Review: A Duke Never Tells by Suzanne Enoch

                                                            

Print Length: 352 pages

Publisher: Tor Publishing Group, Bramble (April 1, 2025)

From Goodreads.com: Before entering into a supremely-advantageous arranged marriage with James Clay, the new Duke of Earnhurst, clever, independent Lady Meg Pinwell has to see if he’s really the rake he’s rumored to be. But how is a well-bred young lady going to make sure he’s all that he seems? 

With the help of her Aunt Clara, they plan some discreet reconnaissance at the Duke’s country estate. Meg will pretend to be her aunt’s maid/companion to see the true state of affairs at Earnhurst Manor. But Meg isn’t the only one pretending to be someone she isn’t. In order to escape Clara (who is surely a marriage hunter!), James has traded places with the excellent Riniken, the former Duke’s butler. Soon everyone is falling in love with the absolute wrong person! They say the course of true love never does run smooth… at Earnhurst, it’s running amuck!

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

First of all, I want to address something in the synopsis that isn't true. Riniken is not, nor has he ever been the butler. He was the former (and now the current) Duke's man of business. The former butler quit which was the entire reason James was downstairs and opened the door to the two women to begin with. 

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the novel itself. For me, it was a solid middle of the road kind of story. Entertaining, but nothing that (for me) really made it stand out against any of the other historical romance books that I've read recently (other than the downright confusing plot). 

Don't get me wrong, I don't fault Meg for wanting to learn more about the man she is supposed to wed, but her plan seems rather lacking. She intends to dress and act the part of companion to her aunt who is pretending to be a lady so that they can gain access to the Duke's home (and seriously was showing up at someone's home and getting to tour it really a thing), but had she found nothing to complain about, had she found that everything she had read about the Duke had been grossly exaggerated, then what? How would she explain herself to the servants when she arrived weeks later as Lady Meg, their soon-to-be mistress? She says over and over that no one pays any attention to the servants and therefore no one would remember her, but not only was she pretending to be a servant herself, but she also seems to have very recognizable raven dark hair and blue eyes. 

Speaking of Meg, I found her instant dislike of Elliot to be a bit off-putting. It was like she clung to her belief that he was this horrible person and no matter what anyone else told her, she would not entertain the idea that her preconceived notions were wrong. In fact, I honestly would have liked to have seen more of her and Elliot together just to watch him win her over as a friend, especially once it became obvious that he had an interest in Clara. 

Don't get me wrong, there were moments between the characters that I found to be endearing if not downright entertaining (especially the banter between the would-be couples), and it was easy to see how they would start to fall for one another. I also liked how Clara and Meg unknowingly pushed both Elliot and James to become better men, and also helped to mend the rift between them by getting to the core of the dislike and animosity. However the constant shifting between all of the different points of view (mainly that of James, Elliot, Clara and Meg, but with two chapters thrown in from the valet's perspective, two from the villain of the piece, and one from the perspective of Meg's mother), at times was hard to keep up with. 

I honestly believe that the chapters as told from the valet, the villain and the mother could have been eliminated altogether as they were not necessary to the plot at all and could just as easily been reworked to fit the perspective of one of the four others. As an example, when the valet overhears a conversation he shouldn't have? There is no reason James or Elliot couldn't have been the one to overhear it. The chapter of him internally complaining about how under appreciated he is? Not needed at all. The chapters from the villain? What was the point? We knew from discussions between Elliot and James what they were after, we could have had a discussion about what they had chosen to do, and a critical moment in the book still could have happened as a result. The same with the POV of the mother, once she and Meg's father showed up, they could have easily explained why they were there. 

Despite all of that, as I said I did enjoy the banter between the characters, and I do think this book will appeal to other people who enjoy historical romances. I would read more from this author. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.