Gambling Men

Overall
If I ever need an upper, I turn to an Amy Lane book, and Gambling Men was no exception. This book is a bit different from some romances in that usually a good chunk of the story is the characters meeting and slowly coming together, or coming together for the first half and then dealing with issues the second half. Instead, our two leads have been long-time friends and in the first chapter they hook up in the most carnal definition of the word, and a relationship blooms from there.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, how much fun they have with one another, and each admission of love that Quent had to pull from Jase every so many chapters. Since I, like Jase, enjoy the hunt, I felt the building of the relationship went slow for me, but ultimately it left me satisfied and I trusted Lane to lead me to the right place. She did not disappoint. Lane fans and readers who want something soft (with hard edges) and frequent bubbles of joy should definitely pick this up.
Review
While this is a good books, I didn't enjoy it as much as other Lane books, primarily due to the focus of the story being on the continuously developing relationship. Although that isn't a bad setting, it did make the story movement slow (for me). It didn't drag, per se, but because there was little propulsion, the plot ambled along with the characters, motivated by small jumps and lurches. Because of this I think the story would work well for a beach read--picking it up at leisure, since you don’t have to tear yourself away from it to go enjoy something else.
Along the same vein, this story almost feels like a series of long vignettes, where we experience highlights of these two men's relationship. Of course in this case the tales all tie together into one story, but there isn't really a climactic moment or primary struggle. Instead they are just two men dealing with their relationship and trying to get over the personality traits that can make relationships difficult. Again, not a bad thing, but not terribly riveting either.
The dance between these two men and their incessant poker references is sweet, cute, adorable, frustrating and overall the best parts of the book. Sometimes I wanted to smack one of them (mainly Jase), and tell him to stop being a twerp, but for the most part I was charmed by them, even when Jase is being an idiot. Because despite his habit of making things harder than they need to be, it's obvious he's struggling not to be a jerk about things and it's only the behavior of a scared little boy coming out in the shape of a grown man.
There's a wonderful family theme in this story, both blood and created, and the group of friends that surround Quent and Jase is funny, and they are supportive of the two men, even when making snide comments. It felt realistic because they weren't perfect, they had some problems, they dealt with them, they overcame things and failed in others. All the supplementary cast was well applied and a nice complement to the story as a whole.

And here we are. For a minute there I thought this would be a 3 star book. I had to step away for a minute and think about my lovely Jace. You see his whole life is based on poker. And I know nothing about poker, so most of his 'life lessons' were lost on me! I had to re-read some passages because HELLO! this is an Amy Lane book and for me to give one of her books less than 4 stars was unheard of. So I had to make sure I had all my points covered.
But that aside, this was a wonderful book. Both Quent and Jace were lovable characters. Their relationship was solid as friends and it was a nice journey to see their relationship develop as lovers and life partners. At times, I could not understand some of the things Jace did or said, not until he 'showed his hand' and brought his emotions to the surface. Throughout the book I felt that there was much more to him than what was being revealed and that is one of the reasons I read the book in one sitting. Quent, well, he was adorable. He had such an understanding quality to him and he had the perfect amount of 'je ne sais quoi' to counter-balance Jace's personality. All in all, a wonderful couple!
The writing was amazing. Amy Lane always manages to bring so much emotion and humor to her books and this was no exception. I was laughing in some scenes and others had me crying...oh the vulnerability of some of Jace and Quent's actions and dialog! Man, they were excellent!
So with great pride I say that stayed in the game, I upped the \"ante\" and did not \"fold\" and at the end of it all I survived the \"showdown\". (yeah I know!)

Amy Lane you have done it again. Another great book about men you actually care to know and really really want them to make it as a couple. The guys were just perfect for each other, although neither one alone is a perfect man...far from it. Jason's life revolves around poker and just about every talk he has with Quent somehow ends up being about poker on the surface, but you get the undertones of what he is trying to say. And Quentin is just so, I don't want to say adorable but that's exactly what he is when it comes to dealing with his feelings for Jason. I loved reading about these two guys and pretty much read it in one sitting cause I just had to know how their story would end. Then I found myself feeling a little sad because our journey together was over. I wouldn't mind seeing these guys pop up again somewhere. So I definitely recommend reading this or any other work by Ms. Lane as you won't be disappointed.