I was so excited to read this first book in the new Duke of Grantham series by a new-to-me author. I especially enjoy romance books with an enemies to lovers trope.

I really enjoyed the start of this book. The early scenes where Vivienne is teaching the Duke and his sisters etiquette and dancing was priceless. Vivienne's interaction with Gabriel’s sisters was also entertaining and fun.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel much of the enemies to lovers or chemistry with this couple. There is too much backstory (and repeated backstory) that makes the plot clunky in the middle. I also had a problem with the ending because a conflict that kept the couple apart was resolved in a matter of pages.

This is my first read from Sara Bennett and the first in the series. I liked it enough to give another a try.

3.5 rounded up

Vivienne's younger brother has racked up a large gambling debt at Gabriel's club and she asks Gabriel to forgive the debt or let him pay in three years when her brother inherits his estate. Gabriel refuses but has to re-think his denial after finding out he is a Duke with six half-sisters. He was raised in a foundling home and the girls have no training in the manners expected of them in Society. He asks Vivienne to help guide them and he'll forgive the debt. There is so much opportunity for drama here but really there is little conflict. Now, as a Duke, Gabriel and his grandmother (who abandoned him), think he is too good for Vivienne. She has a slight scandal in her past and is now lower socially and financially. Everyone is just a little too nice making for a very mild story.

Sara has been on my radar for an author to try. I decided to try this latest release. I thought the beginning was really good. Gabriel won a gambling hell basically came from nothing (at least he thought he did) and after his real father died he became the next Duke. He also inherited his 6 half sisters (in which the girls mom's marriage to Gabriel's father was actually declared bigamy!) he didn't want them to grow up destitute. Just blame Gabriel's situation on his grandma. Vivienne wants her young brothers gambling debts dropped and Gabriel declines. He ends up needing her to help with his sisters and him to get in society standards.

This was only a sweet cute read for me. I would've like more scenes together with Gabriel and his sisters. It was too low angst for me in which we really didn't see any issue happening with Vivienne's step father. Just toward the last 30ish % was lack luster for me. I was just expecting more climatic plot. I'll still give Sara another read.

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I really enjoyed this book. It's my first by Sara Bennett and it left me eager to read more, hopefully featuring secondary characters from Dreaming of a Duke Like You.

Do you enjoy grumpy-sunshine romance? Rags to riches heroes? Fish out of water tropes? Slow-burn chemistry? A flock of younger sisters you didn't know existed? Bennett offers up all that and more in this new historical romance. I love a self-made man and Gabriel is certainly that. He's the ruler of his gambling club world, at home there, in charge, and immensely successful. But give him a dukedom he doesn't want, responsibilities he didn't ask for, and a grandmother he has every reason to despise and our uber-confident business owner is suddenly out of his element. It exposes his vulnerable side and I do love a confident man with a vulnerable core. Enter our heroine, the woman he doesn't want to want but can't seem to resist and the only one with the ability - and willingness - to help teach his half-feral half-sisters how to navigate society. Okay, not so much willingness but if doing this gets her scapegrace brother's debt to Gabriel's club wiped clean then she's all in, even if Gabriel's presence makes her heart race and her libido flutter. This should be fun.

I love how Gabriel and Vivienne go toe to toe, how she challenges him, and how the chemistry between them grows with every encounter. The relationship between Vivienne and Gabriel's sisters gave me Sister Maria vibes, especially the closeness that develops between Vivienne and the oldest sister, Olivia. That is second only to the melt-my-heart adorableness of youngest sister, Edwina. She captured Gabriel's heart and mine too. I also enjoyed Vivienne's complicated but loving relationship with her brother (four younger brothers: I understand) as well as her cousin. I'd like to see more of both of them in future books.

