Rating: ★★★★✬ (4.5/5 Stars)
Title: No Other Duke But You
Author(s): Valerie Bowman
Character(s):
― Delilah Montebank: 22 years old, Brunette, Brown Eyed
― Thomas Hobbs: 27 years old, Black, Blue Eyed
Setting: London, England
Tag(s): Romance, Contemporary
Content Rating: R
POV: Third Person
Smexy Level: Hot
Favorite Quote(s):
― “Think about it, Delilah. Is it so mad, really? You and I? We’ve been friends for an age. Why not us? Why can’t we be in love?”
― “I think I’ve always loved you. Only I didn’t realize what love felt like until now.”
Overall Opinion:
When I picked up this book, I was expecting a cheesy historical romance novel filled with a dull plot and even worst characters but needless to say Valerie Bowman blew me out of the water with this one. I was was immediately drawn to the historic element and the unconventional leads. The plot was an epic match-making mess and as a reader, I couldn't help but root for Thomas and his endeavors to make Delilah discovered they were perfect for one another. Overall an enjoyable read that will provide any reader a dose of history and a friends turn lovers match making romance that will leave them swooning for more.

( )

Delilah got her story! I was so happy to see that Delilah finally gets her match and that it was with Thomas - PERFECT! I did find the bit about the love potion a little silly, but I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. Delilah's mother is adamant that she get married and if she doesn't make a match by her birthday then she is stuck with her mother's choice. I came to very much not like her mother during this book, good thing she doesn't win in the end.

I have loved every book in this series, and I hope there are more coming. I love revisiting characters from the previous books and they are all in this one.

This review is based on an ARC from NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher. All opinions are my own. ( )

I completely adored this book! It's definitely a page-turner but also witty and light-hearted. Classic friends to lovers. Definitely recommend it!

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )

No Other Duke But You by Valerie Bowman
Playful Brides #11

Lady Delilah Montebbank has been so busy finding matches for friends that she hasn’t taken the time to find one for herself so when her less than kind mother tells her, “this year or else,” she states her intentions of becoming engaged to the catch of the season. How hard can it be and who cares if all the matches she has made already were “love matches” and hers will not be?

In the midst of Delilah’s scheming and her mother’s negativity and her friend Thomas Hobbs, Duke of Huntley realizing HE is the one who should be with Delilah a play is being put together for charity. Appearances by couples in previous couples in the series are made, a love match is made and a side match is made by Thomas’s sister who also gets her HEA.

I have to say that Delilah seemed a bit “fluffy” and not very down to earth with her dropping of French words here and there and immature in what she thought would work for herself in regard to marriage. Her mother was worse than Cinderella’s stepmother so perhaps that impacted her in more ways than one. Thomas was a nice guy but he was a bit slow in stating his intentions and almost missed out. The story was light and frothy and included a love potions and ended up being a friends of ten years moving into lovers story with a HEA.

Did I like this book? Not as much as some others in the series but it was enjoyable
Will I read more by this author? Probably.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – this is my honest review.

3-4 Stars ( )

** 3.5 Stars **

If you are looking for a light-hearted comical read, this might be the book for you. For me, it fell a little short and leaned more toward the Monty Python version of funny than it does toward the Harry Met Sally version. I liked both of the main characters, but she was very immature (more like 13 than 23) and he was just so milquetoast… I did like him much better than her.

Lord Thomas Hobbs, Duke of Huntley, became a duke at the age of 17. He’d been enjoying his years at school, but immediately gave up his schooling to learn all he could about running his dukedom. He wanted to become a man of whom his father could be proud, but his lack of formal schooling always bothered him. He’d educated himself – probably better than those who actually finished university – but he always felt inferior in that area. His one champion and saving grace during all of those years – especially the earliest of them – was his very best friend, Lady Delilah Montebank.

Thomas has always loved Delilah, but fears letting her know because she sees him as only a friend and he doesn’t want to do anything that will spoil that friendship. So, he spends time with her, supports her and loves her. However, to avoid her and her friend’s matchmaking, he tells them he isn’t ready to take a bride. He’ll just bide his time until Delilah decides it is time for her to marry and then he’ll – somehow – convince her to choose him.

Delilah’s mother is a nasty piece of work and I would have loved to see something nasty happen to her. Yes – I’m bloodthirsty! It is what would have been Delilah’s sixth season if she were actually attending ton events and looking for a husband. Then, Delilah’s mother confronts her and tells her she will either find a husband by her birthday – in a month – or she’ll have to marry the man her mother has chosen – and he is a real toad. So, Delilah blurts out that she’s chosen her man and she’s sure she’ll be betrothed before her birthday – to the Duke of Branville – who doesn’t even know she exists.

Thomas certainly never expected that development! Now, it is the gentlemen versus the ladies trying to arrange a love match between Delilah and Thomas. Enter a love potion – yes, a love potion – a Roma perfume maker – a talking bird – a Shakespeare play and much more and you have a lively, if immature and improbable, romp. I also have to agree with many other reviewers who have said that the first half of the book is much better than the second half. Once the love potion comes into play, it really goes off the deep end.

This was a good story and I enjoyed it – even though the heroine annoyed me with her immaturity and her willingness to upset so many other lives by using a love potion on a man who clearly didn’t want her. So, it was a nice read, but I wouldn’t read it a second time.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )