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Love #2
The Game of Love
Francesca Wyndham knew the folly of gambling. She had seen her father, Lord Syndham, lose the family fortune, forcing her to become a plain chaperone to an empty-headed young Miss.
But now Francesca was taking a gamble even her father would have blanched at. She was falling in love with the irresistible Arden Lyons, a gentleman who was clearly anything but a gentleman when it came to winning what he wanted, whether a hand of cards, a test of strength, or a lady's favors.
She knew nothing about this man except that she wanted him from the moment she saw him...and though his past was a dark mystery, his motives for choosing her over other seductive or wealthy young beauties were even more mysterious. Still, Francesca dared to pit her innocence against Arden's expertise — in a game where passion took all...
But now Francesca was taking a gamble even her father would have blanched at. She was falling in love with the irresistible Arden Lyons, a gentleman who was clearly anything but a gentleman when it came to winning what he wanted, whether a hand of cards, a test of strength, or a lady's favors.
She knew nothing about this man except that she wanted him from the moment she saw him...and though his past was a dark mystery, his motives for choosing her over other seductive or wealthy young beauties were even more mysterious. Still, Francesca dared to pit her innocence against Arden's expertise — in a game where passion took all...
351 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
5 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Edith Layton
87 books103 followersEdith Layton wrote her first novel when she was ten. She bought a marbleized notebook and set out to write a story that would fit between its covers. Now, an award-winning author with more than thirty novels and numerous novellas to her credit, her criteria have changed. The story has to fit the reader as well as between the covers.
Graduating from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in creative writing and theater, Edith worked for various media, including a radio station and a major motion picture company. She married and went to suburbia, where she was fruitful and multiplied to the tune of three children. Her eldest, Michael, is a social worker and artist in NYC. Adam is a writer and performer on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Daughter Susie is a professional writer, comedian and performer who works in television.
Publishers Weekly called Edith Layton "one of romance's most gifted writers." Layton has enthralled readers and critics with books that capture the spirit of historically distant places and peoples. "What I've found," she says, "is that life was very different in every era, but that love and love of life is always the same."
Layton won an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement award for the Historical genre in 2003 and a Reviewers' Choice award for her book The Conquest in 2001. Amazon.com's top reviewer called Layton's Alas, My Love (April 2005, Avon Books), "a wonderful historical." And her recent release, Bride Enchanted, is a Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee.
Edith Layton lived on Long Island where she devoted time as a volunteer for the North Shore Animal League , the world's largest no-kill pet rescue and adoption organization. Her dog Daisy --adopted herself from a shelter-- is just one member of Layton's household menagerie.
Edith Layton passed away on June 1, 2009 from ovarian cancer.
Graduating from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in creative writing and theater, Edith worked for various media, including a radio station and a major motion picture company. She married and went to suburbia, where she was fruitful and multiplied to the tune of three children. Her eldest, Michael, is a social worker and artist in NYC. Adam is a writer and performer on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Daughter Susie is a professional writer, comedian and performer who works in television.
Publishers Weekly called Edith Layton "one of romance's most gifted writers." Layton has enthralled readers and critics with books that capture the spirit of historically distant places and peoples. "What I've found," she says, "is that life was very different in every era, but that love and love of life is always the same."
Layton won an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement award for the Historical genre in 2003 and a Reviewers' Choice award for her book The Conquest in 2001. Amazon.com's top reviewer called Layton's Alas, My Love (April 2005, Avon Books), "a wonderful historical." And her recent release, Bride Enchanted, is a Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee.
Edith Layton lived on Long Island where she devoted time as a volunteer for the North Shore Animal League , the world's largest no-kill pet rescue and adoption organization. Her dog Daisy --adopted herself from a shelter-- is just one member of Layton's household menagerie.
Edith Layton passed away on June 1, 2009 from ovarian cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 18, 2008
I recently mentioned here my love for Signet Regencies and this book is a Signet Super Regency. A traditional regency a bit bigger in size. It's part of a trilogy which my friend I. loaned me. I went to check the correct order on Fantastic Fiction but the list there is by release date and I ended up reading the middle one first. That didn't spoil my enjoyment of it although I would have preferred to read them in order.
Francesca Wyndham knew the folly of gambling. She had seen her father, Lord Wyndham, lose the family fortune, forcing her to become a plain chaperone to an empty-headed young Miss.
But now Francesca was taking a gamble even her father would have blanched at. She was falling in love with the irresistible Arden Lyons, a gentleman who was clearly anything but a gentleman when it came to winning what he wanted, whether a hand of cards, a test of strength, or a lady's favours.
She knew nothing about this man except that she wanted him from the moment she saw him...and though his past was a dark mystery, his motives for choosing her over other seductive or wealthy young beauties were even more mysterious. Still, Francesca dared to pit her innocence against Arden's expertise -- in a game where passion took all...
