Are you a fan of 90s rom-com "While You Were Sleeping"? Do you enjoy your historical romance with a heaping helping of humor? Then look no further than this new novel!

Della and Rhett have instant chemistry. They're also quite similar: well-traveled, witty, and warm-hearted. They'd make the perfect pair, if it wasn't for Peter, Rhett's brother. Peter has fallen unconscious (literally), and Della was conned into pretending to be his fiance. Della and Rhett fight their feelings with everything they've got, imagining what COULD be, but never will, as they await Peter's fate.

I really enjoyed this! I laughed out loud so many times! Parish is a fresh voice in historical romance! Along with that fresh voice is quite a bit of graphic language, which wasn't quite my cup of tea, but made sense in the context of the characters' personalities. Conversely, the steam was on the tamer side, which will be perfect for readers who prefer their spice being alluded to rather than directly described.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, which is based on "You've Got Mail", and coming this fall!

Trigger warnings: near drowning, family member ill/unconscious in bed

I'd like to thank Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a cute and funny romance. Having just fled her wedding, Adelaide's mistress Cordelia was on the run. Unfortunately, Adelaide was duty-bound to accompany the reckless lady. At some point, Cordelia manages to manipulate Adelaide into switching identities with her. Adelaide then gets stuck pretending to be Cordelia while trying to fend off the duke's brother Rhett--a man that she actually likes. If you enjoy Regency Rom-Com this story is definitely for you! I received a free ARC from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

I really loved this retelling of the While You Were Sleeping romance trope. This book was very cute, and the characters were extremely well developed and unique. The writing itself was good. I found this book fun and lighthearted and full of feelings of found family. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who reads or enjoys historical fiction. I am very invested in the characters and their growth and really hope that they feature in the next books in the series. Peter deserves happiness even if it's a hassle!

Employed as a lady's maid, Miss Adelaide "Della" Rosebourne is coerced into impersonating her mistress in the household of her comatose faux fiancé until he wakes up and retracts the proposal. Rhett Montgomery knows that the woman who claims to be his brother’s betrothed is not who she says she is, but a previous encounter has Rhett falling for her anyway.

This is the first book in the England's Sweethearts series. The story is a historical romance retelling of the movie While You Were Sleeping. The beginning starts differently, but much of the storyline will feel familiar to fans of the movie.

Della is in a pickle. Her mistress has run from one wedding and now caused another suitor to fall into a coma. Della and Lady Cordelia look quite a bit alike, and Cordelia begs and bribes Della to fix the mess that Cordelia has fallen into. The Duke, Peter, had planned to propose to Cordelia before his accident and Cordelia needs Della to see that the offer is rescinded and NOT announced in the newspaper.

My favorite part of the story was near the beginning. Having run from her wedding, Cordelia swapped clothing with Della and then Della had a run in with none other than Rhett. The interaction was fun and kicked off the bonkers plot in a great way. The characters had chemistry and I wanted more of this energy throughout the story. I really wish the rest of the book had strayed further from the movie inspiration and that the coma and misunderstandings were cleared up sooner so the couple could have spent more time connected without the cloud over their heads. Parish is a light-steam author and there were attempts to add some spice in other ways that seemed completely out of place to me. There were a few things that kept me from totally loving this one, but overall I was entertained. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Tropes: Working Heroine, Class Difference, Look Alikes/Swap Places, Mistaken Identity, Forced Proximity, Sibling's Suitor, Nursed to Health (sort of)

Steam: 1

* I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

While the Duke was Sleeping is an amusing and hilarious love story. The love interests find themselves in a precarious situations which makes the story wildly entertaining. Then throw in the Montgomery sisters, and all hell breaks loss in the english countryside.

Rhett didn’t know what he was searching for until he met Adelaide. She's searching for her forever home and she's found it with him.

What a great start in the England's Sweethearts #1!

Thank you Forever (Grand Central Publishing) | Forever

The beginning of a new Victorian Era romance series from Samara Parish. As the title suggests this is a homage to the 1995 movie, “While You Were Sleeping”. Adelaide Rosebourne takes a temporary job as a maid to Lady Cordelia. When the Lady accidentally knocks the Duke out she asks Adelaide to stay with him for a few days posing as her. It may have worked except the dukes’ family arrives. The sisters love her, but with brother Rhett there are sparks flying. There is a little more going on for Rhett as pressure is being put on him about the Dukedom and he is unprepared to assume it.

I’ve read the author’s previous series and I enjoyed this book even more. I don’t find her books descriptive of the time period. The storyline, banter and romance are entertaining. I do wish it wasn't a closed door romance, but that is a personal preference. I’m looking forward to the next in the series. (3.5 Stars)

This book was inspired by the movie While You Were Sleeping which I enjoyed. Becuase of that I was looking forward to reading this. I had a hard time with this book.. There was a lot going on with the set up, a runaway bride and her lady’s maid trade places after knocking out a Duke who wanted to marry the runaway bride.

Della is the lady’s maid, and she has a chance encounter with the duke’s brother, Rhett. And they are attracted to each other. When they later meet up, the attraction is still there but the story lost me again with all the discussion of what a rake Rhett is with all that goes with that, and how Della is experienced with other men. I don’t have an issue with closed door romances, I read and enjoy them same as open door romances. But all that spicy talk felt off when the on page spice didn’t happen until the Epilogue.

This book was not for me as I ended up skimming more than half the book. But I can see other people would like this for:

Instant Attraction
Hidden Identity
Found family

3.5 stars

It was fine. I enjoyed the nods to While You Were Sleeping, but I felt like the relationship building between Della and Rhett was lacking. I'm just not a fan of insta-love I guess.

The book has some funny moments, but some of the scenes came off as way too silly. Those attempts of them trying to wake up Peter? A little too much in my opinion. One of the things I really liked was the relationship between Della and Cordelia. I enjoyed the fact that they were able to remain friends and I would really like to see where Cordelia's story goes.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Pub date: 2/25

Have you ever had a whole lot of fun reading a book while also being completely mentally exhausted by it? While the Duke Was Sleeping is fast-paced, fun, and spirited, but it’s also such a dizzying merry-go-round you’ll want to sit down and take a breath after a few chapters. Still, it's a great time.

Adelaide “Della” Rosenborne’s charge, Lady Cordelia Highwater, doesn’t want to marry the man her father has chosen for her, and Adelaide decides to save their mutual skins by putting her on a ship to a place where she can hide out until the drama dies down. Unfortunately, they can’t find a sailor willing to take them (women on ships happen to be bad luck). The two women head to Berwick and rent a room from Peter, a duke who immediately takes a shine to Cordelia, who panics at his marital advances, knocks him over a cat and sends him into a coma. With no other witnesses to the crime, Adelaide is bribed into posing as her mistress, the Duke’s presumptive fiancée. It shouldn’t be any great shakes; she’ll approach Peter when he wakes up and talk him into letting Cordelia out of the marriage.

Journeyman Sir Everett “Rhett” Montgomery is a seductive ladies’ man who meets ugly with Adelaide while she’s trying to talk any boat captain she can on the dock into taking Codelia to France, which results in a failed pass from him and a dunk in the Thames for them both. He finds her space to clean off, they have one forbidden kiss before she disappears, but he can’t stop thinking of her. The temporary duke while his brother, Peter, is in a coma, he’d been previously called back from his gambolings by his brother and looks forward to going back to his carousing once his brother wakens – he’s not been comfortable in England since his fiancée broke his heart years ago. When Adelaide introduces herself to him as Cordelia, Rhett is suspicious; this brawling, beery, cursing girl does not sound like the fearful Cordelia at all.

“Cordellia” settles into the extended Montgomery clan, which includes four lively sisters. As Rhett and Adelaide get closer, her double life threatens to pop – leaving her caught between two brothers.

Rhett is an almost parody of a rake who gets lovestruck and learns his lesson, while Adelaide is a tough, uncompromising and clever lady. Their romance burns slowly and is filled with a lovely and understandable tension. I liked Peter and even Cordelia and the sisters, though the latter aren’t very well defined (but probably will be in their upcoming books).

This is a frenetic, chaotic, wallpapery historical that’s still a hoot. There is a marble phallus and a rogue cat and much Nonsense. If you don’t like highjinks in your romances, you should avoid this one. It might help if you like the romcom it’s based on, While You Were Sleeping, which I love. I had good fun reading While The Duke Was Sleeping, and if you open your heart to its ridiculousness, you might too.

Do you love historical romance AND 90s rom coms? Then I’ve got the perfect mashup book recommendation for you: While the Duke was Sleeping by Samara Parish.

