Review: Duke Actually by Jenny Holiday
Thank you Avon Books for my copy! All thoughts are my own.
I remember reading A Princess for Christmas last year and giggling when it went from Hallmark to HOT real quick. I was excited for the next installment in the universe and loved the cover! This book was a cozy hug with some fun banter. And it’s great if you don’t love super Christmasy books but love books with Christmas in them because it’s not holly jolly the whole time! But Christmas does appear and is important to Dani!
Synopsis:
“There’s a royal wedding on, and things are about to get interesting.
Meet the man of honor
Maximillian von Hansburg, Baron of Laudon and heir to the Duke of Aquilla, is not having a merry Christmas. He’s been dumped by a princess, he’s unemployed, and his domineering father has sent him to New York to meet a prospective bride he has no interest in. In the city, he meets Dani Martinez, a smart (and gorgeous) professor he’s determined to befriend before their best friends marry in the Eldovian wedding of the century.
Meet the best woman
Newly single, no-nonsense New Yorker Dani is done with love—she even has a list entitled “Things I Will Never Again Do for a Man”—which is why she hits it off with notorious rake Max. He’s the perfect partner for snow angels in Central Park and deep conversations about the futility of love.
It’s all fun and games until their friendship deepens into attraction and, oops…
Falling in love was never part of the plan.” —NetGalley
What I Liked:
The Mentions of Love Actually—I love the movie Love, Actually so I appreciated how it was incorporated into this story and the nuance of the conversation around it! Alan Rickman (may you rest in peace) I am still mad at you!
The Banter—I loved Max and Dani’s banter. I love how their friendship grows and how they bring out the best in each other, though maybe they don’t know it yet.
The Setting—Perfectly captures NYC at Christmas and it’s always nice to visit a fictional snowy European country.
What Didn’t Work:
Didn’t Connect with the Romance—It was a slowwwww burn. Like SLOWWWWWW.
Ending was Rushed—And then once things heat up, it ends so quickly without much resolve!
Miscommunication Trope—If done well, I don’t mind this trope. I don’t know if I’d say it was miscommunication or just general fear of opening up, but something was amuck in this story regarding conversations that just didn’t work for me.
Content Warnings:
Divorce, alcohol abuse, strained parent/child relationship