The reason I mention this is as I read The Wager, I couldn’t escape the feeling I was reading a soap opera. The dialogue, plot and even the tone of the book reminded me of the type of story told on the afternoon soaps. Now that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the soaps, in fact, if you’re a fan, you’ll likely enjoy this book. It’s merely to illustrate why this book didn’t really work for me.

Octogenarian Olivia Jardine is the grande dame of the Jardine hotel empire. The jewel in the Jardine empire’s crown is the venerable New Orleans Royal Princess Hotel - a hotel that Olivia won in a single high-card draw from Simon Logan. A hotel that Simon’s grandson, Josh Logan desperately wants back in the Logan hotel fold.

Josh promised his late grandfather that he would do whatever was necessary to return the Princess to the Logan luxury hotel chain and it appears he finally has the chance. Olivia has asked Josh to convince her granddaughter Laura, a granddaughter Olivia didn’t even know existed until recently, to come to New Orleans to take over management of the Princess.

Although Laura has hotel experience in her own right, Josh is also enlisted to help run the Princess for six months. If the pair is able to turn things around and make the hotel profitable within the six months allotted, then the wager will once again be repeated and the hotel will go to either Laura or Josh after a single high-card draw. Josh finds the opportunity too good to resist and he immediately travels to San Francisco to persuade Laura to come to New Orleans. Unfortunately, he hadn’t counted on the fact that Laura has absolutely no interest in running the Princess.

Until the recent death of her mother, Laura Harte had no idea she was even related to the illustrious Jardine hotel empire. She had always been told her late father was killed in Vietnam. She never knew that, until his death five years ago, her real father was living in New Orleans, married and raising three children. Documentation of her true parentage found after her mother’s death has left Laura reeling, as everything she’d based her life upon was a lie.

The pain of her father’s refusal to acknowledge her existence makes Laura reluctant to help the Jardines, but she also knows the answer to why her father abandoned Laura and her mother could only be found in New Orleans, so she agrees to meet with Olivia Jardine.

As Josh spends more time with the reluctant heiress he soon discovers she is much more than a pretty face and it’s not long before he’s totally smitten. But he knows he stands little chance in winning Laura, since he’s not been totally honest with her about his interest in the Princess. He knows she’ll interpret his attentions only as a way to get his hands on the hotel.

As I read The Wager, I couldn’t help wondering why Josh, as owner of the Logan hotel chain and the Jardine’s primary competitor, was allowed into so many private aspects of the Jardine’s lives. More than simply the business decisions, he’s privy to potentially embarrassing family discussions that, to me, would never be held in front of a non-family member. Often, his presence as Laura’s shoulder to lean on in some scenes simply didn’t make sense.

The author does an excellent job of showing the reasons for Laura’s growing appeal to Josh beyond her striking looks. By the end of the book, it’s clear Josh would care for Laura no matter what she looked like. I wasn’t as comfortable with Laura’s motivation for loving Josh - except, perhaps, for his physical appeal. The confusion that descends upon Laura like a shroud when she learns her life up until her mother’s death has been a lie, seems to permeate her relationship with Josh. I never felt she really tried to know the real Josh at all.

As I said at the start, The Wager reminded me just a little too much of a melodramatic soap opera to draw me in completely. But, that’s all right. I know another member of this household who will just love it.

--Karen Lynch