Forever My Duke

Loved the story of Hadrian and Natalie! She had all the qualities of English aristocracy with the spunkiness of her American heritage! Hadrian slowly changed from his stuffiness to become a normal person. Leo was great at helping to be a reason to bring them together at times. I loved a line in the story from Natalie. “I’m not worried about the aristocracy accepting me, it’s me being able to accept them!”. Hadrian’s mother and Natalie’s grandfather need their own short stories! Thank you for the advanced copy, it was a GREAT story from a new to me author!!!

OMG!! Sensual and passionate and with an unconventional, intriguing storyline that was utterly captivating. Beautiful writing, intricate characters with scorching chemistry that made FOREVER MY DUKE another winner for me. Deliciously tantalizing that will have you begging for more and weak in the knees.

Hadrian Ames the eighth Duke of Clayton, is ready to get married, and put his days of being hunted as society’s biggest matrimonial prize behind him. He has the perfect bride already in mind. His second cousin, Lady Ellen. She fit his criteria and standards for the ideal wife, she is attractive, a blue-blood of impeccable background, and is not overly chatty. Now he just needs to see how they get along. But on his way to meet with her family and his prospective bride, he is delayed by an ice storm. Forced to take a room at an Inn for the night, where his dinner is interrupted by a little boy who quickly hides under his table. When a woman steps in to the room looking for the little boy, he can’t stop staring at the beautiful, fascinating woman in front of him. When she reaches forward to shake his hand, he felt as giddy as a school boy, meeting his first pretty girl. It made no sense.

Natalie Fanshawe has been acting as Leo’s guardian since his parents were killed in a massacre in America. As her best friend was dying she begged her to bring Leo to her family in England. She isn’t sure what type of reception awaits them since she had never received a reply to her letters. But Natalie knew she didn’t like British aristocracy, her whole life her father had told her about the class system in England and she felt it was all just based on the luck of your birth. She was used to equality for all. Hopefully his family would welcome Leo into their home and give him all the love he deserved. But what will happen if they don’t? Is Natalie and Leo destined to go back to America? Or will a new ally give them everything they never knew they wanted?

American and English cultures will clash in the parlor as well as the bedroom, when these two come together for the sake of a little boy. Get ready for intense desire, delicious shivers, passionate kisses, tempting touches, as these two opposites captivate and seduce one another. As Natalie a woman of character, warmth, and charm, not to mention great beauty, and Hadrian a enthralling, enticing Duke, that under all his cool hauteur, is really a kind chivalrous gentleman, who can tempt a woman with one smoldering look, fall hard for each other. Because nothing in all the world could be better than Forever with a Duke!

“It seemed the both of them had needed to learn that love was the most precious gift of all-and that all else in life paled by comparison.”

Complimentary copy received for an honest review.

Hadrian is looking for a perfect Englishwoman to be his Duchess. He finds instead a spirited American. They both learn to appreciate what the other has gone through in their past to make them the people they have become. I loved the lively orphan Leo! I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

Regency-era romances have always been a favorite of mine to read. I love immersing myself in those types of novels. So, when I saw that Forever My Duke was up for review, I jumped on it. I couldn’t wait to read about the American who captures the Duke. While I enjoyed the book, the female main character got on my nerves. I wasn’t a fan of how the six-year-old was treated by the Earl and his family.

Forever My Duke is the second book in the Unlikely Duchesses series. It can be read as a stand-alone. I did enjoy that. I am not a fan of picking up a book mid-series and then realizing I have to read the previous books. But, at the same time, I wish that there was more of a tie in to the first book. There was no mention of Abby and Max in this book. So, yeah, complete opposite reactions from me.

I did like Natalie. She had gone through a lot before arriving in England. My heart broke for her when she revealed what happened on the day of the massacre. What she did to protect the children. My pity for her did wane a little when she opened her mouth. She was abrasive and defensive. Her opinions on England’s hierarchy, while right, made her even harsh. There were points in the book where I wanted to reach in there and shake her. It got that bad. Plus, she wasn’t a perfect childminder. Leo disappeared several times while in her care. Drove me nuts.

