Bad Beat (Gamblers, #2)

by Sarah Curtis

[Eve1972]

This is an OK cover. Good use of graphics. Good representation of the story and hero. OK composition and interesting title work.

To start with I am going to admit that I am in a bit of a mood funk today. And I am guessing that played a big part in how nitpicky I was being while reading this one. Pushing that aside I will say that I did enjoy it overall.

The writing was good. The pace was excellent and I never felt the need to skim. There was some OW drama that was pointless (IMO) since it didn't cause any issues. I am SO over ridiculous cartoon villain like behavior from OW in these books. Especially in a case like this where it didn't cause a problem at all and was wrapped up with very little fanfare. There was a nice array of secondary characters as well. Although the mother felt a bit like an afterthought and I would have liked to have seen more involvement in the story from her character.



Olivia was a sweet heroine. I don't have a lot to say about her. I liked her personality. I do wish she would have shown more backbone at times instead of settling when it came to how she thought Nico felt about her. Nico, on the other hand, I had a love/hate relationship with. For the first 40% of the book his constant inner thoughts about using her and sending her back, not to mention his hot/cold routine grated on my nerves. The first couple times he had sex with the heroine felt cold to me. Especially the one in the dressing room. I did warm up to him as the book went on, but I still ended up being annoyed at his inability to admit he loved her right up until the book was almost finished. The whole Valentine Day thing pissed me off immensely, and I wanted Olivia to take a stand and decide she deserved more than a guy who couldn't love her.

But like I said, even with the things that annoyed me I still got sucked into the story and ended up enjoying it. So two thumbs up from yours truly.