Luck is No Lady by Amy Sandas-Review, Guest Post & Giveaway

LUCK IS NO LADY
Fallen Ladies #1
by Amy Sandas
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Genre: Historical, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Apple/ BAM / Indiebound

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 5, 2016

“You should not have kissed me,” she replied breathlessly.
“I do a lot of things I shouldn’t. It does not mean I won’t do them again.”

Gently bred Emma Chadwick always assumed she’d live and die the daughter of a gentleman. But when her father’s death reveals a world of staggering debt and dangerous moneylenders, she must risk her good name and put her talent for mathematics to use, taking a position as bookkeeper at London’s most notorious gambling hell. Surrounded by vice and corruption on all sides, it is imperative no one discovers Emma’s shameful secret or her reputation-and her life-will be ruined.

But Roderick Bentley, the hell’s sinfully wealthy owner, awakens a hunger Emma cannot deny. Drawn deep into an underworld of high stakes gambling and reckless overindulgence, she soon discovers that in order to win the love of a ruthless scoundrel, she will have to play the game…and give in to the pleasure of falling from grace.

•••••••••

REVIEW: 4.5 out of 5 for this reader folks!

My goodness that was a really good historical romance! 🙂

Luck is No Lady (love this title) by Amy Sandas (high five to another newly discovered author added to my “go to list”) is the first book of her series called “Fallen Ladies”. With a series called Fallen Ladies, and set in a time when ladies were held to a strict code of conduct, my inner rule breaking bad girl, just couldn’t resist this book. So glad I didn’t too! 🙂

Emma Chadwick is the heroine of this story and can be easily described as one well smart (especially with numbers) proper lady. She is the oldest of 3 daughters (and believes herself to be over seasoned for marriage) and takes on the responsibility of her late father’s gambling debts. In hopes of securing good marriages and proper prospects for her sisters, Emma must take a walk on the wild side in order to pay these debts off. Having been brought up in polite society, taking on employment as a gambling hell’s book keeper certainly is not the future she had envisioned. Emma is a character that is really easy to adore as she just really grabs the bull by the horns, is really smart, innocent and sweet, but cunning and witty when needed to be. Her loyalty and determination shine very brightly throughout this story!

Roderick Bentley is the owner of this gambling establishment and also considered a bastard to the members of the ton. Not letting this define his character or his life, Roderick mixes well with the ton by establishing a lucrative place for these members to sin, drink and gamble (the hypocrisy of this always makes me laugh ..lol). Roderick is very handsome, certainly wealthy and despite his title of bastard, has pretty much turned all the odds in his favour with hard work and smarts.

These two were so well matched. They both are endearing and from the first intimate stolen moment to the agreement to be employer/employee, their blossoming romance was that “feel good right from your head to your toes”, “silly smiley grin on my face while reading”. It was REFRESHING! I am all about having a arrogant arse as a hero, but Roderick was anything but … if he was an arse there was a reason .. he is one of my fave book boyfriends of 2016 so far. These two had honesty, friendship, laughs, hot yummy you know what and “I got your back” moments.

My only complaint is it was a little slow to start! Once it took off though .. WHAM .. hello story! Sorry that is all I am going to give you, you have to read the book for more!

Can I just have a moment with you here .. can you just go and admire that gorgeous cover?? Right??? Ya, I loved it too! SIGH!

Well done Amy Sandas! I will most definitely be eagerly awaiting the next book (which maybe is the next sister??). Highly recommend this book to my fellow historical romance readers!

HAPPY READING! 🙂

Reviewed by Rachel T

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

 

What is your ideal way to spend a Saturday?

Easy! A Saturday where I didn’t have laundry to do and had someone else to do the cooking would be amazing.

I work a Monday through Friday job and have three kids that require a lot of attention in the evenings, so most, if not all, of my housework gets saved up for the weekend. Three kids can create an astounding amount of dirty laundry in a week! And then there’s my husband, a man who can fix just about anything and loves to do any sort of work outside. However, when it comes to the kitchen, he excels at making mac-n-cheese, but not much else.

It’s not that I don’t like to cook. I do, but I will also say that one of my favorite ways to treat myself is go out to eat, where I can sit and enjoy a glass of wine or a craft beer while the food is being readied and I don’t have to worry about clean-up. Heaven!
Now, back to an ideal Saturday…

I would wake up early as I always do and get some writing time in before anyone else gets up. The earliest hours are quiet, dark, and perfectly suited to my muse. Writing would have to be a part of any ideal day, that’s a given. Once everyone else is up and about, I would venture from my office to make a big breakfast. Since weekday mornings are busy as everyone is getting ready for their day, breakfast tends to be quick and simple; usually cereal. When the weekend comes, I enjoy making a real breakfast and often get a little help from my son or my youngest. They both love to mix the pancake batter.

The rest of the day would depend on the time of year. I live in Wisconsin where the weather varies significantly from summer to winter. If we were talking a winter Saturday, I could see spending the day enjoying a family movie marathon, maybe Star Wars, or The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, or Back to the Future. Someone else would be in charge of making lunch, after which I’d have a chance to sit and read a good book. Uninterrupted. Then time to get dressed up (a rare occasion) and head out for a romantic dinner date with the husband.

For an ideal summer Saturday, we would all head out as a family, either on our bikes or for a long walk, to a park we like to go to that has trails through the woods and along the river where the kids can do a little nature exploration. Lunch would be a packed picnic before we head home again to hang out in the back yard. My husband and I can sit in our chairs under the maple tree while the kids splash in the pool. For dinner, we’d head somewhere we can eat outside so we don’t waste even a moment to enjoy the weather. (Summers are lovely in Wisconsin, but fleeting!) The evening would be spent around our backyard fire pit, making s’mores and listening to my husband play guitar.

I know it all probably sounds terribly mundane, but with our busy family, there is no doubt about it—Saturdays are precious. Getting to spend time together, without any interfering obligations, would be ideal in any season.

~~Amy~~

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Amy Sandas’s love of romance began one summer when she stumbled across one of her mother’s Barbara Cartland books. Her affinity for writing began with sappy pre-teen poems and led to a Bachelor’s degree with an emphasis on Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She lives with her husband and children near Milwaukee.

Amy’s publisher is graciously offering a paper copy of LUCK IS NO LADY to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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