Review: High Stakes by Cheryl Douglas

Former party girl, Alisa Turner, made a deal with her daddy, Trey. He’ll provide the seed money for her new business venture as long as she promises to stay out of trouble. Too bad her good intentions tumble 30,000 feet when she meets a sexy stranger on a flight to sin city.

 

Hotel mogul, Liam Bryson, has never believed in love at first sight, but when a sexy little siren twenty years his junior tempts him into a night of high stakes Blackjack, he’s suddenly playing for keeps.

 

Alisa wakes up in Liam’s bed the next morning, cursing Tequila and the five carat diamond on her left hand. She demands an annulment before her over-protective father finds out she reneged on their agreement, but her new hubby isn’t prepared to let her go without a fight.

REVIEW

This was the first book by Cheryl Douglas that I have read and I can say it will definitely NOT be the last.  I was pleasantly surprised by the book.  I mean FINALLY a book where the hero is the first one willing to take a chance and put his heart on the line.

 

Alisa Turner, the daughter of country legend Trey Turner, is a twenty-five-year old who is still trying to get over a broken heart.  Her broken heart happened a year ago when she caught her fiance’ with another woman, but still it's been hard for her to get over.  In order to get over Nick "The Weasel" Sinclair, Alisa has been doing anything and everything to make Nick think she's over him.  Namely, doing things she probably really shouldn't be doing and getting in gossip mags.  Now enough is enough and Trey makes a deal with Alisa.  Trey will finance Alisa's business venture, provided she cleans up her act and stays out of the gossip mags.  Easy enough.  With her nose to the grindstone, Alisa put all of her energy into preparing her fashion boutique to open.  She even managed to stay out of the spotlight until her final buying trip to Las Vegas where she meets Liam Bryson.

 

Liam Bryson is a forty-four-year old single father who isn't into relationships; at least not serious relationships.  Liam is the owner and CEO of Bryson’s, an exclusive boutique hotel chain.  He's accustomed to women being attracted to him for his money and power.  When he meets Alisa, he makes it a point not to tell her who he really is.  For Liam, Alisa was someone he wants to spend time with and really get to know.

 

The two agree to have dinner together with the possibility of something more.  For all of her wild ways, Alisa isn't the type of girl who goes around having one night stands.  Dinner leads to drinking which leads to Liam and Alisa getting married.  The next morning, Alisa awakes to the realization that she just made the biggest mistake of her life.  She wants an annulment, but Liam refuses.  He wants her to give them a chance because he knows that what they share could be the real thing.  Of course, the crap hits the fan before either one of them realizes it and the whole world knows about their wedding.  Surprisingly, the biggest supporter of their marriage turns out to be the one person Alisa least expects.

 

High Stakes isn't without its drama.  “The Weasle” makes it known that Alisa stills wants him and is just playing hard to get.  Of course, with his history, it doesn’t matter that she’s already promised herself to another man.  If anyone deserved to be knocked on their butt with one punch, it’s Nick.  High Stakes is a story of two people who have never known true love before and are trying to figure it out while being thousands of miles apart, never seeing each other and living very busy work lives.

 

It takes a tragedy to make these two realize that the love they share is a once in a lifetime phenomenon.  If they are each willing to take a leap of faith and make some changes, they both just might have won the best hand ever dealt to them.

 

Rating: 4

 

Release Date:  October 9, 2012

Book Length:  217 pages

Source:  Blog Tour Host

Reading Format:  Available only in eBook

Connect with Cheryl:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Purchase through:  Amazon

Books in the Nashville Nights Next Generation Series

1.  High Stakes

2.  Trade Off

2.5  Holiday Homecoming (Next Generation - Special Edition)

3.  Game On

4.  Burn Out

5.  Fast Track

6.  Time Out

7.  Face Value

8.  Blown Away (Releases May 22, 2013)

The books which spawn the Nashville Nights Next Generation Series -

the original Nashville Nights Series

1.  Shameless (Story of Trey & Sierra Turner - Alisa’s parents)

2.  Fearless

3.  Ruthless

4.  Reckless

5.  Relentless

6.  Heartless

7.  Hopeless

8.  Carless