A Winning Trick

Marstone #1.5

by Jayne Davis

A novella sequel to Sauce For The Gander, distributed free to mailing list subscribers.

Genres: Historical, 18th Century, Fiction, Historical Romance

Unknown Binding

Published April 1, 2019

About the author

I was born in England, near the Welsh border, and lived in several places while I was growing up, including a spell in Singapore and in Malta. Malta was where I got hooked on historical romances - my parents rented a furnished house, and the owners had left most of their books there, including a whole set of Georgette Heyer novels.

Loving Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, I longed to write similar novels myself. I toyed with the idea several times over the years, but real life intervened and I've had several careers, including as a non-fiction author under another name. That wasn’t quite the writing career I had in mind…

So here I am, finally publishing my stories. I hope you enjoy them!

Reviews

[Pauline Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a free novella which is, in a way, an extended epilogue to Sauce For The Gander. We catch up with Will and Connie living their life of perfect married bliss, and being terribly modern parents to their two small daughters. Which is lovely, but not particularly exciting. But all is not well in Will’s family, and his dastardly father is hatching a cunning scheme to marry off his twin daughters to men of his choosing. Will isn’t about to let him get away with that, so he sets about some trickery to throw a spanner in the works.

The story took a long time to get going, but once Will and Connie reach London and set about their scheming, the pace (and my interest) picked up considerably. This isn’t in the same league as The Mrs MacKinnons, and the brevity cuts out any chance of real depth in the characters or the plot, but as a free story it’s a fun read, I enjoyed the convoluted stratagems employed and it’s always nice to see the villain bested quite so soundly. Four stars.

[Gerrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5 stars

[Olga Godim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. There is not much else to say about this novella. It hardly has any plot, and its characters are just pale memories of the characters I knew and loved in Sauce for the Gander. No wonder it was free.

[Virginia Tican · Rating 5 out of 5]

This deals with Will Stanlake's efforts to save his twin sisters' leg~shackles to unknown men as a result of their autocratic father's, the Earl of Marstone's, devious machinations... plus here would be a very promising and as good as True romantic entanglement hoisted upon the Taunting Tregarth, Will's best friend, Harry who was always ribbing Will about his blissful contentment of the marriage state and obvious lack of regret in the abandonment of his once carefree bachelor ways. The intrepid and scrupulously honest Miss Katherine Glover would be Harry's welcome and happy downfall. Miss Glover was dismissed as the Stanlake sisters' governess for apparently allowing the twins to escape Marstone Park upon learning of their unwanted betrothals ~ innocently embarking on a planned destination (Ashton Tracey, Devonshire their brother's home)... naively discounting the days spent on the road and stays on common inns as well as the accompanying dangers to clueless ingénues from thieves, opportunists, rapists and brothel procurers... etc. Fortunately, this time ~ thank God for ingratiating and fearful retainers... they were stopped. This is not without its funny moments though... so... Good laughs... Good read.

[Laura Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for a novella but better if you have read the first book in the series which I did.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable short read

[Margherita Morgante · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been better.