Never Met a Duke Like You

Early this summer, I enjoyed reading Amalie Howard’s Always Be My Duchess, the first in her Taming of the Dukes series. Now the series continues with Never Met a Duke Like You. It stars returning character Lady Vesper Lyndhurst and a newcomer, Aspen Drake, Duke of Greydon. It’s a childhood friends to enemies to lovers story filled with equal parts humor and passion.

Special thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

As children, Vesper and Aspen were neighbors and close friends. But by the time Vesper was out in society, the two had lost that friendship and become antagonists. Aspen has been in America the past six years, but now he’s back in town, and he and Vesper are once again thrown together. Aspen is here to help his mother’s ward find a husband, and he enlists Vesper’s help. Vesper is a skilled matchmaker and is sure of her abilities to secure a good match for the younger woman. But as Aspen and Vesper spend more time together, they must contend with their wrong assumptions about each other… and the fact that they could be a perfect match for each other. 

Review

As much as I enjoyed Always Be My Duchess, I think I liked Never Met a Duke Like You even more! Lady Vesper shined in the first book, and it’s fun to spend more time with her here. She’s a woman with many layers. She can come across as so put together, and yet she’s fiercely opinionated and free-spirited. She shies away from romantic love in her own life, yet she enjoys nothing more than helping others find their own soul mates. Then there’s Aspen, a new character in the series. He’s stubborn and has many old prejudices, mostly against Vesper, but he cares deeply about those close to him and subjects that are personal to him. Aspen and Vesper are always at each other’s throats, but there’s clear chemistry between them from the start. 

Like the previous book, this one highlights a neurodivergent character. Vesper has ADHD (not that she would get such a diagnosis in the 1860s!), and we can see her struggle with her strong emotions and impulses. I love how the author writes neurodivergent characters with such care and nuance, never falling into unnecessary exaggerations of their characteristics. Vesper feels completely real, and her ADHD makes sense for her character. 

I also love how Never Met a Duke Like You deals with mental illness and the (mis)treatment of people with mental illness. Aspen’s father was wrongfully committed to an insane asylum, and due to gross mistreatment while a patient there, his father died far too soon. Now an adult, Aspen is dedicating his efforts to improving treatment of those with mental illness and the process for people being admitted to an asylum (with particular focus on preventing wrongful diagnoses). The author did research into the laws in place in the 1860s and the kinds of changes Aspen would have been able to make in the House of Lords. While working towards this, I also like how both Aspen and Vesper work towards helping poor children and their access to quality education. 

Like Jane Austen’s Emma, Vesper fancies herself a matchmaker, but can’t foresee love for herself. This book takes some clear inspiration from Clueless (itself a modernized retelling  of Emma), keeping the narrative generally upbeat and fun. In particular, I love the dialogue between Vesper and Aspen – I often laughed out loud! Their mean names for each other! Vesper focuses some of her time on creating love matches, though some of her pairings may be misguided. But even when she does misstep, I like seeing how her friends are always there for her. Their friendship is a great constant within this series. And as a cat lover, I’m always delighted to see feline companions in the books I read. Here, Vesper’s friend Effie gifts her a white kitten, whom Vesper creatively names Cat. This little kitten is full of energy and knows where her loyalties lie! Vesper may be a reluctant cat owner, but I like that she finally comes around. 

Speaking of Effie: It seems that Vesper has turned her matchmaking eyes to her next and that Effie may be the star of book #3. Though whom she’ll be paired with is still a mystery! As excited as I am for Briar and Lushing’s love story, I fear that we’ll have to wait until the final book of the series for that. 

Final Thoughts

Never Met a Duke Like You is a wonderful romance that’s as fun and witty as it is thoughtful and profound. It addresses bigger issues so well, from mental illness and neurodivergence to helping needy children and opening up to love. Aspen and Vesper have great chemistry and are a delight to see on page together. The Taming of the Dukes series has been a great joy so far, and I can’t wait to read the remaining characters’ love stories. 

Get the Book

You can buy Never Met a Duke Like You here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Never Met a Duke Like You by Amalie Howard
Series	The Taming of the Dukes (#2)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Romance
Setting	England
Number of Pages	384
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	November 14, 2023

Official Summary

Clueless meets Bridgerton in this spicy opposites-attract Regency romance from “a must-read author” (Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

Lady Vesper Lyndhurst is beautiful, clever, and popular. Afforded every luxury as a duke’s daughter, she fills her days with friends, intrigues, and a self-professed knack for matchmaking. She may have sworn off love for herself, but she is rather excellent at arranging it.  

Faced with an insolvent estate, the Duke of Greydon has no choice but to return to England in a final attempt to revive his family’s fortunes. He’s been gone for years, happy to have escaped his mother and the petty circles of the ton. To his dismay, not much has changed, including the beautiful and vexing heiress next door.   

But when an accident of fate traps the friends-turned-enemies in an attic together, the explosive attraction between them becomes impossible to ignore and even harder to resist. They are total opposites and their lives don’t align in the slightest, but fate, the ultimate matchmaker, appears to have other plans . . .