Friends, enemies and lovers!

Never Met a Duke Like You (Taming of the Dukes #2) by Amalie Howard    

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️            

Two childhood friends (well Lady Vesper Lyndhurst was challenging and never wanted to be lady anyway) meet some time later at her come out ball where Aspen Drake, the Duke of Greydon, gave her the cut direct! She’s mortified and resolved to always remain cool, dispassionate and unmarried. 

Aspen disappears to America hunt dinosaur bones.

Years later Aspen returns to London to upend his mother’s plans to have him declared dead, to see to having his mother’s ward Judith settled, and to uncover the truth of his father being confined to a mental asylum. (Of course there’s a wicked mother figure!)

His reappearance spirals into a standoff between himself and Vesper (whom he calls Viper), a concern for his mother’s ward, and a confrontation with his despicable mother, the Dowager Duchess of Lyndhurst.

The sparks fly and the tension ratchets the two main protagonists, Vesper and Aspen, with some rather steamy moments. Vesper has a reputation as a successful match maker and Aspen persuades her, well challenges her really, to take on presenting Judith to society.

Underneath this romantic historical romp real issues are raised, including mental illness and treatments, women’s suffrage and marriage,  women’s sexuality, accessible education for children and charity schools.

A Forever (Grand Central Pub) ARC invitation via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.