The Earl's Prize

Rating:
Summary: how I wish more romance novels read like this one did...
Review: "The Earl's Prize" is a nice, unassuming romance novel about a rakish earl and the ordinary and well bred young lady who captures his fancy.

Miss Amy Bainbridge knows precisely what means to have a gambler in the family. Her father was a gambler and quite frequently that meant living in less than desirable neighbourhoods, going without enough food or coal -- in short living a life of shabby gentility. Now her brother has grown up to become a gambler as well, and it's beginning to look as if a life of never ending scrimping and scraping is looming in front of Amy when an unexpected piece of good fortune lands at her feet. Amy finds a lottery ticket. And not just any lottery ticket, but a winning one at that. At first Amy thinks that the ticket belongs to her brother, Richard. But when it turns out not to be Richard's ticket, Amy realises that she will have to shed her quiet ways and go into Society in order to find the ticket's rightful owner. But this is a move that fills her with both excitement and dread, for this will bring her all the more into contact with the dreadful Earl of Tallant, a sinfully good-looking gentleman who is a gambler and rake, and who, for some reason or the other, seems bent on pursuing an acquaintance! Can Amy keep her good sense while she searches for the rightful owner of the lottery ticket, or will the Earl turn her head completely and make her forget all propriety...

"The Earl's Prize" is a rather typical Regency-era romance novel that revolves around an earl who is not as black as he's been painted, and a young lady who's not as straight-laced as she thought she was -- in other words nothing new under the sun. What makes this novel so very enjoyable then was the manner in which Nicola Cornick allowed for her story to unfold and the two main characters she created. Both Amy and the earl are characters that most readers will be able to take to their hearts and root for them to find their hapily-ever-after ending. As I noted at the very beginning, this is a very nice and unassuming novel that will (unwittingly) steal your heart. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: how I wish more romance novels read like this one did...
Review: "The Earl's Prize" is a nice, unassuming romance novel about a rakish earl and the ordinary and well bred young lady who captures his fancy.

Miss Amy Bainbridge knows precisely what means to have a gambler in the family. Her father was a gambler and quite frequently that meant living in less than desirable neighbourhoods, going without enough food or coal -- in short living a life of shabby gentility. Now her brother has grown up to become a gambler as well, and it's beginning to look as if a life of never ending scrimping and scraping is looming in front of Amy when an unexpected piece of good fortune lands at her feet. Amy finds a lottery ticket. And not just any lottery ticket, but a winning one at that. At first Amy thinks that the ticket belongs to her brother, Richard. But when it turns out not to be Richard's ticket, Amy realises that she will have to shed her quiet ways and go into Society in order to find the ticket's rightful owner. But this is a move that fills her with both excitement and dread, for this will bring her all the more into contact with the dreadful Earl of Tallant, a sinfully good-looking gentleman who is a gambler and rake, and who, for some reason or the other, seems bent on pursuing an acquaintance! Can Amy keep her good sense while she searches for the rightful owner of the lottery ticket, or will the Earl turn her head completely and make her forget all propriety...

"The Earl's Prize" is a rather typical Regency-era romance novel that revolves around an earl who is not as black as he's been painted, and a young lady who's not as straight-laced as she thought she was -- in other words nothing new under the sun. What makes this novel so very enjoyable then was the manner in which Nicola Cornick allowed for her story to unfold and the two main characters she created. Both Amy and the earl are characters that most readers will be able to take to their hearts and root for them to find their hapily-ever-after ending. As I noted at the very beginning, this is a very nice and unassuming novel that will (unwittingly) steal your heart. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: Great read - charming and engaging
Review: Amy Bainbridge is a much tried heroine, her family ruined by her father's gambling is set even more firmly on the road to perdition by her brother following in his parent's footsteps. One evening, much to her disgust, he brings home a trio of friends to gamble. The next day Amy picks up a lottery ticket in the dishevilled room and decides to go along to the draw in a fit of curiosity. To her shock - the winning ticket is hers! Or rather she holds the winning ticket and has absolutely no idea who is its rightful owner. Wholly honest, she feels she must find the owner, very much over the horrified protests of her family who were delighted at the prospect of real money. She sets out to discover which gambler of the evening it could be.
The rakish Earl of Tallant, Joss, was one of the aforementioned gamblers of that night and is in fact the true owner. She is both attracted to his person and repulsed by his character. He also finds himself attracted and very much interested against his inclinations (he is intent upon finding out what she will do with the ticket).
The machinations of several shady characters and Tallant's own sister force the pair into an odd relationship wherein they both discover more than they bargained for.
This is a completely charming tale, engaging hero and heroine. Neither are overly prone to theatrics and both in the end discover each other to be highly principled. The era was also believably created without modern mores irritatingly being slated home to the characters.
A great read.

Rating:
Summary: Would the rake win a wife?
Review: Miss Amy Bainbridge had seen what gambling could do to a man and his family as she watched her father lose his money repeatedly, eventually taking his own life in desperation. Amy is determined to not follow his path, and abhors gambling and those who gamble. So when she meets the dashing Earl of Tallant, she is determined not to fan the flames of attraction because he is a gambler just like her father. Once Amy gets a fortune quite by accident, she finds herself being pursued by several eligible men. So why is that her mind keeps drifting to the Earl of Tallant?

Joss, Earl of Tallant, had not had an easy life. He had watched his parents' marriage fail dismally, and he was determined to not fall in love or to marry. When he first sees Amy, he doesn't think she'll be any temptation to him at all - not only does she not inspire his amorous attentions, but she abhors him and his lifestyle. As he gets to know Amy better, however, he finds that his carefully constructed facade of polite detachment may just crumble after all!

I really thought that I would like this book, and there were some good parts to it. The reason I am giving it only one star, however, is because I was left wondering where the romance was! The love story was crammed into the last 75 pages of the book, and it wasn't that good at any rate. Joss was still sleeping with his mistress with 100 pages left in the book, and he didn't dismiss his mistress until there was only 50 pages left to the book! That is just not what I find attractive in a romance novel at all. The hero should NOT be keeping a mistress for 5/6 of the book. Ick.

I realize that it may be realistic to have Joss so portrayed, but honestly, I do not read romance novels for realism. If I wanted history, I would read a history book; and if I want to look at a man who is supposedly in love with one person but is sleeping with another, I can just look around my town and surely find many! I read a romance novel to ESCAPE from reality, and this offered no escape at all. If Joss and Amy were real characters, I would be warning Amy that Joss would most likely be putting up another mistress in less than a year, so be prepared to have her heart broken! It's a good thing that I have read other Nicola Cornick books before this, or I surely would have never read one of her books again.