Eliza and the Duke | Book Review

Out today (6/24) from Berkley Romance, a delicious and adventurous Victorian romance!

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Eliza and the Duke (The Doves of New York #2) by Harper St. George
336 pages | Published by Berkley

The Set Up: Eliza has quietly resigned to a convenient, if boring, marriage, knowing that it’s what will be best for her family. But she craves one night of adventure first. When she meets Simon, a mysterious prizefighter, she’s sure that he can show her a life outside the respectable high society.

This was a really fun story and it definitely left me ready for the next book in the series! I thought it was well written, with a bit of open door spice but it never felt out of place or un-earned.

“‘You would have asked me.’

‘I would have asked you.’

And she would have said yes.”

I loved these two main characters together - there was a definite grumpy-sunshine aspect to their relationship. I loved how determined Eliza was in pursuing Simon’s friendship, and how that grew into chasing the life she actually wanted. I especially loved Simon’s story and his motivation - the stakes for him and the life he was trying to achieve were very real.

The book felt light and adventurous, and I liked the different tropes that were present. I mentioned grumpy-sunshine, but there’s also a bit of a bodyguard element at the beginning which helped increase the tension between Eliza and Simon.

The end wrapped up in a perfect little bow - but came with a bit of a twist that left me very intrigued about the next book. I think that book is going to be tense and delicious.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for the advanced eBook!