Hazard: Amazon.ca: Jo Beverley: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Beverley's newest (following The Devil's Heiress) is an engaging, if thinly plotted, Regency-era love story featuring Lady Anne Peckworth. Demure, reserved and polite to a fault, even after being jilted twice, Anne is the perfect heiress. Although her substantial fortune guarantees a certain amount of attention from the beaux of London, her crippled foot means that she is always seen as slightly damaged goods. Racecombe de Vere is a charismatic ex-soldier with no prospects and a mysterious family background. Although he's completely unsuitable as a match for Anne, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. Determined to find herself a husband and shake off her self-imposed isolation in the country, Anne heads to town on a mission to make her way in society, but she can't rid herself of her feelings for Race. Will she settle down with a proper husband, or will she take a chance on exactly the wrong man? Race remains a bit of a cipher throughout the novel Anne's initial resistance to his charms is exaggerated, and her reactions sometimes overpower their interplay. Nevertheless, Anne's rare combination of intelligence and spunk enlivens this standard plot, and fans will appreciate the spicy chemistry between her and Race.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

It's another quiet day in the life of Lady Anne Peckworth. Cosseted daughter of a duke, considered fragile because of her limp, she is somewhat looking forward to her pending engagement. But when her sister reads a letter that announces that Anne's fiance has married another, she's not really surprised. After all, that's twice she has been jilted. There was no great love lost anyway. Just when she has resigned herself to spinsterhood, her brother shows up with a guest. Race DeVere has been sent by Anne's latest ex-fiance to make sure she'll be all right after she hears the news. When Anne's sister goes into labor that same night, Race and Anne spend a long evening together. Each is reluctantly fascinated by the other. Race determines to bring Anne out of her shell. Anne is determined that she must marry. Both are excruciatingly aware of the huge difference in social standing. Anne looks elsewhere, but no one comes close to Race. Fans of Beverley's Company of Rogues series will truly enjoy this delightful adventure. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
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Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best in the Company of Rogues Series, May 1 2004

By

Ms Winston (East Coast U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hazard (Mass Market Paperback)

If the reader has been following the Company of Rogues since the first book ("An Arranged Marriage") was published in 1991, you are familiar with the name Anne Peckworth. Anne has the "honor" of having been jilted twice in the same series. Anne has always taken her disappointments in love with a placid, calm exterior, but this last jilting is the last straw for the intelligent, sensitive young woman. Although from a wealthy family, and very beautiful, Anne has a club foot which causes her to walk with a slight limp; she is becoming more and more convinced that she will never marry. When she meets Race de Vere, former secretary to the last man who jilted her, the sparks fly, as Anne figures she has nothing to lose by assuming a new, more daring, persona. The title of the book takes it's name from the dice game hazard, which was the forerunner of the modern game of craps. de Vere teaches Anne how to play the game and she takes to it like the proverbial duck to water, all apart of her desire to transform to life. de Vere is struck by her beauty, her intelligence, and her fire, but feels that he has little to offer her since he is not a wealthy man. This book is well written, has very appealing major and secondary characters, and gives a well researched view of life in Regency England. There is a bit of a mystery as well, although mysteries are not Beverley's long suit, so the suspense there is minimal. There was some criticism that there were not enough scenes of lovemaking in "Hazard", but in this book Ms Beverley goes more with the historical reality of life for a single woman of good reputation rather than with the romance novel conventions. In my opinion, the Company of Rogues series continues to improve with each book, as Ms Beverley's writing becomes more skilled: in the first book of the series, most of the important action took place offstage, where now the author seems to realize that the reader must experience the action in order to feel a part of the story. I am looking forward to the next offerings in this series.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Flimsy and flat, Dec 1 2003

By

J. Mullally "booklover4ever00" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hazard (Mass Market Paperback)

What a dull book, with a dull premise. The ladylike heroine and the rakish man has been done to death at this stage. There is no spark between the characters apart from the kiss, no sensuality, and dozens of characters mentioned never to be seen again. I find that the other couples in the book are all more interesting than the central one, which is not saying much since even Anne the heroine finds them dull. And crippled heroines have been done to death at this stage as well, as has the innocent and niave girl who asks a rake for tutelage in love.
I also saw so many grammatical errors in this book that the whole thing struck me as slipshod and yet another book churned out to try to continue a successful series at the expense of commonsense and quality.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly boring and flat. I'm very dissapointed., Nov 21 2003

By

Thea (FL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hazard (Mass Market Paperback)

Every time I start to read one of JB books, I do it with great expectations. But so far, her Regency books have been unimpressive. Where is the magic of the Malloren books? Where are the magnetic characters, the interesting storylines, and the sensuality that all the Malloren books possess?

This book is really boring. The main characters barely interact during the whole novel. To me, their feelings for each other seemed more like infatuation than true love. They shared a kiss, interchanged some witticisms, and suddenly they were madly in love! What did they know about each other, about their past, their likes and dislikes, their ambitions in life? For the most part the book was about Anne trying to find a suitable husband and trying to forget about Race, and Race trying to avoid Anne.

Another thing not working for this book was that I don't consider Race hero material, and it is not because of his lack of fortune or pedigree. It is because he seems to me like a very impractical person with no real direction in his life. Oh, he is charming, intelligent, and really good with people, he reminded me a little of Nicholas Delaney. I did not dislike him; he had his moments, but for the most part was eclipsed by St.Raven. And I hate it when the hero is eclipsed by another character in the book.

For her part, Lady Anne was a very unexceptional heroine; she is kind of dull and easily forgotten, to the point that you don't care whom she marries, just that she gets it over with.

The back cover of the book says that you have never met a hero and heroine like Race de Vere and Lady Ann Peckworth, and it is true. Jo Beverley always tries to create characters that are a little different to what you usually encounter on romance novels, sometimes even pushing the boundaries of what is "acceptable", that is good, but this time I think she really went a little too far.

And one more thing. The book lacks sensuality. It only has one love scene that was very brief and boring. That, added to a not very interesting plot makes for a tedious novel. I really see no purpose on reading it. One reviewer said that this book only serves to introduce St.Raven, and I think it is true. That is a much better book. In fact the best of the Regency ones written by Jo Beverley that I have read so far. Try that one instead, and save your money on this one. They are part of a series, but you don't need to have read the other books to enjoy St.Raven. In fact I read it before any of the others, and I didn't even guess it was part of a series.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not close to her best
This book starts out with so much potential. Quietly beautiful young single woman meets handsome, dashing ex-military hero also single. Read more

Published on Jan 7 2003 by Page Turner

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Long and Dull
While I found the sections where the hero is musing to himself to be interesting they were the best part of the book. Read more

Published on Dec 30 2002