OBSESSED. I’m obsessed with this book. I need the other books in this series like, RIGHT NOW! It was a pure delight, so good I want to cry when I think about it. It was just my thing! Get me close-knitted families, a feud as old as the world between two rival families, characters with lots of banter who know what they want and in bonus, amazing spice! What do you get? A book I cannot put down even to go get myself a coffee (I kid you not, it took me an hour and a half, AN HOUR AND A HALF of telling myself: "just one more chapter" before I could get my ass off the couch and take 2 minutes to do my coffee and get back to the book).

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 - The Davies and Montgomery have been enemies for as long as one can remember. But behind the teasing and banter, love is never far. Morgan Davies is back to London after war. His experiences made him realize a lot and he is now fully aware of his feelings toward Harriet Montgomery. He wants one thing and one thing only: her. And what better way to convince her they are perfect for each other than to use the bet they made to his advantage. 3 kisses, he’s allowed 3 kisses, and he sure plans to use them very carefully and in the most wicked way...

"𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒅𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒊𝒈." This has to be my favourite quote of all time. If you know me, you know I absolutely despise grand gestures in front of an audience and I sooooo hate when the ending of a great book is ruined by it haha. Let me juste say that the ending of this book was PERFECTION.

Anyways, beautiful cover, beautiful story, beautiful characters, BEAUTIFUL EVERYTHING. That’s it.

Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

3.5/4 stars
This was a fun ending to the Ruthless Rivals series. Morgan and Harriet are interesting, well-developed questions. I loved the description of their childhood antics and their romance. It was well done and left a vivid impression in my mind. Their banter was fun and entertaining. I enjoyed getting to see Maddie and Gryff – the couple from the first book in the series, as I love getting to see the previous couples throughout the rest of the series. I wish that the mystery/intrigue subplot had played more of a role in the story than it did.

Love Kate Bateman. She writes witty and real characters. For "A Wicked Game" we have a face off of two longtime enemies, he a Davies and she a Montgomery. The family feud is long and historic, but one by one the current Davies clan has fallen for a Montgomery. This enemies to lovers trope could have been ripped from a current rom-com and has many funny and sexy scenes. It is a wonderful read with a touch of suspense.

Since she was 14, Harriet Montgomery has always had a thing for Morgan Davies. Now just what that thing is is hard to define. He is infuriating, noble, brave, handsome and he makes her heart beat faster just being in the same room. On the eve of his departure for war Harriet bets him that if he returns, she will grant him three kisses.

Captain Morgan Davies spent six weeks as a prisoner of war because a mapmaker had incorrectly drawn a map he used. During that time, he came to realize that the little piece of baggage from his childhood is more important to him than life itself. His goals on returning to England is to hunt down and hurt the mapmaker and marry Harriet Montgomery. The first is not a problem, but the second is going to take some work.

Morgan has three kisses to make Harriet fall in love with him. He just needs a plan on where and how to collect on his bet and bring the willful Harriet the most pleasure possible.

My thanks to the Publisher and the Author for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

**Thank you to Kate Bateman, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to receive an ARC of A Wicked Game in exchange for an honest review!**
I am not a huge fan of historical romances. So when I tell you I loved! this book, you know it means that I truly adored it. I finished it in one sitting. I loved the bet and the tension between Captain Davies and Harriet. They are such a great match, they're great sparring partners but also great friends. The best way to describe their relationship is that they are rivals, they have always been in some sort of altercation or bet with one another. Harriet obviously decides that making another bet for kisses is the most surefire way to make sure that he doesn't die as he goes off with the Navy. I really enjoyed finding out that Harriet was the mapmaker that he was also seeking revenge against. Then it added another level of heat to their pairing, he had already decided that he was going to romance her but this added layer made it so that he also wanted to seduce her. I really loved this book, it was honestly one of the best reads of the year. I was so excited when I saw that there was another book in this series. I am going to read that next, and I really hope others will read these books so that I can talk about them more!!

Faux rivals...

