Dreaming of a Duke Like You by Sara Bennett

Tracy’s rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: Duke of Grantham, #1

Release Date: October 10, 2023

Gabriel Cadieux is a self-made man, raised in an orphanage after his mother died, he scraped by until at the age of 22 he won a gaming hell from the owner. In the five years since taking over the club, Gabriel, with the help of his two best friends, Charles and Freddie, has turned the club into a very profitable business. His life is going along just fine when he is confronted and if he is honest, intrigued by the sister of a young man who gambled himself into debt, but as intriguing as she was, meeting her was all but forgotten when minutes after sending her away he gets the shock of his life when he learns that his parents were married and he is now the new Duke of Grantham and is responsible for not only a debt-ridden estate, but six young half-sisters!

Vivienne Tremeer and her younger brother Sir William, came to London to escape the scandal she created at home in Cornwall. But Will is poised to create an even bigger scandal thanks to his reckless wagering. Vivienne tried to reason with the club owner, but was rejected and now she has been waiting months for Gabriel Cadieux to demand payment for her brother’s gambling debt, yet has heard nothing. So she is shocked to learn he is the new Duke of Grantham, and that he has a proposition, if she will teach his sisters the ways of the ton, he will forgive her brother’s debt. It seems like the answer to her prayers and really what could go wrong? Well, everything…

I liked the idea of the story and had no problem with the actual writing, but there were just so many things that didn’t make sense and things that were completely ridiculous and nonsensical, that I had a hard time getting into the book. I liked Gabriel and Vivienne and had no problem believing the attraction between them, but they don’t really interact until the second half of the book, which didn’t leave a lot of time to build the romance. I think my biggest problem was the fact that Vivienne’s “scandal” was so paltry compared to the fact that Gabriel’s father had committed bigamy, which rendered his six daughters illegitimate, and yet everyone was still calling them by their honorifics and planning come-outs for them – all the while warning Gabriel that associating with Vivienne will hurt his sister’s chances to make a good match – seriously? I really tried to keep an open mind, but I just couldn’t get past that. This is the first book in a new series, and despite my disappointment with this book, I would consider reading the next book in the series, as I have read and enjoyed this author’s other books.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*