Title: All In
Series: Wild Cards 03 / Dreamspun Desires 38
Author: Ava Drake
Narrator: John Solo
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 6 hrs 8 mins
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC
Heat Level: ♥♥♥♥ 3.5 Hearts
Heart Rating: Explicit
Blurb: In crime, like in love, there can be no half measures….
Fashion model Zane Stryker needs money – badly. At almost 30, his glory days are behind him, and he needs capital to start over. When his luggage is switched with a bag containing contraband he’s forced to deliver, it’s either the worst thing that’s ever happened to him…or the best.
Enter Sebastian Gigoni, formerly of the British Special Forces, who has to decide just where Zane’s loyalty lies and why. Sizzling attraction erupts between them, but that doesn’t mean they can trust each other. They double down in a race for their lives – and their love – but are their purposes at odds? As they struggle to reconcile their goals, their consciences, and the needs of their hearts, one thing is clear – they must go all in or give up altogether.
Product Link: Audible AU | Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviewer: Prime
Review: All In is the third in Ava Drake’s Wild Cards series and apart of the Dreamspun Desires imprint. The story works as a standalone book, with only a minor appearance from previous characters where you don’t need to know any back story.
The story follows Zane Stryker, a fashion model who battled addiction and got himself back together and is now trying his best to make a come back for what would be the final couple years of his modelling career. He knew he was getting too old for the job but he wanted to make sure he had enough money to see him through a while and end his career on a high note. He’s on his way from Europe to New York where he intends to revive his career when his luggage is lost and he’s pulled up by customs in New York, turning his life upside down.
This is where Sebastian Gignoni enters the scene, he’s ex-British SAS and now working for the protection agency Wild Cards Inc. He’s been sent to the US on a case and Zane and the contraband placed in his suitcase are the direct he needs to break open an international conspiracy. Sebastian is instantly attracted to Zane but he needs to know if the man is in on the crime or if he is an unwilling participant who is being dangled with a most tempting payment.
I’m still not completely sure on my thoughts on this story. Makes me sound a bit boring I suppose, but I felt that it was an effort to suspend my disbelief for this one. I think what I had the most problem with was the insta-love/attraction which meant during some really dangerous moments, the tension was killed with “oh, let’s have sex”.
I enjoyed, I liked the characters, I loved the narration but I suppose I was just not completely grabbed by the main plot line.