Passion for the Game (Georgian)

Book Review of Passion for the Game by Sylvia Day

From goodreads.com:

Passion for the Game (Georgian #2)by Sylvia Day (Goodreads Author)
3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 2,881 ratings · 144 reviews
For the notorious Lady Winter, seduction and duplicity are required to survive. Cunning and precision are the tools of pirate Christopher St. John. Pitted against one another, they are a surprise waiting to happen...

Set A Criminal To Catch A Criminal...

Christopher St. John and Maria, Lady Winter, are infamous in Society for their misdeeds and their charming allures. Wherever they go, scandalized whispers and covetous glances follow. A ruthless pirate and a widow, whose two husbands have met untimely deaths, the wickedly renowned figures are even more intriguing to the authorities. Now they've been set on the most provocative of tasks—St. John is released from prison to learn the "Wintry Widow's" intimate secrets, while Lady Winter is charged with performing a similar deception in reverse. One will succeed. One will hang.

From Ballroom To Bedroom, They're Perfectly Matched...

With the fate of loved ones in the balance, the unlikely couple embarks upon a battle of wills and wits that takes them from glittering ballrooms to the depths of the underworld to the candlelit pleasures of the bedroom. As they fall helpless to a desire and startling affinity neither expected, the deadly web of their subterfuge closes in, forcing them to make a choice. Individual freedom? Or an audacious scheme to keep an impossible yet irresistible love...

Leona's Review:
This is my first read by Sylvia Day.
First a warning to readers that this book has sexual language and scenes.
I find two very strong personalities at the beginning of the book but they seem to melt within reach of each other.
There is substance in this book and I found it well written. Maria Winter is searching for her half sister who is in the control of Maria's step-father. Christopher St. John is a pirate who is spying on Maria because she is believed to kill her two husbands.

There is a lot of mystery, other characters, some historical facts and plenty of bedroom scenes. I would have liked it more without the sex scenes and language but this is my opinion.

I won this book from Sylvia Day and so did want to read and review. I did find it an interesting read.

I see from other reviews, this book has already had the characters in previous book but it is a stand alone read.

I will give it a 4 start rating. I will probably read another book by this author.

Find Sylvia Day on www.goodreads.com and www.sylviaday.com
Leona Olson
http://www.mnleona.blogspot.com

PASSION FOR THE GAME by Sylvia Day is another exciting Georgian Erotic Historical Romance set in England. An re-issue edition. #2 in the "Georgian" series,but again can be read as a stand alone.See, "Ask For It". What an exciting series this is thus far. I absolutely love this series.We follow,Christopher St. John,criminal,and smuggler whom we seen briefly in "Ask For It" and determined to find justice for his murdered half brother and gain his freedom. And Maria, Lady Winter,infamous in Society,dubbed the Wintry Widow, but far from it to some and determined to find and bring home her little sister,Amelia, who is being held by her evil stepfather,in order to force Maria to do his bidding. Both are charming,suspicious,fiercely loyal,either of them are to be crossed and wanted by the Crown for their misdeeds. Fast paced and filled with danger,passion,lust,lies,deceit,secrets,agents of the Crown and did I mention passionate love scenes. Together,Maria and St. John learn to trust each other,love blossoms,and justice to be found. Once again, Ms. Day draws the reader into this powerful story of not only passion,but family,rather true family or street family,and an intriguing plot. A sizzling love story from beginning to the last page and one you will want to continue to the next installment of this delicious "Georgian" series. While, I read this out of sequence,for I read "A Passion For Him" first,which is #3 in the Georgian series,and is the story of Amelia and Colin,before "Passion For The Game" it did not take away from the story. I was eager to learn more of St. John and Maria and was not disappointed. I would highly recommend this title for not only Erotic readers,but for historical romance readers and anyone who enjoys a great read and "Passion For The Game". Received for an honest review from the publisher.

RATING: 4.5

HEAT RATING: HOT

REVIEWED BY: AprilR, My Book Addiction Reviews

Oh my gosh was this book all kinds of hot, hot, hot,hot, hot !! And no am not referring to the sex parts, okay those were really awesome too, but the actual plot was so unbelievably fascinating that half way through I already decided this one gets onto my auto to re-read list!

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The read tells of Christopher he is infamous for satisfying his limitless wants and desires, don't you just love him already ?!

