The Duke

by Anna Cowan

"Gorgeously written and desperately hot... Hands down, my favorite romance of the decade." — Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House

A sapphic regency romance about the duke who fears nothing... until the woman she never forgot walks through the door and brings her to her knees.

Set in a world of powerful female nobles and the women who love them...

Kate, Duke of Howard, is known throughout Europe as a merciless autocrat not to be crossed. Consumed by a bitter rivalry, she avoids society and has vowed never to trap a woman into marriage with a monster like herself.

The beautiful, ambitious courtesan Celine Genet once threw herself on the mercy of the visiting Duke of Howard. She was desperate to escape the guillotine. But after a night of searing passion, the duke left her to the ravages of Revolutionary Paris and didn’t look back. Now Celine is in London and in possession of a dangerous letter that proves the Duke of Howard committed treason as a child - and possibly even murder.

Celine wants a titled husband in return for keeping the duke’s secret, leaving Kate no choice but to parade her around the most fashionable ballrooms. But as Celine takes society by storm, Kate finds herself growing fond of the woman set on destroying her. And as their attraction mounts, Kate faces an impossible choice: keep her childhood secret, or win the woman she loves.

Anna Cowan's The Duke is an utterly unforgettable, page-turning romance featuring two women who, separately, are a danger to each other, but together, could be the most powerful duo London has ever seen.

"The Duke is Georgette Heyer quadrupled and queered, flipping the erotic appeal of a cold-hearted alpha into an alternate England in which women can be dukes and marry whom they please. I loved and envied the way it combined the originality of My Lady Jane, the luxury of Bridgerton, and the smutty, fabulous sex of Fingersmith." — Eloisa James, New York Times bestselling author of Viscount in Love

Genres: Romance, Lesbian, Historical Fiction, Historical, Historical Romance, LGBT, Queer

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2026

About the author

Anna Cowan started writing at eight and hasn’t stopped yet. After years of travelling (including a quick stop to marry her Scottish sweetheart on the shores of Loch Lomond) she studied Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She is the author of the queer historical romances UNTAMED and THE DUKE. She lives on Wurundjeri land in the hills outside Melbourne with her family.

Reviews

[C.L. Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The duke is mean and hot and her thighs! in her buckskin breeches! and she's mean! and butch! and hot!

official blurb that is more coherent and fit to publish in professional venues, ahem:

"Bridgerton with butches? Say less. The Duke is everything I want in a historical romance--it's elegantly woven, it's sexy, it's passionate, and its characters are flawed but deeply human. I absolutely loved it."

[SJARR ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regency romance, but make the duke a cold, cruel woman?!
You’re introducing me to the idea of female nobility? Consider me swooned.

Celine spent one passionate night with Kate, the duke of Howard, before Kate took off and left her for dead.
Now, three years later, Celine has gotten her hands on an incriminating letter and has travelled from France to England to blackmail her.
The contents of the letter could ruin Kate, but Celine swears to hand it over under one condition: She wants a place in high society. Kate is to set her up with a noble, and place on her a high dowry.
The noble she gets may not be the noble she is expecting.

This! This was fun.
A story of cruelty, blackmail, betrayal and romance- done BEAUTIFULLY.

There is so much yearning here, I love it.
Celine and Kate? My oh my. This has real “Touch her and I’ll kill you” vibes.
The way Kate cares for Celine. The way she is infatuated with her. The way she would do anything to protect her. I was screaming.
Society believes Kate to be the harshest, meanest woman in England- but she’s really just a softie. ESPECIALLY for her little French duchess!

I must say I found the politics in this to be a little bit confusing.
I did not always understand what was going on, or why the nobles were fighting, etc. I DID NOT CARE THOUGH.
I am here for the romance. The romance was provided.

So so good.
The vibes were everything I was hoping for. This really has my name written all over it. I am obsessed.
I think a ton of people would LOVE this.

Huge thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press | St. Martin’s griffin and author Anna Cowan for providing me with the eARC of “The Duke”, in exchange for my honest review!
publication date: April 28th, 2026
Reviewed on Goodreads: August 20th, 2025

[lexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this had SUCH a promising start and from the first chapter i thought i was going to eat it up but as the sorry progressed it became less about the ‘sapphic’ romance and more political intrigue- no less interesting but the romance really took the back burner and i wasn’t convinced of their epic love

thank you to netgalley and smp for the arc

[P · Rating 2 out of 5]

i am not a habitual regency romance reader (though i dabble!) but i am a habitual lesbian, which it seems cannot also be said for the author of this book. i had hoped THE DUKE would be a fun and diverting beach read which offered something a bit more sexy and interesting than the usual limply femme4femme-inist Sapphic Regency Romance fare (you know the type - 'oh hatty, your hair is so soft and we both prefer discussing the oeuvre of mrs wollstonecraft to the tiresome needlework into which we are forced by our oppressive social norms; i yearn to undo your hundreds of tiny buttons'). i was promised an alt-historical universe in which female primogeniture exists in regency britain and, in the opening chapter, was introduced to a woman duke who is so masculine in dress and appearance that the protagonist at first mistakes her for a man. the initial sex scene was histrionic in a way that felt entertainingly genre-aware. a promising start!

