Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
The car accident killed her mother Juliet and injured Laura Harte. Before dying, Juliet told Laura to see attorney Paul Shaw and to forgive her. Paul gives Laura a box containing newspaper clippings about Andrew Jardine, who died five years ago in New Orleans and who turns out to have been her father. Laura is shocked because her mother told her that her father was a Richard Harte who died in Nam just after their marriage.
Olivia Jardine won the Princess Hotel from Josh Logan's grandfather over sixty years ago. He is obsessed in his zeal to buy back the property, but Olivia refuses to sell though the hotel is losing money. She asks Josh to go to San Francisco and persuade her "other" grandchild to come to New Orleans. In turn, she offers Josh the same wager that won her the Princess. He accepts the terms, but soon Josh falls in love with Laura and she with him. However, once she learns the other condition of THE WAGER, she will probably flee back to California with a bitter taste in her mouth.
THE WAGER is an entertaining contemporary romance centering on the human ability to weather emotional storms and adapt to changes caused by them. The delightful story line is fun to read though Olivia's obsession with the Princess seems stretched even if it serves as the plot's prime catalyst. Laura and Josh are a fine couple and the secondary characters bring New Orleans to life, as Metsy Hingle shows she really knows the city. Fans will want Ms. Hingle to write a sequel or two after this joyous experience.