I had to agree with a comment made during the book about Hadrian being uptight. He was very uptight. I loved seeing him gradually unbend. He became an interesting person to read about because of that. I did think it was creepy that he wanted to a) marry his 2nd cousin and b) marry her knowing she was barely 17. I know that is how it was done back then, but it didn’t lessen the ick factor for me. I loved how gentle he was with Natalie and Leo. Made my heart swoon. Of course, I never doubted his feelings for Natalie (who did). His actions at the end of the book with Leo spoke volumes.

I LOVED Leo. For a child who had undergone an extremely traumatic experience, he didn’t act like it. He acted like a typical six-year-old boy. I loved it. I loved that the author didn’t try and make him act like a miniature adult. Instead, he got into situations that a child his age would typically get into. Well, except for the end, with his uncle. But how that ended was flipping hilarious.

I didn’t get a romantic connection between Natalie and Hadrian until halfway through the book. Hadrian was focused on wooing his cousin (which resulted in an amusing secondary storyline). The romance didn’t start until they were at his house in London. Even then, I wouldn’t describe it as an immediate thing. It took some time for Hadrian and Natalie even to acknowledge their feeling. But once they did, it took off.

There were several intertwined storylines in Forever My Duke. The main storyline, Natalie delivering Leo to his maternal grandfather, was intertwined with Hadrian and Natalie’s romance. Intertwined with both storylines was the secondary storyline with Leo’s uncle and Natalie’s mysterious parentage. All of these storylines did make for an engaging read.

The end of Forever My Duke was one of the best I have read to date. Leo was hilarious. I liked that Natalie made amends with certain people from her past. I do wonder who the next book will be about.

I had mixed feelings on this one at first but for the most part I liked it. That probably had to do with the complex, interesting main characters. Hadrian came across as haughty, cold and unfeeling as well as arrogant. I have to admit that I didn’t like him much at first. But as the story goes on you get to know that he is also so much more. Everything in the area of his emotions have been locked down tight. And as you read about how he was raised by his cold, unfeeling guardian it gets real clear how that came about.
That is about to hit a wall when he meets up with Natalie. His high handed ways and his title don’t impress her one bit. In fact she wouldn’t have ever set even one foot on English soil if it wasn’t for her promise. A promise to her dying best friend to bring her son, Leo to his grandfather in England. And a cold “welcome” is what Natalie and Leo encounter.
Leo was quite the scamp who kept things lively. I also enjoyed the interactions between Leo and Natalie. And eventually Hadrian, who teased him by affectionately calling him brat.
There are times when the story slows down and it doesn’t feel like much is happening. That was one of the things that I didn’t enjoy as much.
While Natalie and Hadrian try to work out their differences and there feelings, there is a greedy threat that has to be addressed. But both of our main characters are well up for the challenge. Bringing the story to a happy conclusion.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Having read book one in this series, I was excited to dive into this “unlikely duchess” story. Compared to book one, this fell a little short for me. I tried to war up to Hadrian and Natalie but it just wasn’t to be. But again, the joy of reading good writing was there and kept me going.

When the story opened I found myself immediately interested in Hadrian, the Duke of Clayton, who was on a regency road trip to secure a wife. Stopped for the night by bad weather, this unromantic gent finds himself drawn to an American woman, Natalie Fanshawe, and is quickly embroiled in her life and the life of her young charge Leo. Fate puts the two parties on the same road to the house of the Earl of Godwin. This is a cute but predictable plot driver that sets up the direction for the rest of the story.

So what lost me were some of the idiosyncrasies of the characters. Natalie’s blatant disregard for the Aristocratic society that makes England what it is. I also quickly tired of Hadrian calling Leo a “brat” (even if he was one) and bossing the Earl around in his own house. There is good drama at the Godwin residence, as Lady Ellen dodges her potential suitor, and Viscount Wymark performing some dastardly deeds in order to save his ‘hind.

Again, while Olivia Drake’s writing is solid, I failed to connect with the main characters. Maybe next time.

