A Hellion in Her Bed
Series: Hellions of Halstead Hall #2
Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Published September 21st 2010 by Pocket Star

Goodreads Synopsis
Furious at his grandmother's ultimatum to marry or lose his inheritance, Lord Jarret Sharpe wagers his luck--and his heart--at the card table against a most unlikely opponent.

Mired in scandal after his parents' mysterious deaths, notorious gambler Lord Jarret Sharpe agrees to tamely run the family brewery for a year if his Machiavellian grandmother rescinds her ultimatum that he marry. But the gambler in him can't resist when beguiling Annabel Lake proposes a wager. If she wins their card game, he must help save her family's foundering brewery. But if he wins, she must spend a night in his bed. The outcome sets off a chain of events that threatens to destroy all his plans . . . and unveils the secret Annabel has held for so long. When Jarret discovers the darker reason behind her wager, he forces her into another one--and this time he intends to win not just her body, but her heart.
Goodreads

Review
In A Hellion in Her Bed, we follow the second Sharpe sibling, Lord Jarret, as he struggles with his own self worth, and feelings over the deaths of his parents when he was young. His grandparents always said that the Plumtree Brewery would be his one day, but once his grandmother became the children's guardian, she decided Jarret, as the son of a marquess, should go to school, and find a profession suitable for his station. School was awful, but he honed his skills as a gambler, which have stood him in good stead until his grandmother's marriage ultimatum to the whole family. So, Jarret turns around and plots with her to ensure that he regains control of the brewery, no matter what happens, and when the lovely young Annabel Lake arrives, and proposes a wager between herself and Jarret in return for help with her own family's small brewery, he can't help himself. Will he just be playing for fun, or might he find himself fulfilling his grandmother's wishes after all?

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but that was the only one that my library had, so I had to wait to see where I could get copies of the others, but managed to order them online. I think I still might have enjoyed the first book more than this one, but I loved seeing Jarret come into his own, really, and overcome the difficulties of his past, and his own struggles following school. A vast majority of this book took place in Burton, at the Lake's Brewery, and I loved the way that Annabel's family interacted, and were a proper family. Because of her own secrets surrounding her family, she tried to keep Jarret at bay, but both were fighting their attraction and desire from the very first meeting, and it was bound to happen at some point. The added plot line of what actually occurred with the deaths of the Sharpe's parents is continuing to intertwine throughout Jarret's story, and helps to bind the series together. All in all, a really enjoyable instalment in the series, and I'm looking forward to Minerva's story next!

Dates Read:
September 6-8, 2020

Rating
4 Stars