A customer randomly left a box of books at my store, mostly filled with Julia Quinn historical romances and some of Kelley Armstrong's urban fantasy series. I've never read any historical romance; not because they're "trashy" or they have no literary merit, but simply because I just never thought they could be what I liked. My coworker is a big fan of Julia Quinn and highly recommended trying out her series. So I did, and I'm so happy I did because I loved this book! 
 This book is hardly what you would call fluffy. Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, is constantly battling some serious trauma he experienced throughout his childhood. Daphne Bridgerton is calm, cool and collected, and paired together, these two individuals make a perfectly, balanced match. Their relationship is a great mix of swoony and sexy, and I loved how well they played off each other. 
 What I really wasn't expecting from The Duke and I was how funny it was! As in, laugh out loud funny! Most times this had to do with Daphne shocking Simon or her older brother, Anthony, into a jaw-dropping expression and I couldn't stop cracking up. 
 There was a little bit of instalove on Daphne's part and the ending wrapped up a little quickly, but honestly, I didn't care because I had such a good time with these characters and their growth throughout the story. This won't be the last historical romance I read and I'll definitely be checking out the next book in the series.