The infamous rake, Lord Richard Hamilton, has finally chosen his bride—the very appropriate Miss Emma Grey.
The ton approves, Lord Grey is pleased, Lady Grey delighted, and Emma is over the moon, but her uncle, (the blasted) Duke of Arden opposes the match, and Emma is ordered to move to the duke’s estate to think things over.
Richard Hamilton refuses to take things lying down and concocts a … concocts a plan. A plan that should have brought the lovers together and had them married within a month. It was a simple matter of masquerading as the duke’s gardener, compromising the lady, and then having the duke rush them off to Gretna Green.
Alas, he underestimates the duke’s intelligence and the tangled situation on the estate—never had he imagined that compromising a lady could be so difficult.
His endeavours lead to a comedy of errors, charades, and knotty love affairs. Yet he forges ahead in spite of pesky house guests, a flea bitten mattress, his lovesick best friend, and a blackmailer.
Just when things seem to be going well, someone is murdered (very inconvenient), and he happens to be one of the suspects (extremely inconvenient).
His simple plan for winning the wager suddenly becomes … a tad complicated.
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This is the second book I’ve read by Ms. Wylde and it was just as enjoyable as “Pennelope.” THE WICKED WAGER centers around a young couple in love who want to marry as soon as possible, but Miss Emma Grey’s uncle, the Duke of Arden, opposes the speedy marriage. He wants his niece to think about her choice of marrying Lord Richard Hamilton who has a reputation as a rake. Not to be thwarted by the Duke, Richard devises a plan to pose as the head gardener on the Duke’s estate so he’ll be able to see Emma every day. What happens next is one that neither Richard or Emma could imagine. Suddenly, a simple plan to deceive the Duke for a month turns into a hunt for a murderer and Richard is the likely suspect.
Ms. Wylde has an engaging writing style reeling the reader in for a delightful light-hearted and fun read. More than once, I was laughing as I read about Richard and Emma’s mad-cap adventures. The characters came alive and I was totally invested in the story. Would Richard and Emma ever be allowed to marry? And who was the murderer? No spoilers here. If you’re looking for an escape for a few hours, then THE WICKED WAGER will fit that bill nicely. Recommended.
I loved the way the author tied this story together. It was romantic, funny, tragic, and a mystery all in one!
an entertaining light read. Could easily become a play of the Sam Cree/Jimmy Young in Mills and Boone genre.
Great subplots and characters – really fun to read!
What an interesting experience this was that can only be enjoyed if you don’t take it seriously (put away your Sherlock Holmes magnifying glasses and your romantic lace crying hankies)! I jumped into it thinking it would be some sort of light-hearted Regency Romance-style romp and it was that, but it also tossed in a bit of murder and mayhem to really make things crazy like some sort of historical Romantic Murder Comedy.
The story is about a young English nobleman who gets up to all sorts of mischief to alleviate his boredom and avoid any matchmaking woman until he meets his match. He falls for a feisty gentleman’s daughter and not soon after, they are engaged. But that’s the easy part for Richard and Emma. The trouble begins when her uncle the duke doesn’t trust the speed with which they plan to marry and uses the power of the purse strings to force them to slow things down and insists on Emma coming to stay with him and his family to guarantee himself a chance to look into the matter personally.
Richard has no desire to wait the stipulated year so he concocts a scheme to keep the original wedding date for two months out. He bets Emma that he can fool her supposedly astute uncle by masquerading as the head gardener on her uncle’s estate for one month without getting caught and in the mean time it will give them a chance to be together. Reluctantly, she agrees to the plan.
But the trouble is that what they cannot factor into the plan is that there are other forces at work on the estate causing the plan to be altered many times to hilarious results that are not limited to further impersonations, blackmail, matchmaking and murder. When it all comes to its zany conclusion, there are more than a few unforeseen events to conclude the matter.
When I speak to the plot, I have to say that my descriptive words of ‘crazy’ and ‘zany’ are spot on. This was just over the top fun. I would be terrified if I ever came into contact with a real Richard Hamilton or William Raike as charming as they are just because of the high jinks to which they are capable. For all the fun, there is an actual plot that focuses on a couple of romances and a murder victim that given more than one person motive to bump the person off. One minor thing is that there are a few places where there is a passive voice and we are ‘told’ and not ‘shown’ so to speak and seemed to be given to transition things to the next scene. Speaking of voice, there are many points of view used to so that there are scenes away from Richard and Emma even.
As to the historical setting, don’t go looking for deep authentic attention to historical detail. Its there to offer mild backdrop stuff and how it sometimes influences character conduct (or at least the intention of influencing it).
The characters while purposely overdrawn were still very personable. I really like Emma’s cousin, Catherine and Lord William the best. They played off each other well. And I loved how I reacted to the characters the way I was supposed to (almost offering up audible boos and hisses when the bad folk were present and doing their thing) even knowing that they are all exaggerated to make them comical.
While this story might not appeal to everyone, it was an enjoyable feather-light piece that will brighten a day. Recommended to those who appreciate their murder mixed with romance and comedy.
Zero to little plot. Cast of characters was just plain stupid. A whodunit, where the actual investigation of suspects was chapter after chapter or boredom. After a while I didn’t care who the murderer was.
I absolutely love reading Anya Wylde books! She just has a way of writing an English period romance that takes my breath away! This book is definitely what the title says! Emma and Richard fall in love at first sight, however, Emma’s protective brothers keep the Earl and all other suitors at bay until a chance run-in. When Emma gets invited to her uncle’s house, who is a Duke, she must go but Richard cannot stand to be away that long. Richard turns himself into a head gardener to be closer to Emma in the country and a wager is made. Murder happens in their mist and the butler didn’t do it!
SUSPENSFUL AND NEAT STORY LINE.
I didn’t enjoy this read and never finished it. Just couldn’t get into the characters.
A delightful, funny and witty story of love, family, responsibility and friendship with murder thrown in for an interesting read. The characters are lovable and tolerant of the era. All in all a very funny entertaining story
I enjoyed the antics of the Lord and Emma went through to get the Duke to approve their marriage and then the mystery just added to the entertaining read. I thought the characters all added to the plot perfectly.
Kinda disappointed. This book sounded really funny and i had pretty high hopes for it, especially after reading some of the reviews, but unfortunately it never really sucked me in…. Don’t get me wrong, i gave it a fair go, like half the book fair go. I just kept waiting for it to get really good but in the end it wasn’t for me. Not a terrible book, but not really exceptional either.
Too simply written. Didn’t finish
While I enjoyed the mystery towards the end, much of the tale was silly and puts the main characters in absurd positions. The beginning courtship is very brief and takes only a couple chapters. Then our “heroine” returns home to persuade her guardian (who is a duke) to allow her to marry her earl. Unwilling to be separated, the earl masquerades as a gardener to be near her. The titular wager is a comment by the earl that her dukely guardian will be completely fooled by his disguise. It gets even sillier when the duke invites the earl to stay and a friend comes to masquerade as the earl who’s busy pretending to be a garden. And THEN there’s a murder. The book’s an okay read, but don’t expect a serious romance.
A bit slow for me
Bastante bueno
Read half and got bored.
This book was so poorly written that I struggled to complete the first chapter. I made myself read a second to give it a fair shot and wound up unable to finish even that. Unclear storyline, weak characters, insipid.
twisting plot and it wasn’t the butler!
The book is a historical romance novel with a mystery. The characters are well written and the plot twists. You will be surprised at the identity of the villain. I recommend this excellent novel.