Alexandra Vasti - Ne'er Duke Well

Peter Kent―newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana―must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep―not his fault!―he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft.
Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter asks for her help, she suggests courtship and marriage to a lady of unimpeachable reputation. (Which is to say, definitely not herself.)
But matchmaking doesn’t go according to plan. Peter’s siblings run rampant on Bond Street. Selina ends up in the Serpentine. And worst of all, the scorching chemistry between Peter and Selina proves impossible to resist. For the disreputable duke and his unpredictable matchmaker, falling in love just might be the ultimate scandal.

Comment: I got curious about this book back in 2024, after reading AztecLady's review and feeling the story seemed very intriguing. I have, now, finally, gotten to it!

In this story we meet Peter Kent, who has just inherited a dukedom, and he wants this social improvement to help him get the guardianship of his half siblings Lucinda and Freddy. He is quite happy with his family's connection to the Ravenscrofts, namely to Selina, a woman he admires for her skill in dealing with social obligations and etiquette, something his young sister should benefit from as well. They conclude he should marry, to further prove his intentions towards his siblings are worthy, but it seems the ladies Selina finds for him, in spite of their incredible suitability, just don't work as well as he thinks Selina herself would do. It also seems this is something she things as well, thus is there any way for them to find a better option?

I think this was a very encouraging historical romance novel, for it was fun and captivating until the end, something recent historical romances seem to be missing, according to many reviews out there. I liked the fact this one worked out well and provided an interesting tale to read.

The main plot centers on Peter's intention of getting his siblings to live with him, and a huge difference in his hearing some time later being deferred sets on his status, behavior and the opinion of a man he feels he needs to impress. To achieve this, he seeks the help of those he is friends with, even though he is a duke who has been in America and has a very different perception of many things, that Tories  - like the man he wants to impress - see very differently. I can understand Peter's anxiety over this, after all a positive decision will mean he gets to his his family with him.

Therefore, many scenes are focused on presenting Peter in a good light but, of course, many other fun and silly things happen instead, which make it doubtful he will be seen well, but at the same time make the story feel funny and light. I think this balance was well achieved, actually, and I was never worried that things were going into too much silliness, as often happens in "light" romances. These scenes also helped to cement the idea that Peter and Selina would be a good match, although the passion they feel for one another was always a little too convenient and not as easily part of any organic development (to me).

In fact, the romance was cute as one would expect, and I liked it that we got to have scenes/situations in which the balance between them is made to be obvious. these two share a lot of interests and have common goals and ideas, so their romance also seems to be stronger. Such a thing is not always obvious and I liked it that the author took the time to set this up and to make it seem that as they got to interact, more layers were added to their relationship.

Another issue that take a place here, and which acts as an obstacle for why Peter and Selina don't become a couple sooner, is the fact Selina has an erotic publishing, part of a bigger brand in her twin brother's name. However, she has been doing this for two years and to society this would be scandalous, so she doesn't want this to be one more weight on Peter's chances of gaining guardianship because it's obvious the truth will be exposed sooner than later. I thought this to be a good element, perhaps not that easy to imagine, but still way better accomplished than similar things in other books.

It was also suggestive to have plenty of secondary characters being important in key scenes. I immediately imagined that so many people could be protagonists in following books, in seems there are two more after this one, but still many are left without a story, unless the next books have more than one romance being developed. I feel intrigued to try the next one, at least. One day.

Grade: 8/10