A Game of Patience

by Elisabeth Fairchild

Now that it is time for her to marry, Patience Ballard journeys to London to find her two favorite childhood friends--fun-loving Pip, a charming man already betrothed to another, and dependable Richard--and must choose between the two very different men. Original.

Genres: Regency, Historical Romance, Historical, Romance, Traditional Regency

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Elisabeth Fairchild is half English and considers the British Isles her second home. With a degree in advertising from North Texas State University, Fairchild worked for ten years in advertising before turning to writing full-time.

Reviews

[seton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Patience, our heroine, has always been infatuated with childhood friend, Pip, while ignoring "dear, dependable" Richard, her other childhood friend. It's one of those love triangle/childhood friends to lovers stories.

I had read three previous Fairchild books before and liked them all. My favorite so far is The Love Knot, which features a love triangle with a Cyrano twist. So, when I received A Game of Patience in a book swap ring that I am participating in, I dug in immediately. Sadly, this book is a disappointment.

This is a very self-conscious novel. Fairchild obviously thought a lot about stylistic choices and this book comes across as one loooong, arduous writing exercise. 28 of the 33 chapters in the novel start with the word "Patience"; every chapter but one does have the word "Patience" somewhere in the very first sentence. I could not help but notice it. I am sure it was meant to be noticed.

Patience is also what the Brits call the card game of Solitaire. Patience, our heroine, happens to loooooove card games as well as backgammon and chess so "cards" and "games" (as well as "tightrope walking") are motifs and metaphors used throughout the book. Unfortunately, Fairchild doesnt just hire a metaphor for the night. No, she uses it over and over again, beats it to a pulp, eventually killing it, and then, still not finished with it, she ties its decaying corpse to her horse and drags the body behind her for days. In another words, it's o-v-e-r-kill. I cannot remember the last time I was so bludgeoned with metaphor overkill in a book. (I think maybe a Pat Conroy novel about 20 years ago.)

Despite all this, I could have liked this book if it had just done the job storywise. I am a sucka for beta heroes. I am also a sucka for childhood sweetheart stories. It would have taken very little for me to like this novel, so very little, but it is an utter failure as a romance.

I am going to spoil the ending because it has a huge, HUGE problem. Not only does Patience not spend enough time with the man she eventually ends up with but TWENTY pages before the end of the book, Patience is rubbing NAKED UGLIES with the OTHER GUY, about to give up her virginity so the last minute about-face to her real love is not in the least believable. It was the final misstep in a long series of missteps throughout the book.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here is all you need to know about A Game of Patience. The back of the book tells us that Patience had two childhood friends and that she has always wanted Pip (darling Pip, clever Pip) - not Richard (dear Richard, dependable Richard). But, says the cover, "when she sees firsthand just how cruel Pip can be, she starts to wonder if Richard - calm, trustworthy, serious Richard - is the man with the key to her heart". This happens on page 358. Of a 365 page book.

Besides the heroine being in love with the wrong man for all but the last 7 pages, there is a lot of behavior that is inappropriate to the times and Patience is a complete and total idiot. Also the puns on her name grew old after the second one.

[Frances · Rating 1 out of 5]

It could have been a good story. Unfortunately, the author was more enamored of her own prose than writing a believable plot, I could never figure out why the incomparable hero could find anything in the heroine to love or why she, in turn, could love Pip who was a total ass. This book had so many blatant errors as to the proper conduct and manners of a Regency 17 year old debutante. Too many to enumerate.

[Karate1kid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book 4 stars, but it made me so angry that I almost gave it 2. The story is interesting and the writing is good. The descriptions of the heroine's blindness are insightful - they didn't make me feel very happy, but they are not supposed to be pleasant. With better editing to keep the right balance, it could have been a good melodrama - but it was just over the top. Too bad.

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had no patience with this story. "I love Pip." "Richard is boring but so nice." After variations on this theme I couldn't take any more. At page 42, I quit. I only give books about 50 pages to catch my interest. If I don't care about the characters by then, I quit - except, of course, when the author is Dickens. Then I give him 150 pages to learn the characters.

[Ellen B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It didn't feel like a Regency - it felt about 30-50 years earlier, more mid to late 1700s. Decadence without manners. And it's hard to like a book when you can't like any of the stupid, spoiled, selfish characters.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this story, I found things wrong in it's settings & I have a hard time with that. Ex: The young herione was wearing a Red velvet gown. That wasn't done then if you were from a good family & needed a good reputation.