Thank you to Bramble for the ARC!

A Duke Never Tells is the newest from Suzanne Enoch. I adored her last, Every Duke Has His Day, and this was just as much fun. Each character starts out as a bit of a caricature, which makes them easy to distinguish from each other even by audio, but as the book goes on they are fleshed out into more real, dynamic characters.

Lady Meg Pinwell has yet to meet her fiance, the Duke of Earnhurst. She has heard nothing from him since their parents arranged their marriage, shortly before his father’s death. Clara, her mother’s much younger sister, convinces Meg to go on holiday with her - undercover - to visit the Duke’s estate and decide if this marriage is truly what she wants. But once they arrive, they are surprised to find the Duke is in residence after all. Then Meg finds herself bedridden with an ankle injury, and they are forced to stay!

I loved all four characters equally by the end - the Duke took some growing up before I liked him, but his POV was entertaining even before I found him truly likeable. The mistaken identity plotline gave each character reasons to believe they could never be together, which provided just a touch of angst so the book remained lighthearted without being overly fluffy.

I would recommend A Duke Never Tells to fans of classic comedies like The Importance of Being Earnest and Some Like It Hot (is it weird to put those two together?)!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bramble for this ARC. My opinions are my own.

Lady Margaret "Meg" Pinwell is about to start her first season when her father announces that he's spoken to his old friend, the Duke of Earnhurst, and secured her a coveted match with said duke's son and heir. Before Meg has a chance to even go to London and have any fun during the Season, the Duke promptly dies, and forces Meg into a year of mourning, since she is now affianced with the new duke.

A year later, with absolutely no contact from the man she is contracted to marry, Meg is unsurprisingly a bit fed up. A missive to her parents assures them that the new Duke still intends to honour the agreement and Meg will become a duchess without ever even having been to London. The new Duke is rumoured to be quite the rake, with a reputation for gambling, carousing and womanising before his father's death. He didn't even show up to his own father's funeral. Meg asks her aunt Clara (her mother's younger sister) for advice, and they think up a scheme, where they will go to the ducal country estate, pretending to be ladies on the way to London, touring country estates. With Meg disguised as Clara's impoverished companion, they will hopefully get the chance to ask the duke's staff about him, so Meg can get a clearer idea of whether she wants to marry this man at all.

Unbeknownst to Meg and Clara, James Clay, the current Duke of Earnhurst is in fact residing at his country estate, arguing with Elliot Riniken, his father's former (now his) estate management about how his irresponsible behaviour has led to the estate being an overgrown mess, with a manor house that's falling apart. Water leaks have led to several holes in the ceiling, the library is partially covered in mould, and most of the staff have run off to get new positions, with the former butler having stolen a lot of the more valuable silver. The reason the estate is in such a dreadful state is that the former Duke wanted his son to return home, and face his responsibilities for a few years before his death. Both men were incredibly stubborn, James refused, while his father just gave up on any and all upkeep of the house or surroundings, because he decided it was up to his son to fix things. Now they're about to host a wedding in six weeks, and Rinikin can't authorise any repairs until the new duke signs off on them. James seems mostly happy to drink himself into a stupor.

Since there are barely any servants left on the premises, the duke himself opens the door when Clara, not actually a noblewoman but the younger sister of a woman who has married an earl, arrives, disguised as a highborn lady, Lady Sophronia, accompanied by her paid companion, Mabel (Meg). Having recently raided the wine cellar, James thinks it will be a great idea to claim he is the butler of the estate, and he takes the two ladies into the duke's office, claiming that Mr Riniken is the duke. Riniken, a former army officer, is a good ten years older than James, so the two ladies are quite shocked by his appearance, not to mention the ramshackle state of the building, and the fact one of the only servants they can see appears to be drunk in the middle of the day.

Since the ladies are pretending to tour country houses, they agree to go on a tour of the premises (in some of the rooms that aren't actively dangerous to enter), but they've not been there long before Meg tumbles down half a staircase, due to a rotten bannister, and injures her foot badly. The doctor proclaims that she needs complete rest for at least one week, probably two, and suddenly James' practical joke will need to be maintained for the duration of the ladies' stay, lest gossip spread to London that the new Duke of Earnhurst is a drunken madman who pretends to be a butler to visitors.

