits people in so many ways, like ripples in the water when a rock is thrown in. It touches lives in so many different ways and this book shows a few of them. I loved how Sandrine reached out for a life well lived, regardless of the pain her mother lived and tried to keep away from Sandrine, Mother’s suffocating style of parenting was the result of her own grief. Watching Dane live a reckless life to get away from his brother’s hatred is so sad and painful to watch. I loved Sandrine’s way of getting Dane to come out of the brick encasement he erected over his heart. It took me a minute to realize the little Easter egg the author threw in to the story, {think pink!} The ending was a thrill ride and I loved the epilogue. Would have loved to have met Sandrine’s first “friends”

I received this ARC copy for free and these are my own opinions.

This was a delight. I thought the obvious Grease references would be hokey and over the top and they were but in the best way. Bell stretches herself which I love to see and it worked well here. Really fun. Excited about the new series

So I got this book for approval by NetGalley. Thank you so much this book was amazing when it comes out for sale. I’m definitely getting a copy for myself because I love Lenora bells books.

So basically, it’s just like this woman has a crumbling Manor that she doesn’t want to sell and she lives there and she wants to keep it for like ghostly tours because there’s like some story about these two ladies that died in probably are haunting the place and she meets this guy who’s a break but she doesn’t know he’s a rake, but he’s actually a duke he basically says from drowning can you tell if it instantly like love each other And he basically hast to leave right away because during the story, they basically meet twice in the toilet two times that they meet he like disappears he hast to go quickly, and the story has two points of view his and hers and his story is more like his brother was dying and everyone in his family doesn’t even like him so he pretends to be this other guy with a fake name like a double life, so that people like him for who he is and who he really is because he has a title and money, so his brother basically dies before he was going to tell him something and the brothers wife is like really mean to him because he knows for a fact that his brother spread lies about him to the wife that all he wants is money and the wife is obviously having her fourth kid who is a boy who is going to be a boy so he can take over everything and that’s what she keeps saying but you don’t hear much about it afterwards anyway and then it goes back to the main character who is the woman and she’s basically like I was waiting for this letter from the guy she met with the fake name that helped save her from drowning, and then her friends the pink ladies take her to this, like I forgot, I took out a common garden and she ends up seeing him there with a group of rakes wondering why he’s there honestly, I loved the storyline and then I love the secrets there’s secrets in the story about like who the main character really is and she’s a grandmother who is someone with a name as well , so I like that it was like a mystery and there was a Romance involved in. It really kept me on my toes reading this book. Five stars!

Overall, this was a fun slump-buster for me. Part of the joy of adaptations are recognizing moments from the original material and seeing how the artist has reinterpreted them. Here’s the thing: I detest the musical this is based off of, yet found this to be delightful. Some of the side male characters are annoying, and in truth I’m hoping they won’t be heroes in future books.

Special thanks to Avon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Here’s the thing: if you love Grease, you’ll absolutely love this book. Because it’s not Grease inspired or a few scenes from Grease sprinkled into a completely new story. It is *literally* Grease, Regency style. I love Grease so I had an absolute blast. Bell did some really clever maneuvering to translate a film about 60’s greasers and their ladies into a historical romance. Greased Lightning? A racing curricle. Rydell High? The Dukedom of Rydell obviously. The beloved Principal McGee and her assistant, Blanche? Sapphic spinsters in a seaside town DUH.

Bell’s best work in this is how she plays up to the kitschy, pulpy movie with quippy one liners ripped straight from the movie but also infuses an original storyline like blackmail and horrible brothers into it to give it some meat.

Sandrine and Dane are literal translations of Sandy and Danny. If Danny was a bit more of a softy and Sandy had a mission to save an old manor house. They may not have the most personality but they’re very, very fun interpretations of the OG characters. We even get a “Summer Nights” beginning to the story when our lovers meet in her small, seaside town until he’s ripped away from her back to London.

There are a few things that don’t translate quite as well and end up feeling a bit shoehorned but…it’s 60’s greasers in 1800’s England so what did we really expect. Bell was able to turn a cult classic (and one of my favorite movies) into a romance that’s fun, light, and everything I want in a retelling. Cause if you’re going to do a retelling, you may as well get a big ridiculous with it.

This novel was absolutely fabulous, I think this is my new favorite from Ms. Bell. Anyone who is a Grease fan can definitely jive with this story. I can't wait to see how the series continues to grow. A must read.

"You're the Duke that I Want" is a Grease-inspired regency romance. I didn't know that Grease was the inspiration when I requested an ARC of this book. I still don't know if the inspiration helps or hinders the book overall. The story is full of familiar scenes and callouts, from character names to pink hair to a potential pregnancy to a sexy black outfit. But at times it feels like staying true to the Grease inspired plot points means that character development is either set to the side or comes across as nonsensical. Some of the dialogue, particularly during one of the pivotal sex scenes, is just plain cheesy. That said, this is still a fun and easy read.

3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. The opinions herein are my own.

I recieved a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a retelling of the musical Grease and it lives up to that concept. There are very familiar scenes in the book because of that but there are elements that are unique.
Sandrine's mother has her In a gilded cage she is desperate to escape which she does when Dane tries to rescue her from drawing.
Dane lives life on the edge, bedding women and racing curricules.
The side characters didn't work for me but I liked the relationship between Sandrine and Dane, however because I've seen the moving parts of the book seemed to drag.
Overall I would say this is 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Avon & Harper Voyager/NetGalley for the chance to review this book.

I did really enjoy all the Grease references in this book; they were super fun to find. This book definitely sticks to the script of the movie!

Unfortunately, this ultimately was not for me. I just felt like this dragged & dragged, and I DNF'd around 40%. Nothing wrong with the actual story, and I'm sure many will love it; the pacing just did not work for me.