A Gamble at Sunset

Betting Against the Duke, Book 1

Georgina Wilcox, a wallflower with hidden musical talents, is furious when her reclusive older sister—the recently widowed Viscountess—refuses sorely needed help from the Duke of Torrance, the only gentleman who has shown kindness to the bereft Wilcox sisters. Georgina decides to get back at her sister and shock the Viscountess by kissing the first willing stranger she meets in the enchanting gardens of Anya House. Unfortunately, her sister is not the sole witness. A group of reporters and the ton's leading gossips catch Georgina in a passionate embrace with a reticent composer, Lord Mark Sebastian.

The third son of an influential marquis, the tongue-tied Mark is determined to keep the scandal from ruining Georgina's reputation and his own prospects of winning the celebrated Harlbert's Prize for music. Under the guise of private voice lessons, the two embark on a daring gamble to fool the ton into believing that their feigned courtship is honorable while bolstering Georgina's singing genius to captivate potential suitors. Sexist cartoons, family rivalries, and an upcoming ball test the fake couple's resolve. Will their sudden fiery collaboration—and growing attraction—prove there's nothing false about a first kiss and scandalously irresistible temptation?

©2024 Vanessa Riley (P)2024 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A strong historical romance that combines diverse experiences with classic storytelling." ---Kirkus Reviews

Had to Stop Listening

I had to stop listening to this book. This narrator does NOT do Vanessa Riley's characters justice. The reading is stilted as others have pointed out. The accents the narrator attempts are inconsistent. A character speaks in a sort of British accent in one sentence and sounds completely American in the next.

The poor reading is so distracting that I'm paying attention to that almost as much as I'm paying attention to the story. I think I'll just buy the book and read it for myself. The next audio installment of this series is coming out in June and I was looking forward to it, but I'll be buying and reading that book for myself as well.

In my opinion, this narrator is not appropriate for narrating books in which the characters are other than American.

Nice and Clean

Good story, no passion but still a bit steamy if you count those biscuits! Got the kindle copy to read with the narration and found the audible version missed the mark in a few instances. The meaning of 3 statements in the story were totally missread. Lack of inflection, caused a degree of confusion as to whether the statement was a question or not. The text indicated a question. She then seemed tired of switching voices and became straight monotone.

Poor Narration, Nice Story.

I was excited to read another regency romance that included darker skin people.
The narration, however, spoiled the story. The narrator used the same voice almost for both of the main characters, so if you didn’t pay attention to the chapter title, you didn’t know if it was the male or female reflecting. And the narration was read in a monotone voice for both characters. The male reflections, however sound like someone not quite sure how to read all the words and had no sense of rhythm or character in the voice.
Sometimes, the narrator would start a new character in a new voice for one or two words and then fall back into her character narration voice for the his remainder of what this new character said.
Romance novels need to have distinct character voices and inflection, rhythm, and tone that heightens the listening experience and draws us in. The right narrator can take a mediocre story and keep us riveted. This narrator has harmed this gentle story, and the writing cannot fully overcome it.