it's established early that this isn't exactly a 'queernorm world' (a term i find maddeningly imprecise and usually false advertising anyway). while SOME noblewomen appear to hold pretty straightforwardly aristocratic male social positions - seats in the house of lords, membership of london gentlemen's clubs, property ownership and landlord status; the titular duke attended eton - this isn't true of ALL noblewomen; 'female lords', as the book calls them, appear to be a significant minority. the usual sheltered debutantes / gossiping court wives / meddling màmàs you'd expect from the genre exist to occupy the usual high-born feminine roles, with all the usual gendered social constrictions (lack of agency, risk of being 'ruined', pressure to marry well). we know there are lower-born women selling sex, from glamorous courtesans to survival sex workers (our femme protagonist celine has been both, though the titular duke is the first woman she's ever slept with - whether english female lords patronise sex workers is never revealed). we hear very little about the middle and working classes in this book - so far so regency romance - so we don't learn whether there are equivalent masculinised roles there (female lawyers? female merchants? female clergy? female soldiers/sailors? there is, after all, a war going on, and the duke's impressive physical strength is frequently highlighted as equal to or exceeding that of the men in her orbit, so surely butches might be helpful in the effort to trounce bonapartist tyranny...). female lords can marry women and seem to be expected to do so (there's a moment where the titular duke says she'll need "the king's approval" of her eventual bride, very funny aside to throw into a... regency... romance... but i digress). there's no mention of any other forms of same-sex (a term i use advisedly here) or same-gender sexual behaviour: no molly houses, no working-class female husbands, no ladies of llangollen boston marriages. female lords seem to stand alone as the only form of sexual/gender queerness in this alt-historical society.

my initial assumption was therefore that the tradition was a canny in-universe way for the british aristocracy (female peerage is "a singularly british affectation" - celine notes it doesn't exist in her native france) to continue a family line in the lack of a male heir. no son? no problem! take the eldest girl, raise her as a boy in all but name. i thought this was a very fun idea, a sort of sexed-up dandified version of the balkan 'sworn virgin' tradition / similar global afab masculine third-gender roles. of course this raises the obvious question: if the purpose of the female peerage is to continue an aristocratic line in the absence of a male heir, and female lords are expected to take a wife (and there is no equivalent feminised social role for amab children of nobility), how does the family line continue from there in the impossibility of biological reproduction? the titular duke spends much of the book worrying about the howard line in the face of the antagonist's efforts to subsume or destroy it. how is she going to maintain said line, something that's textually important to her, once she's married to celine? is this not just kicking the can down the road by one generation? maybe there's some sort of complex system of ritualised adoption? has anna cowan invented the regency sperm bank or the strap that gets you pregnant? none of these questions are ever explored. you may also be thinking, this concept seems to interact with modern understandings of transness in interestingly equivocal ways, to which i say, ha ha ha. yes. it does, doesn't it.

although we meet various other similarly masculine female lords in the novel (several of whom are so patently the upcoming heroes of later books in the series that it sort of feels like when you're watching an old 2D animated movie and you can tell which item the protagonist is going to pick off a shelf because the rest of the shelf is just visibly a static painted background), i don't think we're ever shown any of these hypothetical socially sanctioned butch/femme marriages on the page until the central couple get engaged at the end, which makes it harder to parse the worldbuilding ramifications of the idea and makes the whole concept feel generally far less believable and lived-in than the narrative is trying to tell us it is. celine meets a lot of aristocratic characters as the duke introduces her into english society - how hard would it have been to have her meet a married female lord and her wife? it's easy to imagine any number of romantic uses this could have been put to, aside from the worldbuilding uses. early on a character says of the titular duke "she prefers women", an odd thing to say in what is (apart from the female lords) an otherwise totally heteronormative society, and it's never mentioned if there are female lords who prefer men, or whether any other characters of any class have a 'sexual preference', which like - i know the long shadow of foucault's history of sexuality is looming over this goodreads review already but i really don't want to get into it. one antagonist is a butch bastard daughter, a violent (and sexually threatening) outcast enforcer for her lordly father, which raises more unanswered questions (if she can't inherit due to being illegitimate, why and how was she raised in a masculine social role? what does the fact that she exists largely outside the rarefied world of the nobility mean for her gender, both as she experiences it and as it's perceived by others? could she take a wife? could she take a husband? what would it mean if she did?) AND THEN!!! we meet a female lord who wears dresses and bonnets but otherwise occupies the same male social role as her peers, and this goes completely un-commented-upon by the narrative, which was the point at which i realised the author hadn't actually thought about any of this at all beyond 'butch duke hot' and my head span around 360 degrees like regan macneil's.

this is all before we get to the actual plot of the novel, in which the antagonist attempts to pass a bill through parliament which would "bring england into line with the other european nations and disinherit its female lords wholesale, as well as their female heirs*". he does this because he dislikes the titular duke of howard and wants to disinherit her. the idea that this bill is part of a broader misogynist project or politics is mentioned in one (1) line: "once the idea of masculine supremacy took hold, it would gain traction with certain groups." what groups? never discussed. are there other people in this society who are anti-female peerage - is there a political movement against it, even a fringe radical one? never discussed. is this society not already one of "masculine supremacy", in which a very small number of masculinised women operate functionally as men while feminised women lack personal/political agency? never discussed. does feminism exist in this universe? celine cites olympe de gouges at one point to make a point about sex work but apart from that it is, you guessed it, never discussed. the antagonist's political justification for trying to pass this bill is based not on e.g. bioessentialist pseudoscience about women being unfit for high office, but exclusively on the fact that he has proof of the titular duke's individual perfidy, which it's suggested will be convincing enough to DESTROY FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE SOCIETY ON WHICH THE NOVEL IS BASED. everyone seems incredibly shrug emoji about the probability of a single new law completely dismantling a system of gender and class privilege which has existed for - but wait. we're never told how long female peerage has existed for! how did it start? WAS it the lack-of-a-male-heir thing i surmised earlier? was it established de facto and then enshrined in law? when did this happen? decades ago? centuries? was there resistance to it at the time? has there been since? why does it only exist in britain? did other societies have similar set-ups and then get rid of them, is that what "bring england into line with other european nations" means? shall we consider, just as context, what happened when one european nation made a fundamental change to its governing sociopolitical system in the actual historical period this book is based on? was it, possibly, decades of global war the geopolitical ramifications of which continue to this day????? NONE OF THIS IS EVER DISCUSSED. i admire light-touch worldbuilding which uses a little to suggest a lot, all without bogging down plot and character via boring 'look how much i've thought about this' on-page lectures, but i do not believe anna cowan knows the answers to any of these questions. or if she does she has done a woeful job at conveying them to her readers!

i know you are about to say, but anonymous reviewer, it is a romance novel. you're thinking about it too much. it's meant to be horny fun with a hot butch. it's not a phd thesis. to which i reply: well i am not the one who made the entire fucking plot revolve around the implications of the worldbuilding, such that the getting-together sex scene doesn't take place until nearly 90% of the way through the novel because the rest of it has been interminable scheming about the stupid disinheritance bill. i am not the one who forgot about the rammys bro!!! i would also note that had i been more swept away by the central romance - had the sex scenes, when they FINALLY reappeared, been more convincing, turned me on even a little bit, involved less flip-flopping between odd narrative detachment and squirmy genre cliché, decided whether to keep the language confrontingly anatomical or swooningly euphemistic instead of both - had the characters ever felt like real people who wanted each other - i might have cared much less about the rest of this stuff, except in the privately finicky part of my head that likes to poke at such things. people are, inevitably, comparing this to bridgerton, and much like bridgerton it falls down completely when it half-asses the in-universe justification for inserting Diverse Identities into its source subgenre. it was bizarre and insulting when bridgerton posited that the arrival of a single woman of colour into the georgian court was enough to undo the centuries of structural and institutional racism on which the entire society in question was built (while maintaining aristocratic wealth and power derived near-exclusively from racialised colonialism and slavery). anna cowan's THE DUKE is not quite as wrongheaded in its worldbuilding as that, but it's almost more frustrating to me because (unlike in bridgerton where i think the correct thing to do was simply include the characters of colour and not bother trying to justify it counterfactually) i really do think its alt-history set-up could have worked. there is a version of this novel, in a better alt-historical 2026, which is a fun and sexy and internally cohesive story about, basically, butch dykes as a class-specific socially-endorsed third gender who benefit from, participate in, and enforce patriarchy - and for those of us with the hearts of true perverts a novel which really sits with that idea that could make for the hottest romance of all!!! also in that version of the book the titular duke would have had a strap, instead of just joking one time about how she hasn't got a dick lmao. but i suspect cowan is that common type of non-practicing-bisexual writer of sapphic romance for whom the appeal of lesbian relationships and of lesbian sex is the perceived lack of power inequality compared to when men are involved, and in the case of this book the idea that you can flirt with the aesthetics of gendered power dynamics and then shy away before you have to actually think about any of it too much. to which i say: you should have stuck to hatty and her hundreds of tiny buttons.

last thing: i looked at anna cowan's author website while writing this and noticed that she quotes cecilia grant multiple times. cecilia grant's regency romances, which ought by rights to be ten times more famous than julia quinn's but we live in a very sick society, work because they take the mores and strictures of the society in which they are set so, so, so seriously. when cecilia grant's characters say 'if we married it would be a scandal and our families would face social consequences', not only are they telling the truth, which makes it all the more romantic when they choose to be together anyway, but she will then spend multiple books staring without flinching at the ripple effect of those consequences. the fact of the love and the importance of the love doesn't make all the rest of it go away. grant's oeuvre is so good not only because of the unusually elegant sentences and compelling nuanced characters and impeccable historical coherence, but because she literally always remembers the rammys bro. she would never allow a character to publicly confess to being a low-born prostitute and then immediately marry one of the most powerful peers in the realm with minimal social repercussions on account of how she looked nice in a dress at a party and charmed a couple of influential aristocrats, despite the narrative having spent the entire book reminding us that if the character's past is revealed she will be outcast and ruined. i would do truly criminal things to see what someone with the skill of cecilia grant could do with a premise like that of THE DUKE. but one doesn't always get what one wants, does one.

*BEGAT HOW??? i am once again asking how inheritance works in this society which as discussed is based on the continuation of biological family lines in order to preserve ancestral property rights!!!!!

[fish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I respect, immensely, the concept of creating an alternate history simply to add more hot butches. That's absolute huge brained stuff. That said, this did not pass my most important test for """"sapphic"""" romance novels: am I compelled, by some mysterious force, to google, two paragraphs into the first sex scene, "[author name] husband"?

[phoenix *ੈ✩‧₊˚]

dnf @60%

Nope. I did not like this. I had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately, this reads like a straight romance. I wanted a sapphic historical romance, but you could simply switch out the Duke for a man and change pronouns, and nothing would change. Even the sex scenes sounded straight.

If I wanted a straight romance, I would read a straight romance. But I don't. So, I'm disappointed in this one.


Thanks to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Mostly Sapphic Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first chapter of this book is deliciously debauched. A clever, social-climbing prostitute desperate to escape a class-turbulent France seduces a handsome, butch English duke with a dangerous reputation in the false hope of earning her meal ticket out of the country. Their connection is instantaneous, toxic, and passionate. Both of these characters are desperate and manipulative, and it’s a guilty pleasure watching them interact.

As lovely as this first chapter is, it set certain expectations about the tone of the novel that weren’t fulfilled. The darker sides of these characters’ personalities were what made them so complex and interesting to me, and while heavy themes and situations do keep arising throughout the book, the narrative almost immediately works to defang the duke. Her evil backstory and abuse of power (as a woman in the 1800s!!) were what made her so dynamic and unique. But actually, her backstory isn’t what it seems and her reputation is partially crafted by people who don’t know her well. She’s not so bad after all!

It felt a bit like the author didn’t want the love interest to be too toxic, so they reined her in for the sake of respectability and building a somewhat healthy relationship. But I craved the messiness! I wanted a historical novel where the gay women were allowed to be powerful and evil! That might come down to preference, though.

The book also wasn’t as steamy as I expected it would be based on how quickly the two main characters indulge in their passions in the first chapter. It goes from carnal lust to everyday social politics pretty quickly. Again, that’s not necessarily a fault, but it’s something to consider if readers are looking for a certain kind of book.

While not exactly what I expected, this was still a good historical romance. I loved the premise! Historical women with power! Rich butches! Enemies to lovers! This definitely fills a certain niche and scratches a certain itch.

[Nenia Campbell]

I HAVE GIVEN IN TO THE HYPE BEAST'S JAWS, CHEW ME WELL

[nightmarebees (jackie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

full 5 i already want to reread this

i think i have a new favorite romance trope y'all... "reuniting long after an unspeakably hot one-night stand and having to pretend like you're not thinking about it constantly, while also becoming deeply attracted to the other person's heart as well as their body." we meet celine and kate on the same night they meet each other, then jump three years ahead to celine reappearing in the duke's life to blackmail her way into a suitable marriage.

yet another historical romance trope i'm obsessed with: "i'm supposed to be matchmaking you with someone else but i am the one falling hard." yearning with a capital Y. incredibly horny for a book that doesn't have any boning for the middle 60% and i kind of love that for sapphic historical romance. i also enjoyed that this alt-history world is queer normative, so the fact that they are both women is never one of the factors complicating their relationship.

i love celine charming her way into high society. i love her picking up on things that kate hadn't even considered to help solve kate's biggest political problems. i love kate turning absolutely mushy for her ward. i didn't want this to be over, and i already wish i could read it for the first time again.

[scarr]

please
dnf about 28%

eta: low-key/high-key bad at gender which is not unique to this work but does make me laugh - not in a "I am better than the work" kind of way, rather in a "I've been reading a lot of speculative fiction (and romance) that does this all more thoughtfully." I stopped reading because the plot was confused and the characters were uninteresting. so take my Not-Really-A-Review with a grain of salt - I did not complete the work.

since not finishing The Duke, I have thought too much about what people mean when they say “old school” like what IS IT?? I understand some readers are referring to a kind of romance story that is not as common now (adventure or bodice ripper). and my VAGUE idea of what readers mean (not necessarily how I would describe it) when they invoke "old school": pre 2000s-ish, “bad” consent, offensive, racist.

But there are other things people associate with "old school", things that I think are still very much used in popular romance such as: bonkers plots, soap opera-vibes, intense emotions, action-packed, characters who believe “I cannot be loved”, etc. . . . like The Duke has those things, but so do A LOT of recent romance novels (historical or otherwise), including other queer historical romances.

I think . . . I’m upset at marketing. I need to touch grass, etc. when I see a lawn I will run my fingers through blades of grass.

[lauraღ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate’s outer defences, weathered and tempered and tested over the years, remained impenetrable. The breach, when it came, was inward.

Not quite 5 stars; it sits more in the range of 4.75 or 4.5 stars, because I'm nothing if not eternally picky. But this is still ABSOLUTELY my favourite book I've read so far this year. I was hooked from pretty much the first page, and the author took me along on a gorgeously written, emotionally complex, enemies-to-lovers, second chance-ish sapphic historical romance. I loved it so dearly.

This is an alternate history Regency romance, in a world where the women of the English nobility are allowed to inherit titles. The titular duke, Kate, is known as a hard woman, ruthless and commanding and severe. At the beginning of the book, at the height of the French Revolution, she shares a night with Celine, a Parisian prostitute who begs Kate to take her back to England with her. Kate does not. Three years later, a bitter and world-weary Celine shows up on her doorstep, armed with blackmail, demanding to be made a lady of society.
 
This book... it was so good. It excelled in every possible way, did a bunch of things that I love, and made me like a few things that I often don't. Second chance isn't my favourite trope, but I loved the way this was set up and paced and the world it created. It's historical and rooted in reality, except for the absolute primogeniture, of course. But it reads a little bit like fantasy for me, because it does feel fantastical in the best way possible to have all these familiar historical situations and settings, but with a bunch of powerful women slotted into situations where there would only be powerful men. It made it so FUN and engaging to read, and I fell in love so hard with all the descriptions of the duke and the way she wielded her power, even when it wasn't in the nicest ways. She makes the MOST dashing anti-heroine/heroine. And there are some great female villains, as well. (As vile as Markham is... I might risk it.) It's not a world where misogyny is simply gone, which I did appreciate. I DO wish there was more commentary on the acceptance of same sex unions, because they seem to be established and normal? I suppose we're left to assume that whatever quirk in English history got rid of male primogeniture, also got rid of structural homophobia? Not my favourite way for it to be handled, but I still liked it.

“The organ that gives me breath is engineered to love you; the muscle that feels, the matter that thinks…”

This is one of those books that takes place in a pretty short period of time, a span of several weeks. I feel like I'm always complaining about romance books moving too quickly, not spending enough time on the relationship, and convincing the reader that the characters actually know each other, and have fallen in love. THIS book did it. I was absolutely swept away, glued to the page every time they interacted, drinking in every bitter word, the resentment, the yearning and longing, the banter, as it all developed into love. It helped that they had that electrifying first encounter in the past, but I think that even without it, this author could have gotten me to believe they fell in love in a short period of time. Even if it had been days, rather than weeks, I would have bought it. There was just something about the writing that really worked for me, swept me away with their every interaction. And the PACE. Agonisingly good. Slow burn in Just the way I like it. Some might find it too slow, but to me? Perfect.

I  kept waiting for the book to disappoint me, or stop being quite as good, but it just kept being amazing. I adored both heroines so much; they were lovely in their own ways. I especially love Celine's tenacity, her desperation to claw her way up and survive, how incredibly clever she is about society and people. But she was also so kind and beautiful, and falling in love made her even more beautiful. And Kate... well, she's a big butch lady who can be a little mean and intense. Like. I'm a simple woman; leave me alone. But she too has hidden depths. There were several instances where I had to pause to just kick my feet a bit, or stare up at my ceiling and smile. The best feeling. I loved the plot, and as aforementioned, there were some good villains. And a couple good twists. I thought the book might lose me at the conflict, and indeed there was a stretch of time where I got a bit frustrated with Celine for not simply TELLING Kate about a certain thing. But in the end, I do think it all played out in the best way possible.

A couple little nit-picks. I liked all the side characters, and I especially liked Royce, Kate's cousin. She's a rake, a bit of a mess, and I THINK she's getting her own book, which I would love. I usually don't like it when side characters in romance take up too much page time, but in this case, I think Royce needed to be more involved. Her relationship with Kate has its ups and downs that we come to understand over the course of the book, and we see some of it play out in Kate's head and in her memories, but I REALLY needed more of them actually talking. And she strikes up a friendship with Celine, which I definitely needed more of, if I'm to believe a certain line that's said later on in the book (mild spoilers) about Kate and Royce 'protecting what's theirs'. The author did such a good job developing the main relationship, and I wanted a biiit of that attention to go to Royce. Same with Lord Seaton; I wanted to see more of her bantering with Celine!

And one more nitpicky thing: This is totally subjective, but the swooniest, sexiest love scene in the book was kinda ruined for me when Celine started talking about a previous client of hers in detail. Sorry, I didn't need to hear about that guy and his dick. Couldn't Kate have just gotten out the Regency strap? A silly thing to complain about, but it felt jarring, to suddenly hear about a third person in such an intimate scene, especially when NEITHER of them seem like sharers.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Hannah Bristow, and it was amazing. Incredible. One of my favourite tandem reading experiences this year (because I do recommend reading along with the physical/ebook, to really absorb the lovely prose). Her voice sounded really familiar, but as far as I can tell, this was her first audiobook? Serious kudos; the characters came alive with her voice. 

I'm SO glad I loved this so much. I've had a string of good/okay books, and most of my faves so far this year have been rereads. It feels lovely to have been so thoroughly swept away, and I'm eagerly anticipating more sapphic stuff from this author.

Please have me, she thought senselessly, the words moving through her whole body. Please have me. Please.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favorite of the year so far

[heart ✼ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

At the risk of sounding like an annoying "woke" individual that spoils the fun, i have to say, the romantic and intimate parts of this book was giving straight? It could be easily ignored or even overlooked at the beginning, but after a while, it's hard not to notice. One example: "If anyone else had left you, instead of saving you, I would have killed him" ???

Additionally, why are we reminded every 2 paragraphs that the Duke is "huge" and "muscular" ? lol

Overall, this was a really good plot, but the lesbian + bisexual representation was very hetero leaning

[BONNIE SMITH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well,

This one flips the historical romance script, and it hits.

This takes place in a world where women are Dukes, and they can marry whom they choose. In this case Kate, Duke of Howard, is no less ruthless than her traditional male counterparts, and she is well known for her icy ways.

Enter Celine, the courtesan who threw herself at Kate years ago to escape the guillotine and thanked her with a VERY passionate night. Celine returns with a letter that will change the trajectory of both their lives.

There's something very Bridgerton-esque about this whole book- but with notes of treason and murder. It kept me on my toes throughout. If you love some spicy historical romance and enjoy the FF rather and MF trope, here's a book for you. Due out in April of 2026, I thank NetGalley, St.Martin's Press and the author for an advanced copy.

[Sterling Sapphic Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, babes, I have to be real with you about this one because that's what we do here, so lets level set:
books are like avocados. The same one that has everyone absolutely losing their minds might just not be the one for you — and that is exactly what happened between me and The Duke.
and listen — the premise?? STUNNING. Kate is the Duke of Howard — feared, merciless, known throughout Europe as someone you simply do not cross. She has vowed never to trap a woman into marriage with a monster like herself. And then Celine Genet shows up in London — beautiful, ambitious, and in possession of a dangerous letter that could destroy Kate completely. So now the most feared woman in England has no choice but to parade the woman who could ruin her through the most fashionable ballrooms in London. A sapphic Regency world where women hold noble titles and marry who they please?? Revolutionary Paris backstory?? Enemies-to-lovers on a knife's edge?? I should have been FERAL about this
and I just wasn't. and I tried, babes. I really tried.
I DNF'd at 60% and I want to be honest about that because honest reviews matter as much as five-star ones. I couldn't find my way into Kate or Celine no matter how long I stayed. I kept waiting for that moment where I felt something for either of them — where their dynamic clicked for me, and I felt that pull to keep turning pages — and it just never came. They felt just slightly out of reach for me the whole time and I couldn't bridge that gap no matter what.
I think what happened is I am deep in my Bridgerton era right now... I am craving warmth and sweep and that lush romantic beauty that wraps around you like a hug. And The Duke is a completely different animal — sharper, more cerebral, more interested in power and tension than in warmth. That is NOT a criticism. It is genuinely impressive. It's just not where my heart is right now.
I may absolutely come back to this one in a different headspace and feel completely differently — and I kind of hope I do because the world Anna Cowan has built here is truly unlike anything else in sapphic historical romance. And if complex morally grey characters and sapphic Regency romance with real intellectual weight sounds like your thing?? This might be completely and utterly YOURS. The praise surrounding it is extraordinary for a reason.
Not every book is for every reader at every moment — and that's what makes this community so beautiful

[Aster · Rating 3 out of 5]

not all that glitters is gold, highly recommended and as highly disappointing

I really dont enjoy what I'm going to say next so I'll start with the positive of the book with the fugly cover: it will appeal to fans of classical HR but with the added bonus of a butch character and female dukes.

Now for the rest. For a book described to have such great writing, the prose was appropriate if not a bit clunky but the narration was so all over the place that it hindered my reading. You know what, I'll be nice I'll give it that it has good prose and quoteable romantic lines.

Secondly, the class narrative was all over the place. There is very poor worldbuilding regarding female dukes, but the main plot hinges on an evil lord trying to get female lords abolished. Therefore, this book makes a poor attempt at feminism. For a story where one of the main characters is a sex worker, it is extremely pro-nobility to the point that all characters and the narrative endlessly condemn the French revolution. The duke herself is presented as this benevolent, paternalistic savior of poor miners. I didn't expect them to sing the Internationale anachronistically but still ended up with liberal paternalism and feminism.

