Series: The Gamblers of Cravens, #1
Traits & Tropes: titled hero; angst; heroine with a bad reputation; opposites attract; hero is engaged to heroine's sister; enemies to lovers
Publication Date: 06.01.93
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London, England, 1820
Heat Level: 5
Rating: 2/5
Narration Rating: 4/5
Lily Lawson derives pleasure from her increasingly shocking and inappropriate behavior in the face of society's strictures. She delights in her scandalous reputation and has no respect for anyone’s rules when it comes to getting her way, and right now that means keeping her younger sister from marrying Alex, the Earl of Raiford, a handsome, arrogant peer who wants to avoid falling in love.
Alex is infuriated by his reaction to Lily, but he can’t resist her. He’s determined to make her regret interfering in his life by taking everything she has to give. Alex and Lily bait each other at every meeting but beneath the surface animosity between them is a passionate attraction that destroys both of their defenses and exposes secrets Lily had hoped to keep to herself.
This book was a shocking disappointment for me so be prepared for possible spoilers ahead as this will doubtless devolve into a rant. For starters, I wasn’t overly fond of Alex, but I could not stand Lily. She may just be the most unlikable heroines I’ve ever read. She came off as a horrid, selfish creature without a care for the effect her machinations might actually have on other people. She was a master manipulator and Alex saw right through her. When she initially arrives at Alex’s home, Lily does nothing but complain about how entitled and arrogant he is, but she’s the one who’s in a place where she wasn’t invited and refuses to leave. That nerve is the height of arrogance, so it just makes her seem like a hypocrite when she tries to call him out. Her fake façade of confidence and foul language was a bit over the top to me. I really thought I would find it charming, but it just made it seem like Lily lacked depth. By the time she stooped so low as to involve Alex’s younger brother in their little competition of annoyances, that was about the end of my rope with her. She was so focused on her own pain and any slight against her, be it perceived or real, that she was incapable of considering anyone else’s struggles. Alex was still grieving his late fiancée and Lily basically made fun of him for it. Though she did have a good heart, Lily was extremely immature. Alex was no peach himself, but Lily berated him for ‘belittling her feelings’ when she had done nothing but make light of his feelings for his late fiancée.
By the time Lily’s secret and her true plight were revealed and I was supposed to be feeling sympathetic towards her, it was a bit too late, and I no longer cared. With regards to the plot itself, Alex suddenly gambling for a night with Lily seemed way out of character for him and made no sense. I wasn’t a fan of how this brought them together, but it still didn’t make me much more sympathetic to Lily. It seemed way out of character given how honorable Alex was and made the relationship seem cheap. It already didn’t have much going for it and it certainly didn’t need that. If this wasn’t enough to turn me against Lily, she got me by complaining that Alex hadn’t had his horses’ tails docked. I’m a lifelong horsewoman myself and find that practice cruel so when Lily championed it that was about the limit for me. It also seemed very out of character given that she continually professes to hate cruelty and rescues a bear from being sold to a baiting den. These two practices may not be on the same level of cruelty, but a character who abhors one should surely abhor the other, or so I would think.
The final, final straw for me was Lily’s short-sightedness and just plain stupidity in keeping the truth of her situation from Alex, even after they married. For one thing, the secrets undermined their relationship and highlighted how one-sided it had become, but mostly it was just idiotic of her not to confide in Alex and utilize his vast resources to help her. I definitely think I would’ve found her confiding in him and seeking his help to be much more romantic than reading what is essentially the story of Lily doing everything on her own despite those who would potentially be her allies. Instead, she spurned Alex for much of the story and viewed others in terms of how she could use them for her own ends. Lily withholds the truth from Alex because she’s afraid of losing him and yet she knows how much he abhors lying and still can’t recognize that that withholding is what will drive him away.
Apologies that this was more rant than review, but I had to get that out so I would remember why I rated it so low, as I rarely do that. This is, of course, one of my favorite authors so finding a book of hers that doesn’t work for me was quite surprising. In fact, I probably would’ve dnf’d this one had I not been listening to the audio. Nonetheless, one can’t expect to enjoy everything and that was certainly the case for me here, though I’m sure there are plenty of other readers who will be thoroughly charmed by Lily’s hijinks and love the story. That, friends, is the beauty of books.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/4174124837
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2449092846
Comments
Post a Comment