A review by phoenixinthecity
Betting on a Duke's Heart by Royaline Sing

3.0

This was a histrom from a debut author that hits all the beats you'd expect of a histrom - a starchy duke who has trouble feeling his feelings because he has daddy issues and a headstrong, independent miss who challenges him at every turn. What was different was that Dina is half British and half Indian and has an unexpected secret - I thought she was being blackmailed because Brit society didn't know she was half Indian, but turns out it's because her mother's family in India participated in the uprising against the East Indian Company which saw her 2 male cousins executed and her uncle to this day continues to give speeches that could be considered nationalist. I enjoyed this different perspective - the epilogue was especially lovely since Dina and Aetius are in Calcutta, visiting her beloved extended family and second parents, and despite being married under British law, they have to sleep apart and behave as if they aren't married because in the eyes of her aunt and uncle, they need to observe the traditional hindu wedding ceremony/rituals for it to be real in their eyes.

I read this in audio and while Neha DeLancie's soft Indian accents were fabulous, Tristan James' attempts sounded at times Scottish and Spanish(?) and it was super distracting.