Lord Ashford Wager edition by Marjorie Farrell Romance eBooks
Download As PDF : Lord Ashford Wager edition by Marjorie Farrell Romance eBooks 
Lady Joanna Barrand had a decided tendre for her childhood companion, Tony, Lord Ashford. Oh, she knew he was a confirmed gambler, especially since his brother had died, and she knew he was courting a beautiful older widow for her fortune, but she also knew that someone had to come to his assistance. Since her heart was already captured, there was really no risk involved… Regency Romance by Marjorie Farrell; originally published by Signet
Lord Ashford Wager edition by Marjorie Farrell Romance eBooks
Marjorie Farrell is one of my favorite Regency writers - I have read many [but not all] of her books and recommend them unhesitatingly.What I particularly love, and what other reviewers consistently mention, is that these aren't light and fluffy Regencies. There is real substance here.
So, focusing on Lord Ashford's Wager ... Ms. Farrell does a superb job getting into the head of Lord Ashford, whose gambling has crossed the line from intense to compulsive, to outright addiction. She describes the physical, emotional and psychological descent in a way that is subtle and accurate. But that is just a small part of this story. Underneath the gambling is his unlooked-for acquisition of title and lands and the inadequacy he feels in fulfilling what he perceives as everyone's expectation that he should be stepping into his older, deceased brother's shoes and bringing everything back to solvency.
The friendship between him and the widowed Claudia Fairhaven is well-drawn, as is the seemingly unrequited love of his childhood friend Joanna and her loyalty to him when he is accused of murder.
In steps another interesting and beautifully portrayed character, the Bow Street runner, Gideon, who works hard, in his inimitable way, to save Lord Ashford from the gallows.
Excellent!!!
Content note: there are scenes which take place in a bawdy house - so, the door is not closed on some intimacy, none of which is described graphically, but all of which takes place outside the context of marriage. I will say a little bit more about this in the comment below, so that I am not adding spoilers to this review.
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Lord Ashford Wager edition by Marjorie Farrell Romance eBooks Reviews
Like the other reviewer, I waver about how many stars to rate this book, but for me, it is between 3 and 4. Like all of Marjorie Farrell's books, it is very readable (as opposed to many other regency authors out there whose books I struggle to finish). I like the prose of her writing and find it easy to read and follow. And her characters are generally very likable, portrayed with depth and sympathy.
We are introduced to 4 characters in the beginning of Lord Ashford's Wager. First there is Lord Ashford. A second son and former military man, he never expected to inherit the title or its encumbering estates. He is therefore very shocked and unprepared for the death of his father, followed quickly by the sudden death of his beloved older brother who had been striving so valiantly to restore their ancestral home. Unable to cope with the loss and the huge responsibilities of saving the estate now fallen on his shoulders, he turns to gambling in an attempt to win enough money to continue his elder brother's dream of rebuilding. Unfortunately, the gambling has backfired as it so often does and he is essentially broke.
Then there is Lady Joanna, who grew up on the neighboring estate and used to romp with Ashford and his brother when they were children. Joanna has been in love with Ashford since she was 10 but he never noticed her as anything beyond a good, dear friend.
Next is Lady Claudia Fairhaven, an older widow. Sold to the highest bidder by her greedy parents, she married a man significantly older. Fortunately, he was a wonderful man whom Claudia grew to love deeply, and they were very happy in their marriage. Unfortunately, her husband died, leaving her a widow--a very rich widow.
Finally, there is Mark, the new Lord Fairhaven, cousin to Claudia's deceased husband. While Claudia inherited all the money, Mark inherited the title and estates. He is trying to woo Claudia so that their fortunes can be combined but she's repulsed by him and isn't having any of that.
Instead, she is drawn to Ashford, who is 5 years younger than she, and dashing and charming. While he is not passionately in love with her, she knows he genuinely cares deeply for her and on that basis, they become betrothed. Meanwhile, there is Joanna, sitting on the sidelines agonizing over Ashford's budding relationship with Claudia.
However, immediately after they become betrothed (literally immediately after, before there is any time to spread the news), Mark finds out about the betrothal and in a fit of rage, murders Claudia. This happens fairly early in the book, but I was shocked that this was to be Claudia's fate. Of all the characters introduced, she was by far my favorite. Joanna was your typical young, inexperienced albeit gutsy and intelligent ingenue hero-worshipping her "love" since childhood. Claudia was portrayed with much more originality and depth. The description of her marriage, while relatively brief, was immensely touching. Of all the characters, I was most interested in her and thought it would be interesting to see how the author resolved the love triangle. So I was greatly disappointed that she was removed from the picture altogether.
