Name: Kristen Claiborn's review of The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore
Item: The Gentleman's Gambit
Rating: 3
Author: Kristen Claiborn

Evie Dunmore

“Dunmore is my new find in historical romance. Her A League of Extraordinary Women series is extraordinary.”—Julia Quinn, #1 New York Times bestselling author Bookish suffragist Catriona Campbell is busy: An ailing estate, academic writer’s block, a tense time for England’s women’s rights campaign—the last thing she needs is to be stuck playing host to her father’s distractingly attractive young colleague. Deeply introverted Catriona lives for her work at Oxford and her fight for women’s suffrage. She dreams of romance, too, but since all her attempts at love have ended badly, she now keeps her desires firmly locked inside her head—until she climbs out of a Scottish loch after a good swim and finds herself rather exposed to her new colleague. Elias Khoury has wheedled his way into Professor Campbell’s circle under false pretenses: he did not come to Oxford to classify ancient artefacts, he is determined to take them back to his homeland in the Middle East. Winning Catriona’s favor could be the key to his success. Unfortunately, seducing the coolly intense lady scholar quickly becomes a mission in itself and his well-laid plans are in danger of derailing... Forced into close proximity in Oxford’s hallowed halls, two very different people have to face the fact that they might just be a perfect match. Soon, a risky new game begins that asks Catriona one more time to put her heart and wildest dreams at stake.

The Gentleman's Gambit

Regina 

         I have genuinely been enjoying this series.  It’s historical fiction about women who helped change the way women were treated and viewed.  Plus, these books also incorporate romance, which is one of my favorite genres.  Ok so this is an historical romance series, but the main characters have been truly admirable women and I loved that.  I read the first three as library loans on my kindle, but I enjoyed them so much I decided to go ahead and purchase a physical copy of this third one. 

            The main character of this book is a tad different from the first three.  This group of women is entrenched in society, but Catriona’s journey starts with her enjoying solitude at her father’s Scottish estate, brought to the city only because of the errands Elias needed to accomplish.  Whereas the other three sought out social situations, Catriona seemed to actively avoid them.  After having enjoyed the first three books and the fantastic female protagonists, Catriona felt drab to me.  Yes, she’s highly intelligent, educated, and obviously a “forward thinker,” but I enjoyed the way the previous main characters had such dynamic relationships amongst their various groups.  Catriona seems to only be a part of the group with the crusading women…and that’s it.  She just didn’t feel like the same fully-developed character the other women had been. 

            I did appreciate the overall tone of the book, and I was pleased that a legal change that favored women finally came to fruition.  Evie Dunmore’s writing has been fun, easy to read, and she tends to wrap her stories up with a nice little bow, which is why I love romance novels in the first place.  In that regard, this book wasn’t a complete disappointment, it just wasn’t as good as the first three.  I still recommend it, especially if you’ve already read the previous novels in this series.  I will also continue reading this series (assuming she’s going to continue) and will likely seek out Evie Dunmore in the future. 

            One final thought…the title and the cover of this book indicate there should be a heavy chess theme, yet there really wasn’t.  I realize they did play chess, but it certainly wasn’t a huge part of the story.  So, what might have been a better title? 

Kristen Claiborn

         I have genuinely been enjoying this series.  It’s historical fiction about women who helped change the way women were treated and viewed.  Plus, these books also incorporate romance, which is one of my favorite genres.  Ok so this is an historical romance series, but the main characters have been truly admirable women and I loved that.  I read the first three as library loans on my kindle, but I enjoyed them so much I decided to go ahead and purchase a physical copy of this third one. 

            The main character of this book is a tad different from the first three.  This group of women is entrenched in society, but Catriona’s journey starts with her enjoying solitude at her father’s Scottish estate, brought to the city only because of the errands Elias needed to accomplish.  Whereas the other three sought out social situations, Catriona seemed to actively avoid them.  After having enjoyed the first three books and the fantastic female protagonists, Catriona felt drab to me.  Yes, she’s highly intelligent, educated, and obviously a “forward thinker,” but I enjoyed the way the previous main characters had such dynamic relationships amongst their various groups.  Catriona seems to only be a part of the group with the crusading women…and that’s it.  She just didn’t feel like the same fully-developed character the other women had been. 

            I did appreciate the overall tone of the book, and I was pleased that a legal change that favored women finally came to fruition.  Evie Dunmore’s writing has been fun, easy to read, and she tends to wrap her stories up with a nice little bow, which is why I love romance novels in the first place.  In that regard, this book wasn’t a complete disappointment, it just wasn’t as good as the first three.  I still recommend it, especially if you’ve already read the previous novels in this series.  I will also continue reading this series (assuming she’s going to continue) and will likely seek out Evie Dunmore in the future. 

            One final thought…the title and the cover of this book indicate there should be a heavy chess theme, yet there really wasn’t.  I realize they did play chess, but it certainly wasn’t a huge part of the story.  So, what might have been a better title? 

Bella Koch

Really wanted to enjoy this but I did not 😢 this was honestly too long for what it was and the two (three?) plot lines felt entirely separate — like the author just tossed in a women’s rights storyline into a romance novel

Regina &
The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore

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Regina &The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore

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Regina &
The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore