4.5 stars

God, this was fun. This is a fantastic, clever historical romance with so much heart.
Peter is a troublemaking, New Orleans-born duke looking to gain custody of his younger half-siblings. Selina is a debutante with a secret of her own – that she runs an erotic circulating library for women, aimed at educating proper women. Selina hatches a plan to have Peter marry… anyone but her.
Naturally, they fall in love. Naturally, hijinks ensue. It’s a familiar premise.
But what sets this book apart is the character-building Vasti has done here. Each contained depth, and she’s built what will likely become a fantastic series. I also love her dedication to building a diverse setting to match the then-radical beliefs held by her main characters – Selina’s aunt lives with her long-term partner and there are multiple characters of color, which is so rare to see in HRs set in London.
And the ending with the kids was absolute perfection.
I’m excited to delve into Vasti’s backlist!
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Other: 💕📖👨‍👩‍👧‍👦😂
Genre: Regency Romance
POV: Dual

Born and raised in Louisiana, Peter Kent is the new "American" Duke of Stanhope. When he comes to England and discovers he also has two half-siblings, he'll stop at nothing to gain guardianship of his young brother and sister. With the help of Lady Selina, they plot to make him more respectable to the courts by partnering him with a Duchess beyond reproach. Because Lady Selina secretly manages a circulating library of scandalous and erotic literature, she is not the scandal free wife Peter needs... but she is the one he wants.

I'm not sure where to start because I simply adored this book. Right from the very beginning it jumped out at me. I felt like this was a world I had been in before and I was right where I should be. Every. Single. Character in this novel is fantastic from Peter and Selina to the children and 👏 Lydia and Georgiana 👏 (I'm anxiously hoping these ladies get their own novels soon). The courtship was delightful & funny and the HEA was so heartwarming I felt disappointed that it was over.

Alexandra Vasti is just phenomenal and after I devour the several novellas I see she has published in the last few years, I'm putting her directly onto my auto buy list. I hope this book gets all the recognition it deserves because this is one of the best historical romance debuts I've ever read.

This was a charming romance with some excellent, if not timely messaging regarding censorship and sex education. Selina secretly runs an erotic circulating library, which she started after her first season as a debutante when she realized the women around her knew little about the Ways Of Men, sex stuff, and pregnancy. Now the library is extremely popular, but it's a liability when someone starts digging around about its owner.

Meanwhile, Peter is a good-natured, slightly-messy duke, an expat from Louisiana who's just trying his best to wrangle his two boisterous siblings. He's a smart guy, but mostly just bumbles from one disaster to another, culminating in trying to find someone he can marry to shore up respectability because the Lord High Chancellor in charge of granting custody isn't a fan of his politics, but may be a romantic because he kidnapped his wife and eloped with her back in the day. Obviously, Peter's attempts to court other women are catastrophic, to say the least.

Peter very attracted to Selina's competence, among her other charms (but the competence kink is real!), to the point where he's inconveniently imagining her naked while courting other women, and finds himself in locked rooms with her— twice! Ultimately, they do marry as both the custody battle is heating up, as is the possibility of Selina being outed as the library owner. Peter's siblings Lu (age 12) and Freddie (age 10) play a larger role in the second half— they have routinely been displaced and it is difficult for Lu especially to warm up to Peter despite him having their best interests at heart.

There is some politics in this book: Peter is a radical and an abolitionist (at this point Britain had abolished the slave trade, though not slavery itself), as is Selina's brother, but it's mostly in he background and serves to set up the conflict Peter has with the Lord High Chancellor, who might be less inclined to grant Peter custody due to differing poliics. The politics at the forefront mostly concerns Selina's efforts to educate women about sex, pregnancy, and female pleasure in an era where men would rather women remain ignorant.

I appreciate Alexandra Vasti's nods to diversity— Selina's aunt Judith lives with her long-term partner Thomasin. There are also two characters of South Asian descent— Peter's barrister Mohan Tagore (who I'm told was inspired by Gnanendramohan Tagore, the first Indian person to be called to the bar in England), and Selina's friend Faiza Khan. I am hoping to see more of Mohan and Faiza because the few scenes we got were intriguing, especially considering how little we see characters of color in HR.

The sex:

I enjoyed the sex scenes in this one— they were definitely on the sweeter end, but very thorough. I loved the wedding night scene in particular, which started with some edging and ended with Peter accidentally punching a hole through a family portrait (presumably because it was That Good).

Speaking of competence kink, that comes full circle when Peter is watching Selina work, and there is a very hot mutual masturbation moment.

I did think it was a missed opportunity to not include sex scenes where Selina and Peter directly use a book from Selina's erotic library as inspiration. There was a point where Selina mentions a titjob, something she learnt from one such book, but there's no follow-through.

Overall:

This was a lovely debut from Alexandra Vasti— it was sweet and light-hearted, but still got across some very important messages, and I'd recommend it to any historical romance reader.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Rating: 4/5
Heat Level: 3.5/5

I have enjoyed all of Alexandra Vasti's novellas - the Halifax Hellions series so I was pretty excited to read this full length novel.

Lovely cover art - reminds me a bit of the covers of the Courtney McCaskill books (the Astley Chronicles). This may, however, be where some of my very slight disappointment in this book comes from. The Astley Chronicle books are effervescent and extremely funny in places, and I think I went in to this book expecting something similar, when in reality the cover art is similar but the books are quite different in tone.

Ne'er Duke Well has a very promising hero in Peter Kent - he's a new Duke, who never expected to inherit and needed to travel from America to take up his title. He's cool. He's got messy curly hair, he is laid back and he's very sweet. His achilles heel is his two half siblings, Lu and Freddie - who were 'natural children' of his father and who he is trying to gain custody of.

At some point in the past he met Lady Selina Ravenscroft (I think there might be a novella or short scene kicking around on the newsletter about this, but I haven't found it yet) and during the custody proceedings he asks for her advice on how to strengthen his case (the various reasons why a Duke can't just swoop in and take custody of these two children are explained in the book though - I dunno - I doubt they would have faced that much opposition in those days).

One suggestion is that he marries - and Selina comes up with a list of potential wives. She discounts herself, as she is the manager and brain behind a library which includes a 'Venus List' of books available only to women - of enlightening books - on topics that would broaden the mind but cause a huge scandal should it ever get out that she's behind it.

Needless to say she's on Peter's list!

It's a generally sweet, thoughtfully written book, and I enjoyed it. I think I could have just done with a little bit more sparkle. For quite sparkling characters, some of the plotting and the dialogue seemed to weigh them down somehow, and weigh me down with it.

There are some intriguing secondary characters who I'd be interested in reading about in the future!

Uber Uber cute romance like awww ☺️ the boldness so well formed and Selina’s character was fantastic. Thanks for the arc

I’m rating this around 4.5/4.75 just because of some minor details that didn’t really take away my enjoyment of the book. I had a really good time reading this story, and loved the characters (both protagonists and their charismatic family members and friends) and the easy humor of the absurd situations described by the author.

The political topics felt shallow at times, but the author handled the main conflict decently (despite the utopic conclusions) and shed some light on a few things on her author’s note. And considering this is a historical romance, I wasn’t really expecting lengthy discussions about slavery and women’s right to education.

