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Saints & Sinners #4.5
A Wager Worth Winning
Annabeth Langton has come from the Americas with big shoes to fill. Both her sisters had managed to take London by storm and marry two of the most eligible peers in Christendom. Well used to being in her sisters’ shadows, she still can’t help wishing for a grand adventure of her own. But with the eyes of the notorious Monster of Montvale Hall watching her every move, she knows her chances of romance are laughably small.
William Sandon, Earl of Tenshire has never met a bet he wouldn’t try to win, never met a challenge he didn’t want to take. So when his friend bets that he won’t get near the ton’s most cosseted debutante, he can’t resist placing the wager of a lifetime. Miss Annabeth Langton might just be the most protected woman in England. But that just made the wager even more worth winning.
A house party in the countryside affords Will the chance to put his plan into action. But the best laid plans can sometimes go awry and the longer he spends in the company of the beautiful Beth, the more he wonders if she might just be more than a wager worth winning.
William Sandon, Earl of Tenshire has never met a bet he wouldn’t try to win, never met a challenge he didn’t want to take. So when his friend bets that he won’t get near the ton’s most cosseted debutante, he can’t resist placing the wager of a lifetime. Miss Annabeth Langton might just be the most protected woman in England. But that just made the wager even more worth winning.
A house party in the countryside affords Will the chance to put his plan into action. But the best laid plans can sometimes go awry and the longer he spends in the company of the beautiful Beth, the more he wonders if she might just be more than a wager worth winning.
86 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 20, 2023
24 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Nadine Millard
79 books237 followersHey everyone!
I'm Nadine, a writer from County Laois in Ireland.
I’ve been writing historical romance since March 2014 and have no plans to stop!
While my heart belongs to Regency, there are a lot of other genres and ideas fluttering around in my brain so who knows what will happen next?!
When I'm not writing I can be found scurrying around after my three children. Or my dog. Or my cat.
I have a brilliant family and wonderful friends who are ever patient and supportive of me.
I'm sometimes asked where my inspiration comes from. I guess it's from everywhere! I love my gorgeous husband to distraction so that helps! I think I also put a little bit of people I know into my characters...so if you know me and you recognize someone... ;)
Have an ever so mild obsession with Jane Austen and have properly researched time machines in case there's one who could take me back to 1800s. Spoiler alert: there isn’t one. My brain might be odd but it's a pretty fun place to be at times!
My writing really took off when my youngest started preschool. So now, while my children are being taken care of by teachers, my characters are being taken care of by me!
To be fair though, I can quite regularly be found at 2am glued to the laptop when I get an idea!
I'm Nadine, a writer from County Laois in Ireland.
I’ve been writing historical romance since March 2014 and have no plans to stop!
While my heart belongs to Regency, there are a lot of other genres and ideas fluttering around in my brain so who knows what will happen next?!
When I'm not writing I can be found scurrying around after my three children. Or my dog. Or my cat.
I have a brilliant family and wonderful friends who are ever patient and supportive of me.
I'm sometimes asked where my inspiration comes from. I guess it's from everywhere! I love my gorgeous husband to distraction so that helps! I think I also put a little bit of people I know into my characters...so if you know me and you recognize someone... ;)
Have an ever so mild obsession with Jane Austen and have properly researched time machines in case there's one who could take me back to 1800s. Spoiler alert: there isn’t one. My brain might be odd but it's a pretty fun place to be at times!
My writing really took off when my youngest started preschool. So now, while my children are being taken care of by teachers, my characters are being taken care of by me!
To be fair though, I can quite regularly be found at 2am glued to the laptop when I get an idea!
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 11, 2024
Apparently, there are other books in a series called Saints & Sinners and this is—what?—a little window into that world? I don’t know. The book is strange and perhaps reading the other books first would be advisable. There are glowering dukes strung all over the pages, higgledy-piggledy, and sisters, and maybe some friends (?) who have married these dukes. All quite confusing…perhaps the other books are required reading after all.
