TEST
The entire length of this book I just wanted to shake some sense into the heroine, Lydia Seaton. She’s not exactly too stupid to live, but she keeps creating mountains out of molehills so she doesn’t have to tell the hero the real reason she doesn’t want to commit to their relationship.
Lydia and her family run a hotel called Gentleman John’s along the train route between Memphis and New Orleans. Not only do people stay the night while waiting to catch the connecting train, but they come looking for Gentleman John’s gold. Legend has it Lydia’s grandfather won the gold off a wealthy Chicago businessman in a card game and hid it somewhere nearby.
When the railroad hires Pinkerton agent Nick Bennington to look into a train derailment and vandalism to the local station, he uses the opportunity to try to find out about the gold. His grandfather was the Chicago businessman, and all his life Nick had heard that John Shea was a cheat who stole the gold, which was the company payroll. The loss of the money cost his grandfather his life. Yet soon after he arrives, Nick realizes that if the Sheas had the gold, they wouldn’t be working so hard to make the hotel a success. Besides, he’s more interested in Lydia than any long lost gold.
What he sees in Lydia is puzzling. She is the queen of mixed signals. Lydia lets Nick flirt with her and kiss her, then accuses him of being forward and aggressive. She sleeps with Nick and then accuses him of taking advantage of her. Finally he proposes marriage and she proposes he leave town. Granted she’s torn. She wants Nick, but at first she thinks he’s just after the gold like everyone else. Then she thinks he’ll leave like everyone else in her life, so she pushes him away first. Her real reason is that she’s afraid if she sticks around he’ll find the body of her first husband she hid in an abandoned well on the property.
Nick is an okay guy. He figures out pretty quickly who is responsible for the damage to the railroad. He only shows lack of judgement when it comes to his attraction to the prickly Lydia. I thought the added baggage of a dead wife who cheated on him with his best friend was overkill. Lydia gave him enough reasons on her own not to trust her without the cliché of the another-woman-done-him-wrong subplot.
Light never really convinces the reader that these two are in love. Lust yes, because most of their feelings had to do with a physical attraction and not an emotional one based on shared ideas. Nick had to make a lot of leaps of logic to understand Lydia because she would never tell him anything.
The secondary characters are mostly caricatures, from the bluestocking sister who reads at the supper table to the slow brother with two first names. Only Lydia’s younger sister Bobby June seemed original. Stubborn and quick on her feet, she was the only person to stay one step ahead of Nick. If it weren’t for the age difference she would’ve been a much better match for him.
Gambler’s Gold was a disappointing read; the love story was simply not credible nor was the heroine at all likable.
Grade: D
Book Type: American Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 02/07/01
Publication Date: 2001
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.