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The Gamble Colorado Mountain Series Book 1 edition by Kristen Ashley Romance eBooks

Download As PDF : The Gamble Colorado Mountain Series Book 1 edition by Kristen Ashley Romance eBooks

The Gamble Colorado Mountain Series Book 1 edition by Kristen Ashley Romance eBooks

I kept hearing great things about Kristen Ashley's books so I decided to finally read one. I picked The Gamble and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a lot different than what I expected but in a good way. First of all, I love reading nice, long novels that really allow readers to get comfortable and immerse themselves in the characters' lives. It took me a little while to get into it and figure out what was going on with everyone but once that happened, I couldn't stop reading! This book was also a combination of romance, humor, drama (LOTS of drama), suspense, just to name a few. There were a few parts to the book that I was not expecting at all and I'll admit my heart was pounding because I was getting a bit nervous at what was going to happen next, but in the end, everything worked out for the best. I loved Nina's fiery attitude and how Max forced her to face her fears and open up to him. Overall, I really liked this book and I am looking forward to reading more of Kristen Ashley's books! I would recommend them to anyone!


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The Gamble Colorado Mountain Series Book 1 edition by Kristen Ashley Romance eBooks Reviews

I have read 3 KA books, each from a different series. This one was my last for oh, so many reasons.
This review may contain minor *SPOILERS*.
After slogging through Nina and Max's story, I've decided that KA is a one-note writer. All her stories are repetetive, with too much going on and a lot of inexplicable drama to take away from the MC's. All her H/h are the same persons, just repackaged, renamed and relocated. All her men are controlling, possessive Neanderthals with poor language skills, but they're HOT so that makes their "Me Man, you woman" mentality okay. They are utter jerks, but since they're hurting it's okay. When they're upset they have the power to brainwash their women. Even when clearly RIGHT the heroine suddenly is convinced she's wrong and also the worst. person. ever.
"OMG! what was I thinking? I suck! He's so perf and I don't deserve him!"
I refer to the 'big conflict' in The Gamble. No KA hero can speak in full sentences, but in this instance Max magically regains the ability and blisters Nina with a self-indulgent guilt-trip because she knew about his dead wife and didn't tell him. Worse, she couldn't read his tiny mind! She didn't automatically KNOW that he was struggling with how to tell her. Oh, the humanity!
Right. Sorry dude, it was YOUR responsibility to tell her about your wife, BEFORE you basically strong-armed her into uprooting her entire life because after just a week you fancy her as 'yours.'
Max knew Nina's whole history but withheld his own and then had the stones to tear her to shreds and walk out on her. Hell no.
And did Nina make him work back into her good graces? Oh no, because a KA hero never shows remorse or lowers himself to an apology and Cro-Magnon mountain man Wonder Max is no exception. Although to be fair, ol Maxi pad did admit he made a mistake once or twice. He didn't learn from them but hey, it's sort of an apology, right?
But Nina, like all KA heroines, is TSTL. These women are supposed to be strong and so amazingly special that they are the ONLY ones able to reach the poor, damaged hero. In actuality, they are spineless, weak doormats who allow their will to be subverted, forget who they are and constantly make excuses for the abhorrent behaviours of their men. Being a KA heroine also means that the ability to express herself drains away (probably from all the sex the hero uses to keep the lil' woman in line). She is left unable to get more tgan a word in through all that manly grunting - "But...", "well...", "um...", "sorry?" and of course my favourite, the hero's name on ineffectual repeat. Goals for life, I tell ya.
I have yet to meet a woman who finds being micromanaged attractive. No intelligent, self-respecting, capable woman wants to be so posessed and protected she can't even use the toilet alone. Forcing your will on another, ignoring their protests and controlling every aspect of their lives is not love. It's sick, and I'm convinced that this writer has a very twisted view of love, relationships and what women find desireable in a man.
Thanks, but no thanks. 1 star, because I have to.
** spoiler alert ** This book was my first KA book. It did not wow me, it did not move me in any particular way.

The writing was not what I expected. It seemed very scattered; and maybe that's because the main character, Nina, is supposed to be a scatterbrained woman. I just got very annoyed with all the run-on sentences and random slang.

The plot was a bit scattered too. I realize my opinion on this is the minority, but I felt that the book could have ended in 300 pages, not 600. It didn't need all the extra.

I also did not like the diminishing of the abusive man, Damon, in this story. This person is an abusive guy, that beats up Nina multiple times, and yet she's easily recovered because Max comes and saves the day. It's not real, and I realize this is a fiction story, but it diminishes the mental strain an abused person goes through after the abuse. The reality is that she wouldn't just call the abuser "my macho mountain man stalker" like it's a light-hearted thing. She wouldn't be okay to just cover it up with make-up, or in another scene, let her man feel her up right after. I was so annoyed by this that I almost stopped reading the book.

Another thing KA diminishes is Rape. There is a character that has gone through the trauma of being violated and raped two weeks prior to Nina coming to Gnaw Bone. Yet this girl is skip dancing around the house? Come on. Let's not pretend that she was just fine immediately after. There were some serious actions taken by this character that did reflect that she wasn't fine, but I felt the writing was very insensitive for the two topics mentioned above.

I also HATE how weak of a woman Nina is. She isn't strong, she isn't smart, she is annoying and flighty. She can't come up with a solid sentence to save her life. All the "Um....I'm sorry....Huh?" sentences grated on my nerves.

All in all, I will read another KA book to see if this is a pattern or if this book was just a one-off miss. As this was my first KA book, I'll give it another chance.

I also realize my review and poor rating is an outlier among all the positive reviews. I will accept that as I do not take lightly to serious issues that affect women being trivialized in this way.
I kept hearing great things about Kristen Ashley's books so I decided to finally read one. I picked The Gamble and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a lot different than what I expected but in a good way. First of all, I love reading nice, long novels that really allow readers to get comfortable and immerse themselves in the characters' lives. It took me a little while to get into it and figure out what was going on with everyone but once that happened, I couldn't stop reading! This book was also a combination of romance, humor, drama (LOTS of drama), suspense, just to name a few. There were a few parts to the book that I was not expecting at all and I'll admit my heart was pounding because I was getting a bit nervous at what was going to happen next, but in the end, everything worked out for the best. I loved Nina's fiery attitude and how Max forced her to face her fears and open up to him. Overall, I really liked this book and I am looking forward to reading more of Kristen Ashley's books! I would recommend them to anyone!