Honestly, this book is charming and wildly entertaining. There’s yearning, scandal, ponies, banter and a variety of great relationships. I’m certainly looking forward to the next installment of the series.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was influenced by an adorable and pretty cover. The story bored me. I wanted to love it but I just didn't follow it with interest. Perhaps another by the author will be more to my liking. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Historical romance perfection! Alexandra Vasti has quickly become one of my favorite historical romance authors, and this debut absolutely sparkles. Peter is so very gone over Selina, and Selina is a force. There are so many well-drawn secondary characters that I found myself hoping will get their own books. And the spice! 12/10, no notes. 😅

This was a fun quick read, that reminded me of Bridgerton with a little more comedy. Peter has just inherited the tile of Duke and is quite prone to scandal. He is also trying to gain guardianship of his half-siblings and needs to improve his reputation to do so. Selina has the bright idea of him getting married, and begins to find him a wife. However, the two of them are perfect for each other, but Selina is hesitant because of a big secret.
I enjoyed all of the characters in this book, including the side characters. It was very refreshing to see radical thinking characters for the time period. I would definitely be interested in seeing more stories of the other characters because they were all so interesting.
There were a few things that made this book fall a little flat for me. The biggest being that there was a lot of telling and not showing when it came to information about the characrters and the setting. For example I would have love to see at least one of the humorus excapades that Peter got himself into, instead of just being told about them after they happened.

I adore Alexandra Vasti's writing. She writes such sweet, emotional, and supportive heroes and brave, smart, and unique heroines. The true historical events in her novels also appeal to me. I loved her full length debut, and I will read absolutely anything she writes. This is like a big smile in book form. It is so happy and warm. I also love the cover!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had high expectations for Ne'er Duke Well, based on my love for the Halifax Hellion novellas, and it did not disappoint. It's a highly enjoyable romp with clever repartee, and also lots of steamy sex scenes. I kept having to remind myself it was a debut novel, since the world is so well built - there were references to other love stories that I wanted to go read immediately - the enemies-to-lovers Clermont and Faiza romance, the below-stairs Emmie and Humphrey (what's long and bony Humphrey's history?? how did he end up as Peter's 'valet'?), Thomasin and Judith, Georgina's future romance (I know it would be so good!), etc.

Five stars, love it. Although I've got an ARC, I immediately pre-ordered the book, and I've added Alexandra Vasti to my auto-buy list.

You might like Ne'er Duke Well if you like funny, witty, steamy, hetero histroms like Never Fall for Your Fiancée the Merriwell Sisters series by Virgina Heath, ‎The Second Lady Silverwood by Emma Oliver, Forever Your Rogue by Erin Langston, The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller.

I was really excited by the premise for this - the description really drew me in, but the actual book didn't really deliver on the blurb in my opinion.

For a romance, it felt like the relationship of the main characters took a backseat to the other plotlines that were going on. I didn't feel like there were enough meaningful scenes between Peter and Selina for any chemistry or tension to develop. Instead, most scenes with the two of them interacting felt like they were simply there to advance the surrounding plot, and didn't provide opportunities to further their relationship with one another.

Overall, the premise is really fun, and I loved that Selina's character was so independent, but I would have loved to see more relationship building between all characters, including Selina's friends.

I picked this up at the end of a really hard week, and it was *exactly* what I needed to bring me some joy over the weekend. I read the book in basically one sitting and enjoyed every moment. Selina and Peter are absolute perfection. I love how smart they are about people--they figure out what others are hiding (positive) and see through to the core of a person. AND they see how much they want each other but have very real reasons not to be together--until they are together. I love the way Selina learns that she doesn't have to do anything on her own. Watching how hard Peter fights for those he loves was beautiful. Plus, they were hot and sexy and fun and wonderful together.

Two things I think Vasti is doing REALLY well here are: 1) building out a universe of believable characters and 2) scoping the story appropriately. For one - I wanted to know more about EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER. They feel so lived in and real. It's clear that Vasti has put a lot of work into understanding the background of her characters. For two - Vasti really understands how to balance plot, character development, and moments of living in a world. This is very true in her novellas, and I was thrilled to see it echo over into her debut novel.

I truly loved this novel, and I cannot recommend it highly enough!!

ARC REVIEW (thanks NETGALLEY!)

