Release Day Review: Seven-Card Stud by Ava Drake #Review #Giveaway

Author: Ava Drake
Book: Seven-Card Stud
Series: Dreamspun Desires #22
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication date: November 15, 2016
Length: 242 pages



Reviewed by Meredith




Synopsis

Temptation, peril, and dirty poker.

Love is a high-stakes game.

When Collin Callahan, British secret agent, goes up against math genius turned surfer bum Oliver Elliot, the battle is epic—and so is the attraction. They’re pitted against each other in an exclusive, ultra-secret—and ultra-illegal—poker match in Gibraltar, but when players start dying and they could be next, they find a common goal: catch the killer before it’s too late.

Evenly matched at poker and romance, they each wrestle personal demons that threaten to consume them as the stakes climb. It’s an all-or-nothing gamble with both life and love on the line as they fight to be the last seven-card studs standing.

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Review

This book has all the things an illegal gambling story should. There's mystery, romance, and danger. 

Collin is a British agent and Oliver is a math genius. Of course Collin doesn't know Oliver's a genius right off the bat, he assumes he's a beach bum.

The book moves pretty fast and there's a great amount of excitement. I kept thinking about that movie Maverick while reading. It has the same intensity and excitement and of course the gambling, shystee characters, and whodunit. 

I had a blast reading the lusty rendezvous between Collin and Oliver and trying to figure out who the bad guy was. You know, motive and all that! But here's where there was a big issue for me. The mystery was good, and even the villain was  well done. It was the motive that got to me. That's always a make or break for me. It got quite bizarre. It was believable for a bit ans then it veered of to "omg what?" And I was really upset because I was hardcore loving where it was going. In the end is sort of fell apart for me.

It is an exciting story with awesome suspense and if you can let your mind go and just enjoy it then give it a go!

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Release Day Review: Ace in the Hole by Ava Drake #Review #Giveaway

Author: Ava Drake
Book: Ace in the Hole
Series: Dreamspun Desires (Book 13)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication date: July 1, 2016
Length: 169 pages




Reviewed by Meredith



Synopsis

Surveillance, seduction, and extra-dirty politics.

Christian Chatsworth-Brandeis has a problem. A huge one. The US senator he works for has run away with his latest mistress on the eve of a make-or-break fund-raising event, and it’s up to him to cover his boss’s irresponsible tracks.

Stone Jackson, the senator’s new bodyguard, looks enough like the senator that, with some extensive grooming, he might pass for Senator Lacey. Christian and Stone hatch a plan to fool everyone by substituting Stone for the senator, but Miami madness and the incendiary heat between them are throwing obstacles in their way. It’s a race to find the senator and pull off the con of the century before the attraction between them spins completely out of control.

Buy Links

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Review

I really love the Dreamspun Desire books. Each one is so different but the same. They are romantic love stories. Some suspenseful and some read like a windswept romance. Ace in the Hole falls smack in the middle of that.

The 2 MC’s are brought together when a Senator gets death threats. Christian, Jack the Senator’s aide, takes this very seriously and when Stone Jackson, bodyguard extraordinaire is called in to protect the Senator… sparks fly.

Throughout this book so much happens. The Senator goes missing, Stone impersonates him, politics runs amuck, and a romance blooms.

I really did love this book in the sense it kept my attention and it wasn’t boring. I loved the two MC’s and loved it was duel POV’s. It made it flow a lot better than I think one POV would have. I will say however, I found some of the dialog a wee bit cheesy at times between Stone and Christian. I admit to even saying oh my god when I heard some of their dialog. But that’s really where the meh feelings end.

It is a romance with minimal suspense, no angst, and some drama.

Fun read.

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Contest ends July 30th!

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