Trope Round Up: Historical Romance Books Featuring a Gambling Hell Owner

Dreaming of a Duke Like You by Sara Bennett (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Romancing the Dukes series. Vivienne is the sister of a young baronet who has gotten himself into a load of gambling debt after the bad influence of his friends. She tries to appeal to the gambling hell owner Gabriel for a reprieve, since they’re really very poor and unable to pay the debts. He’s a shrewd businessman and refuses, leaving her to worry over her brother’s financial situation. Gabriel soon learns that he is actually the legitimate son and heir to a duke, despite being abandoned at an orphanage after his mother’s death. He has inherited an impoverished estate, a dragon of a grandmother, and six unruly sisters. He and his sisters all need polishing in order to fit in with London society. Vivienne and her brother are still worrying over their debts to Gabriel with their stepfather’s treachery looming over them, but Gabriel hasn’t had the time to deal with that yet. Eventually, Gabriel comes to an arrangement with Vivienne where he will forgive the debt completely, if she will assist in tutoring his sisters for society. This book had a bit of a slow start as Gabriel and Vivienne deal with their circumstances separately for awhile. Their bargain and proximity to each other doesn’t really begin until halfway through the book. However, once Vivienne starts to see how Gabriel interacts with his many sisters, it’s clear that she’s falling in love with him.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.

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The Duchess and the Wolf by Lydia Drake (2023)

Historical Romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Debutantes of London series. Susannah is nearly engaged to a duke, but is having misgivings about it and would rather travel and see the world. While out with a friend at a gambling den, she happens to play the piano is a seemingly empty room. Rafe, the owner of the club, stumbles upon her there and is encouraged to hire her to bring more sophisticated patrons to the club so that he can secure a business deal. He offers her a large sum of money in exchange for her playing at the club. While Susannah declines at first, she soon realizes that the money would give her the opportunity to run away from her imminent engagement. Rafe and Susannah attempt to keep their relationship professional, but Rafe is an awe of her playing and Susannah sees glimpses of Rafe’s kindness towards his employees. It’s a total social mismatch here, but Susannah goes after what she wants, even at the risk of displeasing her family.

Advance ebook provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley.

Never Wager with a Wallflower by Virginia Heath (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Merriwell Sisters series. Venus and Galahad have been at odds with each other since their first meeting without a real reason. However, things will probably become a lot messier when Galahad purchases the property next door to Venus’ orphanage to build his new gambling hell. With a negligent wastrel father, Venus has little tolerance for vice and believes the worst of Galahad. Add in Venus’ general distrust of men (and her own reaction to men), she is constantly wary of Galahad’s overtures of friendship. Galahad doesn’t want a potential war on his doorstep, so he aims to enter a truce with Venus before telling her about the gambling hell plans. In spending more time with her, Galahad shows his honorable nature and kindness towards the orphans and makes Venus start to question her perception of him. Of course, it all comes crashing down when she learns about the property purchase and she’ll have to figure out if he’s worth forgiving. This book was a nice wrap up of the series, showing how far the sisters have come from their desolate circumstances in Book 1. I also enjoyed reading about Galahad’s history and why he is so emotionally closed off.

Advance ebook provided by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

The Rake Gets Ravished by Sophie Jordan (2022)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Duke Hunt series. Mercy’s idiot brother has lost their home and farm in a card game, so Mercy goes to the gaming hell in London to steal back the debt voucher from Silas, the ruthless gaming hell owner. She finds the voucher but also gets caught in Silas’ rooms, so she makes the excuse of having come to seduce him. He’s resistant at first and they banter a bit, but the steam starts early in this book before Mercy flees back to her farm. Once Silas realizes what she’s done, he comes after her and finds her (and her family) on the property that he would have owned. Over the course of the book, we learn that Silas really is an upstanding guy and would do anything to protect Mercy and ease her troubles.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas (1994)

Pretty much the gambling hell book everyone thinks about, with Sara, the quiet country mouse doing research for her books, and Derek, the very rough and tumble self-made man. He spends most of the book obsessed with her and thinking he’s not good enough for her, until he wises up and goes after her anyway.

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The Rogue to Ruin by Vivienne Lorret (2019)

Book 3 of the Misadventures in Matchmaking series. The fake engagement in this story is to warn off a villainous suitor. Although Ainsley and Reed are basically enemies with opposing businesses on the same street, she declares him to be her fiancee when faced with a terrible suitor from her past. While these two have never gotten along before and always bickered with each other, Reed becomes intensely protective of Ainsley and watches over her safety. And I think somehow they make the business stuff work out too.

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A Scoundrel of Her Own by Stacy Reid (2021)

This one has a very sweet prologue with our two kids surviving in a cottage together alone for a few days. They become friends and vow to marry each other one day. Until the girl is rescued by her noble family and the poor boy is cut off from her forever. Many many many years later, Ophelia finds out from her father that her mother was a singer (and not the noble lady her father is married to). She wants to find out more about her mother, so she sings at clubs at night in disguise to get more information. Meanwhile, that poor boy turned into one of the wealthiest men in London, owning a gambling hell. He has pined after Ophelia for many years and finally has an opportunity to provide her with assistance. The years have definitely hardened both of these characters, but it’s delightful seeing them meet again as adults.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Prince of Broadway Joanna Shupe (2019)

Book 2 of the Uptown Girls Series. Florence, younger sister of Mamie from Book 1, wants to open her own casino. In order to learn from the best, she attempts to get casino-running lessons from Clayton, the most notorious casino owner in town. While she’s busy sneaking out and hanging out in the seedy part of town, Clayton is working on some behind the scenes real estate deals that will attempt to destroy the wealthy man that ruined his own family. Unfortunately, that man is Florence’s father and the house that’s being targeted is her grandmother’s residence. As he and Florence grow closer, he has to choose between his affection for her and his quest for revenge.

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The Wicked Wallflower by Tracy Sumner (2022)

Pippa (a duke’s sister) has an unhealthy attraction to her brother’s friend Xander (a rogue and ex-smuggler). After running into each other enough times, they finally give in to the attraction, even though Xander is working through feelings of not being worthy and swearing off love. A fun adventure for Pippa and Xander, they just keep staring at each other and meeting up.

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