Lawson’s review of Never Trust a Scoundrel by Gayle Callen
Historical romance released by Avon 25 Mar 08

Gayle Callen starts a new series with this book, though it is loosely tied to her last series. Simon Wade, the hero from Viscount in the Bedroom, makes an appearance, along with his fiancee Louisa Shelby. From what I think I remember of that book, Daniel Throckmorton made an appearance, though I’m a little fuzzy on the details, it was quite a bit and a lot of books ago. The setup for Scoundrel seems a bit complicated and Callen usually is able to deliver a good romance.

However, the stretch for this one just doesn’t make it. Daniel Throckmorton is a self made man, as well as a gambler, and he wins the right to court one Grace Banbury as well as her family’s townhouse in London. Grace’s mother is a compulsive gambler and had no qualms about betting what she did, thinking she would win. Going to his new property, Daniel finds Grace there, trying to help her brother, who also is showing signs of gambling addiction.

Grace and Daniel meet in the middle of the night. The scoundrel offers a scandalous bargain and Grace accepts. He has two weeks to try to seduce her and as long as she holds out, she can keep her family’s house. It’s convoluted and just doesn’t work. Grace, as the reader soon finds out, is no innocent. She’s carrying lots of shame due to her weakness in giving herself to one of her brother’s friends as well as the pains from her mother’s disastrous gambling. The two weeks progress quickly with Grace’s resolve faltering and Daniel beginning to care about her.

Grace takes on too much, thinking she has to save her family from ruin, and trying not to ruin herself further. Daniel is a decent enough guy, though he would rather society see him as unscrupulous rather than the quietly noble person he is. Grace’s constant quibbling about being seduced is grating, as she already gave herself up once, she seems to enjoy sex, so hell, why not let yourself be seduced? Good to see that she wants to be the bastion of decorum for her family, but she lost that when she let herself get used by a jerk of a guy.

While it’s nice to see these two lost souls grow up a bit and fall in love, the set up just doesn’t work and the connection really isn’t there, except for the lust that builds a little bit, but the payoff doesn’t really come. The only reason I finished the book is to see if Callen could make things work, but by the end it was just unsatisfying.

Grade: D+

     From the back cover: 

     A pact with the devil . . .

     Miss Grace Banbury was in shock. Her mother put her up as a prize in a high stakes card game, and now the gentleman who won is ready to claim her! But Grace has other plans. She just needs the dastardly rogue to go along with it . . .

     A notorious rake from a scandalous family, Daniel Throckmorten has no use for blushing virgins. Yet there’s no denying the attraction for the beauty standing before him, proposing an enticing wager: He will use all his charm and wit to seduce her into his bed . . . and she only has to resist. If she succeeds, she wins enough funds to secure her own future. If he wins . . . she’ll be his. Daniel has never been so tempted—and he has no intention of losing . . .

     Read an excerpt.