Ughhh I have been dying to get my paws on this book after reading the Halifax novellas. I don’t know what exactly it was about book but I was so bored. Firstly, I felt like I was plopped in the middle of a series the way little bits of character info was dropped. The whole first half of the book Selina is trying to set up Peter with one of her friends to marry. It was such a ridiculous scheme for Peter to get custody of his half siblings from what seemed to be a foster mother? He’s a Duke, like if he wants custody of his siblings (or some hobo kid) can’t he just idk have it?! Everyone is like well, duh Selina why don’t you just marry him? She doesn’t tell anyone but she can’t because she secretly runs an erotic library and doesn’t want to bring shame on his name before his custody hearing.
First half of book basically doesn’t matter because they get caught makin’ out and have to marry. She tells him about sexy library and he don’t gaf. She gets caught being owner of sexy library and since half the town is a member no one really cares? Peter gets custody of kids. Selina just kept harping on about how she’s going to leave Peter and buy a house somewhere so she doesn’t ruin his reputation and he’s just so chill about the situation, the stakes seemed so low. Selina’s twin brother Will is mentioned a million times in book but he never shows, I’d read his book tho his story seems super sad.

I've read Alexandra Vasti's "Halifax Hellions" novellas and enjoyed them, so I jumped at the opportunity to read this novel. This was an enjoyable Georgian romance novel full of fiesty characters with giant hearts.

Selena is outwardly a model young lady of good breeding, daughter and sister of a Duke, and in her 4th season with no intention of marrying. She is very good at managing things and people to their benefit and she secretly owns and runs a lending library with salacious books. Peter is half British and half French, was raised in New Orleans, and has recently inherited his grandfather's Dukedom. He doesn't fit into British society and commits minor scandals frequently. This wouldn't be a problem except that he is trying to gain custody of his orphaned illegitimate half-siblings and he has unintentionally irritated the judge. Peter has admired Selena for the two years he had known her and she has tried to ignore her fascinating for him. When Selena learns of Peter's earnest desire to unite what's left if his family -- and meets and adores his rambunctious siblings -- she decides the only thing to do is to get him married to a respectable woman who will fix his image problems. Of course this backfires amusingly because these two really are perfect for each other.

The villains and conflicts in this story were a little staged, but at least there was decent communication between our lovers. This book definitely felt like the setup for a series with the introduction of many single friends and siblings who could find their own romance in future stories. This book had multiple hot scenes which were well-written. I really enjoyed seeing Selina and Peter grow individually and as a couple; and their live and support for each other throughout was lovely.. If there are more novels coming, I look forward to reading them. I received this novel as a free ARC.

Ever since I read the Vasti's Halifax Hellion novellas I have been waiting for one of her full length novels to grace our shelves. I knew she could do some impressive work with a shorter page count so I was eager to see what she could do at the standard romance novel length. Unsurprisingly, I was not disappointed. Something about her prose is just so easy to read and it's easy to get lost in her world and characters.

Peter and Selina were extremely loveable and I loved watching them come together and face their troubles as a united front. The build up for their relationship was great and the book was delightfully steamy. As for the secondary characters, I was invested in pretty much every single side character. I would love to read stories for Lydia, Georgiana, and Will! If she's taking requests... I wouldn't be mad if she went back a bit to tell Nicholas and Daphne or Judith and Thomasin's stories. The possibilities seem endless and I for one, can't wait to see what she does with them.

I already know that Alexandra Vasti is going to be an instant buy author every time. I can't wait to pick up a physical copy on release day to reread this one again! I think any historical romance fan will enjoy this story. Reminds me a bit of Lisa Kleypas with Tessa Dare's humor.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

The chemistry between Peter and Selina was simply chef’s kiss. I loved reading their banter, and every time both characters were in the same room, sparks were flying off the page. I loved it.

