A Wicked Wager

Avenging Lords, Book 2

By: Adele Clee

Narrated by: Liisa Ivary

Two lonely people discover that true love doesn’t have to be perfect.

The gentleman makes a wager.

Devlin Drake is out for revenge. Since his brother’s mysterious death, the cruel and devious Miss Bromfield has taken to spouting vicious lies, spreading vile gossip - and he vows to make her pay. How better to punish the lady than to make her his wife? A lifetime of misery is what she deserves. Knowing the lady would never accept him, Devlin devises a plan to get her to the altar - he’ll win her hand in a bet.

In choosing to marry the spiteful lady, Devlin must accept he will never know true love. But his fortunes turn when he’s offered another tempting option.

A surprise announcement.

Miss Juliet Duval, the illegitimate daughter of Baron Bromfield, was taken into the lord’s house after the death of her mother. The baron finds her an embarrassment, and her half-sister’s jealous tirades see Juliet banished to the role of servant. That is until her father makes a foolish wager and needs a daughter to satisfy his debt.

An unsuitable match.

Thrown together in an odd twist of fate, Devlin and Juliet are mismatched in every regard. He is a hulking figure of a man, powerful, commanding. She is dainty and petite, used to obeying her father, and despising of masterful men. Yet both quickly become what the other needs and together must battle against those determined to tear them apart.

Features:

• Regency historical romance novel
• A novel of approx 70,000 words
• Contains some descriptive sex scenes

©2018 Adele Clee (P)2018 Adele Clee

Great 2nd book!

This one relied less on sex, but had its heated moments for sure! I was kept guessing and actually sort of surprised by the outcome. I enjoyed the brief visit from characters in book one very much. I am on to book three with a smile on my face. I so love it when a series keeps me interested.

Great 2nd book in the series

We met the male lead in the prior book so it was great to hear how things turn out for him. In addition, this has a few great twists. Enjoyed it.

Entertaining

The overall story was enjoyable but too often the author interrupted the conversations with long drawn out statements about how the character felt that there were times I had to rewind or just simply ignored it and moved on.

loved these two together

After spending the last five years making his fortune in India, Devlin Drake has returned to England bent on revenge against Miss Hannah Bromfield for the hateful lies she's been spreading about his late brother since his mysterious death. The best punishment he can think of is to make the lady suffer daily as his wife, even if it means giving up his hidden dream of marrying for love. Devlin knows the despicable lady will never accept him so he determines to win her hand in a bet against her father.

Baron Bromfield's illegitimate daughter, Miss Juliet Duval, has suffered Ms. Bromfield's wrath and the Baron's censure since she moved into their house upon her mother's death six years ago. She lives as an unpaid servant until her father's reckless wager requires a daughter for satisfaction, for which he is all too eager to use Juliet.

Hulking, self-assured Devlin and dainty, loving Juliet couldn't be more opposite and though they're thrown together in marriage for all the wrong reasons, it soon becomes clear that they're exactly what the other needs. This is only more apparent as they work to unravel the mysteries of the past and ensure their future together.

This was a lovely story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm always a fan of the hero coming to the defense of an abused heroine, especially when it's her own family who have mistreated her. I'm here for the just desserts. It was lovely to see Juliet gain confidence and I really appreciated the honesty between her and Devlin and how they worked so well together without a ton of angst between them. I'm looking forward to Valentine's story now.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved the honestly between characters!

I really liked this book. I really, really loved that the couple was completely honest with each other from basically the start. I HATE deception books so their honestly was refreshing and I loved it. They took care of each other and they helped each other with their problems. It was just an all around great book.

A Wicked Wager.

I liked the story very much, but I really did not like the narrator at all. She reads in a staccato-like way which sounded very affected to me. I only listened to the end because of the wonderful story line. I will in future rather read books by Adelle Clee if the same narrator is used. 5 star story no more than 3 stars for the narrator.

Good book, bad narration

This is much better than the first book in the series. This allowed the characters to develop and come to their HEA. It was still alittle fast, as they were in lust/love within a week. The problem with AC's book is so much is about how the heroine looks, but I guess it is like that in real life!
The narrator is too dramatic, and not in the good way. She even says the chapter number in such a heightened way I feel tired after the second chapter. It's like the description of a bad actor "eating the scenery". If she could calm down when nothing is going on, then you would appreciate when there is an exciting scene. The entire series uses this narrator, so I have to put up with it...but I don't have to like it!
Some parts towards the end of the book are too drawn out and slow, so this could really have been cut. After they find the letters, they keep reading them , and then rereading them and again a couple more times...not sure why?? Other than that there is a nice little twist to the mystery.
Overall it was better than I thought it would be and was worth a credit.

An engrossing story

As usual with an Adele Clee story I was gripped from the first page. I enjoyed the first in the series and this second book was equally as good. I liked that there was a mystery to be solved and a few villains to contend with. The main characters of Devlin and Juliet were extremely likeable. They both had issues with their background but I loved the connection between the two of them. What a life Juliet had endured with her father and half sister! I liked the camaraderie between Devlin and his friends. In this book we met more of his close friends and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest. I thought the narrator read the story very well, she altered her voice for the different characters and really brought the story to life.

Amazing!

I knew when I got my hands on this book that it would be another winner. Ms. Clee has never disappointed me. This book, just like all the others she wrote, is full of exciting characters and a mystery with a lot of twists and turns. Whenever I thought I had it all figured out I was thrown another curveball. The story kept me enthralled until the very end. This book is not to be missed! And the narrator Liisa Ivary did another fine job reading it.