Ostensibly, this is about an American, Annabeth Langdon, who follows her sisters from the U.S. to England in hopes of finding a husband. She’s been browbeaten by her mother into believing she has neither beauty nor charm, so she’s not expecting much. She is kept tightly chaperoned by her brothers-in-law, all dukes, whom no one will challenge just for a mere dance or conversation with the girl. Enter William Sandon, fourth Earl of Tenshire, who makes a bet with his friend, Lord Fitzhubert, that he can compromise the American girl by kissing her in front of Fitz. Yes, we can all see it coming. That bet is going to come back to haunt Tenshire who sets out to get that kiss and along the way falls for Annabeth.
Speaking of the wager, Sandon is disingenuous about it when he tries to wiggle his way out of that bad behavior. “I forgot all about it,” he tells Annabeth. Perhaps it’s the writer who forgets how often the bet has been referenced by Sandon in the story.
There is a disconnect regarding the dukes who have been disconcertingly attentive in protecting Annabeth from unwanted suiters. How is it that they do not know Sanden is meeting with Annabeth alone at odd hours of the day? At one point we are told that Andrew had “done his utmost to convince the brooding dukes that he was a modicum of gentlemanly propriety….” These dukes would have known his reputation for being a rake and have been hyper-vigilant.
The sex between the hero (Sandon) and heroine (Annabeth) is strange. They are on a chaise lounge in a public area where anyone could walk in and see them. It feels prurient and unnecessary to the story’s plotline.
Towards the end of the book, Annabeth does something odd. “…she reached out and tipped over the queen until it lay useless upon the board.” I suppose this could be a metaphor for Annabeth capitulating to Sandon, but I think it’s referencing the chess games the two have been playing. If so, it is nonsensical. Checkmate occurs when the king is surrendered (by tipping it), not the queen.
This 82-page book is packed with egregious errors. It is impossible to enjoy the book because of them. It’s as if the writer dashed out these pages and wandered off without having this novella edited or proofread. It’s ludicrous. Here are a few examples:
The writer uses past perfect tense incorrectly: “When she’d began her Season….” The word, “began” is past tense, but the past perfect form is “begun.” This phrase should read, “When she’d begun her Season….”
Again, the past perfect tense is used incorrectly: “…until he’d met and fell in love with his duchess.” The word, “fell” is past tense but past perfect requires the form, “fallen,” so this phrase should read, “…until he’d met and fallen in love with his duchess.”
The wrong tense is used here. The sentence uses past tense and then glaringly switches to present tense: “She rolled her eyes at his faux innocence, even as her heart speed alarmingly….” That should read, “…even as her heart sped alarmingly….”
Punctuation is a problem: “How much damage could I possibly do at one, country house party.” The comma is superfluous, and the sentence should read, “…could I possibly do at one country house party.”
Here, a comma is needed: “She was still beautiful in the light of day Will mused as he watched….” This should read, “She was still beautiful in the flight of day, Will mused….”
Again, a comma is needed: “Minx” he laughed. This should read, “Minx,” he laughed.
Another comma has gone missing: “But the terms were clear, Will” Fitz continued jovially….” That should read, “But the terms were clear, Will,” Fitz continued jovially….”
Quotation marks are problematic. When not used to begin a character’s conversation, the reader must backtrack to figure out when the character has begun to speak.
This sentence is oddly worded: “Because even there weren’t many rules that applied to men….” Perhaps it could read, “Because even though there weren’t many rules….”
Another sentence that seems odd: “Do any the young ladies of your acquaintance believe such tosh…?” This would read better if “the” were removed: “Do any young ladies of your acquaintance believe…?”
This sentence contains one too many “here’s: “Everyone here was here to impress.” It would be simpler to state, “Everyone was here to impress.”
There is leftover screen code on page 26: break-section-side-screen.png that needs to be removed.
An odd word is used by the hero to describe the heroine: “She was a little termagant.” That seems a little harsh. A termagant is a shrew, a battle-axe, a harpy. It is not in the least affectionate. I wonder if the writer means for him to call her a minx, which is a tease or a flirt, and can be used affectionately.
