Title: All In
Series: Dreamspun Desires 38 / Wild Cards Inc 3
Author: Ava Drake
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense
Length: Novella (228pgs)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (15th July 2017)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 3.5 Hearts
Blurb: In crime, like in love, there can be no half measures….
Fashion model Zane Stryker needs money—badly. At almost thirty, 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.
ISBN: 978-1-63533-651-1
Product Link: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviewer: Prime
Review: I really enjoy reading Dreamspun Desires – this imprint by Dreamspinner Press is a guilty pleasure for me because it speaks to the me that got obsessed with reading certain types of Mills and Boon/Harlequin books before seeing the light and finding MM. I also enjoy reading Ava Drake’s work. They are usually, sweet, totally steaming hot and sexy novellas with a fast paced plot.
The books in this series are all standalone, with some throw back to familiar characters. I have to admit that All In, the third installment of the Wild Cards Inc, series left me a little short. However, with this one I found the plot a little too convoluted and that unfortunately took away from my enjoyment of the book. And I have to admit, after loving the first Wild Cards Inc. novella, the second and third don’t quite reach the same bar of awesomeness. I’m not sure if the action got too much in the way of the rest of the story or what.
The story itself is about Zane, a fashion model that is reaching the end of his career in a young, cut throat industry. He’s on his way back home to the States after going to Europe in an effort to get fashion labels interested in him once more. He soon meets Sebastian; he’s helping out a friend by using his skills as an ex- SAS in a case for the Wild Cards. Cue Zane becoming the damsel in distress as he unwittingly gets caught in the middle. Unfortunately for me, Sebastian and Zane, while both likable characters, didn’t really have a lot of chemistry except when they were having out of this world fantastic sex.