In spite of the various dangerous and seedy places the couple finds themselves, this novel isn’t dark and it’s easy to root for the criminals in their various escapades. Grace and Reuben are extremely likeable, their conversations are hilarious, and it’s strangely refreshing, and rare to read a romance where hero and heroine are bothActual Criminals in need of reform. The first chapters are utterly captivating. Right away I knew it would be funny, and not to take it too seriously. “Sister Mary Augustine’s little silver derringer was cutting into her thigh.” The first line was a dead giveaway.

The Tropes: Hero who Reforms his Conniving Ways Heroine who Reforms her Conniving Ways Heroine Clueless that Hero Thinks She’s Married Partners in Crime Sham Wedding as Part of Long Con Stagecoach Robbery You Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em, Know When to Fold ‘Em Captive Held in Gambling/Opium Den Mysterious Chinese Villain. The Setting: The multicultural California coast in the 1880’s Monterey, San Francisco, the Russian River valley. But he gets an eyeful when the pretty sister lifts her skirts to adjust the little silver derringer strapped to her thigh … So begins this sexy, rollicking ride through the gambling halls and sinful streets of 1880s San Francisco, where two “crooked hearts” discover that love is the most dangerous - and delicious - game of all. When Grace meets Reuben she’s dressed as a pious Catholic nun he’s posing as a blind Spanish aristocrat. Grace Russell has had to learn a few tricks herself in order to hold on to the crumbling California vineyard that is the only thing in the world she can call her own… Reuben Jones walks on the wrong side of the law - a card shark, a master of deception, a man who long ago buried the truth of his life so deep that no one would ever find it… The Girl: Grace Russell, bold, scrappy con artist who can charm dollars out of wallets and into her pockets a million different ways, yet elude surrendering her virtue or her heart.īrought To You By: Patricia Gaffney in Crooked Hearts, Signet 2001 (originally published 1994).įrom the publisher, courtesy of Goodreads: Always on the move, he’s a gambler with a million disguises, a secret yearning for home and family, and a crippling fear of knives.

The Guy: Reuben Jones, veteran confidence man, wisecracker, card sharp.

Know When to Walk Away, Know When to Run: a comedic, gambler-ific western romance that should have been fantastic

Wild at Heart by Patricia Gaffney