I had to break my rule about not buying any more paperback books for this one! Thankfully it worked well since I brought it to the hospital with me.
The Gamble by Joan Wolf
(1998, Regency Historical) 10/12/12
Grade: 3.5
After her father’s death, Georgie discovers that he was blackmailing several gentlemen for cheating at gambling. She doesn’t want to become a blackmailer herself, but she must protect her sister Anna, so she heads to London to blackmail the Earl of Winterdale to help her find a husband. The new earl ihas his own reasons to help Georgie. But her father’s other victims will do anything to stop Georgie from revealing their secrets.
This is another one of Joan Wolf’s first person Regencies, and although it was fun to read, it didn’t have quite the snap and exuberance of the other two. The storyline of a Regency season was more typical, and the blackmail victims were too interchangeable to make good villains. It’s also not very clear why Georgie fell in love with Winterdale, and he with her (a common problem with first person books). Overall, it was well written and enjoyable, but not quite up to the standards of her other Regency historicals.
I haven’t run across very many new books that are appealing, so it’s a good thing I keep finding older books I haven’t read yet.
Karen Wheless
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