I do hope this is the beginning of a series. There are several secondary characters who interest me, such as Gabriel's two best friends. Together since childhood in the orphanage, these men already have me wanting to know more about them and, hopefully, their journeys to love. There are a few loose threads left hanging (Vivienne's step-father for one) that I'm hoping will be taken care of in a future book. The lack of comeuppance for both the step-father and Gabriel's grandmother were the only drawbacks for me in what was otherwise a very enjoyable book. I'll definitely be back for the next one.

ARC received from publisher via NetGalley. Fair and unbiased review.

Dreaming of a Duke Like You by Sara Bennett
Duke of Grantham series #1. Historical romance.
Gabriel Cadieux was abandoned to a foundling home as a very young boy. He now owns and runs a successful gambling club and doesn’t have much appreciation for the peerage other than the money it makes him. When he suddenly finds himself with the title of Duke, and six rebellious half sisters, he freely admits he needs help. Gabriel offers Vivienne Tremeer a trade. He will forgive her brother's debt if Vivienne will help teach his sisters to behave for society. Vivienne doesn’t exactly trust this new Duke but she doesn’t really have a choice. She will teach manners and deportment to his sisters. Dancing with him is certainly not a hardship. Now she just needs to keep her heart from falling into his hands.

Both Vivienne and Gabriel are outsiders and that’s partly the attraction to each other. They both have hard realities to learn. He is being pushed to wed the right woman while she is just trying to survive until her brother inherits the estate. Both have to deal with relatives that want what’s best for themselves and not necessarily the best for Vivienne or Gabriel emotionally. Do they make the decision of the heart or the one that is proper? The pressure of society is not a little thing.

Slow burn, tempting kisses. Wild and improper sisters make for a bit of fun in the tragedy of gambling debts and unwelcome family. A flirting glance while dancing can lead to much more.
Enjoyable, a bit steamy, and ultimate win with the power of money.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

This was my first ever Sara Bennett novel despite the fact that she's quite the prolific author of Historical Romance. This story was sweet, if a little bit slow-paced. I liked that Gabriel wasn't your typical broody hero despite having a tragic backstory and being a working class man. He reacted in a pretty rational manner to all the problems presented to him and sometimes I wish he wouldn't have. I wanted a little more grit from him when it came to defending his love for Vivienne or at least a little more angst about choosing to do "the right thing" and give her up. The whole book just seemed a little TOO low-stakes. I kept waiting for Vivienne's evil step-father to cause some mischief but that never happened either.
All that being said, the characters were sweet, they had a cute love story and I loved the cast of supporting characters that I hope will be protagonists of their own stories and that I WILL be reading, because I liked them all that much. I loved that Vivienne's little brother Will had a pretty great redeeming arc in the story and it primes him perfectly to step up as a romantic hero in the future, I hope.

Opposites attract in this historical romcom. Gabriel new to the dukedom and Vivienne make a bargin. He’ll clear her brothers debts if she helps his new sister into society.

This was a cute, romantic, easy to read book. I liked the chemistry and the tension between the main characters and of course was rooting for them to fall in love. The side characters didn’t take too much away from the plot and I enjoined it very much.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A lovely romance that has a sweet ending. Gabriel grew up in an orphanage and makes his way through hard work. Vivienne and her brother William are part of the pampered world of the ton. But both come together through some difficult events: Gabriel discovers he is the legitimate heir to a dukedom and with it comes the responsibility of lands, tenants, 6 half-sisters and one stick-in-the-mud grandmother (she hides how much she cares behind her society facade). Vivienne has to deal with a spendthrift stepfather, a mother with selective memory, and a younger brother who racked up gambling debt. Throw in Gabriel's 2 best friends, Vivienne's rude aunt and sweet cousin, and a few other interesting characters, and you have quite the engrossing read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever-Grand Central Publishing for this advanced copy, which I voluntarily read and reviewed.

“I should have better guarded my heart.”

For the most part this was a very enjoyable regency romance. Except for one steamy but not very explicit bedroom scene the rest of the book was mostly sweet. I really liked the set up. Gabriel, abandoned as a baby, was raised in a boys home and through determination and a great business sense, raised himself up to become owner and manager of one of the most successful gaming clubs in London. Suddenly one day he discovers not only is he not illegitimate, he’s heir to the recently deceased Duke of Grantham. Along with the noble title is a destitute estate and six young half-sisters. I loved how Gabriel only agreed to change his entire life and accept all the challenges he faced due to his growing affection for his unexpected sisters. Most of my favorite scenes in the book were the ones where he interacted with the young girls, especially five year old Edwina.

There’s a love story here, too. He and Vivienne were actually perfectly matched and I hated how he resisted doing what was right for so long. He caused both of them unneeded suffering and heartache for too long. And that actually brings me to the main thing that bothered me about this book. Dukes are the highest noblemen with only the royals above them. Gabriel was a highly successful, intelligent businessman. So why did he let his rigid, snooty grandmother boss him around? This is the same woman who callously abandoned him in the orphanage when his mother died and admitted that she cared more about her social standing than her family. She ordered him around, decided he needed to marry a woman with an impeccable reputation and even found who he felt was perfect for him. She told him she didn’t care that he loved another woman and even said negative things about her and he let her! I kept waiting for him to wake up and stand up to her. As a Duke he shouldn’t worry about scandals. His position assured he could pretty much do whatever he wanted. How ironic that it took his young sisters to make him realize it.

The story itself and the writing are very good. It’s well edited with only a few grammar and continuity errors. It drug a bit in places and then the last chapter seemed rushed. I felt the resolution and Gabriel and Vivienne’s reconciliation was too quick and sudden, especially after everything that had happened before. I still plan to read any follow-up stories which I suspect will come based on the set-up of at least two other couples that we saw. This was my first book by Sara and I absolutely will read more by her.

This is a great slow burn historical romance.

I enjoyed both Vivienne and Gabriel. The characters are well written and true to time and period.

I loved all the characters and hope to see them in a future book.

A great historical romance that really enjoyed.

A wave of dizzy nausea washed over him. He could hear his heart beating fast. He watched, speechless, as the lawyer bowed obsequiously low before him and called him “Your Grace.”

Given up to a foundling house when he was three years old, Gabriel has had to make his own way in the world. Winning a gambling hell at twenty-two, he has amassed quite the wealth now five years later and apparently a dukedom. It turns out that his father did marry his mother and he is the legal heir to the Grantham title, much to the surprise of his grandmother, who delivered him to the orphanage when his mother died. Gabriel doesn't want the title but with six half-sisters that need him to help get them accepted in society and a dukedom that needs his financial expertise, he can't refuse it. But he's going to need some help, too.

Gabriel Cadieux, the gambling hell owner with the heart of ice, and the new Duke of Grantham. And he was looking back at her.

Currently staying with her aunt in London, escaping her stepfather and some scandal attached to her name, Vivienne finds out that her younger brother Will is in heavy debt to a gambling hell. Not wanting Will to jeopardize his inheritance that he will come into in three years, she takes a night trip to the hell and tries to reason with the owner but finds no quarter there, instead some attraction. When it's discovered that Gabriel is the new Duke of Grantham, he then comes to her with a plan to forgive her brother's dept if she helps his sisters learn how to succeed in society.

Gabriel leaned down to whisper in her ear. “We are like two peas in a pod, are we not, Miss Tremeer? Both of us playing our parts and hiding our true selves from the world. But I see you and I think you see me.”

Dreaming of a Duke Like You was a sedate historical romance that I wished the leads had spent more time together. The first half flowed babbling creek well with introducing readers to Vivienne, Gabriel, and their world and circumstances they were currently battling with. There were times that it felt like a primer for the future series, two bestfriends for Gabriel, along with his six sisters, and a brother and friendly cousin for Vivienne, get decently filled out stories to tease interest for future books (along with helping to fill out worldbuilding). Vivienne and Gabriel meetup a few times and they have gentle friendship chemistry, which leads Gabriel to coming up with the idea that Vivienne could help his sisters in favor of him forgetting her brother's debt (and getting her brother to help out at his club). This deal is struck around the half-way point and the second half we get to see them together more.

