No Ordinary Duchess is the third book in Elizabeth Hoyt’s Greycourt series. It can be read as a stand alone but there is an event that links all the books and it might be better to read the previous books.
Julian Greycourt, the Duke of Windermere, is a cold and calculating aristocrat known for his ruthless demeanour and icy control. His reputation extends to his enigmatic and scandalous demands in the bedroom, though he maintains a reserved and almost fearsome persona.
Lady Elspeth de Moray, the quiet youngest sister of the Duke of Ayr, is determined to end the ongoing conflict between her family and Windermere's. When Windermere proposes a marriage alliance to bring peace, her brother, the Duke of Ayr, refuses. Undeterred, Elspeth secretly offers herself as a bride to Windermere, hoping that this will be the key to resolving the longstanding animosity between the families.
I did ultimately enjoy this book. This takes the trope of grumpy sunshine and opposites attract and manages to make it work. Julian’s character was a surprise and I did feel for him. He carries the shame of past events with him and is lonely. Elspeth is a stronger character than she seems and she is the perfect balance for Julian.
I am not a huge fan of the wise women plot to be honest and I probably would have enjoyed the story just as well if it was not present. Julian’s search for evidence of his mother’s murder was more interesting.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book from NetGalley.

"From a New York Times bestselling author, the much-anticipated third novel in the Greycourt series.

Cold and brooding, Julian Greycourt, the heir to the Windemere dukedom, has always known that his uncle the duke was responsible for his mother's death. Now he's determined to exact revenge against his uncle - if he can find the proof. But Julian hides a secret so explosive it will destroy him if it's ever revealed, and the duke is watching. The last thing he needs is a distractingly sensual woman whose very presence threatens to destroy his plans.

Sunny and cheerful, Lady Elspeth de Moray doesn't know why her brother and Julian fell out all those years ago, but she can't let the autocratic man get in the way of her mission: to retrieve an ancient family text that she believes is in one of the Windemere libraries. Locating the tome, however, proves trickier than she anticipated, and at each turn, she's thrown together with the maddingly mysterious Julian. And the temptation to give in to her family's greatest enemy grows stronger with each intriguing encounter..."

So much yes!

Elspeth is on a quest to find an ancient book. When Julian catches her in his depraved father’s library, he realizes he must protect her. Attracted to each other, together they dodge assassins. Can they overcome their eccentricities to find happiness? I received an ARC from NetGalley and Forever for my honest review.

is anything better than a grumpy sunshine romance with family secrets and MURDER? make it a historical romance and im sold. this was one of the first elizabeth hoyt books that ive read but i am consistently impressed with her story telling!

It's been a while since we got a new Greycourt story. Overall, there are two main things happening in this series: 1) a brutal murder that destroyed friendships and 2) the wise women society. The former is incredibly interesting, and that's what keeps me invested in the series. The latter...is weakly executed.

The icy Julian Greycourt suspects that his uncle killed his mother, and he's convinced that she left evidence behind in a book. Lady Elspeth de Moray is also looking for a book, one that is related to the wise women society, and she's convinced that this book is located in one of the Greycourt libraries. But Elspeth's job is complicated by the fact that her brother was blamed for killing Julian's sister many years ago.

Okay, as I mentioned before, anything to do with the wise women is weakly executed. And that's what brings down my rating for the most part. That being said, I devoured anything to do with the family history, which I think is the strength of the Greycourt series. I'm not sure why the wise women is needed. I get that the author is trying to create something like the ghost of st. giles, but it's just not working out for me.

As for the romance, we have an icy, stern, and emotionally constipated hero. And then we have a sunny and cheerful heroine who crawls under his skin. Their individual journeys intersect because they are both looking for secret diaries. I mean, what's not to like about this set up? The fact that these two share a complicated family history makes the romantic set up even more fun. And I was actually invested in the romance...at first.

Now that I finished the book, I can't help but feel there was something missing in the romance. The pacing was very sluggish. The sub/dom aspect didn't feel organic. And it's disappointing because I know Elizabeth Hoyt can definitely make it work. But something just went wrong along the way and I can't even tell you what it was lol. Maybe it was the pacing? Maybe it was the static setting? Maybe it was Elspeth's unbelievable wise women motivation? A mix of all three things?

Anyway, the set up was interesting, and I'm definitely invested in the family history and dynamic. Julian's backstory was interesting, and I was truly rooting for him to take revenge against his uncle. But the wise women part of the storyline just felt unnecessary, in my opinion. And there was something missing in the romance, even though Julian and Elspeth had some great moments together. This isn't the best Elizabeth Hoyt book, but there were enough good moments that I enjoyed reading. So, 3 stars it is.

