Honor is as honor does

Into The Hall Of Vice (Bastards of London #2) by Anabelle Bryant

                                      

Lady Gemma Amberson knows there's a mystery surrounding her father's death. That's why she spends her time at polite society gambling parties in an attempt to learn something, anything! Lord Winton, he of the slimey snake charmer abilities, drops hints to her that a visit to a certain Miss Devonshire in Charing Cross might help her enquiries. Of course that hint comes with a demand for payment of the more personal kind.
That's where Cole Hewitt one of the owners of the Underworld, a gambling hall of note, finds her when he visits as his alter ego Mr. Goodworth.

Cole is smitten but he knows the gap between them is real and not even possible.

Cole and Gemma's story had great potential but to my mind it just wasn't pulled off with the same riviting quality that Den of Iniquity had. I liked Cole and Gemma but their relationship, although heated, was just a tad two dimensional. Their interactions were slightly flat.

The gambling hall, the Underworld is really just a backdrop. We see more of who Cole is when he's in Charing Cross reflecting on his awful childhood. Those hints reveal more about him, but not enough. Being locked in the closet gave us hints, but again they only hint at his past.

Still I'm hooked on the series and want to see where the next story takes us.

A NetGalley ARC

*** 1/2