A Game of Chance by Lauren Linwood-a review
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 8, 2014
Gambler Jed Stone journeys to California to track down Simon Morgan, the man responsible for his best friend’s death. Arrested for robbery and murder upon arrival, Jed is shocked to see his face on a wanted poster. He escapes before his hanging, unaware that the man guilty of those crimes is the twin brother he never knew existed. In a case of mistaken identity, Jed acquires the most famous whorehouse in San Francisco in a rigged card game his twin is meant to win.
Lily Frontiere takes over running Lucky Lil’s from her dying mother, the house madam who shielded her by sending her away to boarding school. Lily’s intelligence and astonishing resemblance to her mother help in her charade, but she’s entered a world she knows little about. She clashes with the handsome stranger who turns up with the deed to Lucky Lil’s in hand, yet she is attracted to the charming risk taker.
Jed asks Madam Lil to stay on as he learns the business and is fooled by Lily’s performance until he stumbles upon the real Madam Lil and learns the truth behind Lily’s deception. His admiration for Lily blossoms into love.
But Simon Morgan seeks both Lily’s hand and ownership of Lucky Lil’s—and he will go to any means to possess both. Will Jed foil his nemesis while bringing his outlaw brother to justice and win Lily’s love?
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Lauren Linwood’s western romances are the things of legend! She has written some flavorful and exciting stories and A Game of Chance is the latest in this body of work.
The story begins with a look into the past of 1845. Cara Lee, a young lady, is dying in childbirth, her cruel actor husband, Gordon, only wants the baby to ensure his inheritance from his grandfather Max. He is actually cold and cruel to the poor dying girl and leaves as soon as the mid-wife hands him the baby boy. He doesn’t even stay to comfort her as she dies or see to her burial.
However, the fate’s turn on him, as soon as he leaves, poor Cara Lee gives birth to another baby boy. The mid-wife does not know the father’s name or where to get in touch with him about the second son. Not a great mother figure, but at least she kept the lad and instilled in him a sense of right and wrong! His only gift from his mother was a gold locket with her initials.
We then go into the future, about 1870, with Jed Stone in a Stockton jail, awaiting trial for a crime he did not commit. However, the face on the wanted poster, which read “Wanted Cal Hart” for murder, rape and robbery, was clearly his face.
Thus begins this intriguing tale of intertwined lives, it really is a small world at times! Ms. Linwood has taken the lives of very different people and intertwined them into an exciting tale of fortune’s won and lost and true love in its many forms.
Jed manages to escape the jail and heads for San Francisco. There he chances to meet “Lil”, the famous madam of Lucky Lil’s Sporting House (whorehouse and gambling, but a nice one). Lil has made her house famous and no longer “services” the customers, but charms them as the “ladies” take care of business. Jed is saved from the Stockton sheriff taking him back to Stockton by “Lil”; who he finds out is not actually Lil, but her daughter Lilly. Lilly, who favors her mother greatly, has been acting as Lil while her mother is actually upstairs ill and slowly dying.
Ok, that’s all the spoilers! It’s an exciting tale of intrigue, misunderstanding, and twisted fates. Will Jed and Lilly fall in love, and can it work? Will he finally meet his cruel and absent father and his villainous twin brother? There is also an element of revenge for the death of his old friend, Louis, by a cheating gambler.
Ah, this is one story you must read for yourselves, and I guarantee it’s a tale worth the reading. Many trials and hardships await…the righting of old wrongs and much, much, more!
I personally found this a 3 glass at a time (of wine, of course) book! Very hard to put down, the characters are well done and loveable (at least the good guys); the villains are hate-able and pathetic! Just what a good western should be. Enjoy everyone, I certainly did!
Copy supplied by the author.
Reviewed by Georgianna