Ok, parts of this book was incredibly sexy. I loved the dynamic between our main characters, it's rare to see a domme/sub relationship in a hisorical romance, especially one with a femdom, Our hero is a buttoned up alpha with a desperate need to be dominated, and he is so ashamed of it, and it's absolutely delicious.
But It felt like something was missing, what happened to the ending? it was so abrupt, and about the sex scenes... We never actually see them have penetrative sex, the closest we get is when he thrust between her thighs. After third act breakup, we never really get a love scene that re-establishes their relationship and that feels sorely missing. I want, nay NEED to see their fiest Time together, and if they never have PIV cause they don't want to. That could work, but I'd want that to be maken a point out of if so.

There is also an earlier sex scene where she blindfolds him, then suddenly later he isn't blindfolded, he could have taken it off but that would be weird cause he is a sub and didn't get permission, and she never comments on this, so this seems like a continuity error, There should be some sort of remark as to why he suddenly doesn't have it anymore.

This book also has a mystery and some mayhem going on in the background, this works well enough, but also feels rushed towards the end, but I still enjoyed it. My biggest gripe was with the no penetrative sex, thing. I really did feel a bit deprived. I want, nay NEED to see them bang again after the third act breakup. I want to see her first time "going all th way" as they say.

I'm curious to read it when it comes out and see if there are any changes, but I was left somewhat frustrated and unsatisfied.

I was so happy to see an Elizabeth Hoyt title available on NetGalley! I haven't read one of her titles in awhile. THis one did not disappointment (it's always nice to read a historical romance that is outside of the Victorian era). She is very descriptive and paints a beautiful scene. This title is a part of series and I did not read the other titles, but I had no problems picking up.

No Ordinary Duchess is the third book in Elizabeth Hoyt's Greycourt series. While I have read most of Elizabeth Hoyt's books, for some reason I have not read the first two books in this series and I think it affected my understanding of the book and made some of the backstory a little confusing. So I would suggest reading the other books before reading this one. There were prior relationships that I did not fully understand. It also made getting through the first third of the book a little difficult.
There was a lot that was good about this book. I really liked the character of Elspeth. Julien took a while to grow on me, but he did. He began a tad too angsty. The prose was great, as per usual. It was the story itself that fell a little flat for a Hoyt book. And I say that because Hoyt is an auto-buy for me. I typically love her stories. This one, while it would be a great book for an ordinary author, it was just above average for a Hoyt novel, in my opinion. The character of Augustus was a little too much of a caricature and I still do not have a great understanding of the Wise Women. It is still worth reading...because Elizabeth Hoyt.
*Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Hoyt - the Maiden Lane series is bonkers and basically perfect - but this one didn't land for me. I think it mostly comes down to the fact that I just didn't like Julian or Elspeth and so couldn't get invested in their story.

No Ordinary Duchess is the third book in the Greycourt series. I liked this book the best of the three so far. It’s dramatic with assassination plots, an unequivocally evil bad guy, a secret organization, hidden books, and a submissive future duke. There is a lot going on in this story, most of which I enjoyed. I appreciated that the intimate scenes did not require inserting tab A into slot B. Overall, an enjoyable journey. I’m interested to see how the families’ stories continue.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

No Ordinary Duchess is the first HR I’ve read in a while thanks to an endless TBR of romantasy, fantasy, and romance. Julian and Elspeth meet at the library (which is in my opinion one of the best ways to meet) when each of them are searching for tomes related to their personal quests.

This is the 3rd installment in this series. Many characters from the previous installments were mentioned. I should have read the first two books before diving headfirst into this one, as I was a little confused on who’s who. After completing this book, I added the first 2 to my TBR.

You’d enjoy this book if you like:
- grumpy x sunshine
- mystery
- miscommunication
- age gap
- best friend’s sister

Spice 4/5

Julian and Elspeth were both intriguing in their own ways. I really liked the broodiness of Julian but would have rather not gone down the path of sensuality he took us on. That’s just not my preference. Elspeth was fun and bright and perfect for him. I liked her immediately and was excited to see where her character would land. Lots of things were happening in this book and I’m not sure that any of them were fully flushed out. I would have liked a bit more of one thing instead of little bits of several things.

Going into this story I did not realize that it was the third book of a series. While I was able to follow the storyline, there were a few times I felt a bit lost regarding past actions and characters. Nevertheless, I found this book to be enjoyable.

This is my first Elizabeth Hoyt novel, and I had a wonderful time with it! Hoyt is a captivating writer who writes angst and passion very well.

Elspeth and Julian's relationship was very unique and believable, even if they tended to be awful communicators and spent majority of the novel dancing around each other, refusing to be forthcoming about their desires. While I disliked their unwillingness to communicate, I overall adored the dynamic between them, and how much Julian wished to share his burdens with someone. I wish there had been less shame associated with his…proclivities, but I think that was probably extremely realistic for this period of time.

