Wedding Gamble (Harlequin Historical) [Paperback]

Julia Justiss (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harlequin Historical | Publication Date: May 1, 1999

Sarah Wellingford did her duty and married the compelling Marquess of Englemere, a man who awakens passions within her. Nicholas Stanhope's tragic past has convinced him that women are not to be trusted. But this marriage of convenience is becoming very inconvenient, as he is perilously close to falling for his wife.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sarah Wellingford's father gambled away her future and that of her siblings. The bank is about to foreclose on their estate, unless Sarah can come up with the money in ten days. Her only chance at the amount of money she needs is to marry it. And thus, Sarah is forced to abandon the promise she made to Sinjin, her first love, never to marry since they could not marry each other. Unfortunately, the wealthy men among her suitors is limited. And the one most eager to marry her, Sir James Findlay, is a villain whose touch she detests. His relentless and ruthless pursuit soon chases away all other prospects. Sarah's season is sponsored by Lady Beaumont, in exchange for Sarah's calming influence on her temperamental daughter Clarissa. Clarissa's temper puts her engagement with the handsome Marquess of Englemere on shaky ground. Sarah's role of peacemaker puts her in frequent contact with Englemere. They become friends and he attempts to find her a suitable husband. But time is running out and a nasty encounter with Findlay forces Sarah to accept the immediate solution offered-marry Englemere. Clarissa is supportive and Sarah is soon the Marchioness of Englemere. Happiness seems assured. Until Sinjin reappears. And Sir James Findlay picks another cash strapped young girl as his bride. Sarah is determined to rescue the girl, even if she has to go against her husband's wishes and destroy their marriage. The quest for freshness within the Regency genre has many authors exploring the fantastic or supernatural. Julia Justiss has managed to stay within the traditional boundaries and create a plot far from ordinary. The characters move with flesh and bone across the page. The Wedding Gamble is a delight! No luck involved here. A quality read is a sure bet! Justiss is a talented writer with a keen ear for dialogue! Don't miss this one! Linda Fitzner -- Copyright © 1999 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved -- From Literary Times

Product Details

• Paperback: 297 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373290640
• ISBN-13: 978-0373290642
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,686,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up near Annapolis, MD, a gem of colonial American architecture which from an early age inspired in me a fascination with history. After majoring in French and History in college, I worked as a business journalist before marrying a naval officer I met (where else?) at a Navy football game. That began a vagabond period of 12 moves in 15 years which included 2 year postings in Tunis, Tunisia and Oslo, Norway. After my husband left the service, we returned to his home in the Piney Woods of Northeast Texas where we built a reproduction Georgian house and began raising our three children and assorted dogs. We live there still on 24 beautiful acres of pine forest overlooking a small lake. Along with gardening, reading, and keeping up with children's activities, I teach French at a local high school.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A puzzling book in parts..., December 11, 2001

By 

bookjunkiereviews (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wedding Gamble (Harlequin Historical) (Paperback)

I sought this book out (...) just to find out the story of Sarah and Nicholas Englemere, who play such a prominent role in THE PROPER WIFE. I ended up reading the book in one sitting (meaning it certainly meets one criterion - keeping my interest sustained), but I was left oddly disappointed. Why? The plot is great, the devices are great. What is a problem for me, perhaps, is not so much the fact that the story begins with the hero engaged to another woman (a virtual shrew), or that the heroine is penniless and on the threshold of marriage to a sadist. The first part of the book was perfect.

My problems began in the second part of the book (after the couple get married), beginning with Sir James (the villain) gatecrashing the wedding party, and culminating perhaps in the remarkable scene between Englemere and Sinjun. Let us just say that Sinjun's suggestion took my breath away, almost as much as it did the Marquess's. Furthermore, it exposed a new facet of him, which I had not expected from THE PROPER WIFE (where there is a wonderful scene between him and Englemere).

The ending was powerful and suspenseful, in that I wondered at Sarah's conviction that she would be rescued in time and her willingness to risk her life, not just her reputation, to save other women. Yet, I could fully understand where she was coming from. The difficulty I had was with the apparent bravado of Englemere's former mistress, and the blindness of husband and wife to the fact that both she and another person were being used by the villain to create trouble in their marriage.

Read this book for the remarkable beginning and the fierceness of Sarah's convictions. You will be frustrated in parts (and I could wish that her feelings were left unclear until the end) because Sarah is unwilling to face Englemere with the truth - that she loves him. [You knew that, didn't you?]. A conversation between husband and wife might have cleared up both the Big Misunderstanding and the Little Misunderstandings.

Justiss is right in showing Englemere as unwilling to talk about his past love life to his new wife, and Sarah as hesitant to expose her feelings, and in fearing for her security with an apparent gambler. But to us post-modern readers, some of this behavior seems strange - although it is the result of the author's effort to remain true to the period.

I am rating this a 3.5 because a lot of things did not make sense to me: 1) why Englemere chose Lady Clarissa when he wanted a quiet calm wife; 2) why Sarah's ancestral estate was not entailed (the explanation was not good enough); 3) why Sinjun thought he could persuade Sarah into an adulterous affair, even though it would be dishonourable and completely out-of-character; 4) why Sarah refused to confront her husband with his mistress's presence at her ball; 5) why neither Sarah nor Englemere suspected the fine hand of Sir James; 6) why Sarah felt that she could trust either her husband or her former lover to rescue her from Sir James [my biggest problem].

And as I said, I would have liked to see Sarah's feelings about her former love far more uncertain. Once she had admitted to herself that she loved her husband, her inability to confront him about Mrs Ingram made little sense. We are to believe that she thought Englemere did not love her, and that she hoped to persuade him into loving her with sex alone.

Which brings me to my last difficulty. I just had a lot of trouble with the last sex scene. Not just because it was so explicit, but because the language and euphemisms were far too flowery, completely unlike the rest of the novel. It is as if a Bertrice Small scene was plunked into a well-mannered Regency. That is why the book gets only 3.5. It is a good book, but it is not a keeper for me (independent of the grade). For the best work by Justiss published so far, I recommend her third book A SCANDALOUS PROPOSAL (published 2000).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good for first book, January 18, 2000

By 

Therese (El Paso, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wedding Gamble (Harlequin Historical) (Paperback)

I enjoyed "The Wedding Gamble" for the most part. Sarah seemed to be such a strong heroine that I felt she should have had the guts to speak to her husband about her feelings regarding his mistress, as opposed to just accepting and worrying about it. Also the situation with Sinjin was never really cleared up to my satisfaction. I hope that Ms. Justiss intends on writing another book with Sinjin as the hero so that we can find out what lucky lady wins him. Otherwise I really enjoyed the book and Ms. Justiss appears to have a promising writing career ahead.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly delightful book!!, July 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wedding Gamble (Harlequin Historical) (Paperback)

I enjoyed The Wedding Gamble so much. It was cleverly written--both sweet and steamy. The humor was wonderful and the author shows an immense knowledge of the Regency period. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good Regency romance.