Four people, lying about their true identities, two of them also about the reason they're even at the estate in the first place, are stuck in a house that's falling apart, forced into close proximity while maintaining an increasingly more elaborate deception. Since Meg/Mabel is forced to stay bedridden for a lot of the stay, Clara/Sophronia spends a lot of time trying to get to know the "Duke" better, so they can find evidence to present to Meg's parents for why the match must be broken. Finding herself gradually falling for the man she believes is her beloved niece's intended isn't exactly ideal. Rinikin, on his part, is fighting his attraction to what he believes to be a woman of a much higher status than himself. James, seemingly the world's worst butler, would also be a deeply inappropriate match for Lady Margaret Pinwell, or even Mabel the ladies' companion - but they also can't seem to stop being drawn to one another, kissing whenever the opportunity arises.

In your standard romance novel, you sometimes get romances featuring the mistaken identity trope. Well, in this book, not only do you get two romances for the price of one, but you get mistaken identity times four. Not only that, but you get multiple POVs. Not only do the readers get to see the story through Meg, Clara, James and Elliot's eyes, but there are a few chapters from the POV of James' very supercilious and long-suffering valet.

It's been years since I read a romance by Suzanne Enoch, and this was quite different from any historical romance I've read before. Sometimes you have secondary romances taking place in the background while our protagonists find their HEAs, but in this book, there are four protagonists and both romances come with a number of complications, getting more and more farcical as the story progresses.

While we are given reasons for why James Clay has been completely ignoring his responsibilities for years, causing his country estate to deteriorate so badly, they just seemed rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things. His father was too hard on him, he seemed to always prefer the opinions of Rinikin and treated him as a replacement son (at least in the eyes of James). Because of the weird power struggle between the former duke and his son, most of the staff went without wages and were forced to find jobs elsewhere. Rinikin is at his wits' end trying to keep the business side of the dukedom afloat. It's not until a beautiful woman is badly hurt falling down the stairs that James seems to see that the house is a wreck and he needs to do something to fix it. Not only does he authorise Rinikin to handle craftsmen to come to repair it, but he does a lot of the physical labour himself, especially when it comes to restoring the gardens (this also seemed rather out of character for a privileged nobleman).

Obviously, everything works out fine in the end, with everyone's true identities being revealed in plenty of time for a double wedding and HEAs all over the place. This was a fun enough book, but I think four people running around lying about their identities was a bit too much for me. I don't mind a light-hearted romp, but there were a bit too many complications for me to be likely to want to reread this in the future.

<b>Judging a book by its cover:</b> While I'm delighted to see something other than yet another cartoony cover on a romance novel, I'm not sure that this is a great improvement. The hot pink, the lurid green, the teal of the cover model's cravat. It's all a bit of an eyesore. The guy's smirk isn't exactly helping, either.

A quick little trip to spy on Meg’s future husband has turned into total disaster in this very funny historical rom-com. Basically, Lady Meg is in an arranged marriage to a duke with a terrible reputation, so she and her aunt Clara go playing a part of a lady and companion to visit the duke’s estate. Except James is a grumbly sort of duke who is not interested in playing tour guide, so he pretends to be the butler and introduces his man of business Elliot as the duke. We have four different people pretending to be someone they’re not, and it all gets worse when Meg injures her ankle and they have to stay there (and keep up their roles for two weeks). And of course, we get a double romance here with Clara and Elliot pairing off and Meg and James growing closer together, no one knowing the other person’s true identity. It’s mostly funny and sweet and an enjoyable read, especially since we get to see all four characters POVs along the way.

While I love "The Importance of Being Earnest" and enjoyed this slight adaptation, if didn't quite live up to Enoch's past romance novels.

Oh, my goodness. This was such a fun regency romance. Suzanne Enoch gives us four main characters, all of whom I fell in love with and was so happy to see them all find love themselves.

Right away, we meet Meg and her rebellious aunt Clara. Clara eschews all societal expectations, preferring to publish pamphlets than settle down with a man. So when Meg decides she wants to meet the roguish rake she’s been betrothed to before their wedding, Clara is all too happy to help her niece. This help comes in the form of a ploy to disguise Meg as a maid to Clara’s lady. Of course, their meeting the Duke of Earnhurst doesn’t go according to plan - especially when the duke and his man of business unknowingly play the same game of pretend that Meg and Clara are playing.

This whole romance - truly a comedy of errors - was enjoyable from start to finish. This regency romance was just fun from start to finish, and I read through this one faster than I usually read historical romances. I don’t come across a lot of romances with more than two point-of-views, so having six characters narrate this story was fun and unique.

