Saturday 1 November 2014

Review: Betting Blind by Stephanie Guerra


The cards are stacking up against Gabriel James: first there’s Phil, the guy paying the bills for Gabe’s mom (but not leaving his wife). Then there’s Gabe’s new school, filled with kids competing for the Ivies, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street—while Gabe’s just trying to swing enough Cs to graduate.

Gabe’s luck seems ready to change when he meets Irina Petrova: a hot violinist who is home-schooled by her strict Russian parents. When Gabe gets her number, he impresses the top guys at his school. When he becomes the drug connection for parties, his reputation is solidified. How else is he going to afford hanging with his new crew and impressing Irina? Anyway, it’s not really dealing if you’re just hooking up friends...right?

Gabe’s never been loyal to a girl before, but he finds himself falling for Irina hard. As the stakes are raised, Gabe will have to decide how high he’s willing to bet on school, on friends, on Irina—but most of all, on himself.

Kindle Edition, 258 pages
Expected publication: November 4th 2014 by Skyscape
Terri's Thoughts

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher Skyscape via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  The expected publication date is November 4th, 2014.

Oh boy I struggled with this story.  On the one hand it was an easy YA read however on the other it had a main character that really didn't have any redeeming qualities.

Gabe was dealing drugs.  Ok.  If the book was centralized around a theme where he was forced in to his choices by circumstances beyond his control I would have been more compassionate.  I would have understood as it would have been about someone who had no choices and the events that led him there.  This was not the case.  Gabe's choices were simply about gaining social status which left him very selfish.

Throughout the story you see that Guerra was trying to redeem Gabe however the story fell short of it.  He still continued to make choices because they were the easiest way out.  Vegas seemed surplus and unnecessary.  It seems that Irina was the one who was supposed to save Gabe from himself yet she was part of his excuses for what he did.  Is it really a love story or is it just a story about a self destructive boy who chooses the easiest path each time?

It appears that there will be a sequel to this story.  Perhaps here is where we see Gabe redeem himself?  Based on this first instalment I am not sure I want to invest any more time in his story yet on the other hand maybe I want to find out what the end vision is.  I will put some time between this read to determine if I will invest any more of my time in this story.

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