I always enjoy an Amalie Howard book, and a retelling of Ten Things I Hate About You feels tailor made for me. What I like most about Howard's retellings in this series is that she sticks to certain things but changes enough that it doesn't feel like a direct translation. Viola (the book's version of Bianca) is a character that I really enjoyed in this, especially in the digressions about why she would entertain the suit from a man who has gone out of his way to make her sister's life terrible. I also really liked the interplay between Evangeline and Gage. Their romance was very sweet and I completely understood what the two of them saw in each other.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 16%

I absolutely love Amalie Howard's Daring Dukes series published through Sourcebooks Casablanca. They are sexy, emotional, and wonderful representation of the marginalized groups that occupied the 19th century. I would not hesitate to reread them in a heartbeat!

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Taming of the Dukes series. I really enjoyed the first installment, Always Be My Duchess, but I DNF'd Never Met A Duke Like You last year after finding the chemistry between the main couple lacking and the writing to be not up to Howard's standards. I figured I would give The Worst Duke in London a try to see which camp it would fall into and it unfortunately is too much like the latter for me. I think I will stick to Howard's non-illustrated cover books from now on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Lady Evangeline doesn't have any intentions of going to London for the season or of finding a husband. But, her sister Viola can't wait to have her first season despite Evangeline's objections. Their father makes an interesting proposal, Viola can go to London for the season as long as Evangeline goes. To please her sister and keep an eye on her, Evangeline agrees to go. Surprisingly, she finds a connection with the Scottish Duke next door who may or may not be completely trustworthy.

Thoughts 💭
I've read other books by Amalie Howard before and ate them up! She's quickly becoming a go-to author for me. When I saw an advanced copy of hers was available, I jumped to read it. This book is Briderton meets 10 Things I Hate About You. Evangeline is smart, strong, and ahead of her time. I love that her books include strong female characters. Evangeline also has friends who are like-minded (and their stories are in the other books in this series). Gage is understanding and dreamy. Their chemistry and banter were delightful to read. Even though I didn't read the first two books in the series, I didn't feel lost, but I did feel a need to go read them since this one was so enjoyable! If you like historical romance with a touch of The Taming of The Shrew, this is a must-read for you.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Loved the 3rd book "The Worst Duke in London" in the Taming the Dukes series. It was not what I was expecting but totally enjoyable. Going back to reread the first 2 books. Free ARC from NetGalley.

Another winner in the Taming of the Dukes series! The Worst Duke in London is a standalone Regency romance, but having read the other books in the series, I think I enjoyed it more having met the characters before. I loved the Taming of the Shrew/10 Things I Hate About You retelling - it made it slightly predictable but Amalie was able to throw in some surprises! I adored Effie and admired her for taking control of her circumstances but Gage might be the winner of this book in my eyes. Their banter and respect for each other was the perfect balance to their "education and research". While mostly a romance, we are still treated with a little side plot of "was it murder or an accident?" which ties together nicely at the end. I can't wait to see what Amalie writes next.... while I'm hoping it's going to be Briar and Lushing, I wouldn't hate a Pierre spin off ;) 
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the eARC copy. All opinions are my own.

this is definitely one of my favorites from Amalie Howard. I always find her books to be at least pretty good, but I often do not remember them very well months after I read them. Evangeline having an animal shelter was definitely memorable, so I do not think I will forget too much about this one. I did notice that the writing seemed slightly more contemporary than Amalie Howard's other historicals. The circumstances were historical, but the writing was fairly modern. The spice was fun. The fact that it was a retelling made it soooo predictable, but the slight changes that Howard did make were quite enjoyable. I think she could have changed the conflict a bit so it wasn't so much like the movie. also, the secondary romance in this was really sweet.

🌟 Book Review: “The Worst Duke in London” by Amalie Howard 🌟

ARC courtesy of NetGalley. This Regency romp is a delightful twist on Ten Things I Hate About You and Taming of the Shrew, offering a lighthearted and fun interpretation of these classic tales. The chemistry between the characters is deliciously steamy, with banter and dirty jokes that kept me smiling throughout. Amalie Howard made it easy to get invested in these characters and their journey. Fans of Shakespeare retellings will especially enjoy this playful and engaging read! 📚❤️

#BookReview #TheWorstDukeInLondon #AmalieHoward #RegencyRomance #NetGalley #ShakespeareRetelling #Bookstagram

What a fun whirlwind of a regency romance! The spice was great and the characters had wonderful banter. I’d definitely recommend!

This is sweet story but the anachronisms were glaring which took me out of the period it is supposed to take place. It would be interesting to see the author write a contemporary.

This was a hard pass dnf for me. The characters are so whiny and annoying I nearly threw my phone across the room several times. As much as I love A.H. and her work this was a fail read for me. I will not trash it in my review spaces, but I will not review it either.

What a ride! This was a steamy little romcom with nods to the regency, but unhindered by strict adherence to all the societal rules that typically govern the genre. From the start, our characters are frank and forthright about their wants, though Gage, the male main character, withholds his main motivation from the Effie, our female lead.

Effie has been disappointed and bullied during a few social seasons and has decided to remain unmarried, channeling her time, energy, and dowery (when she gets control of it) on rescuing animals. She's curious about sex and propositions Gage, a second son who inherited a debt-ridden Dukedom when his brother died. At the same time, the villain of the story says he'll forgive some of Gage's inherited debt if he gets Effie and her sister to London for the season so he can court the sister.

Effie and Gage have great chemistry and their relationship takes off quickly. Of course, they fall for each other and Gage's deal with the villain tears them apart. As this is romance, you know they find their way back to each other.

This was very spicey, a little outrageous, with lots of comic relief coming from the animals.

I have enjoyed other books by this author, but wasn’t a fan of this one.

The plot wasn’t very original, I feel that I have read this book before.

My other beef was the use of modern phrases, which I found quite jarring. The phrase “hot mess” doesn’t really have any place in a regency or Victorian novel.

Overall, this one was a miss for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever / Grand Central publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book to read and review.

3.5 stars

“That tongue of yours is as sharp as the most lethal of blades.”

Lady Evangeline has no interest in marriage, thank you very much, but the appearance of a persistent suitor for her sister, Viola, encourages their father to make a new rule. Lady Viola can partake in the season and accept a courtship…so long as her sister does the same. Despite preferring to stay in the countryside with her animal shelter, Evangeline caves and travels to London with her sister. It has nothing to do with the penniless Duke of Vale and how handsome he looked with kittens climbing all over him. No, not at all!

Amalie Howard is a consistent author and I usually enjoy her books, but this one was a bit of a miss for me. I loved that Evangeline set up an animal shelter, such a noble thing to do especially in a time when animals were more like property and less like family. I loved that she had a good group of friends too.

The biggest issue I had was the modern language and sensibilities. I don’t read historical romance for present day feminism - I like to see how the women of the time began to carve out the path we walk today. I could see Evangeline being a bluestocking by the day's standards, but some of the conversations she had were too out of place to be believable. I hope this modernization of historical romance doesn’t become a new trend…if I want to read a modern story, I’ll pick up a contemporary romance, you know?

All of this to say - if you like fun banter, a lot of spice, and a flexible interpretation of the regency era, give this one a go!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This author’s writing is delightful- and excellent balance of sarcastic and sweet. I enjoyed reading this. As an ebook it me months, though I can confidently say I would have finished the audiobook in about 3 days (curse you ADHD!). Good read, especially as part of the series. Looking forward to Briar’s book next!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for access to an advanced reader copy. This review is my unbiased opinion.

This is definitely my favorite book from Amalie Howard! It was such a fun retelling and it is perfect for readers who want to dip their toes in historical romance.

