A review by ryreadsreviews
Ne'er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Title: Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

• Publication Date- 07/23/24
• Publisher- St. Martins Press 
• Overall Rating- 4 out of 5 stars 

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Man, I do love a good regency romance and this hit the spot. There’s something about the scandal and rules of society that just makes these romances better in my opinion. The story is very compelling, we have a young man suddenly in charge of his two younger siblings and with that he needs to find a partner in order to get custody of them. So, there’s some marriage of convenience in there. The first half of the book was SO funny. In particular there is one scene about 4 percent into the book that I will never forget, it just had me rolling. When you get to it all you need to know its “hells bells,” I was gone. 

I loved the characters in this story. Both MC’s are very likable and socially progressive for their time which was interesting to read about. There is also a strong sense of found family. The only reason this wasn’t a full five star is because I felt like after the first half of the book we didn’t get as much of the humor and connection with the kids. I will own this is a personal preference for me and I just felt like the first half really nailed and I would have loved to see more of that. 

This is a promising new author in the regency space and I honestly can’t wait to see what else she puts out. As far as spice goes, the first half is pretty clean but as the two MC’s get closer it does ramp up. I would say it was pretty spicy for my taste and probably about mid for everyone else.