Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

 genre: historical fiction

Deborah Grantham is a gambling house mistress, dealing at cardgames and banking at Faro.  While in this less-than-reputable occupation, she has managed to ensnare two men:  one an older, repugnant society widower and the other, a not-yet-of-age boy on the cusp of manhood.  This young man, Adrian, would love to make Deborah his bride but his mother has other plans, and she uses her nephew Max Ravenscar to help her convince Deborah by any means necessary that she will refuse Adrian's advances.  But Deborah will not be bought off so easily.

I am a huge fan of Heyer's Regency fiction and Deborah is another great heroine.  She is spunky and puts up with NO nonsense, especially not from the likes of Max Ravenscar.  Sometimes she was TOO stubborn and easily offended for me but the story moves right along with some pretty crazy antics.  There is some nice banter and these older aunties definitely make me chuckle with their inability to handle stress of any kind.  Faro's Daughter gave me exactly what I look for in a Heyer novel - it's not as funny as some but the gambling-house aspect was a fun twist and even though, again, there really is no actual romance until the last two pages, I still like the journey.