Yep, this is a retelling of the iconic rom com While You Were Sleeping, and I ate it up. I’m a big fan of the film, and I thought the author did a great job of paying homage to it (there’s a whole bit about leaning) while also writing rich characters and plot that diverge enough from the original to feel fresh.

In this book, Della’s lived a life of adventure but is lonely and ready to put down roots. Rhett has wandered the continent, running away from responsibilities and expectations. They meet by chance on the docks as she’s trying to flee England and he’s just returning. The chemistry is immediately electric. Through a series of outrageous circumstances, Della ends up pretending to be the fiancee of an unconscious duke – who happens to be Rhett’s brother. There ensues a lot of silly scenarios and pining – lots of pining!

I loved the tension in this one! It’s a great low-spice historical romance if you want a rom com feel. I’d categorize it as “historical light” because it doesn’t feel deeply rooted in the 1890s, the setting is more for vibes.

In a convoluted setup, Lady's maid Adelaide is posing as her employer Lady Cordelia after Cordelia knocked the Duke, Peter, unconscious during a marriage proposal. Adelaide winds up staying in Peter's home while she and his family try to revive the Duke. His brother Rhett is highly suspicious of Adelaide's claim but finds himself in a pickle when he's attracted to his brother's supposed fiancé. This is a retelling of the movie "While you were sleeping" and has some fun antics as they try out many ideas to wake the unconscious duke. Don't look for historical accuracy here. Profanity spouting Adelaide and irresponsible rake Rhett both come to realize what they want in life. I think I needed more details. It's hard to care too much about Peter when we'd never heard of him until he was unconscious. I received an ARC of this title from the Publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

When Adelaide Rosebourne must impersonate her mistress for a few days, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a difficult task, even if her mistress’s supposed fiancé is in a coma. All she has to do is wait until he wakes up and then convince him to retract the proposal, thereby securing a tidy reward. What she doesn’t count on is the arrival of the duke’s brother and his inconvenient interest in her affairs. Rhett Montgomery knows two things that he is woefully unprepared to take over the dukedom, and that the woman who claims to be his brother’s betrothed is not who she says she is. No debutante swears so fiercely or kisses with such recklessness.
A retelling of the famous film set in late Victorian times, which had its own spin on the movie. A well written book which I enjoyed but I did have to suspend belief at times. I didn’t warm to Della but did like Rhett. At times hilarious, a light hearted romp if you don’t mind a female who lied
I voluntarily read and reviewed a special copy of this book; all thoughts and opinions are my own

Tropes: class difference; fake betrothal
Steam level: 1
Language: fairly salty, if that offends you.

3.25 stars that I couldn't quite round up. This book was unfortunately a swing and a miss for me. I'm good with humor in HR's, and I'm OK with suspending disbelief for the most part, but the humor (and the anachronisms) were a bit overdone here, with too many characters in the mix. I did like the MC's and the writing style. But things got too OTT, especially toward the end. I kept picking the book up but then putting it back down, and finally ended up skimming. I think maybe if I were a big fan of the movie on which this was based, While You Were Sleeping, I might have liked it more? (I vaguely remember watching the movie when it first came out.)

What bugged me in particular was that, although there is a nice slow burn between the MC's, the steam level is low, with closed-door sex. But the MFC's foul language, which I personally found funny and refreshing at times, sets the reader up for something a little...friskier, I guess. I hate to admit to being one of those women who reads a book just for the spice, but I think this had been more daring I might have rated it a little higher. I mostly wanted the MC's to be more of the focus, and not the hectic plot and secondary characters.

Overall: cute but falls a bit short for me.

I really enjoyed Samara Parish's Rebels with a Cause series, so I was excited to get a NetGalley request to review While the Duke Was Sleeping, the first in a new series. However, now as I sit here trying to put my feelings into words, I can best describe it as disappointed.

Now don't get me wrong, While the Duke Was Sleeping isn't a bad book. Far from it. But I didn't find it as humorous as I think it was trying to be. I had a hard time liking the situation that Della found herself in. I think the whole story could have been shorter instead of introducing new and even more ridiculous ways of trying to wake the duke from his coma. And then when the duke does wake... I was just shaking my head.

I did like the romance between Della and Rhett, but I felt it got overshadowed with everything else going on. And since it's a romance, I knew things would work out for them, but honestly, I found myself not caring how they got there and hoped it would happen sooner rather than later.

