Passion for the Game (Georgian) Paperback – December 1, 2012

The Lady Winter, rumored to be a Black Widow with two husbands already dead early in their marriages. Treated as a pawn by men who would use her, she has learned to exert her control and independence subtly, through seduction and subterfuge. Manipulated by her ruthless stepfather, she will do anything to rescue her young sister from her own fate. Now both her stepfather and an agent of the Crown have set her against the notorious Christopher St. John, and Maria's very life depends on her ability to ferret proof of the handsome rogue's misdeeds.But another agent of the Crown has blackmailed St. John into investigating the mysterious and beautiful Lady Maria Winter and the deaths of her two husbands - both of whom happened to be agents of the Crown themselves. If he can prove her guilt, he saves his own neck from the gallows. But all bets are off when he finally meets the dark beauty, and he finds her more dangerous than he ever anticipated - to his heart.From the moment I read my first Sylvia Day story in the anthology  Alluring Tales--Awaken the Fantasy (Avon Red) , I was a fan. Since then, I've read many of this author's books and purchased still more that I'm itching to find time to read. It is a wonderful moment for me when I receive one of her books for review, because not only do I know her books always earn a positive review, which is easier to write, but that means I get to prioritize her book in my reading pile!Passion For the Game quickly earned its place as my favorite Sylvia Day title to date. While I have loved all of her books, something about this one just completely did it for me. The plot, the characters, all of it served to hook me from the beginning and refused to let me go until the end. Nay, I can't even say it has released me now, since I can't stop thinking about the sequels to this marvelous book I know are coming!Both St. John and Lady Winter are people who find themselves the victim of their circumstances, but neither are the type to allow themselves to be cast as victims, and they each soon take control of the situation, butting heads in the most delightfully sexy ways. Watching these two strong-willed personalities `duke it out' both in and out of the bedroom makes for a gripping story you won't be able to put down until the end!I have to tell you, however, that I was quite upset at the end of Chapter Four. It was my own fault, really, though. You see, I like to read during my lunch hour. I had the great misfortune to reach the end of Chapter Four as my lunch ended one day, and there I was, stuck at work for another five hours with the heroine standing near-naked in the hallway with the hero completely naked in his doorway. I seriously considered whether or not I could go home for the rest of the day so I could read the rest of the book - and I don't ever play hooky! Alas, I stuck out the rest of the day, although my mind kept wandering back to Passion for the Game and the heat that I could feel spilling from those pages when I left our intrepid couple. I headed straight home from work that evening, and immediately devoured the rest of the book. I even forgot to eat dinner that night, I was so consumed with this story.I don't care if you love historicals or not, this is a fantastic story that is a must-read for Romance lovers. While set in historical time, the period is not the focus of the piece, and it is easy to imagine this pair of lovers in any era, fighting the same sexy battle. Do yourself a huge favor and run right out to get your copy of Passion for the Game. You will not be disappointed!Series Order: Ask For It Passion for the Game A Passion for Him

Curiosity compelled me to pick up this book - - because after reading my very first S. Day novel (Bared to you) which was nothing more than a condensed, plagarized copy of "Fifty Shades of Gray", I vowed never to read another Sylvia Day novel again. Well, so much for "vows" to selective reading material. Needing something desperately to read, I gave Ms. Day another chance...and....WOW! I wish I read this book first. I wish I never picked up "Bared to You" first, because reading that book kept me from indulging in Ms. Day's other, better and incredible romantic fiction.This plot is so original and jump starts with a bang! Well, at least it did for me - - pulled me in, captivated and held me prisoner until the finale. Character descriptions are strong and pronounced with perfect connection. I ended up feeling like I knew these characters (Maria/Christopher), almost on a personal level. I absolutely loved these two incredibly strong, well defined characters...as well as Simon too! Whudda great supporting character Simon is.For all Christopher St. John's strength, power and control, I loved how a wisp of a woman in the form of Lady Maria Winter, completely took Christopher by force, confusing and totally setting him off his "game".. Her mere presence arrests and freezes him time and time again - - which in turn confuses him all the more! He unravels around her....and Maria reacts the same way to Christopher no matter how hard she tries to circumvent such reactions. They are equals never before found. Gawd, whudda story...whudda ending..(fanning m'self!)Mahvelous intrigue, blackmail, spies and kidnapping. Mahvelous interludes and delicious capitulation. This whole story was frikkin' deliciously MAHvelous.

The concept of Maria and Christopher acting as spies on each other sounds intriguing and could be good, but in this case I didn't like it. They were supposed to be uncovering each others' secrets, but for most of the book when they were together they just had passionate and fighting sex, but never asked any questions. The only actions they took were to place spies in each others' homes as domestic help. A few times, one would learn something from a domestic spy and then make incorrect assumptions about the other. Then they would get together, have sex and not say anything about it. Some of this reminded me of my pet peeve of conflict based on incorrect assumptions rather than excitement and intrigue from spying on each other. I'm having trouble explaining it, but somehow it didn't work for me.The reasons behind their spying were the following.Christopher did smuggling and pirate activities. Sedgewick was a government agent who wanted a promotion. He found a witness against Christopher and demanded the witness's cooperation as ransom for the safety of his family. He told Christopher to get evidence against Maria to keep the witness quiet. Maria had been married to two government agents who were killed by poison. Sedgewick believed convicting her of the crime would further his career.Maria's stepfather Welton, kept Maria's half sister Amelia away from Maria for many years. He threatened to sell her into slavery if Maria wouldn't do what Welton asked. Welton told Maria she must spy on Christopher to get information that Welton could use to blackmail Christopher. Welton needed money and saw Christopher as a blackmail source.A subplot involved Maria trying to find her sister Amelia to get her away from Welton. Welton had used this threat over the years to force Maria to do a number of things including marrying her two former husbands.I did like a couple of parts. I liked Christopher's intense lust for Maria. I also liked the story about Colin who was a gypsy stable boy. He and Amelia loved each other, but he knew they could never be together because he was a servant while she was titled. Simon, Maria's closest friend, makes an interesting offer to Colin at the end. Colin's story is told in the sequel "A Passion For Him." Simon's story is told in the sequel "Don't Tempt Me."Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: six lengthy scenes. Setting: 1700s or 1800s England. Copyright: 2007. Genre: historical romance.For a listing of my reviews of other Sylvia Day books, see my 5 star review of "The Stranger I Married" posted on 1/19/07.

Well yes...The story line flowed and was believable along with the characters and their development but I found that it was difficult to get into the story at the beginning and the description of the sex scenes were meant to be interesting but came out as boring.

I can't recall the last time I decided to stop reading a book two thirds of thway through.I wonder if was being churlsih not giving two stars. After all I have gone half way.I have not really understood a word of this book so 1 star will be fine.

Again, Sylvia Day does not disappoint. I've read almost all her historical stories. I love the way the characters all connect with the other books. The story is well told, you actually feet part of it. The passion, love n lust draws you into the covers. highly recommended read.

Book was in great condition.

This was bought as a set - gift