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Gambit #1
Love's Gambit
A LADY'S. CHEEKINESS...
An irresistible mix of merry mischief and winning ways, Georgie Carteret is en route to her grandmother's home to come out among London's glittering ton. Then, while changing horses at a roadside inn, she encounters the stuffiest, most strait-laced, and devilishly handsome man she has ever seen. He is Augustus St. Regis, Viscount Sedgemoor--a nobleman who needs to alight from his high horse. And she's just the woman to make him do it...
A LORD'S CHALLENGE...
Alas, all Georgie succeeds in doing is to send St. Regis into a snit--by laughing at his lectures on deportment, besting him in a carriage race, and bruising his manly pride. She could have predicted that he would vow to teach her a lesson in manners, yet she never expected him to compromise her honor! Now, propose he must, but must Georgie accept? She has a tendre for St. Regis, to be sure, but can she manage to bring out the love hidden within his seemingly unyielding heart?
An irresistible mix of merry mischief and winning ways, Georgie Carteret is en route to her grandmother's home to come out among London's glittering ton. Then, while changing horses at a roadside inn, she encounters the stuffiest, most strait-laced, and devilishly handsome man she has ever seen. He is Augustus St. Regis, Viscount Sedgemoor--a nobleman who needs to alight from his high horse. And she's just the woman to make him do it...
A LORD'S CHALLENGE...
Alas, all Georgie succeeds in doing is to send St. Regis into a snit--by laughing at his lectures on deportment, besting him in a carriage race, and bruising his manly pride. She could have predicted that he would vow to teach her a lesson in manners, yet she never expected him to compromise her honor! Now, propose he must, but must Georgie accept? She has a tendre for St. Regis, to be sure, but can she manage to bring out the love hidden within his seemingly unyielding heart?
318 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1995
51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 10, 2015
It probably was a matter of timing but the fact is I didn't really care for LOVE'S GAMBIT. I think I am being generous with 2 stars.
The Good:
Georgie Carteret is an almost twenty-one-year-old who sees the goodness in everyone. She is the uplifting force in a room full of contrary people. Motherless, with a self-centered father who wants her to marry a neighbor, she takes off to her Grandmama's house in London. With Pip, her groom. And Rufus, her dog. Driving the curricle, an unheard of thing for a woman to do during Regency times.
Just who is this woman? And how did she become so optimistic about seemingly everything? I wanted to know more. She was the driving force behind this romance and why I managed to finish this story.
Her qualities: loved by everyone almost instantly, knows the value of money, can beat Gus at chess, great memory, intelligent, womanly, pays attention to detail, brave, wonderful hair, knows how to heal others, handles horses well, gifted with matchmaking skills, dances supremely well, sensitive to someone else's pain, knows how to hold a conversation, has white teeth with two dimples, cheery, freckled, peacemaker, sensible yet mischievous, enchantress, reasonable, and gives her affection freely.
The Bad:
Augustus St. Regis, Viscount Sedgemoor. Or Gus as Georgie refers to him. Extremely good-looking. Haughty. A 30 year-old moody Stick-In-The-Mud to the Nth degree with Major Anger Issues. Did I mention that he was extraordinarily handsome? Because you will be reminded of this continually throughout the story. As if his looks would cause anyone to forgive his bad attitude on life in general.
The Ugly:
You would think that with their age gap that Gus was the more mature of the two people. He wasn't. He had ginormous anger issues, was dark and depressive at times, manipulative, antipathetic, biased, chauvinistic, conservative, contemptuous, dictatorial, disdainful, fractious, indignant, inflexible, irritable, narrow-minded, short-fused, snappy, stuffy, unsympathetic, unwilling, and waspish. His overall attitude was my way or the highway.
So, back to the story. These two people met and parted under brief conditions. Then he started to stew about what she had said during their short time together and thought he would show her a thing or two. Take her down a few pegs on the ladder. Set her straight.
Except, because of his stupid actions, he injures his leg and for the next week or so he finds himself being taken care of by none other than, drum roll please, Georgie!
Because of what happens we are reminded constantly that Gus thinks "they would not suit in the least" yet he tells her under no uncertain terms they are going to get married. Because he has compromised her, but not really. And she says no. And he says yes. And so on. I wanted to know more on the background of this man. Why did he behave the way he did? And I continued to read thinking his manners would get better. They didn't. But then I had to remember he was fantastic-looking and that should mean something. Shouldn't it?
I found it very hard to believe that Georgie could continually forgive this man. But she did. There were also some minor issues that the author left hanging and a somewhat rushed unbelievable ending. OK, I’ve finished my ranting.
The Good:
Georgie Carteret is an almost twenty-one-year-old who sees the goodness in everyone. She is the uplifting force in a room full of contrary people. Motherless, with a self-centered father who wants her to marry a neighbor, she takes off to her Grandmama's house in London. With Pip, her groom. And Rufus, her dog. Driving the curricle, an unheard of thing for a woman to do during Regency times.
Just who is this woman? And how did she become so optimistic about seemingly everything? I wanted to know more. She was the driving force behind this romance and why I managed to finish this story.
Her qualities: loved by everyone almost instantly, knows the value of money, can beat Gus at chess, great memory, intelligent, womanly, pays attention to detail, brave, wonderful hair, knows how to heal others, handles horses well, gifted with matchmaking skills, dances supremely well, sensitive to someone else's pain, knows how to hold a conversation, has white teeth with two dimples, cheery, freckled, peacemaker, sensible yet mischievous, enchantress, reasonable, and gives her affection freely.
