King Takes Queen
Series: Ladies of Risk #3
Author: Rachel Ann Smith
Published December 13th 2022 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
An innocent contest becomes the ultimate challenge.

Lady Minerva Malbury has never lost a game of chess, and if she wants to avoid marriage, it’s a streak she’ll have to keep alive. Everyone knows the marriage mart is a game, but no one expects this one: the first gentleman to defeat Lady Minerva in a game of chess wins her hand.

His best friend’s sister was all, Anthony MacMillian, Lord Drake, could think about most days. Since her Season debut, four years ago, he’s had to endure countless games of chess that threated his fortitude to remain in the wings.

With a threat of banishment, from the Head of the Foreign Office, challenging Minerva to a game of chess was his only option if he wished to remain on English soil.

But if he wins, he’ll be denying Minerva the family she’s always wanted, and if he looses he’ll never have the only woman he’s ever loved.

Find out if Anthony will succeed in winning his best friend’s sister’s hand or if Minerva be left to spend the rest of her days in spinster seating... in Rachel Ann Smith's King Takes Queen.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

After proclaiming to all and sundry that she would only marry the man who can defeat her in a game of chess, Lady Minerva Malbury has been plotting. There's only one man she's ever wanted to marry, Anthony MacMillian, Lord Drake, her brother's best friend, but he's been vocal about not wanting to marry her. However, Anthony has a secret. He's been in love with Minerva for as long as he can remember, but he knows she wants a large family, and all the woman who've married into his family have died in childbirth - he won't do that to her. When Anthony is threatened with banishment unless he joins the Foreign Office, or plays against Minerva, he relents, but he can never force her to do something she doesn't want.

I had such high hopes for this book, and for the most part, it was worth it. Minerva and Anthony have had such fantastic chemistry in the previous books, and I needed to know just why they were punishing themselves by staying away from each other. Minerva's wish for freedom was a great sub plot, and I loved that she was able to explore that wish before realising that losing Anthony, losing her family, was too much to give up on. All of the missing links and loose ends that might have been left behind in the previous books were more than dealt with here. The ending of the book was perfect, and the Malbury family are so tight knit, that I couldn't have expected anything different! Rachel may have been a new author for me, but I'll be on the look out for more in future.

Dates Read:
December 24-25, 2022

Rating
3 Stars