My favourite thing about this book was the hero - Arden Lyons. When Arden meets Francesca she is working as a companion to a rich tradesman daughter. A place her father, a notorious gamester, found for her since he lost all his fortune and couldn't support her. We soon realise that Arden decides to court the said daughter in hopes of being closer to her companion. However he believes her to be a widow and 25 when in truth she is single and 21. With a harsh past behind him Arden believes someone older and experienced would be ideal for him and confronted with Francesca's inexperience he feels she deserves better. However he doesn't want to abandon her as her father does to run away from debtor's prison and offers friendship and transport back to London instead. Francesca feels more attracted to him the better she knows him and to totally ruin her good image of Arden Arden decides to take her on a journey of discovery of his past. From his noble biological father to the slums of London where he spent sometime doing all sorts of jobs till he became king of the underworld and decided to leave that life behind. We get to know at the same time has Frances and there's a lot to be said of a man who protects and loves a heroine enough to want the best for her and so wants to give her a safe future without him or the eventual threats of his past.
There's a mystery subplot about who tries to kill Arden that is at the same time a plot device to allow Francesca and the reader to see how beloved he really is by everyone in the criminal world. Although that really borders on the cliché somehow Layton pulls it off and we end up with a nice little sweet story.
Grade - B
Francesca Wyndham knew the folly of gambling. She had seen her father, Lord Wyndham, lose the family fortune, forcing her to become a plain chaperone to an empty-headed young Miss.
But now Francesca was taking a gamble even her father would have blanched at. She was falling in love with the irresistible Arden Lyons, a gentleman who was clearly anything but a gentleman when it came to winning what he wanted, whether a hand of cards, a test of strength, or a lady's favours.
She knew nothing about this man except that she wanted him from the moment she saw him...and though his past was a dark mystery, his motives for choosing her over other seductive or wealthy young beauties were even more mysterious. Still, Francesca dared to pit her innocence against Arden's expertise -- in a game where passion took all...
My favourite thing about this book was the hero - Arden Lyons. When Arden meets Francesca she is working as a companion to a rich tradesman daughter. A place her father, a notorious gamester, found for her since he lost all his fortune and couldn't support her. We soon realise that Arden decides to court the said daughter in hopes of being closer to her companion. However he believes her to be a widow and 25 when in truth she is single and 21. With a harsh past behind him Arden believes someone older and experienced would be ideal for him and confronted with Francesca's inexperience he feels she deserves better. However he doesn't want to abandon her as her father does to run away from debtor's prison and offers friendship and transport back to London instead. Francesca feels more attracted to him the better she knows him and to totally ruin her good image of Arden Arden decides to take her on a journey of discovery of his past. From his noble biological father to the slums of London where he spent sometime doing all sorts of jobs till he became king of the underworld and decided to leave that life behind. We get to know at the same time has Frances and there's a lot to be said of a man who protects and loves a heroine enough to want the best for her and so wants to give her a safe future without him or the eventual threats of his past.
There's a mystery subplot about who tries to kill Arden that is at the same time a plot device to allow Francesca and the reader to see how beloved he really is by everyone in the criminal world. Although that really borders on the cliché somehow Layton pulls it off and we end up with a nice little sweet story.
Grade - B
October 9, 2014
I love this book so much. It's been a favorite of mine since I first read it, and I just rediscovered it today.
I love the hero as much for his nobility of character and facile wit as for his conviction that he is a great beast who does not deserve a respectable woman as his bride and so courts a widow, thinking that she has the experience to handle his nature.
Of course, he does so in a fashion such that she never suspects that he's courting her, nor does he expect that she's not actually a widow -- has never even been engaged, much less married -- and that her dead "husband" is alive.
And when he does propose and she confesses, he immediately retracts the offer because a virgin bride is too good for him!
Ah, insecurity. For some reason, I crave reading about the insecure.
Things don't remain that way and when he resolves to show both the good and bad parts of his past to scare her off, she doesn't scare. And so the lion wins his lady, and all is well.
I love the hero as much for his nobility of character and facile wit as for his conviction that he is a great beast who does not deserve a respectable woman as his bride and so courts a widow, thinking that she has the experience to handle his nature.
Of course, he does so in a fashion such that she never suspects that he's courting her, nor does he expect that she's not actually a widow -- has never even been engaged, much less married -- and that her dead "husband" is alive.
And when he does propose and she confesses, he immediately retracts the offer because a virgin bride is too good for him!
Ah, insecurity. For some reason, I crave reading about the insecure.
Things don't remain that way and when he resolves to show both the good and bad parts of his past to scare her off, she doesn't scare. And so the lion wins his lady, and all is well.
August 30, 2008
This was lent to me by Ioana along with the others in this series. I read this as a little interlude between books I have to read for work, and what a joy. Layton is so very clever, and has such a knack at describing people and situations; I just loved it. Her language is a rare treat, and I am delighted to have had the opportunity to read this pearl which I really savored (well, I guess it's more the oyster I would savor, but I suppose you see what I mean). One more to go and then they'll all head back to Romania.
March 27, 2010
Even better than the first one. Can hardly wait till the next one!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews