The first in a brand-new series from Sara Bennett, Dreaming of a Duke like You is heavy on the showing instead of the telling, which turns the story into a mediocre slog. There’s lots of background infodumping in the first few chapters that feel overdone and laborious, together with an emotionally constipated hero and a heroine who comes off as thoroughly bland. But if you’re willing to endure that you’ll find a decently-written historical with some very traditional ideas and mores. Just don’t expect to be dazzled.

The amazingly-named Gabriel Cadieux runs his own gambling hall with an iron fist. The club, which he won in a game of chance, has helped him rise from the gutters into, if not the palaces of Regency England, then into aristocratic circles. Just one such nobleman – Sir William Tremeer, an innocent, new to London, whose society friend encourages him to gamble beyond his means – is in severe hock to Gabriel. Enter William’s older sister, Vivienne – who offers herself in trade to clear the debt, a notion Gabriel laughs off.

Vivienne and William are being sheltered by their aunt, who was already protecting them from the scandal of Vivienne spending the night with a neighbor without a chaperone (a completely platonic night of course, but one that ruined her marital prospects forever). Their stepfather took full advantage of this in pursuit the siblings’ fortune, and now they face further ruination from William’s dissolute behavior. William and Vivienne’s ancestors weren’t by-the-book types, either; their father even tried to apply clauses to his will to protect it after their grandfather nearly drunkenly gambled everything into the ground. That’s why they’re both stuck and forced to do all they can to keep it solvent.

The tables turn when Gabriel is abruptly informed he’s actually the son of Harry Ashton, the late Duke of Grantham. It seems his mother – Harry’s mistress – and father were married morganatically, and when his mother died, his grandmother had Gabriel sent off to a foundling home. Thus, Gabriel is now a duke – and suddenly responsible for the wellbeing of his six half-sisters – (though only four of them – Olivia, Justina, Roberta and Edwina – are given anything resembling a personality. The book tells us Georgina and Antonia have no personality – which seems perfectly true during group scenes!). He is tempted to walk away from the entire affair until he learns that if he doesn’t pick up the mantle all the money will go to the crown – and his sisters will be packed off to workhouses, as his legitimacy makes them illegitimate. That’s enough to get him to consider preparing the children for life among the ton. But who has the genteel expertise to help him out?

Enter Vivienne once more. He strikes a bargain with her – he’ll wipe out her brother’s debt at the club if she’ll replace the governess he just fired and help teach his sisters how to be ladylike. Surely this won’t result in the temptation already percolating between them to come to a full boil?!

Dreaming of a Duke Like You has a number of issues right from the start, and many of them connect back to Gabriel. Gabriel is, of course Angry at the World for Throwing Him Away to Go Rot in the Gutter, even though no one knew he existed except for Harry and his grandmother, whom the narrative expects him – and us – to eventually forgive.

Vivienne is much more likable – her attachment to Gabriel’s sister is genuinely sweet – but she makes an incredibly dumb late-book choice that had me groaning.

Also, this is a troubled pairing from the beginning. It takes half the book for them to have a second conversation, and during their second meeting she’s already determined to kiss him. The awkward pacing is a pain, especially when the couple crashes face-first into a third act engaged-for-the-relatives plot involving Gabriel and another woman picked out by the grandmother whom he still quasi-loathes. Gabriel’s behavior from the midpoint of the book makes absolutely no sense, especially compared to the rebellious character we first meet.

I did like the many sisters Gabriel acquires (especially the ones with personality!), Vivienne’s cousin, Annette, and Gabriel’s two male friends – all of whom seem to be candidates for series heroes and heroines.

There are some charming moments here, and some fun stuff that keeps this away from being a D. But it’s hard to recommend Dreaming of a Duke Like You when it takes so very long for our central characters to do so much as look at one another, let alone kiss.