Another word appears to be misused: “He’d done his utmost to convince the brooding dukes that he was a modicum of gentlemanly propriety….” Modicum means a little bit or small amount – Sandon is trying to show that he “…was a model of gentlemanly propriety….”
The writer starts many sentences with “And.” This is fine once in a while because it draws attention to the sentence, but in this little novella, it is overused.
The writer likes the word, “faux.” It’s an unusual word and when used too often, it can come across as pretentious.
An adjective is used when an adverb should have been chosen: “…her heart hammered wildly, even tender.” Since it is a verb (hammered) that is being modified, an adverb must be used. This should read, “…her heart hammered wildly, even tenderly.” This is still an odd sentence, though. Does a heart hammer wildly and tenderly at the same time?
This feels like a rushed first draft. Helping with this impression are oddly worded sentences, like these:
“Their story was one of Beth’s favorites and she couldn’t help wishing that she could find similar for herself.” The sentence needs a rewrite – what is it that she wishes to find that is similar, similar to what? Also, there is a comma usage rule that has been ignored. When two independent clauses are joined with a conjunction like “and,” a comma is used to separate them, like this: “…one of Beth’s favorites, and she couldn’t help wishing….”
“…she saw both her brothers-in-law spot them and glower. Then stomp towards them in unison.” The second sentence is incomplete and the two should be one sentence: “…she saw both her brothers-in-law spot them and glower, then stomp towards them in unison.”
Here, it’s difficult to tell which clause a phrase is referencing: “Well, I won’t die of boredom here if I’ve something fun to do, which is a very real possibility.” What is a very real possibility: dying of boredom or finding something fun to do? We don’t know.
I rated this book 1 star because of all the mistakes. It was short but populated with so many errors that it was difficult to get through and was not a pleasant read. I do not know if this is indicative of the quality of Ms. Millard’s work, but any published work should be both edited and proofread, neither of which appear to have been done here. I’m not anxious to read any more books filled with so many errors.
Ostensibly, this is about an American, Annabeth Langdon, who follows her sisters from the U.S. to England in hopes of finding a husband. She’s been browbeaten by her mother into believing she has neither beauty nor charm, so she’s not expecting much. She is kept tightly chaperoned by her brothers-in-law, all dukes, whom no one will challenge just for a mere dance or conversation with the girl. Enter William Sandon, fourth Earl of Tenshire, who makes a bet with his friend, Lord Fitzhubert, that he can compromise the American girl by kissing her in front of Fitz. Yes, we can all see it coming. That bet is going to come back to haunt Tenshire who sets out to get that kiss and along the way falls for Annabeth.
Speaking of the wager, Sandon is disingenuous about it when he tries to wiggle his way out of that bad behavior. “I forgot all about it,” he tells Annabeth. Perhaps it’s the writer who forgets how often the bet has been referenced by Sandon in the story.
There is a disconnect regarding the dukes who have been disconcertingly attentive in protecting Annabeth from unwanted suiters. How is it that they do not know Sanden is meeting with Annabeth alone at odd hours of the day? At one point we are told that Andrew had “done his utmost to convince the brooding dukes that he was a modicum of gentlemanly propriety….” These dukes would have known his reputation for being a rake and have been hyper-vigilant.
The sex between the hero (Sandon) and heroine (Annabeth) is strange. They are on a chaise lounge in a public area where anyone could walk in and see them. It feels prurient and unnecessary to the story’s plotline.
Towards the end of the book, Annabeth does something odd. “…she reached out and tipped over the queen until it lay useless upon the board.” I suppose this could be a metaphor for Annabeth capitulating to Sandon, but I think it’s referencing the chess games the two have been playing. If so, it is nonsensical. Checkmate occurs when the king is surrendered (by tipping it), not the queen.
