Once a Scoundrel

August 1, 2003
Appalled to learn that the Ladies' Fashionable Cabinet he has just won in a card game is not a piece of furniture but a popular women's magazine, Anthony Morehouse decides to hand over its unwanted ownership to the editor. But when the editor turns out to be not only stunningly beautiful but is also his childhood nemesis, who won every wager they made and still has a prized Roman artifact that his father never forgave him for losing, he decides to make another bet. This time, Tony is determined to win. Employing flawless period detail, an intelligent plot, and a lively sense of fun, Hern takes a pair of complex, beautifully matched protagonists, gives them a full complement of charmingly extraordinary secondary characters, and sweeps them into a world of propriety, politics, and fashion so vividly depicted that full-color images practically spring from the pages. Witty dialog, sparkling sensuality, and skillful writing add to the mix. Hern (Once a Dreamer) is a popular writer of Regency-set historicals and lives in San Francisco.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2003
After winning the " Ladies' Fashionable Cabinet" in a card game, Anthony finds to his great surprise that he owns not a piece of furniture but rather a ladies' magazine. Once Tony discovers that the editor is not the dried-up spinster he envisioned but instead is his childhood friend and nemesis, Edwina Parrish, he comes up with a wonderfully devious scheme to pay Edwina back for all the humiliating wagers he lost to her as a boy by wagering her for ownership of the magazine. The chance to win control of the magazine is too tempting to resist, but it means Edwina must prevent Tony from discovering her creative uses for some of the magazine's profits. As both try to gain the upper hand in their little competition, Edwina and Tony gradually realize that they might be playing for a different, more important prize. In the second in a trilogy, Hern expertly infuses each encounter between her delightfully appealing protagonists with delicious wit and luscious sensuality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)