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Rating: 
Summary: Great characters, a great read
Review: I still have my original 1983 edition of this book, because I couldn't bear to part with it. It has neat characters (who can resist a blonde, gorgeous Duke with ulterior motives) and keeps you guessing. A great read, lets hope it's reprinted soon!
Rating:
Summary: Great characters, a great read
Review: If you read one book by Edith Layton, read this one. Regina, the heroine, is a woman on the cusp of a delimima, starve and be virtuous, or accept the protection of Jason, Duke of Torquay. The conversations/decisiions between Regina and Jason are some of the best ever written in a romance novel. This ranks close to Georgette Heyer's best such as "The Devil's Cub" or "These Old Shades". Jason shows multiple sides to his personality as he finds himself both wanting Regina and hoping she will continue to decline his offer. If you have read her other books and wondered about who the Duke of Torquay was....then this is one you should read.
Rating: 
Summary: A winner, one of the best regencies ever written!
Review: If you read one book by Edith Layton, read this one. Regina, the heroine, is a woman on the cusp of a delimima, starve and be virtuous, or accept the protection of Jason, Duke of Torquay. The conversations/decisiions between Regina and Jason are some of the best ever written in a romance novel. This ranks close to Georgette Heyer's best such as "The Devil's Cub" or "These Old Shades". Jason shows multiple sides to his personality as he finds himself both wanting Regina and hoping she will continue to decline his offer. If you have read her other books and wondered about who the Duke of Torquay was....then this is one you should read.
Rating:
Summary: Jaded
Review: You can get the plot pretty much anywhere, and at first glance, the Duke's Wager, seemingly, is very formulaic. Young innocent bookish virgin heroine + titled promiscuous handsome rake. In this case, two of them: the younger and less dissipated Marquis of Bessacarr, and the truly legendary Duke of Torquay. However, while the secondary characters are not very well developed, it is understandable when you see how powerful the characters of Regina and the hero (yes, he is still a hero) are. It leaves little room to flesh out extraneous characters, and maybe that's why the book is so compelling: it propels along by the force of one man alone; I knew who I wanted Regina to be with even before she appeared on the scene. Written in the 80s, it dates itself a little in that the characters have semi-soliliquies a la Woodiwiss, but with infinite times the intelligence and a fraction of the mind-numbing dullness. All the characters say "for" when they mean "because" and there are several typos, but this remains, undisputedly, Layton's best work, if not the top 10 romances I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Jaded
Review: You can get the plot pretty much anywhere, and at first glance, the Duke's Wager, seemingly, is very formulaic. Young innocent bookish virgin heroine + titled promiscuous handsome rake. In this case, two of them: the younger and less dissipated Marquis of Bessacarr, and the truly legendary Duke of Torquay. However, while the secondary characters are not very well developed, it is understandable when you see how powerful the characters of Regina and the hero (yes, he is still a hero) are. It leaves little room to flesh out extraneous characters, and maybe that's why the book is so compelling: it propels along by the force of one man alone; I knew who I wanted Regina to be with even before she appeared on the scene. Written in the 80s, it dates itself a little in that the characters have semi-soliliquies a la Woodiwiss, but with infinite times the intelligence and a fraction of the mind-numbing dullness. All the characters say "for" when they mean "because" and there are several typos, but this remains, undisputedly, Layton's best work, if not the top 10 romances I've ever read.
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