As an absolute 10 Things I Hate about You stan this book checks out. It has enough of its own thing, definitely parts of the plot I couldn't predict, but also has just a few cheeky hallmarks back to the movie/source material to satisfy fans.

This is a historical romance with a FMC that has agency as her dad supports her emotionally and financially to either get married or live comfortably on her own. She seems cool and confident to the ton but secretly inside has had to build this persona up and feels more at home requesting pets and animals (no animal deaths or active on page abuse in this btw). When she decides to have a spicy fling with the MMC she does it all because she wants it and they have so much fun together tbh. I know the MMC is keeping his motivations from her but honestly it's easy to forgive him because 1 his level of guilt 2 his reasoning of paying his brother's debt and being backed into a corner and 3 you can tell that pretty much immediately he would be into her anyway.

Potential light spoiler about the MMC's level of experience: I loved the rep of a virgin hero, he may seem like a rake but that reveal I would love to see more of it in historical romances.

Thank you to Forever for the eARC!

4 ⭐️ 2 🌶️

Read As An Arc

🐈 Cute Animals
🐈 Historical Romance
🐈 Scandalous Agreements
🐈 Wallflower FMC
🐈 Strong FMC
🐈 Scottish MMC
🐈 Banter
🐈 Grand Gesture
🐈 Mystery


3rd book in Taming of The Dukes

What drew me in? 10 things I hate about you BUT with a twist! — uhh, hell yes! I love that freakin’ movie, so my excitement for this was high!

The banter and sarcasm between the FMC and MMC was too good! Effie and Gage really went for each other with the banter and brought some humour to it! I really resonated with the fun, and with the animal aspect; caring, loving and rescuing animals! — It is truly a dream of mine to on day own a little rescue place set up for people to adopt rescued animals, have support and volunteers for them, and just be around all the animals and give them all the looooove!!

FMC and MMC have a huge tension and couldn’t be anymore opposite of each other; but their spice…. That was freakin’ matched!

The characters did need a bit more work; Effie needed a bit more of the characteristics like Kat, if I am truly going to compare her to the movie. They needed a bit more of character building that would make certain aspects of the book so much better!

The writing — I did get annoyed with it as it felt like deja-vu — it’s repetitive a bit? — For me, once I read it once, that’s it, move on, I don’t need 10 reminders of it lol.

Overall, it was fun, cute and enjoyable! A good read that I really liked… is that a 4th book calling???





* Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!


** will be posted on goodreads on sept 19 @ https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/170879374-bee?shelf=read

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and lovable. The pacing was perfect and left you wanting to read more. I can't wait to read more by this author!

This was my first by Amalie Howard, and though it's the third in her current series, I felt it worked beautifully as a stand-alone. This was a hot (HOT) and genuinely funny historical romance homage to 10 Things I Hate About You, a 90s classic deserving of all the love it gets here. This is a perfect read for historical romance readers who enjoy more modern dialogue (this was reminiscent of Tessa Dare - intentionally modern phrases used as winks to the reader) and sex-positive (and sex educated!) female main characters. Our ice queen and "shrew," Lady Evangeline (Effie to everyone but Gage, bless him), is a force - passionate about animal welfare, determined to shield her (frustratingly immature) younger sister from true harm, openly curious about sexual intimacy and willing to take exactly what she wants. Our down-on-his-luck Duke is essentially blackmailed into a wager that will lure her to London for the season, and from there, we get all the comedy and betrayal and grand gesturing we could possibly hope for. This lost a tiny bit of steam for me in the third act, but honestly, I had such a great time reading this and can't wait to read the first two in the series now.

This steamy regency romance is loosely inspired by 10 Things I Hate About You (which in turn is loosely inspired by Shakespeare.) If You like spicy regency romance, you will probably love this book. It’s sweet AND spicy!

I didn’t love it the way I loved the Bridgerton books, but it might scratch that itch for someone else.