When it comes to historical romance, I expect (and honestly want) some anachronisms, however this book was on another level. These characters talked like millennials making a TikTok. Not the book for me.

This book was a lot of fun. I could see the influence of 10 Things I Hate About You, but the story was still unique. Parts felt a bit anachronistic/overly dramatic, but overall the writing was solid and the characters felt real and engaging. I think this is a book that would be particularly good for romance readers who don’t usually read historical romance, because it felt very accessible.

5 ⭐️
4 🌶️

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for an ARC on The Worst Duke in London by Amalie Howard.

Seriously! Amalie Howard is an auto-read by author. I love how she writes her characters! They are always empowering, funny and delight to read. Even if the character is the heroine/hero or the villain of the story!

My honest opinion, it took my awhile to get into this book especially because it was talking about animals. I like animals but it was going on and on about the animal shelter. I understand, it's Effie's passion and you can definitely tell but it felt a little too much for me. And how my gosh, Gage...trying to get out of debt and then being forced to join in the ugly schemes.

This is truly a 10 Things I Hate About You version and it was amazing! It had me gushing, giggling and be in all the feels.

More like 3.75 stars.

This was a fun read, but I thought it was too modern. The phrases and mannerisms were taken word for word from present day. Too modern for me.

Also, the manner in which the heroine was striving to lose her virginity seemed out of character, that she only had two modes: saving various animals and losing her virginity. It was difficult for me to connect with the heroine because of her characteristics.

I usually enjoy Amalie Howard's books, but this book missed for me.

Arc Review:
Overall Rating: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating: 2 🔥🔥
Cover Rating: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tropes:
- Historical Romance
- Headstrong Wallflower
- Scottish Duke in Debt
- Bargain He Can’t Refuse
- “Teach Me” Lessons
- Adorable Pets + Aniaml Rescue
- 10 Things I Hate About You Meets Bridgerton
- Enemies To Lovers
- He Falls First and Hard
- Social Outcasts
- Sworn Off Marriage
- Regency Romance

‘The Worst Duke in London’ is the third book in the ‘Taming of the Dukes’ series, but is the first book I’ve read from this series.

Mix ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ and ‘Bridgeton’ and you get ‘The Worst Duke in London’ a historical romance.

I loved this book it was so much fun, the banter was everything and the characters were so good. Loved our strong FMC and our Scottish Duke MMC. Would I read this book again? yes - do I suggest you read this book? yes.

Thank you NetGalley, publishers, and the author Amalie Howard for the advanced readers copy of this book and if you haven’t read this book yet I suggest you do.

The moment I read the first book in the “Taming of the Dukes” series, I was absolutely hooked. Every single one of the characters was so easy to fall in love with, but especially Lady Evangeline. It was so exciting to discover that the third book in the series would be about her journey and the possibility of love in her future.

Lady Evangeline did not disappoint. She was strong, capable, loving, and truly went after what she believed in. Despite her ability to stay consistent in her characterization, she still had plenty of room to grow. Her self discovery took a path that was easy to follow, but difficult to believe. Her time with the Duke consisted mostly of witty banter and immediate attraction. While their story was beautiful, there were times that it lacked depth.

There were so many characters and each one had their own storyline in relation to Lady Evangeline that there were moments when the storylines were hard to follow. Every once in a while a character would show up, advancing the plotline in a significant way, but the significance would be diminished by the fact that there was such a long moment of “who is this person?”. Many deep subjects are also addressed in the book, but none of them are given the time or depth that they deserve. This is especially unfortunate because it would really add to the characterization of the cast and provide much needed hooks into the other “forgotten” characters.

This book is wonderful for anyone looking for a quick and spicy read with amazing banter.

3/5 stars
3/5 Spice

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lady Evangeline was one of my favorite historical romance female main characters. She loves her family, knows who she is and what she wants, and lives life on her own terms. Gage was a good MMC and I liked the fake dating trope. Viola got on my nerves sometimes, but by the end I loved her as well. I also liked how Effie focused on her love of animals and didn't change who she was.

