The Gamble
Prim 34yo milliner is protesting the new saloon close to her store b/c it's taking away from her hat business. Saloon-owner Hero takes her protests as a business challenge & even hires her sewing skills for his dancers' customs. They establish a friendship of sorts along with Hero's unique family of employees despite their opposing views about alcohol. Their r/s broadens when Hero & heroine take on the care of a neglected 5yo boy. But growing sentiment for alcohol prohibition threatens Hero's saloon & their growing r/s. I didn't enjoy this Spencer book very much. The writing, romance, characters, sexual tension, & pacing bored me compared to her other books. It wasn't so boring that it put me to sleep. It just didn't excite me. There were too many characters & circumstances like alcohol prohibition that got in the way of a stronger & more-focused romance. Hero's r/s with 1 of his dancers was a major block to their r/s & it only stopped being so towards the end. So in about ¾ of the book heroine has an unrequited love for Hero while Hero is dallying with his lover. He only thought about breaking up with his lover when he found out that she was interested in another man. It made me wonder if he would've pursued his burgeoning attraction towards heroine & left his lover if his lover still wanted to be with him. Hero supposedly fell in love with her very late in the story & I'm not really convinced about the depth of his love. I think heroine was his convenient replacement of his lover who so happen to be a friend & someone who shared some important interests with him.
Recommended with provisions.
