Surrender to the Fury

I picked this book up at a second hand book store as an impulse buy. It was one of those stories that compelled you to continue reading it. I couldn't put it down and finished it overnight. I really liked this story, although there were areas that I felt could have been improved.Aimee LaMotte's father was dead and he had left her without funds. So what's a girl to do, why adopt the name Aimee Fortune and become a Lady Gambler. She was going to win enough money to move away from New Orleans with her old nanny and live off her winnings. So she begins her short career as a Lady Gambler by booking passage on a river boat. The book begins with Nick and Amiee meeting over the gambling table where he proceeds to win all the money she's won so far. She's desperate she can't let him take all her savings so with no money left her body is wagered. She's positive with the card she's got that she can't loose, but she does. Of course she could refuse to honour her wager but she does and surrenders her virginity to Nick, although he doesn't know it at the time. Nine months later Amiee gives birth to a son and she hates Nick - he had won all her money, taken her virginity and didn't even know it, left her room the next morning before she awoke so when she did she felt like a whore and he had left her pregnant and destitute. Five years later Amiee has married and lost her husband to the American Civil war and that said war is drawing to a close. It is pure chance that our two characters meet up again only this time Nick is a Yankee Captain that has orders to occupy her home. I liked this book, I thought the characters were well developed and the story written well. However some aspects of the plot were predictable and/or corny. Despite the faults (which were few and not enough to really detract from the story) this was a very good story. I wrote this review to (1) let the readers know my opinion of this book and (2) to let the readers who would like this book know that the author Cara Miles is also Connie Mason and that Surrender To The Fury has also been released by Connie Mason and is avaliable by her unlike this copy which is out of print.