A GAMBLE ON LOVE by Blair Bancroft is a sweet and sour regency romance about being careful what you wish for. For me, most of the story was sour, and I give it three stars, wishing the novel had not fallen into the quagmire of clichéd romance novel melodrama.
In A GAMBLE ON LOVE, Miss Aurelia Trevor is stymied in her efforts to improve, or even maintain, her childhood home and estate by a poorly drafted and asinine guardianship clause in her father's will. While Relia inherits Pevensey Park, her uncle and guardian, greedy Lord Hubert, holds the purse strings until Relia turns twenty-five years old. Until that time, Relia also has to suffer the inappropriate attentions – indeed, even outrageous presumptions – of her cousin Twyford. Relia determines that before her uncle runs her beloved Pevensey into ruin, she must find and marry a man who will be authoritative enough to thwart her uncle's control, but also wealthy and forward minded enough to allow her to run Pevensey as she will.
After rejecting every man on her "potential" list, Relia is at the mercy of Thomas Lanning, a Cit who, after nerve-wracking deliberation, ultimately agrees to marry her because it will benefit his political aspirations. Unfortunately, Relia has undertaken a larger challenge than she imagined, for Thomas is determined to fulfill his role as dragonslayer, knight errant and landowner to the tittle, thus stepping on Relia's supremely big toes. These two must work out the kinks in their marriage quickly so that Thomas has a chance to gain his end of the bargain, the county's seat in the House of Commons. But will the marriage survive the election?
I was predisposed to like A GAMBLE ON LOVE, given its historical setting. There were plenty of political issues in 19th Century England, and the election process is one that can be easily overlooked, as electoral procedure isn't really a sexy issue. Additionally, Aurelia faces the remarkable dichotomy of inheriting property but not the funds to manage it due to a poorly drafted will. These issues intrigued me, but I found Relia's immaturity, emotional outbursts, and passive-aggressive behavior so irritating that I had trouble finishing the book. A certain amount of frustration and adjustment would be expected in such a situation, but Relia takes it to an absurd extreme. To be fair, Thomas isn't very communicative, either, and when he does communicate, it is mostly in an autocratic manner as opposed to a conversation with his wife. He also fails to mention some important details about himself, which causes unnecessary angst in the household.
The development of the romantic relationship proceeds realistically in time and context. The characters finally learn to talk to each other. Unfortunately, though, the romance becomes ridiculous when Aurelia decides that she loves her husband, indeed has loved him since the first time she saw him. At that point, the book was ruined for me. Realistic marriages require effort to succeed. This kind of love-at-first-sight scenario is so implausible as to negate not only the facts of their initial meeting, but also the determined efforts the characters had made toward unity in their marriage.
If you don't care whether the romance is realistic -- and I'm sure plenty of those readers exist - then you will probably enjoy this novel. But if like me, you need realism to stay submerged in the storyline, then this is not the book for you.
**Review shared with The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=11059.
