ALL the feelings!
Eloisa James truly has a gift for storytelling.

Absolutely love Stella.
Right from the start, I just wanted to hug her and couldn't stand anyone who claimed to care for her or be her friend, including Silvester.

I did not read any of the previous books, so I came in with no preconceptions about the Yasmin & Giles story.

Honestly, I found myself annoyed for about 60% of this book with the amount of time spent dwelling on Yasmin. I understand the reasons behind it, and while it all wrapped up nicely, I admit I wanted to give Silvester a good shake multiple times.

Overall, though, I adored it. It was an emotional rollercoaster! ( )

Stella is plumb, freckled, wears glasses, and is an heiress, so she's pursued for all the wrong reasons. Silvester is a friend, the Duke of Huntington, and is competing for the exotic Yasmin against his best friend, Giles. He confides in Stella, who only wants him as a husband, but thinks she can't compete.
I'm not crazy about love triangles, but this is the best way to handle one, in my opinion. Silvester doesn't really love Yasmin and has more in common with Stella, but his competitiveness rules him for the first part of the book. Stella is practical and learns to stand up for herself, valuing her best qualities, so I adored her.
Ms. James's books are always terrific, and I enjoyed this story very much. I would heartily recommend it for a sweet romance. ( )

Not That Duke by Eloisa James
Would-Be Wallflowers series #3. Historical romance. Enemies to lovers. Can be read as a stand-alone.
The Duke of Huntington thought to marry the “popular” girl but ends up chasing after Lady Stella Corsham, who has freckles and wears glasses. She fascinates him. But she doesn’t seem quite as enamored.
Lady Stella knows her best asset is her dowry. She simply can’t imagine anyone loving her with her abundant curves, freckles and glasses. So she’ll have to make the best of her situation as much as it may hurt her heart.

Beautiful courtship and story. I loved how the two played off each other although it would have been so much “prettier” if it was instant love. Unfortunately that would not be reality. The acceptance and love were so much more rewarding when won. Stella captured me with her self doubt and determination. So very beautiful even as it takes time for her to see it.
It’s a great romantic love story.
Even better, the author’s note at the end had me so emotional and wanting to send her a hug.

I won a copy of this from a Goodreads contest. I also purchased a audiobook copy and alternated reading between the two formats. ( )

3.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“I will never marry Lady Stella.”

Divided into two parts, you'll notice if you read the second in the Would-Be Wallflowers series, that the first of this is happening concurrently with that one. I haven't read the second and didn't have a problem following along here but there was some displacement that I felt might not have happened if I'd had the other part of the story. Basically, Stella has a crush/feelings for Silvester but as a short, freckled, wearing spectacles, bluestocking, she doesn't get the attention of the beautiful en vogue Yasmin. Yasmin has caught the attention of the ton men and has Silvester thinking he could be in love with her as he's dazzled by her smile and how well they seem to get along. Silvester's friend Giles, seems like he'd be a good match for Stella but Stella has caught the looks between Giles and Yasmin and, rightly, thinks they'll be married by seasons end. This first part takes up the first half of the book, there's some time jumps as they just seem to go from party to event, Yasmin getting the attention, some mean girlness from the chorus, and Stella enjoying the friendship she has developed with Silvester but trying to not fall in love with him as the rumors are that he's going to propose to Yasmin at any moment.

The very sad, very secret, truth was that she was captivated by a frivolous aristocrat.

Like I said, I didn't feel lost in the first half but while I was getting to know Lady Stella, orphaned at eight and sent to live with her aunt and uncle, who while distantly caring never quite meshed with Stella, causing her to feel somewhat unlovable for who she is, Silvester, the Duke of Huntington, who never felt cardboard but also felt like a distant character, I felt I couldn't quite sink into his distant emotions. After the dolloped here and then there with some time jumps first half, the second half settled down and focused on Stella and Silvester. While we got some telling of Silvester visiting Stella a lot, Stella and her aunt felt it was in friendship, even brotherly, there's enough to allude to the reader that he is genuinely starting to develop feelings for Stella, though. It did still feel a little abrupt when he asks her to marry him (reading the second book could have helped here with more context) and we get a little time devoted to Stella not believing in any feelings he may have for her, allowing that he may feel lust for her, and then getting strong armed into accepting his proposal.

For the rest of his life, Silvester never forgot the experience of desiring his new wife so desperately that his hands shook as he removed garment, after garment, after garment.

From there, we get sexcapades for a while, which were satisfyingly steamy but even though we were 65% into the story, I still felt new to this couple because of how the first half went. Then the latter second half gave us different povs from a chorus character named Blanche and Silvester's mother. Both felt out of place and gave a disjointed feel to the story. Blanche's felt like a jammed in pov to make readers anticipate her book and while I, for the most part, liked Silvester's mother, the placement of her pov didn't quite fit right, especially since goodwill feelings for her started to whither with how self-assured she was with saying Silvester still loved Yasmin and the like, creating more problems for our couple where they weren't needed.

“We can make this marriage work,” she whispered.

Since I didn't read the second book, I didn't have any feelings toward Yasmin or Giles, one way or the other but oh boy is Yasmin discussed in this one; I wonder if her name appears more times than Stella's. While that couple is featured, you don't get to know them, thoughts or feelings, so by the last twenty percent, I was done with hearing about Yasmin. It came off a little forced with Stella still thinking so surely that Silvester still had feelings for Yasmin and the last dark moment felt more annoying with, aforementioned mom, and Stella blowing out of proportion how Silvester acted at a party that Yasmin showed up to. I know I'm reading outside and not “in it” as the characters and Thee Emotion and Drama plus Stella's insecurities and all, but Silvester was pretty clearly head-over-heels for his wife, so yeah, some annoying forced in for drama ending.

He seemed to...to care too much for his wife.

There were also a good amount of little historical additives that helped to, outwardly anyway, to give this a feeling of time and place. Overall, I did enjoy this one, there was something about the chemistry between Stella and Silvester that couldn't be denied. There was a quick ending speech, I think readers would have loved a more immediate public showing/grovel, from Silvester to finally convince Stella his love was true and we got our happily ever after with an epilogue to expand on it. If you read the second, you'd definitely have to continue with this one but don't be afraid to jump in here either as I did, Stella and Silvester were at turns friendship and bedroom goals. ( )

A good addition to the series, and I loved that it concentrated on the sisterhood -- both the cruelty of women to each other and the ways they lift each other up. The romance was awkward -- a sort of willful denial by both that eventually gives way -- which is not unusual, but was somehow a little unformed, not as polished, less charming that the I find most of James' characters. I love that Stella is an original with her opinions and her strength of character, and I loved that there was a redemption arc for a mean girl.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )