I was beyond excited to dive into A Wicked Game, having just come off a high from reading the second in the series, A Daring Pursuit, one of the best books I read in all of 2022. This one picks up with another family feud, but these two have grown up as more overt enemies than the previous duo. They've been teasing and taunting and daring each other for years, but now that Morgan is back from the war, things are hotter than ever because he's got revenge on his mind.

I loved the sparring and banter between these two, Kate Bateman is so funny and writes enemies-to-lovers beautifully. The audiobook is also delightful, I love this narrator!

While I usually bristle at "aristocratic girl boss" subplots, I didn't mind Harriet being a map maker at all, it fit perfectly with her personality and was used to good effect at multiple times in the plot. Morgan is sly, cunning, and so head over heels for her it's adorable. This man is down bad but can't let her see it. Their little sexy "3 kisses" bet proves to be incendiary and I just couldn't stop reading this book!

These two are clearly on the same page but don't know it and you never get that awful third act misunderstanding and breakup, it's an outside obstacle and while it's dramatic, it's not overwrought and the pacing is perfect.

The sex scenes are multiple, hot, and build up naturally. The chemistry is amazing and the times I gasped in shock at the things that were coming out of Morgan's mouth oh my goodness this man is naughty and bad and pretty much everything you look for in an MC.

But the BEST part (who am I kidding, there were so many best parts) was the little snippet of Rhys in the epilogue because I cannot WAIT for his book, gah!

A huge thank you to Kate Bateman for bringing so much joy into my life, and to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

This book is going to be for a LOT of people, but it’s not for me. It’s a historical romance about two rivals turned lovers thanks to a bet. I received an ARC of the audiobook and I think the narrator just took me out of the story I was already barely hanging on to.

I’m giving this three stars despite a lackluster personal review because I KNOW, I absolutely KNOW, that historical fiction readers are going to devour this and love it. It’s just not for me.

This was absolutely delightful.

The playful banter!!
It gave Enemies to Lovers (with the rival families) but also Friends to Lovers (with their history).

Usually I am not a fan of period reads, but this author has easily made me obsessed!!!

Cheeky MMC
Clever FMC

The audiobook was expertly read! Highly recommend. Quickly added the other books to my TBR!!!

Kate Bateman’s ruthless rivals series is back with another Davies/Montgomery pairing with A Wicked Game!

This series has been full of enemies to lovers, in this book is just as sweet!. In captain Morgan have been childhood frenemies and now as adults a simple bet has turned into a wicked game of increasingly steamy kisses!

Of the three books I’ve really enjoyed this one since we met the characters earlier in the series and we have a history of their friendship/rivalry. These two love to hate each other and hate to love each other! They are the perfect match!

With a little espionage thrown into the mix, this story was an absolute delight as we watch Harriet and Captain Morgan fight against French spies, but their attraction! -Sometimes the dangerous subplot can take away or distract from the building romance, but I felt it only added and just added a little excitement to the story, while letting their attraction to each other take centre stage!

🎧I listened to an audio book version narrated by Beverly Crick and really enjoyed her voice work and pacing of the story. Crick is a historical romance narrator extraordinaire and really does a great job with the accents and the polish of her voices. For a book with a lot of chapters, I appreciated the pause length in the narration to allow for noting the break. I’ve noticed some audiobooks don’t provide such a break and the chapters just flow into each other.

Lastly- we were given a little teaser that there may be more Davies/ Montgomery pairings in the future!!! I can’t wait!!!

Thanks to St. Martins Press for the eBook review copy and RB Media for the audiobook copy via Netgalley.

#AWickedGame #KateBateman

I initially loved seeing the flash back of Harriet and Moran so it gives us a taste how the banter has started between them. I also liked how things moved quite quickly in the beginning between our couple with the revelation of her being basically an "interim" map maker and Morgan finding out. Harriet's father condition was a unexpected, but it really added something extra to the plot. I truly have a hard time picking a fav out of this trilogy. I think its a more enjoyable read to read the series in order as characters/couples from the previous books appear. I have to say this cover is very beautiful! Ahhhh, ok so by that conversational hint at the ending about other Montgomery's are we getting a spin off?! I can't wait to see what Kate writes next.

Narrator Beverly A. Crick was amazing.

I received this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Shipwrecked and imprisoned thanks to an inaccurate map, Captain Morgan Davies has returned to London to exact sweet revenge on the cartographer responsible for his suffering. He’s also vowed to claim the winner’s prize, three kisses, in the bet he made with his long-time nemesis, smart-mouthed Harriet Montgomery. His time in prison has made him realize his feelings for her, but convincing the infuriating woman he wants to marry her is going to be his greatest challenge yet. When Harriet’s revealed to be the very mapmaker he seeks, Morgan decides revenge and seduction can be
Harriet’s always wanted witty scoundrel Morgan, and now he’s back; as handsome as ever. She has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s failing eyesight and a rival mapmaker copying her work
But when a threat from Morgan’s past puts them both in danger, Harry discovers that she and Morgan might not be enemies at all.
The third book in the series & a very well written engrossing romance brought to life by Beverly A Crick whose narration added another dimension to the book. I loved how she handled the accents & I found myself listening at all hours as this isn’t a short book but I must admit the time flew by. The book itself is fast paced & the characters are a delight I loved both Morgan & Harriet & thoroughly enjoyed their journey to a HEA
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily listened to

I'm loving this reckless rivals series—the not-so-rivalry between the Davies and Montgomery. Harriet and Morgan have been teasing each other for a long time and now that Morgan is back from life at sea. Morgan is prepared for revenge and seduction - he plans to have Harriet and he has a whole plan on how he is going to trick her into marriage.
Harriet is ready to pay up for the bet they had but she has no plans to marry Morgan. This makes for some funny and sensual.
Harriet and Morgan are in different places - he has had many adventures and he is ready to settle down and marry Harriet. Harriet doesn't want to get married and be stuck at home while her husband has adventures. They want each other but are in different places

Beverley A. Crick did an awesome job on the multiple voices and the different characters. I felt like everyone was distinct.

I enjoyed the lightness of this story and the dynamics between Morgan and Harriet. I can't wait for more ...

I haven't read any other books in this series but I adored every moment of this book, I need to backtrack and read the first two. The main characters were so likable and their enemies to lovers banter was top-notch

(4.5 rounded up to a 5)

A Wicked Game by Kate Bateman is an enemies to lovers historical romance, and the third book in the Ruthless Rivals series. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at eleven hours and is narrated by Beverley A. Crick.

Morgan and Harriet have nursed a playful rivalry between the two of them since they were children. Before Morgan left London to join the Royal Navy, Harriet bet him that he wouldn't come back. If he proves her wrong, he will receive three kisses. And then a danger from his past comes back to haunt them and put them both in danger.

This is my first book by the author, and I'm absolutely going to read more. This is book three in its series, but it can absolutely be read as a stand alone. The chemistry between the leads was perfection and you could really tell they've been pining after one another for YEARS.

The Davies and the Montgomery families have a long-standing family rivalry, mostly along the lines of never backing down from a dare made from either side. There's some hemming and hawing of "but we shouldn't be together" but not overly so.

I love that Harriet is a cartographer. I have noticed lately that books that have smart women in them are my kryptonite. I can see fans of Some Dukes Have All The Luck by Christina Britton also enjoying this one.

Tropes in this book include: regency, enemies to lovers

CW: firearms, mentions of being prisoner of war

Love, love, LOVE it!! This book was absolutely amazing. The characters were charming and the romance was sweet, with a dash of spiciness. The rivalry between the two main characters made me laugh throughout the whole book and the detailed, should we say, explicit scenes were very believable. I love Morgan's character and Harriet's personality was very sweet. A darling woman with a backbone of steel and a tongue sharper than any blade. I love when authors give a woman that kind of character, and it pleases me every time. This book was absolutely astounding and I recommend it for anyone who loves romance and a happy ending. The narrator Beverley A. Crick added a depth to the book that you don't normally get when reading it yourself. She has an amazing voice and took this story to a whole new level. The author Kate Bateman is a wonderfully imaginative woman and I thank her for bringing this book into the world. Nobody else could have done it like she has.
This book gets 5 stars all the way!

I have been waiting for this book so I couldn’t bear to start reading it when it showed up in my inbox. This is the third book in Kate Bateman’s Ruthless Rivals about members of feuding Welsh families falling for each other. The night before Morgan set sail with the navy, Harriet bet him three kisses that he wouldn’t return knowing it would inspire him to return home so he could collect on the bet. A couple years later Morgan’s back and desperate to get his kisses from Harriet. Harriet’s familial duties and a plot involving an inaccurate map of Martinique round out the story of a young couple who hasn’t known how to express their feelings for one another.

As someone who has a degree in Geography and had a hyper fixation on the British Royal Navy during high school, this book was made for me. I absolutely adore this cover and the fact that it has Morgan in his naval uniform. I love that Harriet actively works in her family’s map’s shop and found the stuff about the fake map details absolutely delightful (I knew this was a thing from Tessa Dare’s Lord Dashwood Missed Out, but it was fun to have another book feature this idea).

I love that this who series has been enemies to lovers, though I do think that this one was more bickering friends to lovers than true enemies to lovers, but I’m not mad. I absolutely adore how Kate is able to write heroes that are just madly in love with the heroine and don’t quite know what to do with themselves about their feelings. Overall this book was just a fun and deeply romantic read. I was happy to see the couples from the first two books again and pleased that the epilogue for this one set up at least one more book in this series.

I also had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook and it too was a delight. The narration by Beverley A. Crick really brought the characters to life. I particularly found her Welsh accent very fun and it was a wonderful reminder of the heritage if several characters. I will happily listen to an audiobook with her narrating in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Daring Pursuit is most definitely my favorite book of 2022, but A Wicked Game is five stars for different reasons. It just truly subverted every single one of my expectations in the best way possible. I was AFLAME in a Panda Express parking lot reading the first sex scene. The end drama was external, but wasn’t overdrawn or annoying. Clearly catch is that they’ve both been pining for ages, but the chase was so fun.

*Spoiler-adjacent* The premise sounds dramatic and fun, but I admit I was worried he was going to go about revenge a bit too viscously (when he realized she was the mapmaker) but I was so pleasantly surprised that he basically gave up when he realized what happened. From then on (pretty early) all this man thinks about is getting her to love him. Seeing as they’ve always been rivals, he doesn’t think she’ll believe him when he confesses that he’s always loved her. From that point on, he’s just such a lovesick sailer and I truly lost all of my breath.

This series is for low angst lovers. Each book subverts typical pitfalls in the third acts, has couples with truly good people, and the chemistry is always there. It stems around a generational Hatfield and McCoy type land feud, so it feels like there should be a lot of tension surrounding the families not being happy about the relationships. But the tension stems from attraction every time, without too much kerfuffle about getting together.

As for the audiobook, I knew I would be in for a treat. Beverley A. Crick is one of my favorite narrators in the game. She does wonderful accent work and conveys emotion very well via audio. This series is wonderful via audiobook. As for A Wicked Game in particular, I was giddy from start to finish and that’s my favorite way to read a romance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️.25/5