Customer Reviews

Passion for the Game (Georgian, Book 2)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sylvia Day just keeps getting better and better. From the first page of "Passion For The Game" to the last I was enthralled and read it in nearly one sitting. The love between Maria and Christopher was convincing and their chemistry was scorching.

Yes, this is an erotic romance, however, not along the clinical lines. The love scenes were highly sensuous and graphic but beautifully written, not at all gratuitous, imho. I have read my fair share of erotica and have found very few authors that can combine hot sex with an emotional romance. Sylvia Day is one of the few.

There was plenty of sexual tension, angst, hero-jealousy, and a really well drawn cast of characters that have stuck with me long after I closed the last page.

I cannot wait for Colin and Amelia's book.

The Lady Winter, rumored to be a Black Widow with two husbands already dead early in their marriages. Treated as a pawn by men who would use her, she has learned to exert her control and independence subtly, through seduction and subterfuge. Manipulated by her ruthless stepfather, she will do anything to rescue her young sister from her own fate. Now both her stepfather and an agent of the Crown have set her against the notorious Christopher St. John, and Maria's very life depends on her ability to ferret proof of the handsome rogue's misdeeds.

But another agent of the Crown has blackmailed St. John into investigating the mysterious and beautiful Lady Maria Winter and the deaths of her two husbands - both of whom happened to be agents of the Crown themselves. If he can prove her guilt, he saves his own neck from the gallows. But all bets are off when he finally meets the dark beauty, and he finds her more dangerous than he ever anticipated - to his heart.

From the moment I read my first Sylvia Day story in the anthology Alluring Tales--Awaken the Fantasy (Avon Red), I was a fan. Since then, I've read many of this author's books and purchased still more that I'm itching to find time to read. It is a wonderful moment for me when I receive one of her books for review, because not only do I know her books always earn a positive review, which is easier to write, but that means I get to prioritize her book in my reading pile!

Passion For the Game quickly earned its place as my favorite Sylvia Day title to date. While I have loved all of her books, something about this one just completely did it for me. The plot, the characters, all of it served to hook me from the beginning and refused to let me go until the end. Nay, I can't even say it has released me now, since I can't stop thinking about the sequels to this marvelous book I know are coming!

Both St. John and Lady Winter are people who find themselves the victim of their circumstances, but neither are the type to allow themselves to be cast as victims, and they each soon take control of the situation, butting heads in the most delightfully sexy ways. Watching these two strong-willed personalities `duke it out' both in and out of the bedroom makes for a gripping story you won't be able to put down until the end!

I have to tell you, however, that I was quite upset at the end of Chapter Four. It was my own fault, really, though. You see, I like to read during my lunch hour. I had the great misfortune to reach the end of Chapter Four as my lunch ended one day, and there I was, stuck at work for another five hours with the heroine standing near-naked in the hallway with the hero completely naked in his doorway. I seriously considered whether or not I could go home for the rest of the day so I could read the rest of the book - and I don't ever play hooky! Alas, I stuck out the rest of the day, although my mind kept wandering back to Passion for the Game and the heat that I could feel spilling from those pages when I left our intrepid couple. I headed straight home from work that evening, and immediately devoured the rest of the book. I even forgot to eat dinner that night, I was so consumed with this story.

I don't care if you love historicals or not, this is a fantastic story that is a must-read for Romance lovers. While set in historical time, the period is not the focus of the piece, and it is easy to imagine this pair of lovers in any era, fighting the same sexy battle. Do yourself a huge favor and run right out to get your copy of Passion for the Game. You will not be disappointed!

Series Order:
Ask For It
Passion for the Game
A Passion for Him

From the back cover:
Christopher St.John and Maria, Lady Winter, are infamous in Society for their misdeeds and their charming allures. Wherever they go, scandalized whispers and covetous glances follow. A ruthless pirate and a widow whose two husbands have met untimely deaths, the wickedly renowned figures are even more intriguing to the authorities. Now they've been set on the most provocative of tasks -St.John is released fro prison to learn the "Wintry Widow's" intimate secrets, while Lady Winter is charged with performing a similar deception in reverse. One will succeed. One will hang.

Another hot romance from Day. Be warned the sex/love scenes are very graphic. I thought the story was very unique and well written. St. John's only chance at freedom is to get evidence confirming Lady Winter's guilt in her husbands deaths. Lady Winter, on the other hand, is being blackmailed by an evil relative, who wants to know information about St.John. And there is also another person who wants the Lady to get evidence against St.John. So a game of deception begins. Both the H/H start an affair in hopes of getting information out of one another, but it doesn't exactly go that way. A tangled web of deception and love is woven. This was the most interesting part of the book. I had no idea where the book was going half the time and that made for some great reading. At some points I honestly thought that the hero or heroine would sell the other out for their own gain (well if death is really another choice), but DUH! it's a romance so of course its a happy ending but the road there has some pretty interesting twists and turns.

Plenty of excellent secondary characters who could easily (and hopefully) have their own books. And a cute secondary 'teen' romance that will be explored in a sequel.

Not as emotional as Day's previous two historicals (Ask For It and The Stranger I Married) but definitely as good. So if you liked those, you'll enjoy this one. A hunky hero and a gorgeous heroine with an intriguing storyline and some smokin' love scenes- seriously HOT!

one little annoying thing -the hero is blonde so what's with the male cover model with black hair?

Sylvia Day can be a hit or miss author, in which sometimes she relies too heavily on sex to get her story across With her latest, she has hit her stride and to date I believe this is her best novel written.
This story has everything a romance enthusiast would want. Of course there are Day's trademark sex scenes but what the hero and heroine have is something more intense and passionate, more than I have seen in a long time from other authors who try and don't succeed. Here, Day does and I applaud her.
Maria is twice married and her stepfather who is a cruel and heartless man holds something over her head and simply blackmails her into his way of thinking. He basically killed her mother when she was younger and now he hides her younger sister away from Maria to get what he wants. Maria comes across as a cold shell of a woman because of him.
Christopher's life is a little bit more convoluted then hers. She catches his eye and he is now on the hunt to have her in his bed. Plus he is also being blackmailed and she is his victim.
When these two comes together in the sheets- watch out! Even with major trust issues between them, these two just want to be loved.
There is also a secondary story with Amelia, Maria's sixteen year old sister and her undying love for Colin a gypsy boy who works for her father. Their story is so sweet yet powerful in it's telling that I was finding myself reading way too fast to get to theirs more so than Maria's and Christopher's.
Overall and excellent feat of storytelling and the sequel about Amelia and Christopher will soon arrive.(Called- A Passion For Him)
Again, Bravo!

Katiebabs

A Passion for Him

Maria, Lady Winter, lives a life subject to her stepfather, Lord Welton's, whims. She has been forced to endure things that would have broken a lesser woman, but Maria will do anything he asks to ensure the safety of her sister, whom Welton holds hostage. The latest scheme Welton has hatched involves finding information about a notorious criminal, Christopher St. John, for blackmail. However, this last "mission" Lord Welton has charged her with might cost her more than she is prepared to give.

The agents of the crown have finally trapped Christopher St. John, but St. John will be granted a pardon in exchange for helping to apprehend another criminal. However, when St. John learns his target is the infamous Lady Winter the rules of the game change. Now, he needs to investigate Lady Winter, her propensity for widowhood, and turn all evidence over to the crown. He never expected that involvement with Lady Winter would change his life, but will both of them survive?

This is not your mother's regency romance! Passion For The Game is an edgy novel full of plot twists and raw sensuality. This book is not your average romance; the characters are infuriating at times and the plots and counter-plots will keep you busy trying to anticipate how Ms. Day will get the characters their happy ending. Sylvia Day crafts an action packed adventure where her characters are flawed and harsh making them seem as real as your next-door neighbor. The eroticism of the sex scenes in this book is both raw and compelling, and they will leave you breathless. Passion For The Game is a great read for the beach; so don't forget to pick it up next time you go shopping.

Sabella
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

The concept of Maria and Christopher acting as spies on each other sounds intriguing and could be good, but in this case I didn't like it. They were supposed to be uncovering each others' secrets, but for most of the book when they were together they just had passionate and fighting sex, but never asked any questions. The only actions they took were to place spies in each others' homes as domestic help. A few times, one would learn something from a domestic spy and then make incorrect assumptions about the other. Then they would get together, have sex and not say anything about it. Some of this reminded me of my pet peeve of conflict based on incorrect assumptions rather than excitement and intrigue from spying on each other. I'm having trouble explaining it, but somehow it didn't work for me.