I loved that Enoch gave us two couples finding love. It was double the love for the characters and double the enjoyment for the reader. Our four main characters - Meg, Clara, James, and Elliott - all had clearly different voices, making it easy to get lost in the story without losing the plot. I did get a bit of anxiety from all these characters thinking they were falling in love with someone they couldn’t have, knowing they were all headed for a wake up call before they end. But, Enoch gave these characters their happily ever afters with minimal issues when the truths were all revealed.

From all the secrets, to the couples who got to fall in love, this regency romance was fun from start to finish. I could’ve easily read separate romances for both couples, but having their stories intertwined made for a memorable read.

I absolutely love a good historical romance, romcom, but they are hard to find! And if you’re like me, and you’re looking for HR with a good laugh, Suzanne Enoch, has you covered with her latest release, A Duke Never Tells!

Miscommunication, mistaken identity, and sometimes drive me a little crazy, but this one was so much fun! Featuring not one but two sets of characters and have swapped their identities and both sets end up, pairing up and falling in love- while not knowing the actual true identity of the other!

Lady Meg has been promised by her father to marry the new Duke of Earnhurst, but she is not interested in a stuffy old Duke, she wants her season and she wants to have fun and fall in love on her own. With that in mind, she decides to scope out her perspective Duke and learn a little bit more about him with her trusty sidekick and BFF, her Aunt Clara. Together, they travel to the Duke’s estate under false identities, casting Lady Meg as the ladies maid to lady Sophronia- a.k.a. aunt Clara in disguise. Expecting him not to be in residence, while there they are surprised to encounter the stuffy rakish Duke and his young and inexperienced Butler. Unbeknownst to them the Duke and his man of business has swapped places, and are also operating under different identities.

When an accident occurs and Meg and Clara can’t leave after a quick visit, this Mötley foursome ends up, spending a lot more time together and some interesting pairings occur!

I had so much fun reading this book and getting all four perspectives from the characters. The story moves at a good pace and I loved the ending and how they manage to work things out and reveal the identities/love interests!

This was an entertaining and enjoyable historical romp - and I loved that it never went any further than kissing - but it was incredibly slow. Now, I enjoy a good slow-burn, and I enjoyed this one. However, I did several times feel like it really needed to get on with the story. There are also several POV characters - the four main characters, and then three minor characters. There really didn't need to be that many POV characters and the minor characters didn't add anything that couldn't have been reworked into the main four. The mistaken identity plot was hilarious and often pushed the boundaries of credulity. Meg and James were both a little silly and Meg was so set on hating the Duke that she was blinded to a lot of things about both him and his man of business.

The audiobook narrator did a great job bringing the characters to life and highlighting the absurdity of the situations they found themselves in. I would recommend listening to it.

*Thanks to Bramble and Dreamscape Media for providing an early copy for review.

Lady Meg Pinwell, 18, enjoys spending time with her spinster aunt, Clara Bosley, 26, as Meg prepares for her debut presentation to the Queen. Her parents, Gregory and Josephine Pinwell, Earl and Countess of Brunden, expect Meg to marry either a duke or a marquis. But when Earl Brunden returns from a trip, he announces that he has betrothed Meg to James Clay, son of the Duke of Earnhurst. Before even meeting James, his father dies and as his betrothed, Meg is thrown into a year of mourning for the late duke. At the end of that time, Meg is now told she will marry James in 6 weeks even though she has never met the man. So, Meg and Clara don simple clothes and with Clara calling herself a silly name and Meg as her companion, also with a silly name, arrive at Earnhardt Castle under the pretense of wanting to tour the place. However, as James has been ignoring the needed repairs on the Castle for years, it is in terrible shape. When Meg trips on the stairs and sprains her ankle, the doctor says she must rest for a fortnight meaning they will be staying at the castle for that time. In addition, James and his man of business, Riniken, swap identities leaving the duke to pretend to be the butler and Riniken the duke.

As this story moves forward, we find the women falling for James and Riniken, but which one do they desire? While this was at times a mIte confusing, I found that the reader has to pay very close attention to what is being said by each of the characters to keep up with the farce. However, this story is clever, fun and funny. Enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lady Meg Pinwell is betrothed to James Clay, Duke of Earnhurst, but she has never seen or communicated with him. She and her Aunt Clara come up with a plan to get information on him by visiting his estate. What happens when they arrive is a delightful romp through mistaken identity and romance. Meg pretends to be Clara’s companion. The duke’s man of business, Elliot Riniken, is playing the duke, and James is pretending to be the butler (and not a very good one). An accident keeps them together for a while. Whispers and slips of the tongue begin to unravel the identities. We have two happy couples, the butler and the companion and the duke and the lady. Well, not exactly. By the end of the story, the right people end up together, and the identities are all straighten out. The splendid narration by Kimberly M. Wetherell and Jay Myers made this amusing and entertaining story come to life.
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Embrace the quirky chaos with this delightful and amusing double romance.

This story weaved an intricate and entertaining tale of secret and mistaken identities. The four main characters each got their own point-of-view chapters, as well as a few other characters at times, so we had the pleasure of experiencing all their thoughts. The humorous writing style took us through plenty of ridiculous situations and excellent banter. It was easy to keep track of all the pretend roles and how they related to each other.
James the butler was charming and hilariously insolent (for a pretend servant). He learned a lot about himself, his servants, and his inheritance.

Elliott and James came to a new and enlightened understanding of one another, that probably would not have happened without the two ladies' timely interference. It was clear that Clara and Meg were two different women, with some overlapping interests and characteristics. Meg's youth and innocence shined through at times, which was to be expected.

I was curious and concerned about when and how this house of cards would fall down, and it toppled over beautifully. Apart from the almost constant grin on my face, there were also a few out loud chuckles. I can recommend this no-spice historical romance for the entertainment factor alone.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was extremely fortunate to receive an ARC of A Duke Never Tells written by the fabulous Suzanne Enoch via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Margaret Elizabeth Pinwell has been told that she her marriage has been arranged to James Clay, the new Duke of Earnhurst. She has absolutely no desire to marry a walking drunk scandal who is always in the tabloids. She decides to visit the Duke's home (while he is not at residence) with her aunt, while pretending to be a lady and her companion visiting homes in the area. On her arrival, they are greeted by a drunk butler, and a very austere severe looking older than expected Duke. What ensues is a comedy of errors and a domino of lies with a dash of truth because the butler actually happens to be the Duke, who is beginning to be attracted to the companion, Meg, and the pretend fake Duke is falling for Meg's aunt who is pretending to be a lady.
This is a great story first and foremost because it teaches us the importance of not always knowing what someone is going through til we literally step into their shoes, as well as teaching us the importance of character over rank. A fun read!

A Duke Never Tells is a very funny historical rom com. It's a loose adaptation of the 1930s screwball comedy My Man Godfrey with a bit of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest thrown in.

Lady Meg Pinwell is engaged to James Clay, Duke of Earnhurst, but they've never met. Before entering into marriage, she wants to find out more about her fiance, so she and her aunt/best friend Clara devise a ruse to make a brief visit to the ducal estate with Clara posing as an earl's daughter and Meg as her companion. Shortly after arrival, Meg sprains her ankle and the duo are forced to stay in the crumbling house for several weeks, giving them ample opportunity to get to know the duke. There's just one problem: the actual duke is pretending to be the butler and the estate manager is pretending to be the duke.

I liked this book a lot. It's a little light on the romance, since there are two couples (Meg and the duke/butler and Clara and the fake duke/estate manager), but the romances are very sweet. Of course, there's a lot of very funny conflict and mixed feelings involved in both romances, given that Meg thinks she's falling for her fiance's butler and Clara thinks she's falling for her niece's fiance, while the real and fake duke think they're falling for women who are far above and far below their respective stations in life.

My only issue with the book is that the romances felt a bit underdeveloped, since the story deals with two couples. But I really did enjoy the story, and the screwball comedy aspects of it worked really well. This book is perfect if you're in the mood for something light.

I have now read three of Suzanne Enoch's historical screwball romcoms. I disliked one (Something in the Heir) and absolutely adored another (Every Duke Has His Day). This one, A Duke Never Tells, falls somewhere in the middle. The writing is just fine, but I expected a little something extra (probably because I loved her most recent book so much.)

This is, yes, a screwball comedy/mistaken identity farce. Lady Meg is about to be married, sight unseen, to the new Duke of Earnhurst. She and her BFF Aunt Clara decide to travel to his estate under assumed identities to do some intelligence gathering on him. On their date of arrival, James (the Duke) is fed up with his man of business, Elliott. So when a hoity toity lady and her companion show up for a tour, James pretends to be the butler, forcing Elliott to masquerade as the duke. All of them expect their assumed identities to be short-lived, but when Meg twists her ankle, they all have to hunker down for two more weeks before she can leave.

While the comedic elements hit (the evolution of the mistaken identities was particularly funny), I didn't love the romances. And yes, there are two: one between Meg and James, and the other between Clara end Elliott. (Or perhaps I should say, one between lady's companion Mildred and butler James, and one between Lady Sophronia and His Grace, James.) There were a lot of "not like other girls" moments in both romances; some of these were refuted, especially from Clara, outspoken feminist, but many of which went by unnoticed by any of the characters (but not by me, obvs). There's even one moment, where Clara calls out her love interest by informing him that plenty of women are intelligent and funny, like her, he internally thinks about how this just proves that she really ISN'T like other women - because she is willing to be open with her intelligent witticisms.

I was also expecting a little more class commentary (as in a French mistaken identity satire), but instead, the final revelation of their identities just reaffirmed that their romances were, indeed, class dependent. I have heard that the audio adds a little something - my guess is that it makes the humor more evident and the weaker parts are less in evidence - so I'd probably recommend that route for enjoying this one.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

This was such a fun nod to Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, but set during the regency. Lady Meg Pinwell is betrothed to renowned rake James Clay, the new Duke of Earnhurst, without ever having met him. Intending to spy on him with her Aunt Clara to see if the rumors are valid, Meg and Clara assume fake identities as traveling companions. It’s just that when they arrive, the Duke and his butler seem to be a little different from what Meg imagined. They’re also thrown for a loop when Meg’s visit becomes extended unexpectedly—can Clara and Meg sustain their charade? And just who is the actual Duke of Earnhurst?

This book is so fun because the characters get more and more twisted up in their own farce that as a reader I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, revealing everything. Enoch brilliantly creates an unexpected DOUBLE romance with lovable characters that despite their secrets and identity swapping, I just wanted to see happy at the end.

For readers that are interested in spice level, this is a closed door romance which suits the novel perfectly (it would seem out of place for high steam given the plot). I’m really curious to see what types of romances Enoch writes in the future since she can write anything from traditional histroms to screwball comedy. I’ll say that if she’s writing it, I’ll read it. I received an early copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Steam: 1/2🪭 (closed door but intimacy and lots of kissing is mentioned)
Humor: 🪛⚾️🪛⚾️

A Duke Never Tells by Suzanne Enoch is a delightful Regency romcom filled with mistaken identities, witty banter, and a touch of chaos. Lady Meg Pinwell, determined to uncover the truth about her betrothed, disguises herself as a maid in his household. Meanwhile, James Clay, the new Duke of Earnhurst, also assumes a false identity, leading to hilarious misunderstandings and unexpected romance.
The story balances humor and heart, with engaging characters and a well-paced plot. While Meg and James have great chemistry, the secondary romance between Aunt Clara and the practical Elliott Riniken is just as compelling. The novel leans more into comedy than romance, and while there is little steam, the charm and fun of the story make up for it.
With its entertaining twists and lovable characters, this book is a lighthearted and enjoyable read, perfect for fans of historical romance with a comedy twist.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy through NetGalley, opinions are my own

This was a sweet romantic comedy inspired by elements of The Importance of Being Ernest and My Man Godfrey. I was initially unsure how I was going to feel about the (actual) duke, James, since he had apparently spent a long time ignoring every responsibility. However, I was eventually charmed by his redemption and obvious love for Meg. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-Arc.

I wanted to like this book despite the cover. I just kept finding so many flaws after I finished it. The author has a serious issue with "showing not telling" for the female character development. It's repeated Clara is "a strong crusader for causes, suffragette, practical, logical" but nothing the character actually does reflects that. In fact, the part where she sees the duke next to the old duke's picture and goes to "Duke's bastard" instead of having that moment be the "oh...so that's why things aren't lining up!" moment shows how badly her actions don't reflect her description. The male characters feel more fleshed out but that's because the book is less a romance and more about resolving the relationship between a petulant adult Duke and the man of business who he thinks his Daddy liked better. The women are really just there so that the Duke can talk to someone else about his Daddy issues and his immaturity and give him a wakeup call that his actions have consequences. There's a pointless robbery subplot in there, thrown in so we can have a dramatic scene. If it seemed like there was character development in this book there wouldn't be a need for a dramatic scene. There is also a really huge gaping hole with this whole "duke pretending to not be the duke" thing when he goes into town multiple times a week to get bakery items and other stuff with the FMC without a single townsperson calling him "Your Grace" because they wouldn't be in on the whole "switched identities" thing and the guy looks like a Xerox of his Father. The whole farce should've ended at the first bakery scene. Honestly the whole thing is based on a farfetched premise that her "high stickler for propriety" parents would say "no one else in Mayfair wants this man for their daughter even as a duke's heir because he's got such a bad reputation but we know his Dad so seems cool to betroth our not even out of the school room kid to him. He's totally going to be a great husband instead of ditching his new bride with Daddy or not bothering to show to his own wedding"

