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His Cinderella Duchess: A Regency Marriage of Convenience Historical Romance
Tina Gabrielle brings you a grumpy/sunshine, marriage of convenience historical debut.
An unconventional promotion from governess to duchess!
Brent Ainsley, Duke of Ravenwood, knows his ward needs a mother figure. But finding a love match is out of the question, as his experiences at Waterloo left him scarred and mistrustful. Yet when the sunny new governess arrives dripping wet at his estate, he can’t stop thinking about her...
Destitute Lena Harper needs this governess job — even if it means tolerating her grumpy new employer. Who she discovers is looking for a convenient wife...when Lena proposes a paper marriage, she’s surprised at her own boldness! What’s even more shocking is the duke’s answer...
Mills & Boon Historical — Your romantic escape to the past.
An unconventional promotion from governess to duchess!
Brent Ainsley, Duke of Ravenwood, knows his ward needs a mother figure. But finding a love match is out of the question, as his experiences at Waterloo left him scarred and mistrustful. Yet when the sunny new governess arrives dripping wet at his estate, he can’t stop thinking about her...
Destitute Lena Harper needs this governess job — even if it means tolerating her grumpy new employer. Who she discovers is looking for a convenient wife...when Lena proposes a paper marriage, she’s surprised at her own boldness! What’s even more shocking is the duke’s answer...
Mills & Boon Historical — Your romantic escape to the past.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published August 26, 2025
6 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Tina Gabrielle
41 books418 followersAmazon best-selling author Tina Gabrielle is an attorney and mechanical engineer whose love of reading for pleasure helped her get through years of academia. She often picked up a romance and let her fantasies of knights in shining armor and lords and ladies carry her away.
Tina’s books have been Barnes & Noble top picks, and her first book, "Lady Of Scandal," was nominated as best first historical romance by Romantic Times Book Reviews. Tina loves to hear from readers. Please visit her website to learn about upcoming releases and to join her newsletter and enter to win free monthly contests and giveaways. www.tinagabrielle.com
Tina’s books have been Barnes & Noble top picks, and her first book, "Lady Of Scandal," was nominated as best first historical romance by Romantic Times Book Reviews. Tina loves to hear from readers. Please visit her website to learn about upcoming releases and to join her newsletter and enter to win free monthly contests and giveaways. www.tinagabrielle.com
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 2, 2025
This is my 12th book by Tina Gabrielle. I didn't start reading her until July of 2020 and she soon became a favorite. Great stories, great characters and great sex. She wrote quite a few books in 2021, then nothing until 2023 and 2024 and then it was only 1 book in each year. So glad to see she has a new book out.
I liked this book. I liked Brent and Lena. I loved their storyline. I liked Lens's personality. Her and Brent worked well together. They had great chemistry. Overall a good read. I finished it in one sitting and I haven't been able to do that in a long while.
I liked this book. I liked Brent and Lena. I loved their storyline. I liked Lens's personality. Her and Brent worked well together. They had great chemistry. Overall a good read. I finished it in one sitting and I haven't been able to do that in a long while.
August 14, 2025
Beautifully written romance with depth and heart. A slow burn romance, past trauma and hurts, making a family, finding true meaning and love. What starts as a marriage of convenience for Ravenwood and Lena soon turns into moments of learning and trusting each other, opening their hearts to passion and love.
January 12, 2026
I liked this book, it created an actual space for Middle Easterners in 19th century London. The situation between the FL and ML was a bit ridiculous but sometimes you just need to go with things in a chapter romance a lot of the time since there's no time for lengthy setups.
FL is the illegitimate daughter of an English marquess and a woman in Lebanon, she moved to England after her mom died and was treated not great by her dad though he sent her to school. He matched her in an unhappy marriage, she's a widow now and has to work to support herself. This is how she meets our Duke who is suffering from physical and mental scars from his time in the military. He has unexpectedly inherited a title that was his brother's, and finds himself with a ward in his niece. Our FL comes aboard as governess and in like two days suggests to the duke that they marry for convenience, and he says yes because that's the premise of the book!
They of course wind up falling in love and working to try and help everybody (FL, ML, orphaned niece) center themselves. The FL is very determined to be helpful to everyone and I think in a longer book there might be some more drama, but everything here runs its romance course and we learn a lot about the characters. Leaves you with a sense that they will be successful, because they have learned to open up about things with each other.
I would definitely read more by Tina Gabrielle.
FL is the illegitimate daughter of an English marquess and a woman in Lebanon, she moved to England after her mom died and was treated not great by her dad though he sent her to school. He matched her in an unhappy marriage, she's a widow now and has to work to support herself. This is how she meets our Duke who is suffering from physical and mental scars from his time in the military. He has unexpectedly inherited a title that was his brother's, and finds himself with a ward in his niece. Our FL comes aboard as governess and in like two days suggests to the duke that they marry for convenience, and he says yes because that's the premise of the book!
They of course wind up falling in love and working to try and help everybody (FL, ML, orphaned niece) center themselves. The FL is very determined to be helpful to everyone and I think in a longer book there might be some more drama, but everything here runs its romance course and we learn a lot about the characters. Leaves you with a sense that they will be successful, because they have learned to open up about things with each other.
I would definitely read more by Tina Gabrielle.
August 29, 2025
I purchased this book after getting a teaser chapter at the end of my last book. I read it all in one sitting. His Cinderella Duchess is an extremely well-paced grumpy/sunshine story.
The main plot features a woman who arrived at the Duke of Ravenwood's home as a governess negotiating herself into a role as his wife, intimacy included.
Brent is the Duke of Ravenwood, and his trajectory growing from his distant approach is nicely handled with a lot of focus on his PTSD from the Battle of Waterloo.
Lena Harper is also a really well done character. However, by the end of the book she felt like way too much of an expert in absolutely everything despite living a fairly restricted life for about 2/3s of her life.
A lot of her knowledge comes from the first years of her life in Lebanon, and this is one of my favorite aspects of the book. It was wonderful having a half-English, half-Lebanese character and the different cultural perspective. As a bonus, we also read about lots of delicious food.
The main plot features a woman who arrived at the Duke of Ravenwood's home as a governess negotiating herself into a role as his wife, intimacy included.
Brent is the Duke of Ravenwood, and his trajectory growing from his distant approach is nicely handled with a lot of focus on his PTSD from the Battle of Waterloo.
Lena Harper is also a really well done character. However, by the end of the book she felt like way too much of an expert in absolutely everything despite living a fairly restricted life for about 2/3s of her life.
A lot of her knowledge comes from the first years of her life in Lebanon, and this is one of my favorite aspects of the book. It was wonderful having a half-English, half-Lebanese character and the different cultural perspective. As a bonus, we also read about lots of delicious food.
January 30, 2026
Do you enjoy grumpy vs. sunshine?
How about a Regency romance?
Look no further. You have it all right here.
Meet me in London in 1820.
We meet Lena Harper, who is in dire need of a job.
With luck being on her side, she is sent to a governess position at the dwellings of the Duke of Ravenwood.
She finally arrives to meet the duke, dripping wet, and the welcome is colder than the unlit fireplace.
🔹️
"She had gumption, a spine, and she hadn't flinched at the first glimpse of his face."
🔹️
His charge Claire has a schedule strikter than the regiment and has driven off no less than five governesses in a short amount of time.
It is clear that Lena has her work cut out for her. Challenge accepted. needs this job.
They start to fall for each other. This gentle reader is wondering what of it? What of the ton? There is so much of the book left!
The answer, my lovelies, is that there are twists.
Oh, so delightful twists.
Have you heard? The Duke is to marry!
The question is... will the Duke send her packing like the other governesses?
How about a Regency romance?
Look no further. You have it all right here.
Meet me in London in 1820.
We meet Lena Harper, who is in dire need of a job.
With luck being on her side, she is sent to a governess position at the dwellings of the Duke of Ravenwood.
She finally arrives to meet the duke, dripping wet, and the welcome is colder than the unlit fireplace.
🔹️
"She had gumption, a spine, and she hadn't flinched at the first glimpse of his face."
🔹️
His charge Claire has a schedule strikter than the regiment and has driven off no less than five governesses in a short amount of time.
It is clear that Lena has her work cut out for her. Challenge accepted. needs this job.
They start to fall for each other. This gentle reader is wondering what of it? What of the ton? There is so much of the book left!
The answer, my lovelies, is that there are twists.
Oh, so delightful twists.
Have you heard? The Duke is to marry!
The question is... will the Duke send her packing like the other governesses?
December 21, 2025
I really liked Lena. She said no miscommunication or understanding on my watch. Brent was pretty okay. Nothing wrong with him.
But I don’t like other woman drama. I liked it even less in this book because of who she was to Lena. And I felt that it was repetitive, for example, he was thinking of how he caught her in when she jumped from a tree and then literally a few paragraphs later he reminded us it’s when she jumped from a tree. I’m smarter than that and didn’t need the reminder.
But I love that the MFC was half Arabic. As a half Egyptian half European white person, it makes me really happy to books I can see myself in.
But I don’t like other woman drama. I liked it even less in this book because of who she was to Lena. And I felt that it was repetitive, for example, he was thinking of how he caught her in when she jumped from a tree and then literally a few paragraphs later he reminded us it’s when she jumped from a tree. I’m smarter than that and didn’t need the reminder.
But I love that the MFC was half Arabic. As a half Egyptian half European white person, it makes me really happy to books I can see myself in.
October 6, 2025
Lena needs a job and/or security, Brent needs a wife to provide and heir and help his niece come out into society. Love ensues.
Honestly, this was so delightful. Lena is practical, Brent is depressed, but they are each trying to help each other as well as themselves. Great pacing, things that should have been talked about were, I really enjoyed it.
Honestly, this was so delightful. Lena is practical, Brent is depressed, but they are each trying to help each other as well as themselves. Great pacing, things that should have been talked about were, I really enjoyed it.
August 16, 2025
Beautiful historical romance! This book was so good. The characters pulled me into the story.
Did not finish
November 16, 2025Not for me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews