Whatever souls are made of, his and hers were the same… that always felt like home: the horse racing tracks.
Evan Sedgewick, Earl of Lanercost and successful breeder of racing horses, can barely believe his eyes when his newly recruited rider emerges victorious from the race, exhibiting unprecedented talent.
But when an accident nearly claims Marjorie’s life, not only is her cover blown, but it also becomes apparent that Evan has a very deadly enemy. One that will stop at nothing to get what they want: Evan’s life and the Acton family’s greatest secret…
*If you like a realistic yet charming depiction of the Regency and Victorian era, then The Risky Wager of a Masked Lady is the novel for you.
This is Hanna Hamilton’s 28th book, a historical Regency romance novel of 80,000 words (around 400 pages). No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a sweet happily ever after.
Pick up “The Risky Wager of a Masked Lady” today to discover Hanna’s amazing new story!
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I liked this book a lot. Masked woman masquerading as a man to help horse breeder and to get away from her dad’s arranged marriage. She’s almost killed twice with so many dangers around the Earl’s stables. The Earl is accused of being a horse thief and a scoundrel in the hopes of discrediting him and his stables so others can enhance their chance at making their stables bigger and better. Lady Margorie stands behind him.
This is an entertaining story. A gutsy non-conformist Lady Marjorie Acton, daughter of Charles, the Earl of Mortham is indeed very unique. Her mother, Margaret, was a master horsewoman and knew the business of breeding horses. She passed all her knowledge to Marjorie before she died in a horse accident. At the time before Margaret’s passing, she and Charles were building their stables to breed horses. Now that she had passed away Charles in his grief gambled away his daughter’s dowries, all of his wealth, save their home and land and had borrowed money from a very dangerous and shady businessman whose threat to Charles if he did not pay his debt in time was to take his youngest daughter Harriet for a time in exchange for payment. Desperate, Charles hired a sleazy man to help eliminate his competition. Even though Charles had nothing of horse flesh to brag about, he fronted as if he did. In order to induce an influx of cash flow he signed a marriage agreement between the Duke of Fenworth, Gregory Balfour to Marjorie. At twenty Marjorie hardly found Gregory a worthy suitor. He was much too old for her. She had no choice but to acquiesce. Her younger sister Harriet tried to console her but to no avail. Marjorie came up with a plan to live in the fullest possible way in freedom before she married. This caused a series of events that no one could ever anticipate. The characters in the story were fascinating; all except Charles. Charles was a complex contradiction. One did not know how to see him. As the villain he became or the grieving man mourning his dead wife that pushed him to his limit. Reading about Charles was like a bouncing ball. One minute he was the villain while at different times he expressed his feelings of guilt and hopelessness at having no choice but to continue on a ruinous path. I did not know whether to dislike him or feel sorry for him. Let me tell you it is hard to feel sorry for someone one thinks is despicable and has shown the morals of a rock. Anyway, you get what I mean. I loved the overall storyline of Marjorie and her independent, distinctive, non-conformist personality and her search to be relieved of societies strictures to live as freely as a man before she wed. This is such a great story that I do recommend. You will not be disappointed. I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A fantastic book that is not only a love story but deals with the raising of thoroughbred horses and the pitfalls of racing the horses. The main characters are Lady Marjorie Acton and Evan Sedgewick, the Earl of Lanercost. Marjorie and Evan are real horse lovers. Marjorie especially has a connection with her horses, thanks to her late mother’s love and knowledge of their horses.
Marjorie’s father, Charles Acton, the Marques of Mortham, unfortunately, has brought their family to financial ruin due to his poor business choices and his gambling. He hopes to get a reprieve from his debts by marrying Marjorie to a man three times her senior, Gregory Balfour, the Duke of Fenworth, who is willing to pay a “dowry” for Marjorie in exchange for her hand in marriage. In addition, this marriage will make it easier for Marjorie’s younger sister, Harriet, to make a suitable marriage.
Naturally, Marjorie was not consulted about this and is not very happy about it. Marjorie decides to masquerade as a boy, Jonathan Gregg, in order to race her horse, Valiant, and actually wins her first race. But instead of sticking around the race track to race Valiant in the last race, she decides to call it a day and get home before her father or sister realize she is not there.
Later, Marjorie decides masquerade again as Jonathan in order to try to get employment at one of the local horse stables. This leads to some very surprising events. But to find them out, you need to buy and read this book.
I received a ARC ebook to read and give an honest review. You will enjoy this book, especially if you love horses.