Now that he is once again a free man he devotes his time to engage, deceive and seduce the one woman that is just as ruthless as he is that is when it comes to the games of passion.

Maria is far from innocent in the ways of men but even with always ensuring she is one step ahead of Christopher and very much enjoying each delicious, sweet soul tempting unbridled kiss it does not mean she is going to walk away as the winner of this little game.

Her world comes crashing down when she discovers just how deep her feelings run and has to face reality but is she willing to risk losing the game when sacrificing her heart?

From the above alone you can tell this was one totally fabulous plot, what made it even more perfect was that each and every character was stunning created by the author to perfectly slot in with every aspect of this read.

The entire flow of this read was simply magic and never once was there a dull moment but, there certainly was more than one moment of me double checking over my shoulder to see what am reading, you know when you get that feeling that you are in some way suppose to feel guilty about drooling over some hot character and hanging onto every word they say!

The read was filled with excellent conflict, passion and awesome intrigue. Definitely worth the read! Sylvia bring us more!!

5/5 star review

"The game is up, time to surrender"

Review copy provided by Penguin Books South Africa

Sylvia Day can be a hit or miss author, in which sometimes she relies too heavily on sex to get her story across With her latest, she has hit her stride and to date I believe this is her best novel written.

This story has everything a romance enthusiast would want. Of course there are Day's trademark sex scenes but what the hero and heroine have is something more intense and passionate, more than I have seen in a long time from other authors who try and don't succeed. Here, Day does and I applaud her.

Maria is twice married and her stepfather who is a cruel and heartless man holds something over her head and simply blackmails her into his way of thinking. He basically killed her mother when she was younger and now he hides her younger sister away from Maria to get what he wants. Maria comes across as a cold shell of a woman because of him.

Christopher's life is a little bit more convoluted then hers. She catches his eye and he is now on the hunt to have her in his bed. Plus he is also being blackmailed and she is his victim.

When these two comes together in the sheets- watch out! Even with major trust issues between them, these two just want to be loved.

There is also a secondary story with Amelia, Maria's sixteen year old sister and her undying love for Colin a gypsy boy who works for her father. Their story is so sweet yet powerful in it's telling that I was finding myself reading way too fast to get to theirs more so than Maria's and Christopher's.

Overall and excellent feat of storytelling and the sequel about Amelia and Christopher will soon arrive.(Called- A Passion For Him)

Again, Bravo!

Katiebabs

A Passion for Him

I borrowed this Kindle book from my local library.

I enjoyed this book even more than I thought I would. Maria was strong, smart and very capable of handling any situation that was thrown her way. She totally met her match in Christopher. I loved their banter, witty and sexy. The sex was hot, but not too much, and it didn't overwhelm the story. There is plenty of intrigue and constant changing of who had the upper hand. I loved that both Maria and Christopher were tough when they had to be, but capable of being sweet and tender as well.

There is a side story about Maria's half-sister, Amelia, and her crush, Colin, that was as sweet as Maria's story was passionate. I believe they will get their own book as well. Simon was a fantastic supporting character, and I look forward to reading more about him.

Frist, I would like to say ,thank you Sylvia Day for coming on the scene when I needed you the most. I was just about ready to give up on romance for A while after reading one boring book after another. I even read some of my old Susan Johnson books again because there was just nothing else out there that would hold my interest. Even my girl's Susan Johnson's new books started lacking in the love scene department." Passion For The Game" gave my love of reading romance new life. Chiristopher St. John and Maria, Lady Winter has A reputation that none can live down. Both have to find out the secrets of each other to save themselves from their enemies. I was basically on the edge of my seat with this book hoping that they would not turn on each other. The love sences were hot and steamy, Just the way I like them! I was A bit concerned when I saw that there were so many handsome alpha male secondary characters in this book, but they only overshadowed Christopher a little, so I got over it. I usally don't like to read about heroes that were from A past book in which the heroine didn't choose him, but Sylvia day made the secondary character Simon Quinn seem so hot that I simply cannot wait to read his story!

From the back cover:

Christopher St.John and Maria, Lady Winter, are infamous in Society for their misdeeds and their charming allures. Wherever they go, scandalized whispers and covetous glances follow. A ruthless pirate and a widow whose two husbands have met untimely deaths, the wickedly renowned figures are even more intriguing to the authorities. Now they've been set on the most provocative of tasks -St.John is released fro prison to learn the "Wintry Widow's" intimate secrets, while Lady Winter is charged with performing a similar deception in reverse. One will succeed. One will hang.

