THE GAMES LOVERS PLAY is the ninth book in Stephanie Laurens’ “Cynsters Next Generation” series. Set in the year 1851, this story is a wonderful and farcical look at the marriages of the English aristocracy. Lord Devlin Cader, seventh Earl of Alverton is in a cage of his own making. While happily married to his wife Therese for several years, and fathering three children, he finds himself restrained from admitting how much he loves his wife and has always loved her. For convoluted reasons of his own, he didn’t want to admit his true feelings up until now, and instead wanted to convey that their union was a comfortable marriage of convenience. It’s a good thing THE GAMES LOVERS PLAY is told from alternating perspectives, given Devlin’s concealment and complicated feelings.
Despite Devlin’s faulty logic when it comes to love, I like both this hero and heroine. Stephanie Laurens does explain why Devlin tried so hard to convince everyone, perhaps even himself, that love was not a motivating factor in his marriage. It’s a mix of farce and compelling drama as Devlin tries to extricate himself from the box he put himself into. He genuinely and deeply loves Therese, but he worries that if he tries to convince her of his true emotions, she won’t believe him because of his earlier pretense. It’s the strength of his feelings that have me rooting for him throughout the book. Unlike most previous books, there is no shadowy villainous mastermind. Stephanie Laurens does throw one or two elements of drama and danger in THE GAMES LOVERS PLAY, but the focus is on the relationship between Devlin and Therese, and him being able to successfully convey what he wants to his beloved. Therese’s brother Martin makes an appearance to move the action along a little. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing Martin in future stories, Devlin’s frenemy Lord Grayson Child was the more fascinating character for me. He is the wildcard who isn’t immediately able to be pegged as a “bad guy” or “good guy”.
THE GAMES LOVERS PLAY shows how happily ever after is a state of mind, and something that constantly evolves. I love stories that look at life between a couple after the wedding. I also love how Stephanie Laurens excels at exhibiting a variety of strong heroines and the many ways heroes adore them for that strength and intelligence. As always, I look forward to the next Stephanie Laurens book.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns to the Cynsters’ next generation with an evocative tale of two people striving to overcome unusual hurdles in order to claim true love.
A nobleman wedded to the lady he loves strives to overwrite five years of masterful pretense and open his wife’s eyes to the fact that he loves her as much as she loves him.
Lord Devlin Cader, Earl of Alverton, married Therese Cynster five years ago. What he didn’t tell her then and has assiduously hidden ever since--for what seemed excellent reasons at the time--is that he loves her every bit as much as she loves him.
For her own misguided reasons, Therese had decided that the adage that Cynsters always marry for love did not necessarily mean said Cynsters were loved in return. She accepted that was usually so, but being universally viewed by gentlemen as too managing, bossy, and opinionated, she believed she would never be loved for herself. Consequently, after falling irrevocably in love with Devlin, when he made it plain he didn’t love her yet wanted her to wife, she accepted the half love-match he offered, and once they were wed, set about organizing to make their marriage the very best it could be.
Now, five years later, they are an established couple within the haut ton, have three young children, and Devlin is making a name for himself in business and political circles. There’s only one problem. Having attended numerous Cynster weddings and family gatherings and spent time with Therese’s increasingly married cousins, who with their spouses all embrace the Cynster ideal of marriage based on mutually acknowledged love, Devlin is no longer content with the half love-match he himself engineered. No fool, he sees and comprehends what the craven act of denying his love is costing both him and Therese and feels compelled to rectify his fault. He wants for them what all Therese’s married cousins enjoy--the rich and myriad benefits of marriages based on acknowledged mutual love.
Love, he’s discovered, is too powerful a force to deny, leaving him wrestling with the conundrum of finding a way to convincingly reveal to Therese that he loves her without wrecking everything--especially the mutual trust--they’ve built over the past five years.
A classic historical romance set amid the glittering world of the London haut ton.
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