Thank you netgalley and publishers for this arc.

The start of a new series we meet Adelaide and Rhett, a lady's maid and the younger brother to a duke. Della helps her mistress rum away from the alter and hide away. She meets Rhett on the docks trying to get them to the continent. Sparks fly despite the circumstances. Then a tragic accident brings them together again but under a set of lies.

This was well paced and enjoyable. I liked the chemistry between Della and Rhett. I look forward to continuing this series and seeing who we get to follow next.

4 🌟
1 🌶

If you’re a fan of regency romance with a touch of modern sensibility and a reverence for 90s rom-coms, *While the Duke Was Sleeping* by Samara Parish is a delightful escape. This book reimagines the beloved Sandra Bullock movie *While You Were Sleeping* in a historical setting, mixing together mistaken identity, comedic misunderstandings, and undeniable chemistry between its leads.

Plot: Adelaide Rosebourne, a clever and resourceful lady’s maid, finds herself asked to impersonate her runaway-bride mistress, Cordelia, for a few days. Her task seems straightforward: pose as the fiancée of an unconscious duke until the two women can sort out their plans and futures. But things take a turn when Adelaide grows closer to duke’s rakish younger brother, Rhett Montgomery, and his suspicions about her grow. The chaotic siblings and tenants of the duke's estate complicate matters and add comedy as well as heart to the story.

While it may not be the most historically accurate novel, this book is perfect for curling up with on a rainy afternoon.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

A historical fiction While You Were Sleeping retelling?? Where? Where is it? Sign me right up.

WYWS is one of my favorite movies, and it’s a movie we watch every year on Christmas. Seeing the title of this book and reading the synopsis, I was super excited to read this and I wanted to love it.

However, insta-insta-INSTA - it’s all insta *-and-* I prefer historical accuracy, if a book doesn’t have it, I can usually deal, but this one was so over the top in its inaccuracy (car keys in 1893!!!!, the MFC’s inner voice and manner of speaking) that I had to rip my suspension of disbelief hat off because I just couldn’t.

Unfortunately I wasn’t the reader for this.



Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the DRC

Adelaide is so fabulous, truly a wonderful character, although I got a bit frustrated at times with how often she just went along with Cordelia's terrible ideas. I liked Rhett but getting him to grow up was a bit of a chore. Still, it was a lot of fun to watch these two clash, as well as the lengths Adeliade went through to wake up the sleeping duke lol.

It was a good book and really enjoyed it all and rooted for this couple to make it. Love it all. read it today you will not be disappointed.

When Lady Cordelia runs from her wedding, she relies on Adelaide, her maid, to help her. Pretending to be Cordelia, Adelaide meets Rhett a rake who has come home for the holidays to the family seat. Accepted into the family as a fiance of the duke, Adelaide finds his younger brother Rhett much more appealing. What will happen when everyone realizes she is not a lady but only a lady's maid? I received an ARC from NetGalley and Forever for my honest review.

DNF after two attempts. This is a messy insta-everything story where the heroine's inner monologue reads more like a 21st century woman than that in an HR, both MCs have insta-lust, and there was no time for the character, relationship or plot development.

I'm really sad this didn't work for me as I've read from Parish before and really enjoyed the story, but this was not it at all..

Rhett and Della are from two different worlds. But after their run in they can’t seem to stay away from each other. I loved the story line and all the characters. The love between the family was wonderful.

90s Rom Com meets Bridgerton was a perfect description of this book. I loved that I recognized parts of the plot from the 90s movie but there were some other themes and twists written in. I was hooked until the end not knowing if there was going to be a happy ending. (Spoiler: there is)

Adelaide is asked to impersonate her mistress for a few days while her mistress's fiance is in a coma. She is supposed to convince him to retract the proposal and get a reward. But the duke's brother arrives and complicates matter....

Love the swoony romance. Rhett is terrific while Adelaide is sassy. Enjoy the banter very much. Great chemistry.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Rhett can't believe he has to head home with his tail between his legs to beg forgiveness from his brother. The Duke is calling him to the carpet for Rhett's behavior on the continent. Adelaide can't wait for her mistress to get married so she can save up enough money to head out and find a place she can call her own. But when fate can't wait, it leads these two to the docks and to each other. Then to the countryside and a mixed-up mess that includes mistaken identity, a peer in a coma, and perhaps found family?

This was a fun read with a lovely homage to While You Were Sleeping! There were plenty of similarities to the movie that were wonderful - the Duke's family absolutely gave the same vibe as the family in WYWS, talking over each other in the most loving way. I absolutely loved those interactions! The "sleeping Duke" and the antics that occurred in the attempts to wake him were also quite funny. Regarding the story as a whole, I really enjoyed Rhett's character arc, more so than Della's. I did find the language and some of the anachronisms pulled me out of the story on occasion.

Spice level (scale of 1-5): 3.5-4 (sex scene, erotic scenes)

Stars: 3

My thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

One spoilt dukes daughter, one duke in romance, one ladys maid and a brother make the main cast of this book.

Della and Rhett meet at the dock and there interest, plenty of it on both sides. Except fate throws some hurdles in their path and now Della is pretending to be dukes daughter Cordelia who is engaged to Rhett brother Peter (a duke). Peter is in coma and all Della wants a stable life, a home, a family. So she pretends to ve engaged. Except her heart is solely yearning for Rhett (who is wandering through life with no goals). There definitely is a dramatic hea in the end.

Fairly well written, but not as entertaining as I thought it would be.

This book was fun except for the fact that I was hella stressed out the whole time. Not the fault of the author, since the story follows the plot of the Sandra Bullock movie While You Were Sleeping. Despite "knowing" the ending, it was still an enjoyable and sometimes quite funny historical romance.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my review.

This one was so fun. I found the chemistry between the main characters to be so good and the conflict for them not being together officially was very compelling (aka her fake betrothed was in a coma). I did find the woman that Della was pretending to be to be really insufferable (though I know that was the point, it was just too much at times), but otherwise this was really a fun time.

This is a “While You were Sleeping” retelling set in 1893 England. In this case, we don’t have a working class heroine, who pretends to be engaged to an unconscious man, we have a lady’s maid, Adelaide (Della) who has switched places with Duke’s daughter, Cordelia. Cordelia has just fled her own wedding and the two are hiding out in a small village outside of London. They rent a cottage from a different Duke, Peter, who recognizes the runaway bride and somehow decides to be engaged to her. Cordelia pushes him and he hits his head as he falls down. And now we have the set up

Unconscious Duke’s brother, Rhett, has arrived home from travel abroad and had met Della on the London docks. Suspend your disbelief. It kind of works.

Peter and Rhett have three charming sisters who would be wonderful main characters in future books. His twin sister does not get much development here so here’s hoping she gets her time to shine

Della has had a very transient life and it’s craving a permanent home. She loves the family and they embrace her as an almost-sister. The retelling deviates from the original once Peter wakes up. Needless to say the right people wind up together.

The pace is fast. The reading is easy. There are parts where a history nerd expecting complete historical accuracy will be disappointed. But perhaps they can just enjoy the ride through this alternative version of 1893 where cars have keys and clutches and steamboats take weeks, not days, to cross the North Sea

I have watched "While you were Sleeping" so many times. So, I was really excited when I read the blurb for this regency retelling. It was the perfect blend of doing justice to the plot of the movie, while managing to have enough different wrinkles to be its own story.

I loved all the characters (even Peter in the end) and would be interested in a book telling Cordelia's story.

Definitely recommended.