Another hot romance from Day. Be warned the sex/love scenes are very graphic. I thought the story was very unique and well written. St. John's only chance at freedom is to get evidence confirming Lady Winter's guilt in her husbands deaths. Lady Winter, on the other hand, is being blackmailed by an evil relative, who wants to know information about St.John. And there is also another person who wants the Lady to get evidence against St.John. So a game of deception begins. Both the H/H start an affair in hopes of getting information out of one another, but it doesn't exactly go that way. A tangled web of deception and love is woven. This was the most interesting part of the book. I had no idea where the book was going half the time and that made for some great reading. At some points I honestly thought that the hero or heroine would sell the other out for their own gain (well if death is really another choice), but DUH! it's a romance so of course its a happy ending but the road there has some pretty interesting twists and turns.

Plenty of excellent secondary characters who could easily (and hopefully) have their own books. And a cute secondary 'teen' romance that will be explored in a sequel.

Not as emotional as Day's previous two historicals (Ask For It and The Stranger I Married) but definitely as good. So if you liked those, you'll enjoy this one. A hunky hero and a gorgeous heroine with an intriguing storyline and some smokin' love scenes- seriously HOT!

one little annoying thing -the hero is blonde so what's with the male cover model with black hair?

The story of Maria and Christopher is so intense and raw. I just loved it! Both too stubborn and set in their ways. Not easy to trust others. It was great to see their emotions and feelings unfold. Sylvia Day has once again given me an addictive read that I could not put down. She has also given me yet another book crush... Because I don't have enough already.

The storyline is so full of mystery and drama with a strong and independent leading lady which is a nice change.

This is a must read right now!

Her stepfather uses her sister to blackmail Lady Maria Winter to abet his schemes. He has no concern re the impact his machinations have on her only that she obey or else never see her sibling again. However and in spite of her own scandals as an alleged widow-maker with two spouses suspiciously dead, Maria uses her keen intelligence to stay one step ahead of this rat until she figures out where he stashed her sister.

Her odious relative demands Maria use her body to seduce pirate Christopher St. John. However, she is attracted to the rogue who she must prove is a traitor or at least a dupe. Christopher has just gotten freed from prison with the stipulation that he seduce the "Wintry Widow" in order to learn her secrets and more so that of her stepfather. However, he is attracted to his target making him wonder if he has fallen into her sensual trap.

This historical romantic suspense grips the audience from the opening moment when readers meet the Wintry Widow and never slows down until the final confrontation. Maria and Christopher are terrific protagonists as they struggle between blackmailing demands and love. Sylvia Day writes a superb tale that will have her fans wondering throughout what the lead couple will choose.

Harriet Klausner

Really loved this too. Another winner. Not as good as "The Stranger I Married" or "Seven Years to Sin" which were my two favorites and "Ask for It." I would probably give it 4.5 stars if I could. The only reason why it was not a 5 star for me is that their was a litlte bit too much spy intrigue. The heroine was not as likeable as most of the heroines in Ms. Day's books. She was just a tinge too conceited and a little too independent to be believable for the time.

Maria, Lady Winter, lives a life subject to her stepfather, Lord Welton's, whims. She has been forced to endure things that would have broken a lesser woman, but Maria will do anything he asks to ensure the safety of her sister, whom Welton holds hostage. The latest scheme Welton has hatched involves finding information about a notorious criminal, Christopher St. John, for blackmail. However, this last "mission" Lord Welton has charged her with might cost her more than she is prepared to give.

The agents of the crown have finally trapped Christopher St. John, but St. John will be granted a pardon in exchange for helping to apprehend another criminal. However, when St. John learns his target is the infamous Lady Winter the rules of the game change. Now, he needs to investigate Lady Winter, her propensity for widowhood, and turn all evidence over to the crown. He never expected that involvement with Lady Winter would change his life, but will both of them survive?

This is not your mother's regency romance! Passion For The Game is an edgy novel full of plot twists and raw sensuality. This book is not your average romance; the characters are infuriating at times and the plots and counter-plots will keep you busy trying to anticipate how Ms. Day will get the characters their happy ending. Sylvia Day crafts an action packed adventure where her characters are flawed and harsh making them seem as real as your next-door neighbor. The eroticism of the sex scenes in this book is both raw and compelling, and they will leave you breathless. Passion For The Game is a great read for the beach; so don't forget to pick it up next time you go shopping.

