Never Wager With a Wallflower

By Virginia Heath, Pub Date Nov 7, 2023

4*s, 2 Spice. Another delightful romance rom com from Virginia Heath!

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“Miss Venus Merriwell has been waiting for her prince to come since the tender age of fourteen. She wants a man who is a selfless academic like her, and free from all the wretched vices her gambler father enjoyed far too much before he left the Merriwell sisters practically destitute. Unfortunately, after a slew of romantic disappointments, there is still no sign of that prince at twenty-three and the only one true love of her life is the bursting-at-the-seams orphanage in Covent Garden that she works tirelessly for. An orphanage that desperately needs to expand into the empty building next door.

For Galahad Sinclair, gambling isn’t just his life, it’s in his blood. He grew up and learned the trade at his grandfather’s knee in a tavern on the far away banks of the Hudson in New York. But when fate took all that away and dragged him across the sea to London, it made sense to set up shop here. He’s spent five years making a success out of his gaming hall in the sleazy docks of the East End. Enough that he can finally afford to buy the pleasure palace of his dreams—and where better than in the capital’s sinful heart, Covent Garden? The only fly in his ointment is the perfect building he’s just bought to put it in also happens to be right next door to the orphanage run by his cousin’s wife’s youngest sister. A pious, disapproving and unsettling siren he has avoided like the plague since she flattened him five years ago.

While Venus and Galahad lock horns over practically everything, and while her malevolent orphans do their darndest to sabotage his lifelong dream, can either of them take the ultimate gamble—and learn to love thy neighbor?”

Showing My Hand:

This is the final installment in the Merriwell Sisters series. The series is great, you should really check it out!

The final installment follows Venus, the youngest Merriwell sister, a few years after the first book. I highly suggest reading at least the first one to give you a good idea of who Galahad is and is not, and also the shared history between the two. 

Venus and Galahad are rivals. Venus, who spend the majority of her time at a London orphanage reading books and helping with the children, is wanting to find a way to expand the building into the one next door for the purposes of housing the growing population of parentless kids in London. As she seeks out the new owner of the property to request the building be donated to the cause, she runs into a familiar face, one belonging to a person she once tackled to the ground in an ill-placed bid to protect her sister from harm. 

Galahad is the proprietor of a very successful gaming hell near the docks, thankfully grown and long separated from the machinations of his wicked father that brought him from America to London. He is looking to expand into Covent Garden and build his empire further, and he has found the absolute perfect place to put his plan in action. Unfortunately for him, he’s not the only one with eyes set on the building in question. Venus Merriwether, who once tackled him in his cousin’s garden in at night in a fit of protective rage, is also vying for the property which is connected to the orphanage she holds dear. Despite how attractive he finds the now adult woman who rivals the goddess for which she is named, he almost has his very dreams in his grasp and he refuses to let her tackle those from him as well. 

In the end, it comes down to a bet between the two. However, they do not realize yet that the true stakes are more than just the building and their dreams, but also their hearts. 

This book had a lot of heart. There was also a lot of adventure and some side characters that I really hope to see in future Heath books. The orphaned twins were absolute CHARACTERS and I hope she has plans to expand their stories. I was a little sad by the end of this one. I really enjoyed the whole thing, including Venus’s trips to the gaming hells and the fact that she was very intelligent and her family refused to play cards with her because she was so good. But she definitely met her match in Galahad, and Galahad never expected Venus. It was a rivals to lovers romance and one of my favorite tropes. 

All books are now available. I highly recommend this series if you like a good historical romcom with a little spice!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Virginia Heath for the advanced copy in exchange for this review.