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A review by jaywhygeereads
Dreaming of a Duke Like You by Sara Bennett
slow-paced
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.
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.