To Each Their Own Reviews: Blog Tour: Gambling on a Dream by Sara Walter Ellwood

Monday, June 8, 2015

Blog Tour: Gambling on a Dream by Sara Walter Ellwood

I hadn't read Sara Walter Ellwood before this book, and it was the cover that lured me in. It has such a verdant, farm feel to it, I wondered how that jived with the book's blurb! From Lyrical Press and releasing June 9th, 2015, Gambling on a Dream is the third book in the Colton Gamblers series. Dawn and Wyatt, the leads, have a history together that looms large over their occasional efforts to work together in law enforcement. This all comes to a head when a case raises some of their issues, forcing them to confront where things went so right . . . and so wrong.

For the rest of the stops on the tour, check out Tasty Book Tours.

The Book

With Everything At Stake….

It’s been years since Sheriff Dawn Madison said goodbye to Texas Ranger Wyatt McPherson. She’s closed the door on the heartache of her past. But when the sleepy town of Colton, Texas, is rocked by a series of shocking murders, Dawn has no choice but to trust the man who broke her heart if she wants to protect the ones she loves…

All Bets Are Off

Four years have passed. But Wyatt hasn’t forgotten the bold, Native American beauty who stole his heart . . . and broke it. Losing her and the life they had hoped to share left him an empty shell of himself. But if he wants to stop the deranged killer terrorizing the innocent kids of Colton, he’ll have to let Dawn back into his life. It’s a risk he’s willing to take, even if heartache is all he takes home…

Gambling on a Dream is available June 9th!

My Review

Gambling on a Dream... What can I say about this book?

The book is a second-chance at love romance, which isn't really my favourite trope. But I've been on a huge romantic suspense kick lately, so I had high hopes.

On the plus side, this was a quick read, entertaining for an afternoon. It also had a solid emotional base, in my opinion, with the history between Dawn and Wyatt laid out pretty clearly early on. I would have been frustrated with drips and drops given through the book, so I'm glad that I felt I had a pretty solid handle on what had happened between the two of them so early on.

I liked Dawn and Wyatt together. I thought they had good chemistry, and I appreciated that neither was really in this to try to lure or win the other back. They were making the best of a situation that forced them together, and that was cool with me.

Unfortunately, I didn't think that the mystery/threat at the heart of the story was as well handled. I didn't really like the scenes from the villain's perspective, too much was given away this way. It cut the tension for me, instead of enhancing it. And it made it too obvious who the villain was for me, which also reduced the tension for me.

There's something a little glossy about this book - almost like the story itself stays bobbing along the surface while flagging all kinds of intriguing and potentially darker spots along the way. I wanted a little bit more to really captivate me, but what it did give me was entertaining enough to get me through to the end.

Bottom line:

I didn't *love* Gambling on a Dream, but I do think it'd make for a decent afternoon's read.

3.5 stars
For fans of contemporary romance, romantic suspense, law enforcement, second chance at love romances

About the Author

Although Sara Walter Ellwood has long ago left the farm for the glamour of the big town, she draws on her experiences growing up on a small hobby farm in West Central Pennsylvania to write her contemporary westerns. She’s been married to her college sweetheart for over 20 years, and they have two teenagers and one very spoiled rescue cat named Penny. She longs to visit the places she writes about and jokes she’s a cowgirl at heart stuck in Pennsylvania suburbia. Sara Walter Ellwood is a multi-published and international Amazon bestselling author of the anthology set Cowboy Up. She also publishes paranormal romantic suspense under the pen name Cera duBois.