makbeta reviewed The Gamble by Kristen Ashley
Review of 'The Gamble' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
I picked up this book for some easy listening of unrealistically happy life after a few books of about the sadness and trauma or the real life.
It started as a cheesy romantic fantasy with a somewhat engaging plot. The characters are not too believable as in most romantic stories. The man is very kind, yet controlling and almost immediately violates personal boundaries of the female, apparently she is helpless to resist. She keeps trying to get away but he is holding her captive and she is on some level ok with it because he can be kind, while being totally controlling and disrespectful of her boundaries.
At about 45% percent the story starts to become overly dramatic and I lost interest. Gave it a bit more time but it didn't improve. It goes into more sex scenes and the language around it is just vulgar. At the start the male character uses the work f a lot and it just gets worse from there. To me gentleness, kindness and fing are polar opposites and they can't possibly coexist in any believable or relatable universe. I believe that the frequent use of profanity is intentional but to me it just makes the book unreadable. The author can come up with 20 synonyms for a word crazy but uses one vulgar word for sex. Not my cup of tea, dropped this book without finishing.