Yours Truly, The Duke is the first book in Amelia Grey’s new historical romance series, Say I Do. Amelia Grey is one of my favourite historical romance authors so I was very happy to see this start of a new series, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Fredericka has been taking care of her sister’s orphaned children since the tragic death of their parents after they fell victim to a fatal case of food poisoning. After a year of caring for the children, Fredericka’s cousin, Jane, decides that she and her husband should be guardians to the children and decide to challenge Fredericka’s guardianship. Fredericka is in need of a husband, fast, because in that time period no court would allow a young unmarried woman to raise children on her own.
Wyatt, the Duke of Wyatthaven, needs to marry quickly in order to prevent the inheritance he should be getting from his grandmother from going to a less than worth charity. When he hears of Fredericka’s plight, he immediately thinks she is the solution to his problem and proceeds to propose a marriage of convenience. Fredericka agrees, and within the week they are married, and the fun begins!
It’s probably no surprise that the children are able to find trouble wherever they go, as children do. And of course Jane uses this against Fredericka at every turn. There is one truly heartbreaking scene in the book that had me in tears.
I really enjoyed the interactions between Wyatt and the children. Who doesn’t love a hero who loves children and one who sometimes encourages them to misbehave just a little? I also enjoyed the duke’s friends, Hurst and Rick, I do hope they get their own stories.
Fredericka and Wyatt had the most issues to overcome. Fredericka seemed a bit too serious (understandable given what she was going through, and given her past) and Wyatt was at the other end of the spectrum and a bit too relaxed, both had stubborn streaks, and neither of hem were spectacular about communicating with each other, so of course they were going to have clashes.
Fredericka and Wyatt were eventually able to overcome their fears, and preconceived ideas about each other and marriage, and with the children, were able to come together as a family.
I did have one minor issue and that was the timing of the marriage and the reading of the banns. They mentioned several times in the book that the banns were read prior to their marriage, but Wyatt proposed just days before they were married. The references I consulted indicated that in that period, the banns had to be read for 3 consecutive weeks prior to the wedding. Unless I misinterpreted the duke’s comments when he proposed to Fredericka, there would not have been time for the reading of the banns before their wedding, and there was no mention of the duke getting a special license.
I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Yours Truly, The Duke releases on March 28 2023
Life, Tea, and Everything 