Perfect for fans of Bridgerton and Sir Malcolm's List, this is a steamy Regency romance with a lot of heart. The story follows the POVs of Peter, a newly titled duke with a knack for accidentally embroiling himself in minor scandals, and Selina, a seemingly prim and proper debutante who is secretly the mastermind behind a popular library with a handpicked collection of erotic books only allowed to be borrowed by the female patrons. Selina is a clever and compassionate FMC, who started the library so that no woman of the ton would have to go into a marriage ignorant of sex. Peter has a big heart with a particular soft spot for his younger half siblings, Freddie and Lucinda (who goes by Lu), the illegitimate children of his father who have been bounced from distant relative to distant relative after the death of their mother.

The story begins with Peter's less than successful attempts to win over his siblings as he petitions the court to grant him their guardianship. The petition has been complicated by their father's lack of acknowledgement of the children, leaving no legally traceable ties to Peter, and Peter's inadvertent antagonism of the chancellor who will be overseeing their case. While on an outing with the children, he runs into Selina and asks for her help in improving his reputation and winning over the stern chancellor. Selina's suggestion? A whirlwind courtship and marriage to a young lady with a sterling reputation. She quickly assembles a list of suitable candidates from the ladies of her acquaintance, ruling herself out despite her simmering chemistry with Peter. She is certain that if her connection with the library ever gets out, a massive scandal is sure to follow. With Peter, however, nothing quite seems to be going according to plan, rumors swirl, and that sizzling chemistry proves harder and harder to ignore.

I had so much fun reading this book. I felt there was a good balance of spicy scenes to the rest of the plot and overall, the pacing was good. At times, some of the inner monologues did feel a bit repetitive, but it wasn't to the point of distracting me or taking me out of the story. All of the characters felt fully fleshed out, and I would definitely enjoy reading future stories about some of the side characters we were introduced to.

ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ne’er Duke Well is such a wonderful read! It has scandalously radical and forward thinking main characters, kids that are an absolute handful (in the best ways), strong friendships, a close and loving family dynamic, humor, romance, and spice.

I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait for the side characters to get their own stories!

Ne’er Duke Well is my introduction to author Alexandra Vasti. The book is quite funny, and I especially enjoyed Lu’s spitfire humor and the humorous situations Peter and Selina found themselves in. There are a couple of serious moments in the book, particularly when Peter’s brother is sick. Overall, it is a light-hearted, fun book. Selina, the lead female character, is the fixer in the family and a great problem-solver. She is a strong, independent character. Peter, the lead male character, recently inherited the name of Duke of Stanhope. Peter is fairly easy-going but not to be fooled, as he will not be walked over in items that matter, such as his family or political beliefs.

I hope the author will continue on with other characters introduced in this book. Selina’s twin brother, Will, or her friends Lydia, Iris, or Georgiana have the potential to make great lead characters in future books.

Summary:
Selina, the female lead, wants to help family friend Peter Kent, new Duke of Stanhope, secure the custody (guardianship) of his two younger half-siblings. Peter doesn’t have the best reputation, as he keeps finding himself in the gossip papers due to unfortunate situations. Selina decides Peter will have a better chance at custody if he is married, so she sets out to find Peter a not-so perfect match. Peter finds himself unable to purpose marriage to any of the potential matches (and the matches weren’t necessarily keen on the idea, either), as he is too taken and distracted by Selina. After an intense make-out session between Selina and Peter, in which they are caught by the judge who will decide the fate of the custody arrangement, Selina surprises everyone by introducing Peter as her future husband. The problem, you may ask? Selina secretly runs a risqué library (Venus), which allows women to read and learn about taboo topics, such as adultery, male/female anatomy, and erotic stories/poetry. She worries this will ruin Peter’s political ambitions, if ever discovered. Peter puts her mind at ease once he learns of the truth. Just days after the wedding, the siblings’ current guardian passes away and they move in with Selina and Peter. The judge’s decision on guardianship is pushed back, while the discovery of ownership of the Venus library inches closer. Selina and Peter decide to take control of the situation by telling others Selina runs the library. In the end, Selina and Peter gain guardianship of Peter’s siblings, and they are one big happy family.