Sabella
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I really like this book in the series, which turns out is the second one. I have read the books completely out of order. This book is the best of the series. I loved the chemistry between Christopher and Maria and was drawn to how passionate the moments between them were. I read the 3rd book first so I knew how the story with her sister would end. I found that book less entertaining but see a more complete story since the sister's story starts in this volume. This was a riveting tale of intrigue and lust. I recommend reading the books in order.

The two main characters, despite having 'grown up' together did not seem to me to have much interaction excluding the passion scenes. Just needed more character development. And I'm reading in order, yes.

This book was SO well written. I just loved the sexual tension between Christopher and Maria. And the passion...whew!! They were like fireworks! I'll just say I would highly recommend this one! This is my third read by Sylvia Day and I have yet to be dissappointed. She is not "formulaic" in the least and each of her books have been a delight to read. I also love the way she develops her secondary characters. I am looking forwards to Simon's story along with Amelia's!

This is the first historical romance I have read of Sylvia Day's and it was different from the modern day ones she has written. Nonetheless it was a fun read and a fine romance. The main characters were dramatic as was the story and the attraction between the protagonists, steamy. The sideline romance had its moments too.

I haven't really enjoyed Period Books until Sylvia Days books. Seven Years to Sin, Ask For It and now this book Passion for the Game were AMAZING love stories packed with romance and adventure. The chemistry between Maria and Christopher was great! Can't wait to read Passion for Him when I get it in. Few days. Must read books! Will leave you wanting more!

I love sylvia day,she's becoming one of my favorates..passion of the game is a beautiful love story which started like any other erotic romance,but realy surprised me as the story unfolded with the depth of feelings between the hero and the heroin,the kind of love that just touches your heart...I'm hoping to love "passion for him" just as much or hopefully more.

I may be a man, and not just a man, but an exceedingly pretty man, with high cheekbones, smooth skin, delicately tapering fingers, and shapely calves, and there are few things I enjoy more than reading about similarly pretty people in the crackling historical romances of Sylvia Day.

"Passion for the Game" sets two evenly matched, equally beautiful and tempestuous characters against each other, the two-time widower Maria, Lady Winter and the pirate Christopher St. John. Both are as infamous as they are attractive, and they are very attractive. So attractive, that I occasionally find myself staring in the mirror at my flawless features and daydreaming about sharing beauty secrets with the darkly alluring Maria or the angelically handsome Christopher.

Maria, though barely old enough for one husband, has already gone through two, the circumstances of their untimely deaths a topic of scandal and rumor. Her controlling stepfather, the Viscount Welton, engineered both marriages for his own ends, and is now using Maria to further his goals and fortunes, having hid her half-sister Amelia as leverage. Maria, desperate to save Amelia, has sent agents in search of her, but to no avail, so she agrees to find incriminating evidence on the pirate St. John, using whatever seductive means are necessary. The only incriminating evidence anyone will ever find on me is that I used to bathe in mayonnaise to keep my skin supple and moist.

The ruthless pirate Christopher St. John has found himself in a similar situation--not bathing in mayonnaise, obviously, but under a blackmailer's thumb. My thumb is so beautiful that I can hitch-hike rides from blind people. Freed from prison on condition that he uncover the truth behind the deaths of Maria's husbands--who, besides being wealthy peers, were also agents of the Crown--Christopher, to save his own neck, must find enough evidence to condemn Maria and offer up hers in return. Whether or not he succeeds, someone will hang. Should I ever hang, I will insist that a silk noose be used, silk being the only fabric I will allow to touch my baby-soft skin.

Both Maria and Christopher feel an immediate, animal attraction for each other, but both know that the other is merely a task, an assignment, and before long Maria has allowed herself to be seduced by Christopher, but who is really seducing whom? I seduce myself several times a day in front of the mirror, staring deeply into the liquid pools of my gold-tinged eyes and whispering sweet nothings to myself. Christopher finds that he has become bewitched by the sweet nothings and the sweet other things of the cunning Maria, and Maria has grown very fond of the rough, yet gentle pirate--reminds me of my exfoliating sponge. Readers will be reminded of their own passionate sponges, I mean, romances, with scandalous rogues and black widows as they discover whether Maria and Christopher can escape their oppressors and find lasting happiness as they both demonstrate an abundance of, dare I say it, passion for the game.