3.5 
 Probably one of the darkest historical romances I've read. I don't call myself an expert by any means, but I usually find historical romances to be of lighter fare. I've not read any of Alexandra Hawkins other works so I do not know if this is more her typical style or not, but I'm a little on the fence about this one. I think the writing was good and Ms. Hawkins handles certain subjects and their aftermath pretty well. But overall, I didn't find myself warming to any of the characters until way past the halfway mark. 
 Blackbern, our hero, was especially difficult for me to get a grasp on. While it is common in historicals for the hero to be known as a rake, usually by the start of the story it's not something seen on page (again not an expert this is just based on my own reading experience up to this point) because typically something will happen and said hero will start to pursue our heroine. 
 Here, we clearly see Blackbern in all his rakish glory at the onset. This creates a picture, for me, that was difficult to move away from even as Blackbern's heart changes. Couple that with the wager between himself and Norgrave and it was hard to imagine if Blackbern's actions were sincere or if he was playing a part to win a bet. It's true there's a point where it's clear where his heart lies, but for me this didn't occur until more than halfway through the book. 
 Overall, I liked Imogen. For all that she was pretty naive, and the situation she finds herself in was quite precarious with Norgrave and Blackbern. But when I think about it, she was the best character that she could have been given her situation at the start of the book; which is, she's eighteen years and and her family has just moved back to London to enjoy the season. She hasn't really been out in polite society before so truly she knows very little, and being newer to town she knows very few people and thus knows little of the rumors that surround said people. She never irritated me with her naivety. And after certain events in the book, I admired her more for her strength and her refusal to settle for something just because it might be the right thing to do. 
 If you like historical romance you may want to give A Duke but No Gentleman a try, but be forewarned there are pretty extreme acts of violence (both shown and talked about) featured and if that is something that you find rather difficult to read then I would steer clear of this one. I will not lie, there were moments I could feel where the story was headed and I put the book down and picked it up a few times to get through them, but I did read through them. This will by no means deter me from picking up another book by Alexandra Hawkins in the future if one catches my eye. 
 *Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.