A Gentleman's Wager

By: Madelynne Ellis

Narrated by: Betsy Garden

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

"Bella's mouth fell open in astonishment. She'd never seen two men kiss, and had never heard of such a thing, but a warming prickle between her thighs told her she approved wholeheartedly."

When young, 18th-century lady Bella Rushdale finds herself fiercely attracted to handsome landowner Lucerne Marlinscar, she does not expect the rival for her affections to be another man. However, the handsome and decadent Marquis Pennerley has desired Lucerne for years, and when they are brought together at the remote Lauwine Hall for a country party on the Yorkshire Moors, he intends to claim him. This leads to a passionate struggle for dominance, at the risk of scandal, between the highly sexed Bella and the debauched aristocrat. Ultimately it will be Lucerne who will choose the outcome, and his decision will be bound to upset somebody's plans.

©2007 Madelynne Ellis (P)2007 Virgin Books Ltd

Yuck!

The first audible download I did not listen to. This book is just porn. There is no plot whatsoever and everyone is treated like meat. Disgusting book.

Graphic but loved the book

Black Lace books are erotic fiction, there are some that will go into this thinking it's a romance with a more sex than normal. A Gentleman's Wager is an erotic tale. It relates around Lady Bella Rushdale who finds her sex exploits becoming blase after discovering the new owner of her favorite tristing spot sunbathing naked. From her perch she observes him amusing himself & decides she wants to seduce him. She finds herself attracted to the new landowner Lucerne Marlinscar. She is invited for a stay with other guests at his newly renovated property. Bella decides will be the perfect time to put her plan into place with Lucerne. Only to discover among the many guests a darkly handsome man Marquis (Vaughan) Pennerley among the guests & with eyes for Lucerne as well. Bella suspects something between the two men but wants to prove to Vaughan that Lucerne will choose her.
A great battle of wills between Vaughan & Bella begins for the affections of Lucerne. The tale is well written & you don't know who is good or bad in the triangle.
Also, Louisa, Bella's friend who isn't experienced & isn't sure about the attentions being thrown her way by Vaughan as well as the man she's infatuated with Wakefield. The story is wrought with intrigue & deception with many twists & turns. The love scenes/sex is graphic, but also emotional & you feel uncertainty/pain/pleasure/vulnerability of the cast of characters.
Just thinking of this as an Erotica is an understatement, there is an underlying story of forbidden/unrequited love & the lengths people will go to have their desires for another come true. You could easily remove the graphic scenes from the book & still have a very interesting book. I found myself concerned for the characters & how the story would play out. I enjoyed this book & am glad now that I bought it. She turned what could be a bodice ripper into an intriguing erotic story that was worth the read.

Anachronisms Kill a Potentially Interesting Story

While I wasn't listening to this book for its historical content, the anachronisms were distractingly awful. It was as if the author had never read anything set in the past, pornographic or otherwise. The book goes out of its way to tell you the heroine is 24 (much too old for her attitudes in any century but ours), runs around with just her (male) groom, and complains that lunch is too formal a meal, why couldn't her crush be coming over at dinner time? Ugh.

Disgusted

In the first 15 minutes or so of this book I was offended. I have always liked romance but this is pornography.

Yuck!

I'm glad that I only paid $4.95 for this mess in an Audible sale. I have nothing good to say about this book. It's like a cheap porno film - sex all the time, with anybody, for no reason and with no discernible story line. Bella is an 18th century Paris Hilton - a person on earth for absolutely no reason. With no morals or self-respect. There's nothing wrong with a steamy novel but there's has to be more meat to the tale (no pun intended!). You can find far better books here for your money. As for the fate this one on my iPod: DELETE!

A Gentleman's Wager

Nicely Erotic

18th Century novel...puh-lease

The only thing that put this bit of prnography in the 18th century was that "her breasts were chafed by her boned stays" and that his "hardening staff pressed against the fabric of his skin tight breeches".
If you took the actual book and subtracted the amount of porn, it would probably have only been 1 hour long. To say I am disappointed is an understatement!!!

Sizzling Hot!!!

If I was a novelist, this is what I would have wrote. Love this book, loads of explicit sex, deviate characters and just a great debauched time had by all. A must read, but use your headphones!!!!

Urgh!

I agree with Jud 100 percent. This book has no worthwhile storyline. I also wondered how an 18th century young woman could have so much sex and not even give a thought to the ramifications. I enjoy a good erotic book once in a while but it has to have some discretion. I quit reading after the first hour or so, I saw no point in continuing