This is my first book by Olivia Drake and I loved it. This story gave a fresh look at how some of the English Aristocracy were raised and treated. Hadrian Ames, The Duke of Clayton was taken from his mother at six years of age to live with his guardian Lord Godwin. He was only allowed to see his mother twice a year.
Lord Godwin was a hard, strict, non affectionate man who raised him to follow all the ton rules. Hadrian learned at a young age never to show any feelings to anyone.
Hadrian at 31 is on his way to Lord Godwin’s estate to revisit his 2nd cousin, Godwin’s daughter, Lady Ellen.
He is planning to court and wed her as it is time he takes a wife. Both his late father and Lady Ellen’s father wanted a match between the families. He was suppose to wed the older sister, who ran away to America with her true love.
When he has to stop at a small Inn due to a storm. While there he meets an unruly young boy, Leo and his guardian an American women Natalie Franshawe. He finds they are going to the same town as he is then to his surprise he finds she is also going to Lord Godwin’s estate. The little brat that hid under his table turns out to be a the son of the women he was suppose to marry. Audrey the daughter of Lord Godwin.
As Natalie try to reunite Leo with his Grandfather and family. She finds out how cold and cruel the English upper class can be. His Grandfather doesn’t even want to speak to him, his wife doesn’t want to even let Natalie and Leo stay in the house and their son Lord Mymark thinks she is a thief. Only Lady Ellen is friendly.
The only one who tries to help is the handsome, wealthy Duke of Clayton himself. Hadrian fines himself quite taken with Natalie’s ways. She has no use for the Upper Class who did nothing to earn they place.
As these two are sexual attracted to each other from the start, even thru they don’t want to be.
Both Natalie and Hadrian must work together to protect Leo. There are many twist and turns to this story.
People who turn out to be more then friends, lost lover’s, new love’s, a kidnapping and lot’s more.
I found this story fast moving and enjoyable. I need to go back and read the first book of this series.
I received and ARC of this book and want to thank the author.
I am giving by review voluntarily and hope you get a copy as I know you will love it too.

Forever My Duke ended up being just okay for me. Granted, I don’t read a lot of Regency romances these days, but based on my experience with the genre, this one didn’t bring anything new to the table. I expected it to be unrealistic, and it is. So much so, that it kind of felt like a bunch of people pretending to be from that era. It has a rather slow start, and once the story gets going, it’s terribly clichéd. Despite all that, I did rather like Hadrian and Natalie and had this been set in a more current time period, I would’ve loved this couple. Natalie is a bit too progressive for the time, which is one of the many issues I have with the setting. In the end, the story was somewhere in the fair to middlin’ range for me. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I suppose I just wanted more than the typical.

Forever my Duke was amazing story taking you to a journey of discovering falling in love. Just because someone had rules and prejudice, doesn’t mean they can’t be broken or let go off.

Both main characters were in the beginning somewhat attracted to one another although their worlds couldn’t be more opposite their feelings slowly and unexpectedly got deeper and the liking of one another got stronger.

Natalie was an independent teacher bringing her best friend’s child from America to England to live with his remaining family although on her way to get there were more than few hurdles.

Hadrian the Duke of Clayton has decided, it’s time to settle down and wants to court his cousin’s daughter. What he ‘s never expected was to meet Natalie and slowly fall in love with her and the small orphan Leo. Their path strongly entwined and before Natalie could retour to America she also has fallen hard and deeply.

If only Hadran would be a common citizen not a duke. Can she brake her rules and let he heart decide instead of brain?

This book was amazing to read, slowly unwrap Natalie and Hadrians love. It was like watching blossom opening up.

Hadrian Ames, the Duke of Clayton, needs a bride. He even has the perfect one picked out, Lady Ellen his cousin & daughter of Lord Godwin who was his guardian. That is, until whilst he’s travelling to Godwin’s home he meets the lovely, free-spirited Natalie Fanshawe. She’s the opposite of what a man of his high rank should desire in a wife–an outspoken American who has never even set foot in a London ballroom. Natalie has travelled to England to reunite six-year-old orphan Leo with his English relatives. Leo was the son of her dearest friend Audrey whose dying words were for Natalie to take Leo to his grandparents.
Hadrian & Natalie locked horns from their first meeting & continued to do so but there was also an attraction, which grew as they spent more time together. It was a well written book with lots of clichés, the stiff upper lipped aristocrat & the free spirited American, the heir heading towards dissipation & the over strict guardian. I really liked both Hadrian & Natalie but loved Leo who stole every scene he was in & added levity to the book as did Hadrian’s mother. It flowed well & held my interest all the way through. The characters had depth & were well portrayed. I loved how Hadrian changed throughout the book & became a loving caring man.
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read