Customer Reviews

Gambler's Woman

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Another reprint from Krentz's 1980s backlist. Alyssa Chandler is a statistician for a California company but on weekends she becomes a lady gambler in Las Vegas. She meets the mysterious Jordan Kyle and her life changes drastically. She cannot relegate him to her weekends and he has the ablility to ruin her corporate life. If you are expecting something of the caliber of current Krentz books, look in another place. This is not the best of her reprinted titles, "Fabulous Beast" comes to mind. Gambler is enjoyable but predictable. Wait for the publishing date of her newest book.

This was such a bizarre story - and not in a good way. It was down right awful. As one person already pointed out its an insult to women, which is just part of why this book was so bad. The hero was so awful that I kept waiting for her to get the restraining order and kick him and his dominating angry temper to the curb. But nooooooo, this brilliant modern woman must like abuse - despite her desire for a good decent loving man. Some how this book implies that he is a good man, but the story never shows it. And within a matter of days she turns her entire life upside down to be in this sick codependent relationship. It's such a poorly written story. It's not meant to be a dark scary story either. It really is meant to be a romance. But there is NO romance!!! They fall in love, but you never know why. He's abusive to the point of serial-killer scary, but she finds him charming. ?? She desperately wants a promotion, and then on whim (or what feels like a whim) she changes her tune completely. It's a bizarre awful book that no romance fan will enjoy. How it got published is beyond me.

I can't believe Jayne Ann Krentz actually wrote this one. The women in the book were stilted characters who accepted abuse and asked for more. What's with this? How insulting. It never got better. This was supposed to be 'true love'? Give me a break. It's going in the trash can. I wouldn't even give this one away.

I am a great fan of Jayne Ann Krentz and having met her, can say she is a most charming and interesting lady. However, this book from 1983 is truly abominable. I think when publishers decide to reissue an old title that the author should be required to re-read the book and edit/update it as necessary. Then the publisher should be required to put ON THE COVER a notification that it is a reissued title.

This story is about a man who after a one-night stand with a kindred soul of a female gambler informs her that he is thinking of beating her because she had to reschedule a second date. He shows up at her home uninvited and displays the most repulsive over-the-top jealous behavior while threatening her, her livelihood and her business relationships.

I simply don't get it -- why would any woman find this type of behavior attractive? In fact, it's scary and in real life men like this need to be locked up and forced into counseling.

Save your money.

This story is about Alyssa Chandler and Jordan Kyle. They meet in Vegas when Alyssa goes there to gamble and win money for her sister and brother-in-law to have so that they can get back on their feet. She is a probabilities expert and would lose her job if she is found in Vegas. She meets Jordan there who is a professional gambler and their evening ends in one of passion. Alyssa decides that she can see Jordan on the weekends and go back to her job during the week and have fun living this double life. Unfortunately, her business life clashes when things go awry and Jordan is not happy with only being her fantasy man on the weekends. When he shows up at her door in the middle of a business party Alyssa is not happy and fears that he will spill the beans. She soon realizes that her world and Jordan's is very similar in that they both have elements of illusions and that the players tend to get rough. It soon comes down to a choice that Alyssa has to make between these two worlds.

I agree with the reviewers who hated this book. I never post reviews, but this book was so offensive that I had to voice my opinion so that no one else would buy it.

Any woman who would continue a relationship with the "hero" in this book needs to be rescued from herself.

This book is like a uphill climb it's exciting when you are reading the first few chapters of the novel but when you get towards the end it's really boring. So skip this novel and anticipate the next novel.

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Alyssa Chandler loves the thrill she gets from gambling in Vegas. By day a mild mannered math whiz and statistician, her life is numbers. By night, she transforms into a seductive beauty who rolls with the big dogs at the high stakes tables, and wins more than she loses. It's not cheating... exactly.

Jordan Kyle is a career gambler. He makes more than enough money to support himself in the lifestyle to which he has grown accustomed, by using his head for numbers to play his way through the card tables. When he sees Alyssa one night, he immediately knows she is like him. Determined to find out her secret to success, Jordan seduces his way into her bed... and her heart.

In the light of day, Alyssa must return to her other life. How long can she keep up her double life? Especially when she begins to long to be The Gambler's Woman?

The Gambler's Woman is an older novel by Krentz, recently repackaged. While that is apparent in how the book is written, this story stands the test of time. I did think some of the plot twists thrown in towards the end of the book were from out of left field and a little excessive. The events that led up to the conclusion were very subtle, giving the impression from early on that they didn't have much bearing on the story.

The idea of mixing things up with math geniuses and card sharps was quite appealing. We get the best of both worlds in Alyssa and Jordan. These two opposites are extremely intelligent and put those brains to work in more ways than one. The sparks that fly between these lovers are bright and sassy, and make circumstances a little complex as they try so hard to keep their secrets from one another. You just know that when they finally admit their love for each other and reveal all those deep dark details of their life, that they have enough passion and affection for the long haul.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, February 2008. All rights reserved.

To write it simply, this is the worst JAK's book I ever read. You'll get lost in so many explanations between lines that you'll see that this is a real dull book.

After reading the reviews, I was expecting something atrocious with a abuser for a male protagonist and an unjustified change in the heroine's career to "follow her man." But reviewers making those points just aren't fair. The hero never batters the heroine -- he uses colorful language, but the threats are clearly not real. And these critics don't criticize the heroine for saying that she'll nail his hide to the wall!!! And there is plenty of foreshadowing about the heroine's career decisions.

The book is obviously dated ($1000 would barely cover the price of the airplane ticket and hotel now . . .), but it's far from the sexist pit that I expected from the reviews. If you like Jayne Ann Krentz's early work under the Stephanie James name, then this is fine! Just be prepared for a very fast read (< 2 hours) in line with that Harlequin style, not her later, longer novels.