The Bad:
Augustus St. Regis, Viscount Sedgemoor. Or Gus as Georgie refers to him. Extremely good-looking. Haughty. A 30 year-old moody Stick-In-The-Mud to the Nth degree with Major Anger Issues. Did I mention that he was extraordinarily handsome? Because you will be reminded of this continually throughout the story. As if his looks would cause anyone to forgive his bad attitude on life in general.
The Ugly:
You would think that with their age gap that Gus was the more mature of the two people. He wasn't. He had ginormous anger issues, was dark and depressive at times, manipulative, antipathetic, biased, chauvinistic, conservative, contemptuous, dictatorial, disdainful, fractious, indignant, inflexible, irritable, narrow-minded, short-fused, snappy, stuffy, unsympathetic, unwilling, and waspish. His overall attitude was my way or the highway.
So, back to the story. These two people met and parted under brief conditions. Then he started to stew about what she had said during their short time together and thought he would show her a thing or two. Take her down a few pegs on the ladder. Set her straight.
Except, because of his stupid actions, he injures his leg and for the next week or so he finds himself being taken care of by none other than, drum roll please, Georgie!
Because of what happens we are reminded constantly that Gus thinks "they would not suit in the least" yet he tells her under no uncertain terms they are going to get married. Because he has compromised her, but not really. And she says no. And he says yes. And so on. I wanted to know more on the background of this man. Why did he behave the way he did? And I continued to read thinking his manners would get better. They didn't. But then I had to remember he was fantastic-looking and that should mean something. Shouldn't it?
I found it very hard to believe that Georgie could continually forgive this man. But she did. There were also some minor issues that the author left hanging and a somewhat rushed unbelievable ending. OK, I’ve finished my ranting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2011
Edit: I did a quick and dirty reread of this last night. My below info still stands, but I'll clarify that the marriage doesn't occur until ~60-70% of the book. I still think it's a MOC theme, though, because a good portion of the middle part of the book is Viscount Sedgemoor's trying to convince Georgie they must marry both (a) to save her reputation if it ever got out that she was compromised and (b) to satisfy his honor as a "St. Regis" man. So, technically, the first 30% is their initial meeting at a country inn and then his injury/her nursing away from London, during which time they get to know each other; the next 30-40% occurs in London set amongst glittering balls and such; the last 30-40% is their married life, when the reader can see that they're both head over heels but they themselves don't recognize it.
*****
4-4.5 stars. Very sweet marriage of convenience traditional Regency with an unconventional country miss (Georgie) who is caught in a compromising situation with a haughty by-the-books viscount (Augustus) who takes himself just a bit too seriously. So, what does she do? She calls him "Gus," of course.
They are at daggers drawn from their first meeting, as one can only expect from such seemingly clashing personalities. However, at one point, Gus is injured and Georgie nurses him, and Gus, upstanding gentleman of the ton that he is, realizes that all of this time spent together without being chaperoned can only mean one thing: marriage. Now he just must break the news to Georgie, if only he could catch her without her swarm of friends and suitors, for once!
This story is sweet and shows an unlikely pair that, in getting to know each other, finds that they may actually have found love in their marriage of convenience. The book also introduces us to the hero of Rake's Gambit, who does his part to foster a bit of jealousy when he strikes up a friendship with warmhearted Georgie. Gus brings a bit of gravitas to Georgie's sometimes wild ways, and Georgie's infectious enthusiasm for life causes Gus to loosen up over the course of the book.
Note, too, that, for a traditional Regency, this one isn't entirely closed door and instead peeks in on some steamy scenes. They're married, after all, and we all know that means a wedding night (and more!). No raunchy and explicit language or anything, but definitely more sexytimes than the norm for these Zebra and Signet traditional Regency offerings.
*****
4-4.5 stars. Very sweet marriage of convenience traditional Regency with an unconventional country miss (Georgie) who is caught in a compromising situation with a haughty by-the-books viscount (Augustus) who takes himself just a bit too seriously. So, what does she do? She calls him "Gus," of course.
They are at daggers drawn from their first meeting, as one can only expect from such seemingly clashing personalities. However, at one point, Gus is injured and Georgie nurses him, and Gus, upstanding gentleman of the ton that he is, realizes that all of this time spent together without being chaperoned can only mean one thing: marriage. Now he just must break the news to Georgie, if only he could catch her without her swarm of friends and suitors, for once!
This story is sweet and shows an unlikely pair that, in getting to know each other, finds that they may actually have found love in their marriage of convenience. The book also introduces us to the hero of Rake's Gambit, who does his part to foster a bit of jealousy when he strikes up a friendship with warmhearted Georgie. Gus brings a bit of gravitas to Georgie's sometimes wild ways, and Georgie's infectious enthusiasm for life causes Gus to loosen up over the course of the book.
Note, too, that, for a traditional Regency, this one isn't entirely closed door and instead peeks in on some steamy scenes. They're married, after all, and we all know that means a wedding night (and more!). No raunchy and explicit language or anything, but definitely more sexytimes than the norm for these Zebra and Signet traditional Regency offerings.
March 2, 2017
Cute story. The writing wasn't the best and there were a few too many modern words and phrases for a historical, but I do love an uptight hero getting unstarched by a goofy, free-spirited heroine!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews