Blurb: Quent Jackson has followed Jason Spade’s every move in business and in poker since their first day as college freshmen. Eight years later, when Jace finally decides Quint is the one man he can’t live without, he sees no reason for that to change.

But as much as Jace believes that poker is life, no one gave Quent the same playbook. After their first passionate night, the real game of love and trust begins, and Jace has been playing alone too long to make teaching the rules easy. Jace only speaks two languages: one of them is sex, and the other one is poker. Between the two, he needs to find a way to convince himself to take a chance on love—and Quent to take a chance on him. It’s a lucky thing they’re good at reading the odds, because they’re playing for keeps, and this is one high-stakes relationship that’s definitely worth the gamble.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review: And here we are. For a minute there I thought this would be a 3 star book. I had to step away for a minute and think about my lovely Jace. You see his whole life is based on poker. And I know nothing about poker, so most of his ‘life lessons’ were lost on me! I had to re-read some passages because HELLO! this is an Amy Lane book and for me to give one of her books less than 4 stars was unheard of. So I had to make sure I had all my points covered.

But that aside, this was a wonderful book. Both Quent and Jace were lovable characters. Their relationship was solid as friends and it was a nice journey to see their relationship develop as lovers and life partners. At times, I could not understand some of the things Jace did or said, not until he ‘showed his hand’ and brought his emotions to the surface. Throughout the book I felt that there was much more to him than what was being revealed and that is one of the reasons I read the book in one sitting. Quent, well, he was adorable. He had such an understanding quality to him and he had the perfect amount of ‘je ne sais quoi’ to counter-balance Jace’s personality. All in all, a wonderful couple!

The writing was amazing. Amy Lane always manages to bring so much emotion and humor to her books and this was no exception. I was laughing in some scenes and others had me crying…oh the vulnerability of some of Jace and Quent’s actions and dialog! Man, they were excellent!

So with great pride I say that I stayed in the game, I upped the “ante” and did not “fold” and at the end of it all I survived the “showdown”. (yeah I know!)