The reasons behind their spying were the following.

Christopher did smuggling and pirate activities. Sedgewick was a government agent who wanted a promotion. He found a witness against Christopher and demanded the witness's cooperation as ransom for the safety of his family. He told Christopher to get evidence against Maria to keep the witness quiet. Maria had been married to two government agents who were killed by poison. Sedgewick believed convicting her of the crime would further his career.

Maria's stepfather Welton, kept Maria's half sister Amelia away from Maria for many years. He threatened to sell her into slavery if Maria wouldn't do what Welton asked. Welton told Maria she must spy on Christopher to get information that Welton could use to blackmail Christopher. Welton needed money and saw Christopher as a blackmail source.

A subplot involved Maria trying to find her sister Amelia to get her away from Welton. Welton had used this threat over the years to force Maria to do a number of things including marrying her two former husbands.

I did like a couple of parts. I liked Christopher's intense lust for Maria. I also liked the story about Colin who was a gypsy stable boy. He and Amelia loved each other, but he knew they could never be together because he was a servant while she was titled. Simon, Maria's closest friend, makes an interesting offer to Colin at the end. Colin's story is told in the sequel "A Passion For Him." Simon's story is told in the sequel "Don't Tempt Me."

Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: six lengthy scenes. Setting: 1700s or 1800s England. Copyright: 2007. Genre: historical romance.

For a listing of my reviews of other Sylvia Day books, see my 5 star review of "The Stranger I Married" posted on 1/19/07.

Frist, I would like to say ,thank you Sylvia Day for coming on the scene when I needed you the most. I was just about ready to give up on romance for A while after reading one boring book after another. I even read some of my old Susan Johnson books again because there was just nothing else out there that would hold my interest. Even my girl's Susan Johnson's new books started lacking in the love scene department." Passion For The Game" gave my love of reading romance new life. Chiristopher St. John and Maria, Lady Winter has A reputation that none can live down. Both have to find out the secrets of each other to save themselves from their enemies. I was basically on the edge of my seat with this book hoping that they would not turn on each other. The love sences were hot and steamy, Just the way I like them! I was A bit concerned when I saw that there were so many handsome alpha male secondary characters in this book, but they only overshadowed Christopher a little, so I got over it. I usally don't like to read about heroes that were from A past book in which the heroine didn't choose him, but Sylvia day made the secondary character Simon Quinn seem so hot that I simply cannot wait to read his story!

This book was a great disappointment. The premise of Spy vs Spy grew tiresome very quickly.

Like another viewer, I could not wait for the book to end. I only kept reading because I hoped it would get better. Alas, that was not to be.

I also did not like the fact that half of this books seemed to be devoted to setting up the next two books.

Lastly, Christopher is not my idea of a hero. While I loved his beautiful blondeness, I was turned off by this constant killing, the fact that he was "with" at least two other women in the course of this relatively short book and that he is a submissive in the bed room. While I am all for equality between the sheets, the idea of a man jumpling at orders in the bedroom just does not appeal to me.

This book was SO well written. I just loved the sexual tension between Christopher and Maria. And the passion...whew!! They were like fireworks! I'll just say I would highly recommend this one! This is my third read by Sylvia Day and I have yet to be dissappointed. She is not "formulaic" in the least and each of her books have been a delight to read. I also love the way she develops her secondary characters. I am looking forwards to Simon's story along with Amelia's!

Another sensual historical masterpiece from Sylvia Day. This lady has an incredible historical voice - the narrative, dialog, the whole thing flows smoothly and sounds completely natural. Christopher and Maria are well-matched, definitely. And when they get together, its incredibly intense. There's an almost brutal sensuality that surrounds these two. Very erotic.
What I love about Ms. Day's stories is just that - the story always keeps me interested. I never find myself skipping over parts to get to the "relationship" issues, or become bored. I'm always hooked right from the start, and if I don't have enough time to finish one of her books in one sitting, I'll wait until I do.
Her historicals are very unique in a way that's hard for me to capture or explain. But I'm completely immersed in the worlds this author creates.