Diane Farr is like the best race horse-always a good bet. Even her earliest work is of exceptional quality and should not be missed. Fair Game is the delightfully entertaining story of a wealthy ladies man who meets his match in an intelligent and highly principled innocent with exceptional qualities.

As with all Farr novels, summarizing the plot does not do justice to the reading experience. The plot may not be unique but Farr's style is. She writes deftly with exceptional grace and beauty about very appealing and well-drawn characters whom she puts in high stakes emotional situations that ring true and completely capture the reader's interest.
In Fair Game, handsome and powerful Trevor Whitlatch forgives a huge debt an infamous harlot owes him in exchange for taking possession of the harlot's extraordinarily beautiful twenty-one year old daughter, Clarissa Feeney. Unfortunately for him, his new exotic lady of the night turns out to be an innocent reared at a ladies' boarding school who has no intention of giving her virtue to any man.

Clarissa will either be a governess or a wife, and Trevor, who has high social aspirations, is not in the market for either, at least not for a bastard whose mother is a harlot. However, he cannot resist Clarissa's honesty, frankness, kindness, and goodness, which is in stark contrast to all his previous mistresses.

And so begins an intense battle of wills and hearts as Trevor can neither get nor give up on his quest to make Clarissa his mistress, and Clarissa has sworn to never follow in her hateful mother's footsteps, yet she cannot resist falling in love with Trevor.

When Trevor cannot get Clarissa to agree to become his mistress, he positions her as his ward, while still doing all he can to wear down her willpower. However, everything changes when Clarissa's position as ward brings on a young and very ardent suitor.

Don't miss this beautiful story of two people who learn to discover the best in themselves and the best in each other as they come to love and cherish one another. This fast-paced, moving, and sensual story will please every romance lover.

I see most ot the reviews are flattering , but I think as love stories go this is the most insulting I've come across. Here is a man who is supposed to be a GENTLEMAN and all he wants is to take a innocent and turn her into a prostitute for his own carnal lusts. Through the whole story this is the theme , become my mistress because for no other reason, but her mother is one. I would think if you loved or liked someone you would want to help them and offer them something better than that. The ending I felt was kind of put together, she was always telling him she wanted something better for herself in life and I thought that was wonderful how she stood up against him and then at the end she tells him she would rather be his mistress than be married to someone she doesn" love. Give me a break , this is a man that looked at you and said he was offering you a most wretched life and you love him? That when he got tired of you he would just walk away? They want to say it is the time peroid and thats what women had to face. That may be but when I read a love story thats what I want . Your best romance writters are as far as I'm concerened are Stephanie Laurens, Amanda Quick. Julie Garwood Julia Quinn ang Josie Litton. Now those ladies know how to write LOVE stories.

Just finished this extraordinary book and had to write a review. All I can say is Wow. I didn't want it to end. This is romantic fiction at its best. When you close the book you close it with a smile on your face and then turn back and reread your favorite parts. Farr writes with flair and wit which added terrifically to my enjoyment of her characters, but it was the characters that really made this book for me. What's great about these two people is that they are so different from each other, and they are genuinely at odds with each other, but you see immediately that they are perfect for each other, too, and you really root for them to find a way to be together. Clarissa is a pure sweetheart, but she's a sweetheart with brains and courage. Trevor is fascinating. He's a brilliant, complex man and the thing that makes him most interesting is that his view of himself is way off the mark. He thinks he's a ruthless, forceful, cutthroat businessman who is always in charge of every situation he encounters and doesn't care what anybody thinks of him. If you pay attention to his words instead of his actions he's funny but exasperating. His actions, however, give the lie to his own view of his character. He is consistently honorable, almost in spite of himself, which eventually clues us in to the fact that he's a genuine hero at heart. He argues with Clarissa but never uses his power over her, or his brute strength for that matter, to force her to his will, which in those days he might have done. I got a kick out of the fact (in retrospect) that Farr gives a clue in chapter one about this guy: we learn that he had a gorgeous courtesan completely at his mercy for several days and never touched her, precisely because she was at his mercy - so taking advantage of her would have been dishonorable. This is a true historical novel in the sense that the hero and heroine are people of their times with the mindset of their times, and the conflict they struggle with would be no struggle at all today. To them, it is very real and their struggle is riveting. These two strong-willed people are plunged into a situation so poignant that it didn't need any trumped-up conflict, mysteries to solve, or any other kind of extra junk to make it a page-turner. This book honestly surprised me, I think because the cornball cover art does it a disservice. Many readers will pass it by (and that's a shame) because people actually DO judge a book by its cover. If Fair Game had a different cover I believe more people would pick it up and word of mouth would do the rest, and it would turn up on the New York Times list eventually. It's that good.

First, I concede that Farr is one of the top five Regency authors currently writing. But of her four published books (including "The Nobody," "Falling for Chloe," and "Once Upon a Christmas") "Fair Game" is her worst book. The story plot is fine (although I admit I don't like the force-to-be-the-mistress-till-we-fall-in-love plots), but the characters are lacking. The heroine, Clarissa, is sweet and poignant, but it takes awhile to really develop her beyond a passive ninny. However, the "hero," Trevor, is a jerk. He is dishonorable, unlikable, and unattractive. Thus, the attraction between the two was unbelievable: she falls for this guy even though he has so little respect for her that he cannot stop scheming to get her into bed regardless of the number of times she tells him she's not interested. What part of "no" don't you understand, Trevor?

Although I never liked (or respected) Trevor, I did grow fond of Clarissa by the end of the book. That, well-drawn secondary characters, and the very smooth writing moved this book up to 3 stars. However, I recommend any of Farr's other books or short stories over this one.

What I have always loved in Diane Farr is her ability to write wonderfully humourous stories - in Fair Game I feel she has departed to a more sensitive and almost sensuous story, but leaving out some of the lighter moments. Farr is such a competent writer that this probably isn't such a great draw back, but I do have a preference for lighter comedy. (Her Novella in the Regency Collection "A Regency Christmas Eve" has to rate as my absolute favourite piece of writing - but on to Fair Game....

In this story I think Farr has taken slightly more serious themes, and treats them with a bit more respect. The famous courtesan, La Gianetta, has stolen some valuable property of Trevor Whitlatch's in the past and has now embroiled his friend in trouble. Whitlatch is determined to get reparation. La Gianetta ends up bartering her daughter, Clarissa, to clear the debts.

Unfortunately, Trevor's ambitions for Clarissa are not quite realised. While he thinks she is La Gianetta's daughter and so might be used in the same way, and as easily as her mother, in fact it turns out to be a quite a different matter. Clarissa has had a sheltered upbringing in a girls school - first as a pupil and then later teaching. She must now make her way in the world and she is determined not to do it as her mother has - Trevor Whitlatch's ambitions or not!

This is a lovely story of the attraction between these two people, of Trevor's growing realisation of his feelings for Clarissa, and how he must reconcile that with the need to keep her reputation and his need to exact revenge against her mother. Its a very clever little story.

There are light points in this book of course - Clarissa's escape from Trevor in London being one of great fun. However if you are looking for quite a tender serious romance than this is definitely the one to try.