Tag: Cathy Maxwell

A Touch of Steele by Cathy Maxwell

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

A Touch of Steele (The Gambler's Daughters, #3)

Barbara’s rating: 3.6
Series: The Gambler’s Daughters #3
Publication Date: 5/27/25
Period: Regency – 1816
Number of Pages: 365

This book has one of the best opening lines I’ve read in a very long time. “He’d asked for the oldest whore in the house.” That certainly gets your attention. I did enjoy Beckett (Beck) Steele and Gwendolyn Lanscarr, but they were the only characters I even remotely liked. With a spectacular opening line and a dissatisfying finish, this book was all over the place for me. I loved the gist of the story, but I found it a tad slow and found myself putting it down much more often than I normally do with a book I’m reading. Perhaps that was me, and I was just more distracted. Not sure, but I felt there could have been more exciting things happening.

Beckett Steele is a war hero who ‘helps’ people. Often, that means finding things or people for them. Those tasks are quite lucrative, but he often declines money and asks them to grant him a favor at a future time when he asks. Usually, those favors are asked in furtherance of a personal pursuit – finding his mother. He’s sure she is a light-skirt because he’d lived in a bawdy house until a man came and put him in a boarding school. After being injured in the wars, Beck was determined to find out what happened to his mother. Is she alive? Is the woman in his dreams his mother?

Gwendolyn is one of three Irish sisters who pooled all of their resources to travel to London, participate in the season, and find suitable husbands. The two previous books in the series showed Gwendolyn’s sisters finding their HEAs. Gwendolyn met a man in Ireland, who has consumed all of her thoughts since. He helped her win enough money playing Whist so she and her sisters could implement their plan. All he asked in return was a favor to be granted at some future time.

I enjoyed that Gwendolyn made no secret of her fixation on Beck – and that he was thoroughly convinced he had no feelings for Gwendolyn. Watching the attraction grow, and watching Beck wrestle with those pesky ‘feelings’ he kept having, made the search for Beck’s mother an enjoyable read. I would have liked a bit more excitement and a slightly faster pace, but it was a nice read. One of the things that dampened my enthusiasm was that none (save one) of the villains got any punishment at all. If you look at what they did, could you just walk away and leave them unpunished? I couldn’t. But – that was followed by the HEA, and I did enjoy that.

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

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One Dangerous Night by Cathy Maxwell

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

One Dangerous Night (The Gambler's Daughters, #2)One Dangerous Night by Cathy Maxwell

Tracy’s rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: The Gambler’s Daughters, #2

Release Date: March 26, 2024

After arriving in London with high hopes of marrying a duke, Elise Lanscarr, the youngest (and loveliest) of the Lanscarr sisters, is leaving, betrayed, heartbroken and filled with rage. After her sister Dara married Michael, the man Elise loved and hoped to marry, she can no longer abide living with them and she has decided to return to Ireland. In a final fit of pique, she leaves a note in the sister’s money box after taking the funds she needs to make it back to Ireland, knowing her sisters will believe she has gone to stay with her friend Lady Whitby and won’t realize she is gone until one of them checks the money box. She is filled with self-righteous indignation, she sets out for Liverpool, but nothing goes as planned and she finds herself traveling with a stranger, in a mail coach driven by a drunk, in a storm. A horrific crash finds her alone with the stranger, a young man going by the name of Kit. Together they will have to find their way to the next coaching inn, while avoiding the many pitfalls that pop up along the way. At first, she is sure Kit is a ne’er-do-well, but the more time she spends with him, the more she likes him and respect him. She also begins to see her own shortcomings and faults, she knows she has fences to mend and apologies to make, and once that is done, will she give up her dream of a duke for a wanderer?

Christopher “Kit” Fitzhugh-Cox, the Duke of Winderton is also running away after experiencing heartbreak when the woman he loved married his uncle. He too left in a fit of pique, and he has been wandering for months under an assumed name, play out he version of Shakespeare’s Prince Hal. It isn’t until he meets Elise that he truly begins to change and see the error of his ways. She makes him want to be a better man, a man worthy of her love. But to do that he will have keep Elise safe while evading the men trying to kill him, then return home and make things right. And there is the small fact that he hasn’t revealed his true identity to her, but he is sure she will forgive him, well, mostly sure.

This was the well-written, nicely paced story of two young people who start out acting like spoiled brats, but through a series of misfortunes, seeing the error of their ways and maturing into adulthood while truly falling in love. The book is filled with emotion, some anger, indignation, hurt feelings, broken hearts, perceived betrayal, a sweet dog, danger, hidden identities, more heartache, a tiny bit of steam, shocking revelations, and finally a very sweet ending with a lovely declaration and a nice set up for the next book. Honestly, I didn’t like Elise in the last book and I didn’t like her for most of this book, but in the end, she won me over, as did Kit. I am happy to recommend this book, but I would strongly suggest reading the books in order. I didn’t love this story, but in the end, I enjoyed it and now I can’t wait for Gwendolyn and Steele’s story!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*