Georgette Heyer

Sparkling characterisation, inventive plot - Georgette Heyer is queen of the genre... Renowned gamester and the first to admit that he is entirely void of a romantic disposition, Max Ravenscar regards all eligible females with indifference and unconcern. But when he meets the woman his young cousin Adrian is bent on marrying - the beautiful Deborah Grantham, mistress of her aunt's gaming house - he finds that none of his experience in risk and gambling has prepared him for such a worthy opponent.

Faro's Daughter

When Max Ravenscar, renowned gamester, and by his own definition, untroubled by a romantic disposition, meets Deborah Grantham, beautiful mistress of her aunt’s gaming house, all his experience of risk and gambles finds him unprepared.

Pepper

** spoiler alert **
           I absolutely love Heyer. There are very few books by her that test my patience and this was most certainly not one of them. 

This book seems different from some of the others I have read by her since it is set in a gaming house and the heroine is not considered very respectable. This leads to her getting into a game of one-upmanship with the cold and tight-fisted Ravenscar because he tries to buy her off so she may relinquish her designs upon his cousin, the impressionable Adrian. Since Deborah Grantham had no such designs in the first place and was utterly aghast at any such suggestion she naturally told him that she would certainly not give up her designs but in fact would marry said cousin while he is left watching and can do nothing! I liked the way Max and Deborah duelled each other out with various moves and I loved the fact that Deborah had the upper hand quite a few times! I also really enjoyed the characters of Arabella and Kennet (even if he is an ass sometimes).

My favourite scene has got to be the Vauxhall one where Deborah in an effort to scandalize and terrify Max and confirm his opinion of what a vulgar harpy she is dresses in the most garish fashion in a hideous green dress that clashed with her red garnets and tops it off with ostrich plumes and then speaks in an utterly affected manner to Max's cousin's mother. I couldn't stop giggling!!! Besides that I also love the Kidnapping scene where Max manages to free himself and all Deborah can think is how ointment needs to be applied to his wrists. Finally the scene where Max rages on at Deborah because of a misunderstanding, his finally understanding the situation, the apology all leading to a conclusion of the book were very well done too.

Faro's Daughter

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