The storyline with the Wise Women fell completely flat for me so it felt extremely drawn out; but I am chalking this up to my ignorance of the first two novels in this series and not necessarily on Hoyt's storytelling capabilities.

Elspeth's relationship with her family and her dreams and desires were my favorite part of this story. She was a very compelling, passionate woman who proved to be a safe space for multiple people within the story. However, I didn't like that she chose to keep something so small from Julian for so long because it would've been just as believable if she hadn't hidden that thing from him. I love historical romance that has a political subplot and this was definitely present here, but I wish it had been more fully formed within the context of this specific novel instead of leaning on the previous ones in this series.

Augustus was a very believable, scary villain whose looming badness builds steadily throughout. Shoutout to Ann, she's a real one!

4 ⭐️s
2 🌶️
🚨 Pub Date: 12/10/2024
Thank you to Forever, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

I did not like this book at all but let's also clarify, the goodreads description for this book does not match the book, not even a little?!? In the description it says that Windermere suggests a truce between the families bound by marriage but the heroine's brother says no and so the heroine offers herself as his bride and....NONE OF THAT HAPPENED?!?!?

Also, it says the hero makes scandalous demands in the bedroom and look, if you're gonna write a book and promise some high level kink, don't pull a Gabriel St. Vincent and make it the most vanilla thing ever. He likes being dominated and Elspeth immediately just knows how to dominate despite being a virgin. The second book in this series was so good but this was just such an epic disappointment.

Also, I didn't love that Elspeth betrays him in the way that she does (by finding the book he's looking for and not telling him immediately). I just didn't love the characters or the romance or the actual story.

This isn't the first book in this series and, unfortunately for me, it probably should be read after the previous books. I felt lost because there was backstory I didn't know and without that knowledge, I didn't understand the family relationships. I think I would enjoy another book by this author if it were the first in the series.

The Greycourt (Duke of Windemere) and de Moray families are intimately connected through friendships and dangerous actions.
Elspeth de Moray is searching for answers and Julian Greycourt is trying to survive both physically and emotionally.
The complications of Elspeth’s brother Ran is tangled up with Julian’s past and she is good friends with his sisters.
Julian is scarred and has demons to overcome.
The action is fast with many developments and surprises.
The plot is deliciously written with good characterizations.
Hard to put down because always wanted to read past the next issue.

The romance wasn’t as strong or prevalent than the plot, which stinks. I loved the writing as always.

I was super excited to get my hands on my first Elizabeth Hoyt romance. The plot sounded intriguing and I was up to finally explore what Elizabeth has to offer.

The story started with a wonderfully sexy and exciting meet cute scene in a library! Score! I wanted more...

Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this book as I could not see what the FMC could see in the MMC who was dismissive and cold throughout, the FMC was naive within all her 'experience', and I somehow got lost in the entire plot and characters that didn't make much sense to me. Only when I looked into it, did I realize it might have been better to read the first two books in the series.

At this stage, I'm up for giving some of Elizabeth's back catalogue a try but for this book review it's a DNF unfortunately.

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to dip my toes into this book ahead of the publication date.

Loved reading the engaging and captivating story. Lady Elsbeth is on a mission to find a specific diary, and Juliian's mission is to find what his mother wrote in a secret book. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, and a riveting romance story by the amazing author, Elizabeth Hoyt.

Yaaasss! I was so happy to be able to read an historical romance again. It had been far too long.

Now, this is the third in a series and I had not read the others. I don’t feel like that hindered me at all. And I will definitely go back and read those soon. I also now feel I am dying for Ran’s book. I love a recluse.

Lady Elspeth has been reared and educated in a private commune in Scotland with a group of women called “Wise Women.”Their goal for centuries has been to secretly help women in need. Her worldview is aberrant for a typical duke’s daughter.

She meets Julian Greycourt in his vile uncle’s library as she’s searching for a diary that will help the Wise Women get back on course. He’s icy and beautiful and just wants to get her out of his uncle’s potential clutches and away from him.

And then she’s everywhere. With her wild rose scent and tempting curves and sunshine smile. And her compassion.

Julian is dealing with the A LOT: his wicked uncle, his siblings, his sexual proclivities. But guess who understands everything about him? Our sunshine girl, Elspeth. She’s not going to let him walk this path alone.

There’s a mystery running through regarding Julian’s sister, Aurelia, who was killed. Maybe by Elspeth’s brother, Ranulf?

Of course, there’s a lot of sexual tension as Julian tries to resist his baser urges. But Elspeth has a mind -and needs -of her own.

This was a really good story and I loved the characters. I’ve not read Hoyt before, but I’ve always heard amazing things about her Maiden Lane series. I’m definitely going to check those out this winter.

I was given this eARC via #netgalley and @readforeverpub. All thoughts are mine alone.

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