Ashford is arrested on suspicion of her murder and he's thrown into Newgate, the public prison. We all know Newgate, being a prison, is an awful, dark place but most stories only very briefly touch on its atrocities. Usually we only get a sense that it is an "uncomfortable" place to be. While never going into explicit detail (thankfully), I was still very surprised by the degree to which the author described the very real horrors that logically, we all know must go on there. Again, there is nothing graphic or really even that specific. It is more just suggestions. But still, very surprising to find that in a genre that is generally what I call light reading.
Anyway, while Ashford is in prison, Joanna hires a Bow Street Runner to clear his name. Enters Gideon, the runner.
The title of the book is Lord Ashford's Wager. And indeed, it is his wagering that becomes the catalyst for the actions, both his and others', that follow. But I didn't really see him as the hero of the story, even though though it does begin, end, and revolve around him. If he is supposed to be the hero, he is an incredibly weak and ineffective one. He virtually does nothing noble in the book and is really rather useless. He inherits the title & estate but can't take the pressure and so slides into a gambler. He attaches himself to Claudia for her money, though there is genuine affection and friendship there. He's then thrown into jail where he is saved by Gideon the runner. Even though he later joins Gideon in his search to unmask the real killer, he never really DOES anything. He just hangs about. After the whole ordeal, he finally reforms and takes responsibility for the estate but mostly only because Claudia had willed him an enormous amount of money for that purpose. Sure, he's a good guy and at times a sympathetic character. But that's about it. He's not noble, nor admirable, nor anything remotely "hero-ish."
So other than the fact that without him, there would have been no catalyst for the story to even happen, I view him more as a secondary character. A secondary character who gets too much of the spotlight.
The real hero of the story, to my mind, is Gideon the runner. Unassuming and unpossessing at first glance, he is a force to be reckoned with. Highly intelligent, a hard worker, and with keen instincts, he and he alone is the one who saves the day. The heart of the book follows Gideon in his search for the truth. But he's more than just a runner here. He is portrayed as a man. A man who had dreams and a love who didn't wait for him while he was off fighting in war. A man who gets lonely at times. There is a moving scene after which he and a retired-courtesan-now-owner-of-a-brothel have shared a bed together, and he has been moved by her in a way that no other woman has touched him for a long time. He feels a warmth with her and doesn't want to destroy that feeling and so he tells her, he doesn't want to pay for her favors right now. He wants to pretend it wasn't a financial transaction. Instead, he'll pay her double the next time he visits one of her girls, but he just wants to savor the beauty of that moment and not tarnish it with money. That's deep stuff.
I thoroughly enjoyed Gideon's part of the story. To me, that WAS the story. I honestly couldn't care less about Ashford or Joanna, who were both likable but essentially stereotypical stick characters. Once Gideon was removed from the story (after the real murderer was apprehended), the story returned to Ashford and Joanna's "romance." Pretty humdrum and not really much worth reading there.
So on the one hand, I do think the book is worth reading for Gideon and Claudia's parts in it, and that is a substantial part. An excellent read in fact. The part about Ashford and Joanna was really unnecessary, except to serve as the catalyst for the story. I wish they had been made into much more minor characters.
A fan of Marjorie Farrell in general, my favorites of hers so far are Miss Ware's Refusal and Autumn Rose.
This book is about Lord Ashford, Tony Varden. He was a soldier on the Peninsula and was called home to assume the title after the deaths of his father and older brother. He inherited an almost bankrupt estate, so he decided that the best way to earn money was by gambling. This book held my attention and had interesting characters and an interesting plot. I highly recommend it.
Marjorie Farrell is one of my favorite Regency writers - I have read many [but not all] of her books and recommend them unhesitatingly.
What I particularly love, and what other reviewers consistently mention, is that these aren't light and fluffy Regencies. There is real substance here.
So, focusing on Lord Ashford's Wager ... Ms. Farrell does a superb job getting into the head of Lord Ashford, whose gambling has crossed the line from intense to compulsive, to outright addiction. She describes the physical, emotional and psychological descent in a way that is subtle and accurate. But that is just a small part of this story. Underneath the gambling is his unlooked-for acquisition of title and lands and the inadequacy he feels in fulfilling what he perceives as everyone's expectation that he should be stepping into his older, deceased brother's shoes and bringing everything back to solvency.
The friendship between him and the widowed Claudia Fairhaven is well-drawn, as is the seemingly unrequited love of his childhood friend Joanna and her loyalty to him when he is accused of murder.
In steps another interesting and beautifully portrayed character, the Bow Street runner, Gideon, who works hard, in his inimitable way, to save Lord Ashford from the gallows.
Excellent!!!
Content note there are scenes which take place in a bawdy house - so, the door is not closed on some intimacy, none of which is described graphically, but all of which takes place outside the context of marriage. I will say a little bit more about this in the comment below, so that I am not adding spoilers to this review.
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