Third it has the same problem as Reverence and defangs the duke pretty early on, she barely did anything wrong. Yet the narrative make a huge deal out of the one thing she did (“she broke the world” now come on, this entire book is so dramatic). It’s actually a pretty similar problem I have with the romantic scenes. They’re well-written and really good out of context but in the story they feel unearned as the romance took a backstep to the political plotline and stems from an encounter/one night stand that lasted a couple of hours. The romance is really lacking something and unfortunately I think it is good character work.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

RE-READ MAY 2026 — one of my favorite books of all time. i want to read this every day forever.

FIRST READ JULY 2025 — i am a changed person. i genuinely think this might be the best historical romance i’ve ever read, and it’s certainly secured its place on my favorites shelf. if you never listen to me again, listen now: pick this book up as soon as it hits shelves in april of next year!

the way this book consumed me was on another level. i started it in the midst of a two-week european vacation, and for context, the book i was reading before this one took me 11 days to finish (due to the aforementioned vacation). i devoured this one in less than 48 hours. as soon as i picked it up, celine and kate crackled with tension on every page, brought to life so vividly that i felt like i knew them myself. i adored the world it was set in, too — female lords with a longstanding history of inheritance down a line of noblewomen? yes, PLEASE! they were fascinating to read about, and i especially loved lord seaton. i’m blowing her a kiss as we speak.

overall, there was a perfect balance between plot, romance, and character development — i was never bored, never unsatisfied, and in fact was moved to tears on multiple occasions by their stories. the writing was absolutely exquisite as well, and i already look forward to rereading this book. i desperately hope there will be another story centering on royce, too!

thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[X]

Light romantasy bildom? Gentleman Jack for Disney adults? “Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House” being the top blurb-er did give me pause… correctly, it turns out, because if you told me The Duke and Starling House exist in the same extended universe, I would believe you. (And I would say, let’s go visit Katee Robert’s corner of this universe instead, it’s the most fun of the three!)

I would probably also comp this to Alexis Hall’s Mortal Follies but with about five less major plot/writing conceits going on. Which does make me wonder whether what I actually liked about Mortal Follies was the romance or the rest of it. Did the romance only work because there were all those other distractions floating around it?

(Probably not a good sign for this book that it’s mostly prompting me to think about other books.)

Fwiw I read the first 13 chapters and then skipped around through the last several. I was hoping to find out what the deal was with the aunt and the prank gone wrong, but sadly that mystery seems to have been solved closer to the middle. Oh well. Guess I’ll never know. (There did seem to be a LOT going on in those last chapters, but I’m not willing to read through all the ones in the middle just to get there when I expect them to just be more and more and more of the same thing.)

[liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5! ✨

Do you know how refreshing it is to read a regency era sapphic romance where the taboo thing isn’t that they’re queer? We’re taking back to the OG relationship breaker: socioecononic classes and a cold & detatched royal. I love that it was a queer normative world. SO well done.

Kate is The Duke. That’s right. Yes SHE is! I love that she is cold, calculated, and ambitious. She does what she wants and takes what she wants.
Celine is a whore from France (complimentary) and runs circles around these nobels. She is perceptive, intelligent and also ambitious. She has her eyes on the prize which is securing a spouse so that she can have a comfortable life.
The two of them need eachother in different ways and compliment each other masterfully.

The story starts off strong but then shifts pretty centrally around court politics and social climbing and the relationship kind of takes a back seat for most of the story. This sometimes was hard to follow and tedious but the audiobook kept me engaged.

The last 20% of the book was captivating and the last page really did make me tear up! I loved the ending to this story.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for the eARC.

————————
I read this for a little but then mostly listened to the audiobook.
The audio is SO well done. Hannah Bristow does a pretty spectacular job keeping you engaged in the story.
She speaks very clearly, paces it perfectly and sets the emotion just right.
It’s single narration but I really enjoyed the different voices the narrator does for each character.
Highly reccomend the audio!

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillion for the ALC!

[Hannah⸝*.☘︎ ́˖ · Rating 4 out of 5]

༄˖°.👑💋.ೃ࿔*:･ First, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of The Duke in exchange for an honest review.

That said… this book surprised me!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

I ended up really enjoying The Duke, even though it took me a chapter or two to fully settle in. You’re kind of dropped straight into the world with minimal hand-holding, and at first I felt a little unmoored. But once things clicked, I was completely absorbed. The writing is elegant without feeling stiff, and the premise alone — a sapphic Regency romance in a world where women can be dukes and marry whom they please — is compelling as hell.

This was also my first sapphic historical romance, and I genuinely loved the experience.

₊˚🏛️📜⚖️✧ The World & Political Stakes

Set in post–French Revolution Europe, The Duke blends political tension, personal guilt, and social maneuvering into a Regency-inspired world that feels familiar while still doing something bold and different. The idea of powerful female nobles isn’t just a fun twist — it actually shapes the entire story. Power, reputation, and survival are constantly in play, and every choice carries weight.

Kate, Duke of Howard, holds absolute authority — but her past is dangerous. The threat of treason, revolutionary violence, and total ruin looms over her, raising the stakes far beyond just romance.

𓃗⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ Kate, Duke of Howard

Kate is a fascinating FMC: cold, controlled, and deeply self-loathing in a way that feels earned. Known across Europe as a merciless autocrat, she fears her own capacity for cruelty and refuses to trap another woman in a marriage to someone she believes herself to be.

Her internal struggle — duty versus desire, guilt versus longing — is one of the strongest parts of the book. A childhood secret tied to her aunt’s death, preserved in a damning letter sent to an old friend, shapes nearly every decision she makes. Watching Kate wrestle with whether she even deserves love was painful, frustrating, and incredibly compelling.

Also. Let’s be honest. She’s hot.

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖ Celine Genet

Celine was immediately easy to root for. A courtesan who survived Revolutionary Paris, she’s ambitious, resilient, and unapologetic about wanting more from life. Three years earlier, she begged Kate to take her away — and Kate left her behind.

Now Celine returns, not as a victim, but with leverage.

Her demand is simple and devastating: introduce her into society and secure her a titled husband (preferably wife) in exchange for silence.

What makes Celine such a strong character is her clarity. She knows what she wants, what she’s owed, and what she’s willing to risk. Her presence forces Kate to confront her own fear, cowardice, and desire head-on.

༘⋆♡⸝⸝💌⊹。 The Romance & Spice

The chemistry between Kate and Celine is undeniable, rooted in history, betrayal, and unresolved longing. Their first encounter in Paris is charged, intimate, and honestly… very hot, setting the emotional foundation for everything that follows.

That said, the spice level is lower than I expected. The intimate scenes aren’t especially graphic, but they are emotionally intense and effective. This is a romance driven more by tension, power dynamics, and yearning than explicit detail.

🌶️ Spice level: 1.5/5 — subtle, but it works.

⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ Standout Supporting Character: Lord Royston

My favorite character might actually be Lord Royston — or Royce — Kate’s cousin. Brash, reckless, and seemingly beyond redemption, Royce acts as a perfect foil to Kate’s rigid self-control. Through her, we see sides of Kate that would otherwise stay buried: protectiveness, vulnerability, and loyalty.

Her presence adds emotional depth and highlights the cost of power and survival in this world.

✎ᝰ ARC Notes & Final Thoughts

I didn’t notice any errors in the ARC, which is always a relief. My only real complaint is the lack of an epilogue — after everything these characters went through, I desperately wanted a glimpse of Kate and Celine’s future.

Overall, The Duke is beautifully written, politically charged, emotionally complex, and refreshingly queer. It may take a moment to fully pull you in, but once it does, it’s absolutely worth the ride.

Tropes / What to Expect
👑 Powerful Female Nobility
💋 Sapphic Regency Romance
🖤 Cold, Self-Loathing FMC
🌹 Ambitious Courtesan FMC
🎭 Second Chance / Past Betrayal
💍 Marriage of Convenience
🗝️ Political Blackmail
⚖️ Power, Guilt & Desire
🔥 Slow-Burn Tension

If you enjoy lush historical settings, morally complex heroines, and sapphic romances with real political and emotional stakes, The Duke is absolutely worth your time.

[Unpopmary]

I was thrilled to be approved for this eARC, as I've been enjoying historical romances lately, and the premise seemed especially promising. The alternate Regency world where women can inherit as dukes intrigued me from the start—queer-normative historical romances in this era are still relatively uncommon, and I appreciated the fresh take. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the book for personal reasons. While the concept was compelling, I found the overall tone and story remained quite heteronormative, including the Duke character's internalized misogyny, which felt inconsistent given her position and gender. I also struggled to connect with the characters or their romance, which came across as rushed and reliant on insta-love, a trope I don't particularly enjoy. That said, this may resonate strongly with other readers, and I have no doubt it will find its audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

[rachel x]

"A queer romance in which a powerful female duke meets the brilliant French courtesan who will destroy her enemies and win her heart, pitched as sapphic Bridgerton"

did you say SAPPHIC BRIDGERTON?

[Misha · Rating 5 out of 5]

(rounded up from 4.75)

This was fully my jam. Complex, interesting (and sometimes unlikeable) characters that are filled to the brim with their trauma and slowly grow together. A fun alternate history setting where peerage titles can pass through the matriarchial line and one of the most powerful members of the peerage is a woman. I enjoyed that this book has an excellent balance between the inevitable romance involving a penniless French prostitute and a female duke being blackmailed by said penniless prostitute. A strangely wholesome story of trauma and learning to grow beyond the limits it can set on you.

[ambersometimesreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

POSTING A REVIEW FOR THIS TODAY BECAUSE OMGGGGGGG

[Leigh Kramer]

DNF at 32%

When I saw Anna Cowan had a new book coming out, I was thrilled. While I'm not certain how well it aged, I remember inhaling her debut Untamed and figured the same would be true of this, given the fantastic premise. Alas, I've found myself struggling to maintain interest after the first few compelling chapters. Even now, after taking a long break and trying again. It's strange because Kate and Celine have such a palpable dynamic. It's best to bid this adieu for now and perhaps I'll try again some other time.


Characters: Kate is the 29/32 year old butch lesbian white British Duke of Howard. Celine is a 21/24 year old white French courtesan. This is set in Paris and London.

Content notes: sexual assault (secondary character kisses a girl without consent), nightmare, physical assault, industrial abuse (miners, child labor), blackmail, sex worker shaming, misgendering, past death of Kate's family (treason, fire), past execution of Celine's lover (French Revolution), off page sex, alcohol, inebriation (secondary character), hangover (secondary character), gendered pejoratives, ableist language


Disclosure: I received an advance copy from St. Martin's Griffin.

[rose ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“you will live to regret this, celine. you will live to regret this very much indeed.”
“so long as i can live.”

turns out a ruthless lady duke x the french courtesan blackmailing her is exactly what i didn’t know i needed. consider me a hisrom convert.

set in an alternate england with female nobles, the duke is a delicious sapphic regency romance featuring a powerful duke and the woman she spent a night with years ago—and then left behind. when celine reappears in kate’s life years later, she doesn’t arrive empty-handed: she carries an old letter that could ruin the duke, and she wants the safety of marriage to a titled english husband in exchange for her silence. kate is forced to introduce celine to london society as her ward, but as celine becomes a society darling, kate finds herself growing attached to the one woman who could ruin her.

THIS. IS. SO. GOOD. i finished my ARC and immediately preordered the book, that’s how good it is.

the duke is hot and full of yearning and tension and highly questionable power dynamics and i sincerely hope anna cowan plans to write an entire series set in this world, because i’m obsessed. kate is so flawed and SO fucked up (and yet i adored her), and celine is clever and charming by necessity and a force to be reckoned with. there is something so satisfying about watching these two ambitious women inexorably drawn to each other even as each is threatened by her past—and the power the other holds to ruin her.

see, the problem when i love a book is that i just want to ramble. here’s my attempt to counter that with specifics:

• i wasn’t sure how cowan would handle the female dukes angle; it’s essentially hand-waved away, although the concept of female nobles is a storyline later in the novel. i haven’t seen this approach to queer regency romance before and i think it’s a really fun angle that allows for some novel storylines.
• there’s a significant political subplot that i quite enjoyed. while i’m not sure how accurate the depiction was, i liked seeing the house of lords play a role in a regency romance.
• i think the relatively fast pace works well overall, although there were a few moments where i would have liked the story to slow down a little more. still, the pace lends itself well to the simmering tension between kate and celine and i can’t complain about that.
• overall i just love how unapologetically, shamelessly sapphic the duke is. i used to eye the shelves of very, very heterosexual historical romances (even before i understood why, exactly, i felt left out) and i guess this is my way of saying that i still don’t take books like this for granted.
• also: royce is a hot mess but #ICanFixHer

the duke is perfect for fans of: rakish butches in breeches, revenge plots, and bridgerton-style (a)historical romance (think the show, not the books).

i received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

rating: 5.0/5.0 stars

[RedFireLady Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an engaging sapphic historical romance that is full of political intrigue, betrayal, hate, yearning, and sacrifice.

Celine is a French prostitute living and surviving the only way she knows how, when she crosses paths with the broody but enigmatic Duke Hammond. After one passionate night together, the Duke leaves Celine for dead and returns to England.

Years later, when Celine has run out of hope and options, she tracks down the Duke and blackmails her for a place in high society and the Dukes assistance in finding Celine a husband.

What takes place next is a well woven story full of betrayal, political intrigue, and yearning that leads to both characters learning as much about themselves as they do each other.

I enjoyed this book and was drawn to Kate and Celine and seeing how their stories would play out. The plot is thick, and the politics in play kept me engrossed and interested in the book. I enjoyed experiencing an alternate history where women can be just as powerful as any man, and an unknown prostitute can show up and turn society upside down with her charm and intelligence.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin Press for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am like Paul Revere alerting you all that you no longer have to pretend a male lead in a regency romance is a hot butch. She's here, she's queer, with muscular thighs in buckskin breeches, and powerful hands meant to rip dresses. Best part is - she finds you an inconvenience and wants you out of her life immediately!

I started following Anna Cowan's substack back in 2024 when I first heard mention of an upcoming "sapphic regency with a butch love interest" as that was the type of romance I had always wanted to read! Typically with regency romance there is always an imbalance in power, no matter how the couple fights for their love. When it comes to sapphic regency romance - the couple is fighting two battles, misogyny and homophobia.

Imagine my delight when as reading I discovered this was a queer normative world and a world where women can be in high positions of power and nobility themselves. (As the name describes!)
Queer joy is so rare to find in regency romance and it felt good to just read a feet-kicking squealing type of story without worrying about "how the hell are these girls going to survive this?"

The character work is so chefs kiss, its even better than chefs kiss. It's full makeout session with the chef in the kitchen locked in the storage room.
The main character Celine is cunning!!! She will do whatever it takes to survive in society and stay off the streets. If you were hungry for a deceptive and strategic fmc then look no further.
Kate, Duke of Howard, and the love interest is as grumpy as a scowling noble can be but that's not all you will find beneath her hard exterior (and I'm not just talking about her abs). She has a deadly secret that will crumble her whole facade if it ever got into the wrong hands - what happens if Celine is the one who discovers it?

If you enjoy:
"tightening jaws and hands", "eyes following you as you danced in the arms of a man I set you up with but now regret it", and the after credits scene of Pride and Prejudice then please go pick up sweeping slow burn sapphic romance!

Thank you St. Martin’s Griffin for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Anna]

DNF @ 17%

I came for the scandal and stayed for... seventeen percent. That’s all I could give. May the Duke find someone with more patience than me.

This is a sapphic historical Regency romance between the Duke of Howard and a former prostitute, Celine.

This is a case of "it's not you, it's me."

I usually hear “historical fiction” and run the other way, but I wanted to give this a chance—it was highly anticipated, and the cover is gorgeous.

It was quite... dull. The historical setting, combined with the old-timey language ("It is not I who sends Bastien to his death. Neither was it I who brought attention to his loose tongue.") and lifeless politics, made for a boring and confusing read. It felt like I was thrown into the third book of a series—established characters, established drama, and a cast that already knows each other intimately, leaving me out of the loop.

I was promised hot lesbian sex, but what I got was... vanilla. I’ve read YA novels with more spice. I should’ve known—historical romance sex scenes often focus on buildup rather than explicit or graphic acts. This book tiptoed around the action, using flowery or outdated euphemisms instead of direct anatomical terms (at least in the first 17%; I can’t speak for the rest). It was almost too glossed over.

There’s an overuse of parentheses—many could’ve been regular sentences, and the constant asides took me out of the book.

I really debated whether to power through and give it one star or end my suffering. I made the right choice. Life’s too short to waste time on boring books 🥱

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

[Hades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book as a free e-arc copy on NetGalley. Here is my honest review.

Five stars. Five fucking stars. Take all my stars.

This book stars a morally grey, completely damaged, near-soulless Duke, and a clever, vengeful Courtesan with the fucking heart & intelligence & wit of a goddess.

I fell in love with both of them, quickly, deeply. My only wish is that we had more time with them—another book or two?

The world was vibrant. The prose was immaculate. Pacing fabulous. Tension & payoff perfect. Side characters were actually interesting & well developed. AND THE SPICE—delicious.

My heart feels very tender after being lady-handled by Celine & the Duke. I’m going to lie face down for a while & avoid all romance books (bc nothing can ever compare to that one chapter).

Thank you.