Everytime you think a book can't be beat, Amalie Howard comes out with another one.

Gage and Evangeline were truly a well made match, something about a well-educated lady being an absolute rebel paired with a Duke from the Highlands? They just fit, to put plainly. From being used as a climbing post for a kitten to solving the mystery of an untimely passing, the two of them kept up a face paced story that was worth every moment spent reading.

This was fun, even though it was WAY more spicy than I anticipated, I'm glad they felt more realistic with humorous moments interwoven. I like when we actually have a romantic comedy in this kinds of books. Especially their disastrous first meetings actually had me laugh out loud while I was walking my dog and scare some people lol. If you're in need of a fun romp mashup of 10 things I hate about you and bridgerton, this actually delivered on that front.

I really enjoyed this one! I was hesitant about reading this one after not loving the second in the series, but I thought this one was so fun! Not all of it was super realistic, but I loved how Howard was able to expertly execute the instant attraction trope without veering into insta love. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed the historical aspects especially more so after reading the explanation and research quoted at the end of the book for various things like animal rescue, female behaviors and needs, etc. I enjoyed the characters, the story was a bit weak, and even though fore warned about explicit scenes, I didn’t enjoy them and skimmed a lot of them.

Loved loved loved that book! I was super excited about this story as I really liked book 2 in this series (not saying I didn’t like book 1, just haven’t read it yet, oops) and I’m a HUGE 10 things I hate about you fan. It did not disappoint.

The way this story was adapted into historical romance was just perfection. It was true to the original story enough, but still had some interesting twists that added something to keep the reader intrigued by that particular adaptation and how everything would resolve. It will for sure please any fan of the movie!

Our heroes instantly made me fall in love. Gage made me swoon so freaking much, he was just the sweetest and I loved how he was this big guy but still could be shy and uncertain at times and I don’t know, he was really something else! Not your usual Patrick Verona vibe which was refreshing. He had a pretty interesting backstory as well that definitely helped to understand his motives and actions. Plus, get me a Scottish hero all day every day! Effie with her passion for rescuing animals and the way she was acting in general showed a very heartwarming side. Loved how she decided to take control of her life and simply went for it, no matter how scandalous it was! Also loved getting to see the other characters again, they are such a great group of friends, it’s always fun to see them interact.Also, the spice was truly spicing, so no complaints here on my part.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I plan on reading more of that author, as my last two reads from her were both 5 stars!

Thanks to Forever and HBGCanada for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

This is "10 Things I Hate About You" ~Regency Edition~ essentially.

Effie is a wallflower who must also have a season for her younger sister, Viola, to. One of Viola's suitors thus pays Gage, who newly inherited a destitute dukedom, to court Effie. You can predict how that could cause an issue later on because of course they fall for each other.

I loved how quickly their chemistry was clear and how Gage became possessive, caring, and wanted to be with her always. While of the rest of society scorns her, he sees how incredible and beautiful she is.

Their attraction is enough for Evangeline to proposition him, and he doesn't risk anyone else seeing the hidden wicked, playful side of herself. They're both possessive of each other, which was delicious.

Overall, I liked getting to see the different sides of Effie who seemed this soft thing in previous books, but from her POV and how she acts with Gage, you see how she has a wild side. And I loved how Gage fell hard, fast.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever publishing for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Read for: virgin MMC + FMC, wallflower, "good girl", protective MMC, fake-it-till-you-make-it attitude (lol), kilt!, Scottish MMC, he-falls-first

4 stars
2.5 spice

Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: It takes a little bit – about 8%, or Chapter 3
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, maybe a few months in the future?

Should I read in order?
So, maybe for maximum enjoyment, you would like the series in order. Effie (our heroine here) has some minor page time in the first two books (the hero is not mentioned) and in this story, the friends from prior books do participate as side characters. But overall the romance is very stand alone and it will be fine to pick up out of order.

Basic plot:
Gage can’t turn down the opportunity to be debt free – all he must do is distract and court the Lady Evangeline. That can’t be that difficult, right?

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian (I don’t see a year, but book 1 in the series is 1865)
- London countryside setting
- Ten Things I Hate About You retelling
- heroine runs a shelter for lost and starving animals
- hero needs an heiress
- Scottish / English hero
- The Destitute Duke and Lady Ghastly
- size difference – he’s taller
- masked night of fun during ladies’ choice masque – a naughty ton party…
- pugilist hero
- higher steam with a slight slower burn (no action until halfway in!) – 5ish full scenes

Ages:
- heroine is 21, hero is 28

My thoughts:
I didn’t realize until after I started this, that I have read the whole series so far! Go me – and this is definitely my favorite one of the series so far.

I will have to rewatch the movie sometime soon and see if I can find more easter eggs in the retelling of it. I love Ten Things I Hate About You so much, but also adore Clueless – and I watched Clueless right before reading book 2 and was a bit disappointed in that rendition so I didn’t want that to happen again.

I thought this story was so good – except for the big secret. This is why I dislike secrets. It kind of played out the way I worried it would. But other than that, I really enjoyed this book!

This was such a fun read that I didn’t expect to like as much as I did! The fact that this book is inspired by 10 Things I Hate About You (one of my all time favorite movies) helped me follow what was happening in the book, but it also did such a great job taking what I know and love from the moving and putting it into a historical romance setting with amazing characters.
I really enjoyed Gage and Effie’s characters and I thought they worked so well together, and I really enjoyed reading about their journey and watching them fall in love. Gage was such a great grumpy Scottish hero and Eddie was so modern and walked to the beat of her own drum but had the biggest heart!
4⭐️

This was an excellent book!! I enjoyed the character development as well as how the plot was developed throughout the story. The author was able to to do a good job with all aspects of the story. I would recommend to others.

"The Worst Duke in London" is an enjoyable historical romance. Amalie Howard rarely disappoints! Effie and Gage have great banter and chemistry, and the spice is decent, too. I do think Effie forgave Gage a bit too quickly, but maybe she is just nicer than I am!

4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. These opinions are my own.

This was a light fun regency romp retelling of 10 Things I Hate About You. Unfortunately, it just didn't stand out compared to all the other regency rom coms out there, it wasn't bad but it wasn't spectacular either. If you're looking for an easy to digest historical romance that feels very contemporary than this one is a good choice. The main characters were loveable, I kinda really enjoyed that they were both cinnamon rolls and. virgins, it was a nice change of pace. Though since it was a 10TIHABY retelling, I was expecting them to have a bit more edge, especially Effie, she was just wayyyy too nice to everyone, I was expecting more of a shrew and some of Kat's bark.

I recieved a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a retelling of 10 thing I hate about you which is one of my favorite rom coms. And Amalie Howard is one of my immediate reads and this book did not disappoint.

Evangeline was nicknamed Lady Ghastly by Lord Huntington during her season and has now devoted herself for caring for animals of all kind at her shelter in the country. When Lord Huntington sets his eyes on her sister, Huntington promises Gage that he will forgive his brother's debt if he can convince Evangeline to go to London for 6 weeks.

Gage quickly falls for Evangeline who proposes her own deal with Gage a mutually beneficial relationship in which they become friends with benefits as she has no plans on ever marrying.

I liked the relationship between Gage and Evangeline and it was a steamy retelling of 10 things I hate about you.

4 stars

Can't wait for Briar and Lushing's story

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for the eARC of The Worst Duke in London! All opinions in this review are my own.

If you are a fan of 90s/2000s romantic comedies, then you need to read Amalie Howard's Taming of the Dukes series!

In this newest installment, The Worst Duke in London is a 10 Things I Hate About You retelling. Effie's sister can only be courted if Effie is too. After a horrendous first season, Effie has vowed never to go through that again, until she meets Gage. Gage makes a deal to solve some of his problems but he did not expect to fall for Effie in the meantime.

The Worst Duke in London is full of humor and heart. Howard expertly creates lovable characters who you can't help but root for. I hope there are more books to come in this series because they are such fun reads!