I was able to read this thanks to NetGalley and Covenant Communications.
The characters in this book were nice, and I would enjoy reading something else from the pen of this author to see what she could do with a more realistic plot. Unfortunately, I found the plot of "Wager for a Wife" to be so contrived as to be insupportable. It's not just that the grandfather made a ridiculous bet that could maybe, barely, conceivably be stretched to apply to future generations, it's that all the members of the current generation take it so very seriously. I understand the concept of "honor" as it applied in historical times, and that it is very different from what we might consider necessary today, but I think this plot goes beyond even the historical context. It is laughable that anyone even in that society would consider it honorable for someone to jilt her fiance and marry a complete stranger because of a vaguely worded wager made between a couple of rogues decades back. I also thought there was a contradiction between Louisa's feminist beliefs (as in, I should be held to the same standard of honor as the men) with her willingness to accept that the men's definition of honor was infallible.
Furthermore, the man who wants to hold her to it is much too nice to have suggested it; it's not really consistent with the way his character is written.
There were also some jarring anachronisms in dialogue.
However, the book was easy to read and I enjoyed the secondary characters and the general writing style well enough to give it three stars. The trope of a couple falling in love in spite of an arranged marriage can be a fun one, and it worked well enough here, if only the spur to set the relationship going had been slightly easier to swallow. ( )