May 7, 2017

Book Review LILY AND THE GAMBLER by Linda McLaughlin




Respectability is in the eye of the beholder. Or so Lily Penhallow hopes when she assumes the guise of the widow Albright. She has learned the price of flaunting convention and is determined to obey society's rules from now on. After her lover, Nigel Albright, was killed in a duel over a card game, Lily dons widow’s weeds and travels to Grass Valley, California where she plans to marry the man her uncle works for, a respectable mine owner named Hugh Ogilvie. Then, on the riverboat from San Francisco, she meets Creighton 'King' Callaway, a professional gambler, just the kind of man she should avoid.

King believes that since life is a gamble, there's no point in planning for the future. You have to trust Lady Luck. After meeting Lily, King knows he has found his Queen of Hearts. But can he convince her to pass up a sober businessman for a foot-loose card sharp?

Only Lady Luck knows for sure.




 Buy link: Amazon
My Review
Linda McLaughlin, one of my favorite authors, writes another winner!  If you've read any of  Linda McLaughlin’s books you know she doesn't disappoint.  From the first page to the last. This author is entertaining in her storytelling and keeps you flipping pages.

As always, the author comes through with an entertaining, smart and well written book that keeps you involved to the very end.

Lily Penhallow  posing as the widow Alright and King Callaway are fantastic characters and their story is everything you hope for in a Western Historical Romance.  The heroine was smart and strong despite her young age. The hero was enticingly rakish.  What King did, seemed not right to Lily, but I was able to see glimpses of his true, kinder, more gentlemanly self  as well. It was an intoxicating combination. Although they may protest, women love a "bad boy" regardless of the era. The seduction scenes were wonderful. Hot and spicy and deliciously drawn out. For me, there is nothing better than the anticipation as long as it culminates in a HEA. The road to this HEA was paved with obstacles and misunderstandings and a little bit of danger that made this one of the best stories for in a Western Historical Romance I have read this year.

I highly recommend this book, it is so worth your time to read it.

6 comments:

  1. Carmen, thank you so much for the lovely review! I like the phrase "enticingly rakish" for King. He was inspired by James Garner's Bret Maverick from the old TV show. So glad you enjoyed the book.

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    1. It is a refreshing story. I thoroughly enjoyed it, Linda.

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  2. Linda, I was picturing Maverick when I read the blurb. Love this gambler already, and what an enticing title. Thanks for sharing this book, Carmen.

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  3. This sounds like a fun read. Congrats to Linda on another winner!

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  4. Thank you for checking the book review, Mae!

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