Captain Morgan is back and looking for revenge, and kisses? From the same person?
Harriett is ready to get to the kissing, though she has fun bickering with Morgan. I liked the map making aspects, but maybe not the other shennanigans that Harriett is dealing with in the map making business.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (Rounded up to 4)

It’s always difficult to review a romance thoroughly. Is it predictable? Yes. Are parts of the plot convenient? Yes. Did I love it I spite of (or really, because of) that? Absolutely yes.

Harriet Montgomery and Morgan Davies are members of two families who’ve been feuding for generations. They taunt and tease each other, and they love to make bets and dare each other to do reckless things. There are also maps. And a villain. And a few relatives that have settled the feud between the two families by marriage. Can you read it for those? Certainly. But while you may come for the story, you’ll stay for the romance.

What Worked For Me:

This book has a lot of the things I’m looking for when I want a light and frothy romance. (Those words are both a description and a compliment.) It has one of my favorite tropes: rivals/friends to lovers. I can’t call this enemies to lovers because it’s clear from the jump that their goal is to one-up each other, not do actual harm. They have a great back and forth between them, and I love to see romances where the intelligence of the female is highlighted alongside her appearance. Her intelligence makes her a great “opponent” for Morgan, and the fun in this is watching them realize that family feuds don’t have to get in the way of passion.

I also loved the surrounding characters. This is the third in a series, and I’m already planning to go back and read the other two. I’m also looking forward to the next one, which is kind of hinted at. Morgan’s brothers are gloriously masculine and slightly rakish, while Harriet’s cousin Maddie is just delightful. There are aunts, and a father, and I love a romance where the family plays a role. Especially if they’re eccentric. I did also find the few details on cartography to be interesting, especially as regard war during that time.

What Didn’t Work For Me:

The portion dealing with a villain who is billed on the blurb as being “a threat from Morgan’s past.” This is misleading, as Morgan’s relationship to this person is secondary to the real reason the villain is present, which I won’t spoil. I would have liked more development of that part of the plot.

I also would have enjoyed more of the day to day of both Harriet and Morgan. Things are happening, but we are privy only to what has a direct effect on the romance, and I think there could have been depth added by taking a bit more time.

Summation:

This was fun, lighthearted, and fast. I would definitely read more by Kate Bateman, and I am very picky about what I look for in a historical romance. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I looking forward to reading the earlier two in the series.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for giving me a free copy in exchange for an open and honest review.

Harriett and Morgan, rivals from birth, heat up the pages of A Wicked Game like no other. The cluelessness of feelings adds to the heat and witty banter as they travel to their HEA. They have been dancing around each other their whole lives. It’s time to dance together. And, we get visits from others in the series – always enjoyable. You will not want to put this one down; it’s a page turner!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

After reading A Daring Pursuit earlier this year, when I saw this one come out I knew I needed it. I was not wrong. It was lovely! There's built up tension between the two characters, mutual pining, banter, working class heroine, naval captain, cartography, delicious build up of intimacy, and a great secondary plot too. It was just the installment of enjoyment I needed. Although, this is not the book to sneak read at work... wow did I have to put this book down and save it for later because yeah...

Harriet and Morgan were spectacular in every scene together. From the first page to the last. I loved each bit of banter and how they made a bet out of everything. I especially loved how Morgan turned that bet around and how Morgan was the one that had the authority in each moment. It was beautiful.

Morgan's interactions with Harriet's father and the tenderness he showed with Harriet throughout the book was lovely as well. Just all of the small moments together were swoon worthy. Plus Harriet having a job as a cartographer was a great addition. I loved how passionate she was about her work. It met with some great character complexity moments which helped build some depth to the characters that had a certain level of fluffness to them.

Honestly just the playfulness and longing between the two characters was enough for me to fall in love. The chemistry was great as well. I adore friends to lovers and this was the heart of this novel. All of the jokes and memories between them. Be still my heart.

My only real issue with this book is a small one, I wish that Morgan had a bit more of a chip on his shoulder and didn't quickly "get over" being held captive and tortured for several weeks like it was nothing. That should have some lasting affects on a human!! Not just moving on real quick. I wanted some tender moments between him and Harriet dealing with this more. It's not really an issue more of a personal taste situation

Long story short I do recommend reading this book. I don't think that you have to read the first two in the series to get this one at all. I feel like you're only missing small pieces of knowledge and not entire plots or such. I think it would be a great read if you like banter filled historical romance books. That border between teasing and flirting perfection.

This was quite a delight. The romance was so fun take on enemies to lovers trope. I normally don't like this trip but Morgan and Harriet had stolen the show. Their chemistry was on fire and I like that they don't fully take their hatred for one another very seriously which is quite hard to find in this trope that is done well.

It was also quite fascinating to see how mapmaking was produced during that time and how like with art, people tried at every chance that gets to steal and profit off of someone else's work. The little side plot with HarrietWs father and how he trying to get his eyesight back was also fascinating to see how people who were recently visually impaired try to get some kind of help in getting help that they need if they want their sight back. who knew that a historical romance could be fun?

A charming, funny and romantic story. Harriet and Morgan are two characters you cannot help but grin with delight at their rivalry, teasing, and banter. All of their interactions hum with sexual tension. The pull between them is clear for all to see except for themselves.
I enjoyed Harriet. She's clever, independent and feisty. Morgan is adorable in his constant teasing and attempts to rile her up.
The results of the three kisses dare turned out to be quite hilarious in its execution. Morgan certainly had a devious plan in mind but my favourite scene was when Harriet turned the tables for the third kiss and made a new dare involving a race proving that Morgan wasn't the only one with a devious sense of humour.
A wonderfully entertaining story.

This is a bit of friends to lovers and enemies to lovers. They’ve played games with each other since they were young. And now that they’re older and wiser the games become more wicked.

I had a blast reading about these two. They way they both were clueless about the other’s feelings made this a page turner. I wanted to watch them fall in love and I wasn’t disappointed.

Having cameos from the previous books made it even more fun. I love interconnected standalones!

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.

Kate Bateman, take all my money. I end up buying her books after netgallying them because I love them so much. They have the perfect mix of anticipation, fun, adventure, likeable characters, satisfying dialogue and spicy scenes for me. Always a yes for me.

Captain Morgan Davies had been shipwrecked thanks to an incorrect map but is now back in London and ready to face Harriet Montgomery. They'd bet three kisses in the past, and he means to collect. He also means to convince her that he's serious about marrying her, even though she's worried about her father's failing eyesight and a rival mapmaker trying to ruin her work.

The third book in the Ruthless Rivals series, we continue with the Davies and Montgomery families at odds. Of course, the two here had battled an attraction to each other since they were teens due to the family rivalry. The kisses are an excuse for proximity and accelerate the process of seeing different sides of each other, respecting the differences, and loving each other. We get glimpses of the man seeking the map around town, as he had buried treasure using the map Harriet crafted for the military. Morgan treats it as dangerous from the start, but it feels like only an annoyance to the reader in the first half.

Harriet and Morgan's book is finally here and it was EVERYTHING I wanted. All of that delicious rivals-to-lovers tension (it feels somewhat inaccurate to call them enemies when they were really mostly bickering children for most of their relationship and always seemed rather playful with each other) finally culminates in a bet that Morgan makes with Harriet shortly before setting sail with the Navy — and now he's come home to collect on the kisses that she's promised him. There's a less important sideplot involving an old military foe of Morgan's, but really, the crux of this book is about Harriet and Morgan's long-standing dynamic and how long it takes them to realize they're in love with each other (although she takes a little longer than he does, truth be told). The whole book is low-angst in that way, which makes for another wonderful installment to a series I have loved ever since the first. And is that a sequel or spinoff series featuring Rhys I spy in the epilogue — with even more Montgomerys for us to meet? YES PLEASE.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While the premise is great and the writing is good, I never really felt the tension and the pining between the characters viscerally. I am a fan of dual POV, but in this book dual viewpoint of the same scene struck me as repetitive. I also never felt the stakes were high enough to justify the length of time for them to fulfill their kissing bet, but the main characters are fun and I did love that Morgan has basically had a crush on Harriet for forever.

Ultimately, I didn't love this book and it might just be a me problem. Maybe if I had read the first two in the series I would have been more invested in the story.

Maybe I'm out of practice reading romance novels, but I was disappointed in this one. The previous books in this series had more plot, as I recall; this one was nothing but seduction and foreplay from the first page. The conflict seems to be that each of them wants the other but thinks they have to convince the other to want them. Which would be fine but... I don't know. The writing isn't quite up to the standards of the other books. Or maybe it's so focused on the bedroom scenes and seduction that everything else suffers. I was willing to forgive it its flaws at first because there was a hint of plot beyond the seduction, but as it progressed I became more and more bored. And the writing became full of his "masculine" this and her "feminine" that and his large body looming over her and it just. Is not my style. At all. I finally gave up when I passed the 50% mark and no plot had shown up to distract from the seduction.

I did enjoy some of the banter and rivalry and one-up games Morgan and Harriet played, and the flashbacks to when they were younger, but I think this book could have been far, far better with some plot. There was a hint of some, in the beginning, with the maps and the treasure and the revenge... but it all gets swept away by lust. Since I don't actually read romance books for the bedroom scenes (and prefer to skip them most of the time), this book wasn't it for me.

I also never connected with either Harriet or Morgan. They both felt really flat to me and I was never convinced of their chemistry. They didn't have a lot to their personalities or motivations except lust for each other which left it all feeling sort of hollow.

*Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an early copy for review.

Oh those Dastardly Davies!
In this fun and refreshing historical romance, Ms Bateman returns us to the post napoleonic “feud” between the Davies and Montgomery families - this time focusing on Morgan and Harriett.
While the “feud” has thawed, these two have a life time of needling each other and it was very entertaining to see that history play out.
Fantastic characters, light intrigue, and a great secondary cast all contribute to this unique read that stands alone in a series. These books are sequential, so a decent amount of the Morgan/Harriett world building takes place in other books. Don’t let that dissuade you though! You could easily start this series here- just be prepared for spoilers.

This generation has finally stopped the feud between the Davies and Montgomery families. After Harriet's cousins married a Davies, no one would be surprised if she married one of them. She has been in love with Morgan Davies since she was a kid, but they have always had a contentious relationship. Morgan has always loved Harriet but knew she wouldn't believe him. He likes her intelligence and her sharp wit. When he comes home from the war, he just wants to get on with his life. When he was imprisoned, all he could think about was Harriet. Can he convince her that he really does love her? Do they have a chance at a life together?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Wicked Game is book three in Kate Bateman’s Ruthless Rivals series. This was the best book in the series so far! Captain Morgan Davies and Harriet Montgomery have had a love/hate relationship since childhood. Coming home from war and surviving prison, Morgan has two objectives: find the man who made the erroneous map that found him in a French jail and convince Harriet to marry him. Harriet has fought her feelings for Morgan for a lifetime. When Morgan comes to collect on a scandalous bet, he must persuade Harriet to give him her heart; if not, they will be doomed to be enemies forever.

Morgan knew he wanted Harriet; he had loved her forever. Morgan had to persuade Harriet that their connection was more than just physical. He went all-out to get her. I love how unapologetic he was in wanting Harriet, and all bets were off in how he went about convincing her he loved her. Morgan had a larger-than-life personality and charmed me every time he was on the page. Harriet was clever and witty and held her own when verbally sparring with Morgan. Morgan and Harriet had a vulnerable side; they were hesitant to open their hearts and trust what was between them. I loved this vulnerable side to them both!

The couple’s connection was deep; they had danced around each other since childhood. I loved how Morgan owned his feelings toward Harriet. The passion they shared held a gritty, organic feel to it. Morgan and Harriet had much to lose but more to gain if they could learn to trust their feelings toward each other.

The plot was highly entertaining and engaging. It held my rapt attention throughout. The witty banter between Morgan and Harriet was spot-on comical. This was a fast-paced novel. I raced through this book, yet I never wanted it to end. Like the rest of these books, these star-crossed lovers stole every scene. Kate Bateman has created an outstanding series with intense verbal sparring, fiery passion, engrossing characters, and a unforgettable storyline. A Wicked Game checked all the boxes for a beautiful romance I never wanted to end!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.