The Gamble is the first book in the Colorado Mountain series. It is one of my all time favorite books. I love how the book starts off when Nina and Max first meet each other. Nina is vacationing from England (although she is from the United States) and Max's house is the house she has rented for two weeks in Gnaw Bone Colorado. From the beginning Max and his Duchess have smoking chemistry. The story is compelling and the cast of characters is so good. I love the humor that is spread throughout. Kristen Ashley writes some of my absolute favorite alpha males and Max is definitely one of my favorites. This book is long and that always makes me so happy when I am reading a Kristen Ashley book because I never want her books to end. If you enjoy hot alphas, feisty strong females, great stories, humor, sexy scenes, and a fun cast of characters then make sure you buy The Gamble as soon as possible.

4 stars

“In my life, I’ve learned when to let go and when to fight. This, babe, what we got, I’ll fight for.”

The Gamble was my second ever Kristen Ashley novel. I think I discovered it on a random listopia list on Goodreads. This is the book where I fell in love with her as an author, and I devoured the Mountain Man series. I've never read another series like this one, and I don't think I ever will.

I love Max and his Duchess. Such a wonderful story of a lost woman who found herself with the help of the right man. The plot is a little crazy yeah, but just fall into it and the fantasy and you'll love it.

My only criticism and why it's a 4 and not a 5 even after a reread is it's way too long. But otherwise it's wonderful.

“Learned some things in my life, Duchess, one of the most important, you find a good woman, you take care of her.”
“Please”
“This happens between us, Duchess, I’d take care of you.”
“Don’t”
“Die doin’ it,” he vowed.”

4 Stars (Originally Read 1/2/2014)

3.5 Stars (Re-Read 2/8/2017)

Overall Opinion: I'm not feeling like I liked this as much as I did the first go-round, so I'm dropping my rating from 4 stars to 3.5. It might just be that I had read it before, so the mystery of what was going to happen wasn't there -- but who knows. I was a little disappointed in the H not being upfront with the h about his past, and I was really disappointed how he acted when he found out that she knew some of it. I have to say because of that whole thing I don't think of him as one of my favorite KA heroes. This does have a theme that I know many readers have issues with (dead spouse), and while I normally don't get bothered by it -- this bugged me a little here. I understood all of the h's hesitations and inner thoughts regarding the H's past so it made me sympathize with her, and maybe that was why I wanted a better reaction from the H regarding the whole situation.

**See Goodreads.com/NMmomof4 for my full review with spoilers**

Brief Summary of the Storyline: This is Nina and Max's story. Nina is taking a "time-out" from her neglectful fiancé and leaves England to stay in a cabin in the Colorado mountains. She is shocked when she arrives and there is a grumpy mountain man telling her she has to leave. Max owns the house she rented, and there was a mistake made to where he is home. After a not-so-great introduction, they part ways only for Max to save Nina and nurse her back to health after a nasty flu. Nina then finds herself in an awkward situation where Max won't let her leave. She gets sucked into lots of town drama, some family drama, and the sexy Max...and they do eventually fall in love and get a HEA ending.

POV: This was told in Nina's POV (with a section of the epilogue in Max's POV).

Overall Pace of Story: Ok. I found the end oddly abrupt where the rest is kind-of drawn out. I never skimmed, but was a little tempted to at times (maybe partially because I've read this before).

Instalove: Kind of. They know each other a short period of time (a week!) before those stronger feelings are developed, but I still found it believable.

H rating: 3 stars. Max. He was ok. I wish that he was more upfront with Nina.

h rating: 4 stars. Nina. I liked her. She was kind of crazy, but I think that's part of why I did like her.

Sadness level: Low, no tissues needed this time around -- I do remember shedding a few tears the first time I read it though.

Push/Pull: Yes

Heat level: Good. They have some good chemistry and scenes, but not so much it takes away from the story.

Descriptive sex: Yes

OW/OM drama: Yes

Sex scene with OW or OM: No

Cheating: Not with mcs

Separation: Kind of, but extremely short (hours).

Closure: This had a little bit of an abrupt ending with a jump ahead epilogue and a HEA. I would've liked more time experiencing them working through some of their logistical issues, maybe Max's proposal, pregnancy, etc. We all know I'm greedy ;)

How I got it: I bought it from Amazon for $3.71 back in 2014.