This 82-page book is packed with egregious errors. It is impossible to enjoy the book because of them. It’s as if the writer dashed out these pages and wandered off without having this novella edited or proofread. It’s ludicrous. Here are a few examples:
The writer uses past perfect tense incorrectly: “When she’d began her Season….” The word, “began” is past tense, but the past perfect form is “begun.” This phrase should read, “When she’d begun her Season….”
Again, the past perfect tense is used incorrectly: “…until he’d met and fell in love with his duchess.” The word, “fell” is past tense but past perfect requires the form, “fallen,” so this phrase should read, “…until he’d met and fallen in love with his duchess.”
The wrong tense is used here. The sentence uses past tense and then glaringly switches to present tense: “She rolled her eyes at his faux innocence, even as her heart speed alarmingly….” That should read, “…even as her heart sped alarmingly….”
Punctuation is a problem: “How much damage could I possibly do at one, country house party.” The comma is superfluous, and the sentence should read, “…could I possibly do at one country house party.”
Here, a comma is needed: “She was still beautiful in the light of day Will mused as he watched….” This should read, “She was still beautiful in the flight of day, Will mused….”
Again, a comma is needed: “Minx” he laughed. This should read, “Minx,” he laughed.
Another comma has gone missing: “But the terms were clear, Will” Fitz continued jovially….” That should read, “But the terms were clear, Will,” Fitz continued jovially….”
Quotation marks are problematic. When not used to begin a character’s conversation, the reader must backtrack to figure out when the character has begun to speak.
This sentence is oddly worded: “Because even there weren’t many rules that applied to men….” Perhaps it could read, “Because even though there weren’t many rules….”
Another sentence that seems odd: “Do any the young ladies of your acquaintance believe such tosh…?” This would read better if “the” were removed: “Do any young ladies of your acquaintance believe…?”
This sentence contains one too many “here’s: “Everyone here was here to impress.” It would be simpler to state, “Everyone was here to impress.”
There is leftover screen code on page 26: break-section-side-screen.png that needs to be removed.
An odd word is used by the hero to describe the heroine: “She was a little termagant.” That seems a little harsh. A termagant is a shrew, a battle-axe, a harpy. It is not in the least affectionate. I wonder if the writer means for him to call her a minx, which is a tease or a flirt, and can be used affectionately.
Another word appears to be misused: “He’d done his utmost to convince the brooding dukes that he was a modicum of gentlemanly propriety….” Modicum means a little bit or small amount – Sandon is trying to show that he “…was a model of gentlemanly propriety….”
The writer starts many sentences with “And.” This is fine once in a while because it draws attention to the sentence, but in this little novella, it is overused.
The writer likes the word, “faux.” It’s an unusual word and when used too often, it can come across as pretentious.
An adjective is used when an adverb should have been chosen: “…her heart hammered wildly, even tender.” Since it is a verb (hammered) that is being modified, an adverb must be used. This should read, “…her heart hammered wildly, even tenderly.” This is still an odd sentence, though. Does a heart hammer wildly and tenderly at the same time?
This feels like a rushed first draft. Helping with this impression are oddly worded sentences, like these:
“Their story was one of Beth’s favorites and she couldn’t help wishing that she could find similar for herself.” The sentence needs a rewrite – what is it that she wishes to find that is similar, similar to what? Also, there is a comma usage rule that has been ignored. When two independent clauses are joined with a conjunction like “and,” a comma is used to separate them, like this: “…one of Beth’s favorites, and she couldn’t help wishing….”
“…she saw both her brothers-in-law spot them and glower. Then stomp towards them in unison.” The second sentence is incomplete and the two should be one sentence: “…she saw both her brothers-in-law spot them and glower, then stomp towards them in unison.”
Here, it’s difficult to tell which clause a phrase is referencing: “Well, I won’t die of boredom here if I’ve something fun to do, which is a very real possibility.” What is a very real possibility: dying of boredom or finding something fun to do? We don’t know.
I rated this book 1 star because of all the mistakes. It was short but populated with so many errors that it was difficult to get through and was not a pleasant read. I do not know if this is indicative of the quality of Ms. Millard’s work, but any published work should be both edited and proofread, neither of which appear to have been done here. I’m not anxious to read any more books filled with so many errors.
December 31, 2023
It almost was a great book.
This story was sweet for the first 3/4 through then took a steamy turn. There was some blasphemy on rare occasion as well, so I cannot recommend this story for those wanting a clean & sweet romance. The most enduring yet probably insufferable characters were the two dukes who went over the top trying to protect their sister-in-law, but given they failed, they could have been more diligent. Millard writes well but relies on the physical attraction for a romance to move forward. This is too bad considering she starts with likeable characters. If she developed the relationship and characters and reactions of family maybe she wouldn't feel the need to detail a lust scene and possibly delivering a great book to the reader.
This story was sweet for the first 3/4 through then took a steamy turn. There was some blasphemy on rare occasion as well, so I cannot recommend this story for those wanting a clean & sweet romance. The most enduring yet probably insufferable characters were the two dukes who went over the top trying to protect their sister-in-law, but given they failed, they could have been more diligent. Millard writes well but relies on the physical attraction for a romance to move forward. This is too bad considering she starts with likeable characters. If she developed the relationship and characters and reactions of family maybe she wouldn't feel the need to detail a lust scene and possibly delivering a great book to the reader.
May 8, 2023
A generous 2 stars because I really liked the main characters.
Negatives: 1) unnecessary sex; 2) Inaccurate details, like tipping the queen to indicate a loss in chess (should be the king) and spending HOURS together each day without a chaperone and everyone is okay with that, even the overprotective brothers.
Negatives: 1) unnecessary sex; 2) Inaccurate details, like tipping the queen to indicate a loss in chess (should be the king) and spending HOURS together each day without a chaperone and everyone is okay with that, even the overprotective brothers.
March 24, 2024
Loved it
Loved Will and Beth’s wonderful story of illicit wagers, kisses and passion. Will proposes a wager to gain a kiss from Beth to be witnessed by his friend, what he doesn't expect is to lose his heart. Can Beth forgive him when she finds out or will his illicit wager destroy their fledging love for good.
Loved Will and Beth’s wonderful story of illicit wagers, kisses and passion. Will proposes a wager to gain a kiss from Beth to be witnessed by his friend, what he doesn't expect is to lose his heart. Can Beth forgive him when she finds out or will his illicit wager destroy their fledging love for good.
February 9, 2023
Read in The Wedding Wager Anthology
Since Annabeth arrived in England her over protective brother-in-laws have so dogged her every move that every man even slightly interested in her has faded away. So when she meets William Sandon, she is tempted by a rogue who seems to care about nothing.
Since Annabeth arrived in England her over protective brother-in-laws have so dogged her every move that every man even slightly interested in her has faded away. So when she meets William Sandon, she is tempted by a rogue who seems to care about nothing.
January 14, 2024
A short read (86 pages) that are packed with lots of laughs around a nice and sweet story. Well written and worth picking up. Great find on Stuff Your Kindle Day that has this author’s books on my wish list.
December 30, 2023
medium feelings
January 5, 2024
easy read
Beth has come to England from America to visit her two married sisters. Despite both her brothers in law scaring off any possible suitors she finds her hea
Beth has come to England from America to visit her two married sisters. Despite both her brothers in law scaring off any possible suitors she finds her hea
June 6, 2024
3.5/5
That was cute. Not great but definitely cute. They were adorable. I love man obsessed and boy, the way he followed her like a puppy was awesome.
That was cute. Not great but definitely cute. They were adorable. I love man obsessed and boy, the way he followed her like a puppy was awesome.
November 3, 2024
Super fast read with potentially interesting characters. The story was meh and the writing was inconsistent with historical romance values. If it helps the series along to read this book, then 86 pages of saucy banter and stolen kisses might be worth it for you.
Read
January 16, 2024Short novela but fun. A little steamy.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews