It's Hard Out Here for a Duke: Keeping Up with the Cavendishes (Keeping Up with the Cavendishes, 4)

While I liked this book, I didn't love it and I was a bit disappointed.Anyone who has read the previous books has for all intents and purposes, read 75% of this book. I knew before I started this book that James and Meredith had a past and that there was a strong attraction between them. And after the antics of his sisters, I fully expected James to have an equally entertaining book, but that is not how this story played out.James and Meredith love each other, but are convinced they cannot be together because he is a Duke and she is a commoner. The entire book is them wavering between love and duty. I understood the difficulties they would have if they married, I understood the social ramifications and even the need to protect his sisters by not causing a scandal, but that was the entire book - they are attracted to each other, but he must choose duty over love.There is a a lot of rehashing the events from the previous books, a lot of longing, some steamy-ish love scenes, a lot of heartache, a little bit of a surprise at the end and finally a HEA. I also found it a bit ironic that while pounding into James head the necessity of knowing formal address - the examples they used were wrong and used incorrect formal address - now to be fair, this was an uncorrected ACR and that may be corrected by publication (fingers crossed). Overall the writing was good, but I felt like this story was already told in the previous books and nothing really new or exciting happened in this story.*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an UNCORRECTED eARC provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher*

I adore the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series, and this fourth book is a worthy and fulfilling finale. This could probably be read as a decent standalone, but I do not recommend that because to do so would be to miss out on one of the most unique and appealing aspects of this book and series.There are four Cavendish siblings, specifically James and his three sisters. Each book in this series focuses on one of the siblings, with the twist that the stories occur simultaneously. It is beyond fun to read about events, including a particular ball, from the different perspective of each sibling.Adding to the fun of this series is that each sibling is a strong and intriguing character, engaged in supremely interesting situations and encountering worthy love matches. As Americans recently transplanted to England after James unexpectedly becomes the Duke of Durham, opportunities abound for clashes of will and the potential for scandal.This is the most serious book of the quartet, partly due to James's personality and his position as the newly named Duke. He has much to wrestle with, as does his love, Meredith, who is employed as a companion in his household. The affection and relationship among the Cavendish siblings is a strength throughout this series, as is their strong spirit. I was full of anticipation for this story from the first book of the series, and was not disappointed. This tied everything together in a satisfying way.

I liked that the Duke came from America, where his father, second son of a Duke, ran off from his home, to follow his heart, his true love! There James, who loves horses, his sisters were all born. Now, they must learn all the rules of the Ton! James, just the man, meets a beautiful young lady on his way to London, one thing leads to another, she & he end up in the same room! She leaves before he wakes the next morning. Meredith is shocked at her behavior, how could she let her guard down to that point? The Duchess, is prepared to do whatever it takes, to change these wild Americans into proper behavior, of the Elite of English Society! She has devoted her life to the continuation of the Dukedom, and she is determined to see it survive! I like Josie!I highly recommend! Thanks! Enjoy!

I loved the first 3 books so much I was counting down the days to this release for a Long time! It didn't help that Ms Rodale was posting teasers and that sexy cover on her Facebook page for months...LolIt has everything I was expecting: humor, stolen kisses, angst, love and tying up of loose ends. I was crying happy tears through the epilogue (and am looking forward to the bonus epilogue I'm getting for pre-ordering 😊)I devoured it and then went back and re-read the whole series.

I give this a 4.5 out of 5. I enjoyed the other Cavendish stories, which all take place contemporaneously. This one with James and Meredith is no different. There are frequent references to the other stories, to give you a place in time for this story. Both James and Meredith are both very likable and you want them to reach their HEA. Their storyline is not complicated, which works because this is a wrap up of all the Cavendish stories. I really enjoyed the whole series about a bunch of misfits.

I've loved this series from start to finish. James & Meredith's story was compelling to the end. I'm sorry to see the Cavendish family stories come to an end. This book is a journey to keep attraction and love together despite the demands of title and society. For awhile it looks like everyone will gang together to keep them apart, even Meredith doesn't think their love can overcome huge obstacles in the way. James is determined to win Meredith over and show her that love is worth throwing away a title for.

Aaaaaah!!! Such a perfect end to an awesome series!! Totally loved Meredith and Just James.SPOILER ALERT:I just wished that they kept Meredith just a commoner. But I guess we were needed a reason “why” the duchess groomed her to be who she was.Other than that, I loved that there was such heated chemistry between these two and totally rejoiced when the found their HEA.

The title is off-putting for a historical romance but I would give credit to the story.There's no greater barrier between James Cavendish and Meredith Green than their social divide. A Duke and a Duchess' companion are wrong for each other in so many levels. However, Maya Rodale has written this nicely. The main characters have depth and they're endearing. Their repartees are witty and their attraction to each other are impassioned.It's Book 4 of 4 and a standalone though characters are recurring within the series.

i like the story very much very entertaing

Usual enjoyable read from this author

3.5 stars. Well written, witty and by one of my favourite authors. But it stops there. Unfortunately for me I was a bit bored and my mind kept wandering. I was really looking forward to this book as well!It's purely to do with the fact that this 4 book series is told in the same time frame - one book layered upon the other, upon the other. It's well done, and nothing really is repeated (eg conversations), but this is the 4th time I've read about the Cavendish siblings coming to London and James becoming Duke and it's getting a bit too much. Plus nothing is happening re the romance.In my mind the series would have been much better if each book had been written as time progressed, not over the same time period. Never mind... I'll wait to see what this talented author comes up with next.

Loved this final segment of the Cavendish series where James and all three of his sister's characters have their " happily ever after " - an American becoming a Duke might have been possible, I suppose, but it was the humor of the sisters and their antics that makes this book such a delightful read - loved the plot with quick reminders of what was happening at that time with all four of the Cavendish Americans - and the epilogue with the future generation was a nice way to close the chapter on the hoydenish American Cavendish family trying to get along with the British " TON "