There had been something missing in his life for a long time, and it was only now that he understood what it was. Vivienne Tremeer.

This was a softly toned story, Gabriel was a quietly goes about his way with some vulnerabilities in his new position, which causes the reason “Why can't they be together?”. His grandmother has the Dowager battleaxe personality and insists that he must marry a titled, no hint of scandal to her, debutante of her choice. So while Gabriel starts to admit to himself that he has feelings for Vivienne, he feels he can't marry her for the sake of his sisters' success in the ton. Vivienne is a Baronet's daughter but there is a whiff of scandal that followed her from Cornwall that she spent a night alone with a man. It's a valid reason that works but it gets dragged out too long; I'm talking at 85% Gabriel agrees to his grandmother that he will marry her bride choice. The latter second half loses some of it's momentum because of this dragged out, Gabriel keeps dithering leaving Vivienne doing really nothing but waiting for him to get it together (maybe reality accurate, lol).

Then the new Duke of Grantham had said, his gruff voice full of anger and resolve, She is mine.

The last ten percent delivers the first bedroom scene (only brief kisses prior) as Vivienne decides to take what she can before she has to leave back home and the last five percent has Gabriel's sisters giving him a talking to get him to eventual deliver the HEA. I wish Gabriel had come to the decision more himself but it was in the vein of his more subdued personality. There's an epilogue that jumps a year and more HEA-ness. If you don't mind your leads not spending a lot of time together, especially the first half and a latter second half that felt a bit fumbling but are looking for more of a gentle tone and characters, this does deliver those two aspects.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this ebook and this is my freely given opinion.

Gabriel Cadieux grew up an abandoned orphan at St. Ninians, becoming a successful business man by his own wits and hard work, running Cadieux's, a popular gaming hell. Vivienne Tremeer confronts him in his office one day, hoping to persuade him to forgive the gambling debts of her young, impressionable brother. From their first meeting they rubbed each other the wrong way... but of course, where there is friction... there are also sparks!

Vivienne failed in her endeavours; she and her brother Will are living on the tenuous good will of her aunt, after they escaped from their home with their neglectful mother and her spendthrift wastrel second husband, who is looking to steal the scant remains of Will's estate from him because of a codicil to their father's will. Vivienne is trying what she can to help Will and prevent the loss of his inheritance until he reaches his majority in three years. But she is stymied by her own sullied reputation, because of her stepfather's manipulation of an unfortunate mistake.

A new opportunity for her to help Will recover from his debts arises again when Gabriel suddenly finds himself the legal heir to the title of the Duke of Grantham. It turns out that the Duke who kept Gabriel's mother as one of his mistresses had actually secretly married her, and then abandoned her and their son, because of the expectation that he marry a lady of his own standing. Bowing to pressure from Society and likely his mother, he married Lady Felicia, becoming a bigamist, and over the years had 6 children - all girls, none of them able to inherit. On his death, the truth of his marriage to Gabriel's mother came out, causing quite the scandal for the family, causing Lady Felicia to take to her bed, abandon the care of her daughters, and causing Gabriel's half sisters to be labeled illegitimate. His grandmother, the Dowager Duchess steps in and takes control of the family, hounding Gabriel to take responsibility of the impoverished estate, and family, and restore the family's coffers and standing in Society. He finds himself suddenly with family, and an overwhelming burden of responsibility and expectations.

Let's also keep in mind that he is now being maneuvered and manipulated by a woman who knew of his existence, and left him to grow up in an orphanage, abandoned by his own family. The irony is now she is haranguing him to do his duty as the Duke, to his family.

Gabriel seems out of his element dealing with his new role as Duke, having to deal with Society on a different level, and being a brother to 6 resentful, neglected, wild girls ranging in ages from child to young women, and tasked with the daunting duty to provide for them and guide them into being young ladies. Not only that, but he is also thrust forcefully by his gimlet grandmama into courting the perfect future duchess, negotiated and arranged by the Dowager herself.

