In the second novel in Joanna Shupe’s the Uptown Girl series, a ruthless casino owner bent on revenge finds his plans upended by a beautiful woman who proves to be more determined than he is–and too irresistible to deny.

Powerful casino owner.
Ruthless mastermind.
Destroyer of men.

He lives in the shadows . . .

As the owner of the city’s most exclusive casino, Clayton Madden holds the fortunes of prominent families in the palms of his hands every night. There is one particular family he burns to ruin, however, one that has escaped his grasp . . . until now.

She is society’s darling . . .

Florence Greene is no one’s fool. She knows Clayton Madden is using her to ruin her prestigious family . . . and she’s using him right back. She plans to learn all she can from the mysterious casino owner–then open a casino of her own just for women.

With revenge on his mind, Clay agrees to mentor Florence. However, she soon proves more adept–and more alluring–than Clay bargained for. When his plans are threatened, Clay must decide if he is willing to gamble his empire on love.

My rating:  3.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I haven’t read anything by this author in the past (I’m fairly sure) but I’ve heard so many good things about her novels on the podcasts I listen too. And I saw her speak recently at an event that I went to, so I was excited to try one of her novels. This book reminded me a LOT of another book I read recently, Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. I haven’t read a lot of historical romances set during this time period and while I enjoyed it, it was definitely a change. The women in this novel were very rebellious. Like more rebellious than I was even during this modern time period. So that piece of the story line felt a little off to me. Though you wouldn’t be able to set up the story line otherwise so it was necessary. The story line itself felt a little drawn out too – some pieces started to feel redundant. All that being said, I did enjoy a lot about this book. This was a very feminist novel, and it had a lot of strong female characters. I liked a lot of Florence’s character though she was a bit naive of the risks she was taking on with her actions. Overall though it was a sweet story and I’d recommend it.

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