Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: soon in (chapter 1, about 11%)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, very soon in the future

Should I read in order?
This is part of the 12 Dukes of Christmas series – I have read out of order and found them all really readable alone. I’m not sure if it’s truly best in order for overlapping themes - they seem really independent of each for the most part.

Basic plot:
Olive’s father is ready for the 30 year feud to end – by arranging a marriage between his daughter and their enemy’s son.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency romance - 1814
- rival families
- enemies (on her her side) to lovers
- unrequited longing (from the hero)
- Christmas time
- horse loving heroine
- botany loving hero
- ASL rep – heroine and hero both know sign language – heroine’s father is deaf
- feels like a bit of a shorter page count than a lot of HR
- arranged marriage-ish
- medium steam – this one has 2 full scenes though they are a bit on the short side (and slower burn)

Ages:
- I think the heroine is around 24, hero is around 26

My thoughts:
I’ve read a few of these (mostly the latter half of the series) and totally out of order – but I’ve really enjoyed them! Maybe next holiday season I will have to go through and catch all the ones I missed.

I find Ridley’s books delightful – I like the focus on the mains and I find a lot of her relationships just super romantic! I ate up the longing from the hero in this book and appreciated the botany and horse loving background/hobbies/careers our couple had. I think I was a touch frustrated with the hero and how he wouldn’t just be honest with the heroine sooner about what was happening – and also how he went about opening up to her about it (open mouth, insert foot….) but overall this one had a lot I loved.

I will say the ending was weird how it mentioned a confrontation to 'fix' things with the main villain of this story but we don't see it.... and I don't recall anything fixed in the next book of the series which I did happen to read...

Erica Ridley knocks it out with this charming, romantic and fun romance. The characters are well developed and take us on a fun adventure.

I'm not normally a fan of historical romance novellas, but this series by Erica Ridley is an exception. I loved this entry and am slowly working my way through the rest.

Who doesn't love a Christmas romance? Delving into Ms. Ridley's novels is always a pleasure. Her storytelling is consistently entertaining and enjoyable, striking the perfect balance of passion and romance. This book was no exception. Elijah and Olive emerge as robust, admirable characters, and I particularly appreciated Olive's assertive nature. The well-crafted storyline held my attention from start to finish, with plot twists that kept me guessing and eagerly turning the pages to uncover what unfolds next. Ms. Ridley's adept scene descriptions breathe life into the characters and narrative, enhancing the overall reading experience.

Ten Days with A Duke is part of Erica Ridley's 12 Dukes of Christmas series. They can all be read as stand alone reads. This was a fun read and Eli makes a wonderful hero. Thanks NetGalley for the eArc.

In this 11th installment of Erica Ridley’s 12 Dukes of Christmas series, set in the wonderful town of Christmas, two arch enemies since childhood find their Happy End.
Olive Harper is a horse woman through and through, and when her family’s stud farm is in danger to fall into the hands of their feuding neighbors, she needs to find a way to save it.
Meanwhile Elijah Weston, son of the feuding neighbors, doesn’t really care about horses or feuding – quite the opposite: he is and always was in love with Olive. Now he has ten days to prove it.

This enemy-to-lovers story is a very cute, romantic, and well written romance novella with a refreshingly strong heroine and a hero who is devoted to her. Swoon worthy!

10 Days With a Duke.

Another good romantic read from Erica Ridley.

Pleasing, easy read. Nice escape from reality.

My Thoughts 💭
Usually read historical romance for shts and giggles, but this one was really fun! One of the MC's parents being deaf and using sign language as a means of communication was a nice touch. The book in terms of writing, story, and characters was pretty nice too. The two MC's both having a passion outside of their romance was also refreshing. Would recommend as a good read for anyone looking for a historical romance.

I always enjoy reading Ms. Ridley's books. Her books are always entertaining and fun, with just the right amount of passion and romance. This book was no different. Elijah and Olive were such good, strong characters and I especially loved how Olive can stand up for herself. The storyline was well crafted and kept my attention all the way through and the plot twists had me guessing and turning the pages, eager to see what happens next. Ms. Ridley also does a great job in describing the scenes and bringing the characters and story to life. This story is sure to make you swoon and put a smile on your face. This has been such a great series and I'm sad that it's almost done, but I know Ms. Ridley has more treats in store for her readers!

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I loved this book one! Eli and Olive’s story was the cutest. Both are put in a situation due to their stubborn fathers. It’s a rivalry that has gone on to long and has gone too far. Why do we hurt the people we love the most? I was holding my breathe hoping Eli would do the right thing and come out of this as the winner. Olive’s father and horse Duke stole my heart. Eli’s father is petty and plain awful. I wanted harm to come to him. He taught Eli how to sign......

I always read and review Erica Ridley as soon as I get my hands on a copy. I always review on other platforms but always forget to review here. I loved this book and The 12 Dukes of Christmas series!!

This was such a fun and cute novella. It features the children of two feuding families and the children are sent to marry each other in a truce of sorts. It was such a fun Christmas read!

I loved this story. It was adorable and the characters were very likeable. The villain in the story was clearly not a villainous person. He was funny and thoughtful. Olive was a fun character to read - fearless and somehow timid at the same time. I also loved the botany references. I looked forward to the information at the end of the book (historical references). I was entirely expecting information about medicinal plants, but was pleasantly surprised when there was information about the history of hard of hearing communities in England. I appreciate the work and research that the author put in to add this to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and WebMotion for providing an eARC of this book for review.

This was another good addition to the 12 Dukes of Christmas series by Erica Ridley. As with the previous books, Erica Ridley always has a strong female character as the heroine, this book was no exception. I read this book in one sitting.

This was a good read. I have really enjoyed this series. This is a fun tale of bickering families and secret love. I thought the plot was interesting and the characters charming. Another good addition to this series.

5 Word Review: Family, responsibility, rivalry, trust, love.

For a short read, this was chock full of messy relationships. And as far as I'm concerned when it comes to matters of the heart, the messier the better.

I loved Olive's relationship with her father - and I loved that she wasn't afraid to stand up to him. Her father has a big heart and wants to make things better for everyone, and Olive's clashes with him and her care for him - and the contrast between - was excellently done. Elijah being the catalyst for this really amped up the feelings between Olive and Elijah. It made it so much more intense.

I'm definitely going to read more of the 12 Dukes of Christmas, and I'm happy that they can be read out of order.

Really enjoyed this one, the take on the duke was unique and I loved the childhood friends aspect. Would have liked to see the ending not so quickly resolved.

Oh, my, gosh, y'all I loved this book!
How do you take a girl who loves horses and is inheriting a stud farm and marry her to a botanist who thinks horses are, well, scary and just meh? It takes 10 days. Ten days of being stuck together. Ten days of forcing the issue, but also spending time together.
There are meddling fathers. Neighbors. A difficult history. And all around haters that finally have to be put in their place.
It's such a great book.

This was a fun and quick historical romance. I really loved how the heroine was headstrong and admired her passion for horses. I also adored the outfits she wore and how she handled herself in front of other men. I wasn't the biggest fan of the hero and wasn't obsessed with their romance. Second-chance romances don't always work when it comes to novellas. The story was just fine--I have read better books by this author.

Great addition to this series. This was such an enjoyable story, watching Olive and Elijah try to work through all the issues they faced has you rooting for them to find their HEA.