Always Be My Duchess | ARC Review

Lord Lysander Blackstone, the stern Duke of Montcroix, has only one interest: increasing his considerable fortune. After a series of betrayals, he keeps his emotions buried deep. Money, after all, can’t break a man’s heart—or make promises it can’t keep. But when his reputation for being heartless jeopardizes a new business deal, he finds himself seeking a most unusual—and alluring—solution…

Once an up-and-coming ballerina, Miss Geneviève Valery is now hopelessly out of work. After refusing to become a wealthy patron’s mistress, Nève was promptly shown the door to the streets. When she accidentally saves the life of a handsome duke, she doubts the encounter will go any better than her last brush with nobility. But instead of propositioning her, Montcroix makes Nève an offer she would be a fool to refuse: act as his fake fiancée in exchange for fortune enough to start over.

Only neither is prepared when very real feelings begin to grow between them. They both stand to win… but only if they’re willing to risk their hearts.

While I had hoped for a different story from this book, I didn’t hate it. There were lots of cute moments and plenty of amazing characters that made my time reading this book worth it.

Some of my favorite characters were Neve’s friends. They were all feminists at a time when it was difficult to be a feminist, funny, and flirty. Every scene with them had me laughing and wishing they were my friends. I’m so glad we’ll get to see more of them in the upcoming books in this series.

While Neve and Lysander were not my favorite characters, I didn’t hate them. I thought it was weird that they were aroused by everything the other person did (literally everything), but whatever. As I said, their story made for a good introduction to the rest of the stories to come.

I was definitely getting The Viscount Who Loved Me vibes from Lysander and Neve’s love-hate relationship. They wanted to kill each other, but also they couldn’t stop thinking about the other one naked so…Speaking up, the steam level was very high.

Overall, this was not my favorite historical romance, but there was still so much to love. I can’t wait for the next books in the series.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

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