A Hellion in Her Bed by Sabrina Jeffries

A Hellion in Her Bed

(Hellions Series Book #2)
by Sabrina Jeffries

Genre : Historical Romance

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’s 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.

Annabel is in a deperate situation, her brother has taken to drinking while their family brewery is losing money, thus she decides to plead her case to another brewery house in hopes of combining business. Things don't work out as planned though when the brewery she wishes to work with has recently changed managment and instead of placing her hopes in another strong indipendt female boss, she's making under the table bets with a gambeling rake - bets that begin to lead her on a slippery slope into lust and repeating mistakes from her heavliyl guarded past. Lord Jerret is begrudingly assisting his gradmother by running the brewery in her absense and is tempted both by Annabel herslef and by her daring business deals. Can they both save both her family's future as well as their heart in A Hellion in Her Bed?

I can easily get sucked into a Sabrina Jeffries's book because her writing style appeals to me on all levels. Her chapters flow smoothly, her characters are very realistic, and her plots are usually something new with a twist that it's hard not to become fascinated by the overall tale as well. Yet I find I'm reading this series all out of order again beginning with Book # 2 instead of #1 (a usual bad habit of mine), but at least I understand the general theme of the Hellion siblings and highly enjoy it. The side characters all add some quirky entertainment without over-shining the leads and the romantic growth between Jerret and Annabel was nice - not coming on too strong but growing gradually throughout and expect lots of fun flirting.

Jerret grew on me throughout the story, as a reader, we get glimpses of him as a sorrowful youth after the tragic loss of his parents to the stubborn cocky adult male he's grown into. Right off the back, we see the emotional barriers he puts up to prevent being hurt again and that helps the reader understand his relationship struggles, especially with Annabel. On the other hand, Annabel is punishing herself for a mistakes she made in her youth and I feel both frustrated in her actions but admire her tenacity in handling everything. She's just a stubborn as Jerret and the two adorably bunt heads at time, but from the very beginning they come off as the perfect pair. After tackling Book #1 in The Hellion Series, I'm excited about reading further with Book # 3 with yet another book releasing in the Fall.

Likes: Separately, Jerret and Annabel had obvious weaknesses they were trying to overcome, but Sabrina Jeffries wrote the story so well that together they appeared braver --- something hard to find in other historical romances. They truly complimented each other and that really completed the tale nicely.

Dislikes: Annabel, to me, came off a little too high & mighty at times. She acted as if she had to take on all the family troubles on her shoulders alone and fought that fact throughout much of the book, which eventually became tiresome. She was defiantly a caring Lady, but a rather stubborn and persistent one at that!

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