This book took me a while to read. The beginning was slow. The main male character annoyed me at times. And I hated Yardley which I guess was appropriate since he was “the bad guy”. The romance and tension built between the two main characters was brilliant and satisfied my reading mood. Overall, it is a three star book because while I didn’t hate it, I’ve also read better. As stated before, it satisfied my reading mood so it was still enjoyable to read. ( )

I read a lot of historical romance books and I was surprised when I started reading this one and realized it was way above in writing and plot than most of the others I have read. Not that the others were horrible, just that after reading so many the formula and stories start to blend into each other. The Duke Undone was so refreshing and new. It starts out with Lucy, an art student tripping over a man in an alley and he ends up acting as a muse of sorts. His image brings about a painting that he eventually sees and their paths cross again. Of course there is more to the story. He has a missing sister who he is looking for and in exchange for her help he will help save her aunt's shop and neighborhood.

It sounds like a fairly simple sort of book, but it deals with heavy issues such as alcoholism, mental health, and corruption. It is so well written and a lot of the times when you feel like something is going to be predictable it isn't and then you are pleasantly surprised. There is definitely angst and in the past when angst would get too heavy sometimes I would give up but here I cared enough about the characters to stick with it and I’m so glad I did.

Both Lucy and Anthony felt so real and when it came to the other made decisions that made sense. When they were wrong they admitted to it and it felt like they were mature characters. I really loved that, and it is refreshing to see a confident protagonist. Anthony as a character is flawed but I love that his struggle wasn't glossed over. Another thing I really loved is that we didn’t have to wait so long for things to get going. It is a well paced book and well researched!

Since Lucy is an art student we also get to see her friends and the Royal Academy. It’s a different change of pace to read about art students in this time period. They are all so interesting and not boring at all. In fact I can’t wait to see if there will be books about her friends Kate and Gwen.

I read this in one night and thought to myself that Joanna Lowell has become an auto-buy author for me. I immediately ordered this book and there is no doubt that I am going to reread this many times. This story and author are just so refreshing and I can’t recommend this highly enough. ( )

I really loved the plot of this book and the characters were well written. I thought the character of Anthony, Duke of Weston was especially interesting with his battles with inner flaws. Will definitely read the next in the series when it’s released. ( )

Really enjoyed this one. It had an interesting and original premise and wasn't afraid to go its own way. One of the things that makes this better than most romance novels is it wasn't afraid to go into some dark places. For instance the male love interest is an alcoholic. Many are the romances I have read that have a 'dark and brooding' love interest but that never comes across as interesting to me because their troubles feel unrealistic or too many steps removed from modern life. Someone struggling with alcoholism is very realistic and accessible to a modern reader. The female protagonist's struggle against the sexist ideals that govern her time and make it almost impossible to advance her career feel very real. Not only that but her struggle to balance pursuing her passion, taking care of her family, struggling to keep a roof over her head, and also not get dragged into her love interest's alcoholism was relatable in every way. I would also like to point out how the author was pragmatic in showing us how much women who were deemed uncontrollable by society were treated. I won't write more because of spoilers but the author unflinchingly depicted what happened to women who used their agency or suffered from mental illness during this time period. Not many authors who write historical romances touch on these subjects, everything is dashing dukes and waltzes in ballrooms. Kudos to this author for going beyond the surface of a typical regency romance. I highly recommend and will be looking forward to more of her works. ( )

Not my cup of tea