You'll spend the first third or so of the book wallowing in Skye's desire for a 30 day coin from Gamblers Anonymous (GA) and her inability to stop gambling and the rationalizations for her gambling. All before we get to the part discussed in the back cover blurb about her meeting quarterback Mark Shannon. Also, I think most of the characters in the book also have an alcohol addiction that they're not admitting.

What I liked: the characters show life-changes; the friendship between Skye and TD and their acceptance of each other; there's no graphic sex scenes (though sex does happen); the way characters stand by each other even when they may not like what the other person is doing (loyalty and faithfulness); the scenes at the Chinese buffet are humorous even though they involve minor gambling; Mark and Skye seem to find true love

What I didn't like: gambling plays a big part in the story and some of the gamblers are definitely risking more than what they can afford to lose; many of the characters seem to have some unacknowledged addictions beyond gambling; how Skye's childhood played out with her learning to hide the evidence of bookmaking; the character assassinations--Skye is right when she says that certain behavior (rape etc.) which should be considered just as bad as if not worse than gambling is tolerated by TPTB while gambling is a stigma; sex outside of marriage (Skye with her ex-husband Jimmy and with Mark before they are married and TD and Max presumably.); homosexual stereotypes ( )

I wasn't expecting too much out of this bargain book from an author I'd never heard of. The blurb on the back really did not describe too much, but I decided to take the "gamble". It was a really good book! The main character was really easy to relate to, likeable and easy to forgive for her shortcomings. The other characters had a lot of depth and demension. The story was a really unpredictable, good romantic story. I really enjoyed this book. I'll be looking for other books by this author. ( )