In the end, I walked away from this book wishing it had been better as I really did high hopes. And maybe that is part of the problem... I really had high expectations and I didn't feel the book lived up. I'm not entirely sure if I'll continue this series, but seeing as I'm not clear on how the series will connect to the book, I'll just have to wait and see...

This was so cute, sweet & fun!

I fell in love with the characters. Adelaide and Rhett were adorable. I really loved them. Adelaide was so resourceful and competent. She was a great match for Rhett. The chemistry between the characters is great. Their meet-cute is fantastic. I had a lot of fun reading their romance.

This is inspired by the movie While You Were Sleeping which made the story really nostalgic but at the same time new. The story beats are similar but Parish gives her own twist on them. I liked not being able to expect everything that was going to happen but still got the same feelings I did while watching the film. The humor works and certainly made me laugh out loud a few times.

If you enjoy fast-paced, historical romcoms or the movie While You Were Sleeping, you'll love this! Definitely for fans of quirky and fun books.

Dnf'd at 25%. I simply couldn't keep track of people or what was happening. I found myself just skimming pages. It couldn't hold my attention.

A fun and well written retelling of one of my favourite rom-com movies. Della and Rhett have an irresistible connection, they really are a perfect match and their journey has wonderful possibilities written all over it. A happily ever after that's full of adventure and a forever love.

3.75 stars rounded up

This historical romance (1890s) retelling of While You Were Sleeping was such a fun romp! It had some fun callbacks to the original (Peter, sister named Jac, references to leaning, she's mistaken for the guy in a coma's fiancee) but also some new aspects that I liked a lot and made the story its own (she meets the love interest before the fiancee situation, she's covering for someone else, etc.).

The romance was great and they were so sweet together but also the situation was hilariously tricky because she was "engaged" to his brother. I liked that she had no emotional connection to his brother.

If you're a fan of While You Were Sleeping and are looking for a fun read, definitely pick this up!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Remember the 90's Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman movie "While you were sleeping"? Yes this book is definitely based on that with some added twists along the way! One of my favourite rom com movies of all time, I was very excited when I was offered a chance to read the ARC and continue this series. It has a very loose connection to the rest of the series, which I didn't mind at all, but I figured is good to call out here. Samara Parish had a lot of fun with this one as it is high on the comedy side. The meet cute/disaster is strong here, and the mistaken identity part is cleverly done. I loved Adelaide's character. She had a unique background and had a spirit that matched Rhett's. What I didn't make sense to me about Rhett was why he felt, in 1870, that he only had the clergy and military as an option for work and that he could do that... It didn't quite match the time period as it seems like the Industrial Revolution was well underway and there would have been more opportunities for work... It was also a bit weird to all of a sudden introduce a motor vehicle during this time. It didn't add to the story and is wrong for the time period. I'm usually not a stickler for these but it was a bit jarring and I actually had to look back to see what the time period was when there was no mention of railways or anything when that would have been the common transportation method. Okay back to Della and Rhett. I loved their chemistry, and his struggle with the fact that she is his brother's fiancee despite the circumstances. He also does end up growing a lot, especially with Della's support of him. Della is so competent. Her travels has made her resourceful, and it's a wonderful foil to Rhett since he has also had similar experiences but we aren't sure what he is doing with all his knowledge. I was a bit disappointed in him but he won me over eventually. I really enjoyed the story, their banter, yearning, and how the HEA came about. The pacing was great and I read it all in one sitting. I can't wait to read the next installment.

Steam: 🔥
Heart Flutters: ❤️❤️

3.5 Stars. When Lady Cordelia accidentally knocks out a Duke, lady’s maid Adelaide poses as her, and would have gotten away with it, but the Duke’s family arrives, including Rhett, the man Adelaide encountered a few weeks prior. Adelaide must avoid being found out to protect Cordelia, but her continued attraction to Rhett makes things complicated as she is supposed to be in engaged to the duke.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I have ever watched While You Were Sleeping, so I can’t speak to how much this book follows the movie. I love the cover for this book and i liked both Adelaide and Rhett (especially Rhett). I struggled quite a bit with the time period and the setting. The writing was not very descriptive and the language was so modern that there were times where genuinely questioned if we were still in a historical romance. I thought making the book fade to black was an odd choice given how explicit some elements were. I’ll read the next book in the series, but this book just didn’t capture me like I hoped it would.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.