Lady Margaret “Meg” Pinwell was planning her debut when she learns that her father has betrothed her to the Marquis of Duffy (heir to the Duke of Earnhurst) a man she has never met and that she will be married in six months. But the next day her father gets notice that the duke has died, and they have to enter a year of mourning. During that time Meg hears nothing from her betrothed but learns a lot about him via the gossip sheets and has second thoughts about marrying him. With the help of her aunt Clara, who is only eight years her senior, they form a plan. They will visit the duke’s estate incognito and see what the staff has to say about the new duke and decide if she will in fact marry him or if the rumors of his wildness and rakishness are true, she will cry off. The tell her parents that they are going to London early to shop, but the set off to the duke’s estate, planning on spending a few hours there before continuing on to London. What they find is an understaffed estate that seems to be crumbling to the ground and to their complete shock, they are introduced to the duke – who is supposed to be in London. A duke who is nothing like Meg expected. In order to save her reputation, she and her aunt continue with their ruse, hoping to escape as soon as possible and praying the duke won’t recognize her when they meet again. But that plan is crushed when Meg is injured, and they are forced to stay at the estate for at least two weeks!

For the last six years, the Duke of Earnhurst’s estate has been falling into disrepair as the late duke had told his man of business that his son and heir, James Clay, the Marquis of Duffy was in charge of the estate and that nothing could be done without his approval. An order that his man of business, Elliott Riniken, took very seriously. Elliott has been trying for years to get James to be responsible, but his letters are ignored, and his pleas fall on deaf ears. But now that the new duke is going to marry in six weeks, he has finally come to the estate but still refuses to pick up the reins. That is until they have unexpected guests and James claims to be the butler and says that Elliott is the duke. But when Meg/Mabel gets hurt and everyone has to continue their ruse – things get a little (a lot) crazy!

This was a fun historical rom com with very likable characters and a mistaken identity trope. There is plenty of shenanigans and people falling in love, there is also some emotional healing, but sadly – no steam. Overall, it was a fun, albeit sometimes silly story with multiple happy endings and thankful no third-act breakups. This is a standalone title that I am happy to recommend.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

4.5⭐️

This was such a charming and delightful book. It's not over the top but I really had lot of fun with this book.

An arranged marriage that neither party wants. I girl getting ready to debut and a rake of duke. It's not what either expected. This was a really easy read and I really liked all four main characters. I really also appreciated that we got the four separate POVs. Each character were unique and I appreciated that each had their own growth and character arc by the end of the book.

The pacing was also well done. There was times in the middle it may have drag some in the middle but overall it went along at a decent pace,

I thought the story was pretty cute with the switched identities of both the main FMCs and MMCs. Although it was a cheesy at times. Not a perfect read but really enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

Lady Meg Pinwell is told by her parents that she will soon wed the infamous future-Duke, James Clay. James’ reputation of womanizing and debauchery has reached even Meg, a fairly isolated and young heroine. Hoping to scope out the situation more thoroughly, Meg and her aunt, Clara, decide to go undercover as a noblewoman and companion to ask James’ staff about his true nature. Due to circumstances, James and his butler also pretend to be other identities, and soon the quadrant of people are enraptured while pretending. Hilarity ensues.

If you love a farcical comedy, similar to The Importance of Being Earnest or The Birdcage, you will enjoy this book. I would say that it triumphs more as a comedy than as a love story, but this may be desirable to some readers. There are lots of reveals and escapades that keep the reader silently (or audibly) chuckling. There’s even a bit of an “Undercover Boss” element that is rewarding and fun.

This book features one of my all-time favorite tropes, and that is the double romance. James and Meg each have a lot of maturing to do, and while I love their premise, I struggled to cheer for them. However, it is easy to cheer for the caring and progressive aunt and the practical, authentic man of business. In this case, the secondary romance seems more engaging, innovative, and relevant.

This was my first time reading Suzanne Enoch’s work, and I was impressed with her bold style and witty compositions. Readers should be aware that the scenes of intimacy are very low steam, and this choice also leaves me feeling that the story shines more as a comedy.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity. As always, these opinions are mine alone.