I will admit I was frustrated with how little the characters were together in the beginning of the book. It felt like ages before they even talked (and this was due to telling their individual stories. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just not what I personally prefer in romance). It was about 20% in and they had only had what felt like 2 very short conversations.

Both main characters change thorugh the novel and it's like seeing a friend of yours overcome their fears and embracing a happy future together. There is a dragon in the form of an indomitable dowager. And I am convinced Lady Tesh and Lady Danbury would be the closest of confidantes-- although there would be endless machinations to gain the upper hand. Kiss you?” Millie gasped, standing. “How dare you ask such a thing from me when you promised you would not force me into a situation that I was not ready for,” she said, her heart pounding lout in her ears. Quincy's mother is terrible. She is absolutely the villian of the story, andNumber of Sex Scenes: 🍆🍆🍆 (3 eggplants) – exact locations of kisses/sex at end under spoiler warning. Yet there was a steadiness to his gaze that grounded her. Just then he smiled. It was a small thing, barely even lifting the corners of his lips. But it gave her the encouragement she needed to do what had to be done. Clara’s great-aunt, Lady Olivia Tesh, is ALWAYS trying to set Clara up with eligible men and Clara hates it when she does that. Not just because Clara simply doesn’t want to marry. Her reasons for that run deep and cold - to the point that she’s buried them utterly and is simply out to help her family. Clara is a complex heroine who has given up on her chance at happiness. She has sacrificed herself for her family, and built a fortress around her heart. She carries the burden of a deep and secret sorrow. She is well into spinsterhood- a maiden of 31. She is not an innocent debutante, and I was profoundly touched by her commitment, despair and resignation. Oh, and Quincy’s mother is a hag of the highest degree. The story makes that crystal clear from the beginning.

Clara grabbed my heart as thoroughly as Quincy did. She raised her siblings after her mother’s death and has taken care of her family so thoroughly that at nearly thirty-one she finds herself at loose ends with her sister getting married and her family no longer needing her like they once did. Clara has no intention of ever getting married – a secret that pains her to this day prevents it. But her aunt is determined to see her wed and it’s getting stressful. Then Quincy shows up with his mother trying to foist an unwanted engagement on him and Clara has the perfect solution: they’ll pretend to be engaged until her sister is wed and Quincy sets the dukedom to rights. The problem is, the more time they spend around each other the harder it is for them to resist falling in love.With this tale of two wounded persons whose past pain led to alter the course of their life, the author offers us a poignant story of strength and resilience. Millie Woodville is a lovely young woman who doesn’t take kindly to an arrogant duke (Tatum Romney) who likes to argue with her. Her best friend could tell that Millie was attracted to him though. Things got messy from there at the house party when Millie walks in on the duke taking a bath. He frowned at her. “If I had wanted to mount you, I would have done it already, Millie,” he said, enjoying the kiss of heat that blossomed on her cheeks. Together and separately, Quincy and Clara are simply wonderful. Clara is kind, nurturing, strong, and quietly vulnerable. Her family has leaned on her for so long it was lovely to see her find someone she could turn to. Quincy has strong shoulders and a soft heart and I loved how he never pressed Clara to open up to him, but rather let her know he was there for her and proved it. The two of them made me smile so often. There’s playfulness and joy in Someday My Duke Will Come and it balances out the elements that tugged on my heartstrings. The love story develops organically and I was rooting for Clara and Quincy every step of the way.

What a terrible set of circumstances! Our poor Woodville sister, Millie, has miscounted the doors in the corridor and ends up inside the room of Tatum Chance, Duke of Romney, and views him taking his bath, in all his glory, I might add. As she hastily departs, she is caught by her family and a friend. These two don’t even like each other, but as Regency times would have it, this gentleman and miss will play by the rules and marry, much to their consternation. This is book 2 in the series. You will be okay reading as a stand alone, but I do think you will get much more enjoyment out of it if you read book one. The hero and heroine from book 1 are in this book quite a bit and we also get to meet both Clara and Quincy in book 1. As I mentioned earlier, the Epilogue was absolutely perfect. Set several years into the future, it showed perfectly how their love had grown and flourished. I was left with a question though – whatever happened to the nasty duchess? No mention of her after her last departure from James’ home. I REALLY wanted to know that Quincy had exacted revenge of some sort – even if it was just moving her to a tiny dower house on some remote property. A fake engagement becomes the real thing in this historical romance that New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes calls "first-rate Regency fun!"
Lady Clara Ashford had no intention of ever getting married. A rogue took advantage of her innocence when she was young, and she's spent her whole life trying to make sure no one finds out. But now that her sister is engaged, Clara's well-meaning aunt has set her sights on Clara. Desperate to avoid the matchmaking schemes, Clara's not sure what to do -- until her neighbor, the new Duke of Reigate, shows up on her doorstep in need of her help.

Quincy Nesbitt inherits an unwanted Dukedom after all his older brothers die. His manipulative mother, with whom he has a tumultuous relationship, wants to marry him off to his dead brother's fiance, a woman he doesn't know. Lady Clara, a cousin of Quincy's best friend, is a spinster who gave up on the idea of marriage years ago after a rogue took advantage of her when she was a teenager. But her meddling aunt is still trying to marry her off by throwing every eligible man her way.