Gabriel and Vivienne now cross paths in the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Society, and Gabriel realizes that Vivienne has the social skills that he and his sister lack, and proposes a deal with her - that he will forgive her brother's debt and help Will, if Vivienne will help give some polish to the sisters and guide them into at least being able to produce the facade of being proper young ladies.

Of course, being a romance, Gabriel and Vivienne come to admire each other and develop a friendship that threatens to become more... except for the barriers of his grandmother's expectations, Vivienne's own soiled reputation, and the interference of others, including her weak, clueless mother, wastrel stepfather, amongst others.

I found this to be written well, and was an enjoyable read, with good dialogue and characters, especially the secondary characters and their interactions with each other. But I found the story lost me in the latter half, as I became quite frustrated with Gabriel. For a such a self-made man, who seemed so sure of himself at the beginning of the story, he very quickly lost his focus to become quite the puppet with his grandmother pulling the strings. He gave her all the power in the relationship, when really, he was the one with the title, the money, and should have had the power - especially considering she was the one that manipulated things so that her son hid his first marriage, engaged in a bigamist marriage, abandoning his first wife and son, and she knew about Gabriel but still abandoned him to the orphanage, ignoring his existence until she was forced to deal with him. Then she dares to exhort him to do his duty to his family???? What a hypocrite - and damn Gabriel for giving her that power to dictate to him! She should have been shamed by him, and threatened with isolation and a bare allowance, in a Dower house in some far off estate. Also, considering the ills she did to Lady Felicia and her now de-legitimized granddaughters - where was Felicia's family in this. If Felicia had any family left, they should have turned around and sued the estate or Granny dear for fraud considering they would have breached any marriage settlements/contracts when the married prior Duke courted and wed Felicia... the scandal broth was put together and stirred by a hand other than that of Gabriel's so it was wrong that he allowed that witch to manipulate and maneuver him the way he did.

Luckily he found at least one of his testes again and failed to fall in with the Dowager's plans and chose happiness instead, with Vivienne.

Another story that just reminds one that it is very healthy to trim off some limbs of the various family trees.

4 stars out of 5

In this book, the heroine visits the hero's gaming establishment to persuade said her person to erase her brother's gambling debts. The hero learned that he's the legitimate heir to a dukedom and responsible for his younger siblings, so he makes a deal with the heroine. As the interactions between the heroine and the hero brings them closer with each other, they must first face their pasts and personal issues before they could have their happy ending.

This is the first book in the DUKE OF GRANTHAM series. This historical romance is an enjoyable read with a nice premise. I liked both main characters, the heroine a bit more than the hero in certain aspects of the book. I also liked some of the secondary characters that surrounded the main characters, though there were some that were a bit disagreeable. Also, there were certain areas in the book that needed a bit more details in my eyes, but the story can still be enjoyed. Overall, an enjoyable book in a series that I look forward to reading more additions in the future.


** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **

3.0 ⭐️/5
1.0 🌶️/5

Dual POV

Gabriel: a duke in his Cinderella era after the visit from the Fairy Godmother. Vivienne: a daughter of a baronet in her Cinderelly era when she is cleaning & mending with GusGus and company. I was so excited to get into this because I needed a good historical romance in my life, and I love the premise of the heir that was never supposed to be. A deal between the two main characters? Forced to be around each other? Yes, please.

First, I loved the sisters of Gabriel. They reminded me of Cassandra and Pandora from the Ravenels series by Lisa Kleypas; daughters of titled lords who were left too long to their own devices so they're a bit wild for societal standards of the time. I want to follow their stories if they are next in the series.

Main characters: I loved how Vivienne and Gabriel were both so drawn to each other, but I was bummed that it took about 45% of the book just to get to the deal between Vivienne and Gabriel. That meant almost the entire first half of the book their interactions were not as frequent as I would prefer.

Because of the extremely slow start, the ending felt very rushed. I wanted more time with Gabriel and Vivenne getting to know each other, and experiencing more potential interactions where they could be alone. I also wanted more time watching Gabriel make up for being such a thick-headed duke. I love a good grovel, and it took too long to get to the big conflict and too short of time for Gabriel to be forgiven.

There is some spice at the end of the book. This would be a good story for people who aren't that into open door romances. I think I would dub this book: a peephole in a slightly cracked open door at midnight of a new moon without indoor lighting. With flowery language.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever Publishing for this ARC. All thoughts/opinions are mine and my review is provided voluntarily

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5

I really enjoyed this cute slow burn historical romance. I thought Vivienne and Gabriel had great chemistry!

I loved his relationship with his sisters and all of their funny personalities. I hope we get to see them more in future books in this series.

I am very interested to see where the series goes next and which characters it will follow.

This is a very slow burn and it is mostly fade to black/closed door.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an entertaining, well-written historical romance. It was fun, steamy and held my interest. I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next. I enjoyed this book and will look for more books by this author.

When the owner of a gaming hell suddenly finds himself with a dukedom and six younger sisters, he turns to the only lady he knows, the sister of one of his debtors, for help teaching them all the social ropes. But with a scandal in her own past, they're both convinced she'll never be a suitable bride, and soon heart and duty are in conflict. I really loved the leads together, but this book suffers from the fact that it never convinced me their obstacles were that severe because... well... DUKE. So, there's a lot of time spent angsting when all he needs to do is say, "screw the ton, I want happiness" and they'll survive the initial shock. Eventually he does, and they do, but I would have been happier for them if there wasn't so much wheel-spinning to get there.

My thanks to NetGalley and Forever for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable story from Sara Bennett. I loved the characters of Vivianne and Gabrielle.
She was raised properly as a young lady. When her father died and her mother remarried, her step father made her life a nightmare.
He was raised in an orphanage. A good good one where he received a good education. After making his way in life he is informed that his mother was married to his father, making him legitimate and the new Duke of Grantham.
Their paths cross before he becomes a Duke and then of course afterwards.
You can feel the attraction between them. They are both self sacrificing people and put their attraction behind them to put their families first.
This was a good story. Very sweet, very mild. There is no real danger or mystery, just an angry grandmother. So there was nothing really to keep your attention held to the book.
4⭐⭐⭐⭐
I want to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

This was an exciting read by one of my favorite authors. Ms Bennett writes a well crafted story from start of finish. The characters were fully developed with thoughts and feelings of their own.
After her brother lost a lot of money at gambling, Vivienne goes to the establishment to get the owner to forgive the debt. Lets just say she had no luck trying to help her brother. She is not liking the oh so handsome man who is a new Duke of Grantham and owns the business.
But things change when Gabriel (the Duke with lots of sisters that need husbands) makes a deal with the demanding woman to forgive the debt. All she had to do is show the young ladies how to comport themselves, learn new dances and how to act around the ton.
I like how Gabriel and Vivienne interact with each other and the slow burn of romance that goes throughout the story. A lot of funny stuff happen with the sisters trying to outdo each other. Being the older brother, Gabriel has his work cut out for him. But with the lovely Vivienne by his side, anything is possible. But fate finds these two people who fall in love and a happy ever after is guaranteed.
I appreciate Net Galley for this ARC title in which I gave an honest review.

Dreaming of a Duke Like You by Sara Bennett is the First book in the Duke of Grantham Series. This is the story of Gabriel Cadieux and Vivienne Tremeer. Vivienne younger brother William has gotten himself into another mess due to wagering. Gabriel was an orphan who ended up winning a gambling hall and with his friends Charles and Freddie look after it. Gabriel is taken with Vivienne when she comes to him to confront him about her brother. The next time she hears from Gabriel is now the Duke of Grantham and he has a proposition for her.