3.5 STARS!

Dark, gritty, and suspenseful, Even Money was an explosive novel with a mafia feel to it!

Life hasn't been easy for Bell, but it's made her strong willed and independent. She's comfortable in her own skin, using sex as a means to be in control... Until Dario comes walking in her work place, flipping her world upside down.

Dario Capece comes from humble beginnings. He rose to the top, making him a very powerful man in Las Vegas. He's successful, rich, good looking, and imitating to the max. A sexual creature by nature... Bell becomes Dario's achilles heel.

Even Money was at times a slow burning insta love story. Alessandra Torre has written a quick, super sexy read filled with murder, deceit and lies. Though at times I felt there was too much drama, the ending literally mind screwed me, leaving me with so many questions! Gah!!! I need book 2 now, please!!

Boom, mic drop!!!

Yeah that's what I felt like when I got to the end of Even Money. I could picture Ms. Torre standing there with a mic in hand looking at her readers when they realize what she had done and boom. I didn't know it was a duet until part way through the book and realized there was absolutely no way it could be wrapped up in one book. This is an ending of epic proportions and oh so flipping well done!!!

Bell is a waitress at The House cansino. Dario owns pretty much half of Las Vegas. All it takes is one look, one word, one touch and all else fades. It's just the two of them, but is it really when Dario is married and his wife's father is more powerful then he is and definitely more psychotic.

Bell should accept her loses and run as far away from him as possible. He knows he should not put her in the direct path of danger but for both of them it's hard to turn away when the pull is more magnetic and irresistible than either had ever imagined they could feel toward another person.

I really needed this book and it appeared right when I had just finished another one so I just jumped on in and got completely lost and taken in by this vivid, suspenseful, lust filled roller coaster.

I am so pleased to see that Double Down will also be releasing this month so it won't be long before we find out what fate has in store or Bell and Dario.

**Received an ARC through NetGalley for review purposes**

Even Money by Alessandra Torre is Book One in the All In Duet Series. This is the story of Dario Capece and Bell Hartley .
Bell has worked her way out her trailer park past by going to college and working as a waitress in a Casino. Dario is a hard man who goes for what he wants and when he walks into the Casino that Bell works in he was headed to buy the place but when he saw her the more he wanted her. But Bell knows he is off limits and to stay away from him. But Dario is finding it impossible to walk away from Bell. Other people to try to keep them apart during this book.
This book does end to set us up for then next book "Double Down" in that continues their story.
Exciting story!

I’m really into the book duets lately. I don’t know why, but I think I can handle it since I know the next book is coming out so soon. So when Alessandra Torre announced “Even Money”, I knew I could dive in without fear of the cliffhanger.

This book took me awhile to get into, to be honest. I liked the general concept, but there were times when it felt a little choppy to me. It wasn’t until later in the book that I realized that we see Bell in first person, and everyone else in third person. Once I realized that, things seemed to flow better.

This story does have some insta-love, but yet it didn’t feel that way. It felt deeper. I was impressed with that because this story moves fast and there is a decent age gap between Bell and Dario. So normally that trope (older, wealthy man with young college girl) tends to be a little cheesier (which is totally fine). But the author gave a lot of depth to both characters, which made everything much more believable.

For me, the back half of the book was more enjoyable. Things start to connect as you realize how the puzzle pieces are starting to fall into place.

The ending of this book…wow. I did not see it coming. The author really did it justice because the end comes up so fast and then it’s like, “what did I just read?”. It was shocking. That said, it’s making me crazy for the second book and I’m really happy that it will be releasing on June 18th.

If you like duets, or you’re already a fan of Alessandra Torre, you will definitely enjoy the first book in the All In Series.

4.5 Captivating Stars

If you like Romantic Suspense then you will love this brilliant start to a new series from Alessandra Torre.

She has delivered a intense story that has you on the edge of your seat with the unexpected twists and turns that will leave you completely captivated and unable to put this beauty down. It has all the must haves of sex, danger, mystery, intrigue and one hell of a hot AF anti-hero in Dario

Dario and Bell's romance was so hot, it was intense and very erotic. The connection between them is felt through the pages making the hairs on your arm stand up.

I am on the edge of my seat patiently waiting for the next book in this series.

Omg! Another epic, twisty read from Alessandra Torre. This book was freaking amazing! I'm seriously considering stalking her and begging for book two, because this cliffhanger was un-freaking-believeable! I need book two, NOW!

I loved the heroine, she was strong, independent, and really feisty. The hero, sigh, he was my favorite part in this book. I know a lot of people will probably pass up on this book because of Dario's marital status, but don't! Give it a try, because you will miss out on a killer story. Did I mention I'm salivating for book two?

Go forth and download, Easy Money will be the easiest money you spend on a book this week.

5 Stars

Such an amazing and brilliant story!I was hooked, everything about Even Money was amazing!It was fast paced the story addictive and the characters well developed!

Dario and Bell's romance was passionate,sensual,super hot,intense and erotic!They have an amazing chemistry, I could feel their connection!There is also angst to keep you on the edge all the time with these two!

I'm looking forward for the next book and see what will happen!This is a must read, for me is one of my favorites by her!

A good well written read that held my attention most of the time. Looking forward to reading more of Alessandra’s books

Oh my, that was one heck of a cliffy. I read this one in a couple of hours, I couldn’t put it down. The story telling is amazing. And then there’s Bell and Dario. Boy do those two have some super hot chemistry going on. I’m so glad the conclusion comes out soon, I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Two things right off the bat..
I’ve never been to Vegas.
I’ve never read Alessandra Torre

I’m not quite sure why both things have never happened but I’m glad I at least fixed one of those! The blurb alone had me intrigued and I’m glad I took a chance!

I was in awe of the story. I was captivated by Bell & Dario’s story and how the two fell for each other immediately. The backstory was something I was not expecting, it was emotional and complicated. Bell & Dario’s chemistry and sexual attraction was beyond expectation and had me fully invested in their story.

I truly thought I knew exactly where the ending of this book was going..was I ever wrong! It was one of the best I’ve read in quite a long time and I read a ton of books!

I can’t wait for the second book!! Alessandra Torre has a new fan!

Now...to get to Vegas...

How do you a review Even Money without giving away spoilers? What a freaking cliffy! This book had the perfect blend of supense and romance. I enjoyed how Bell and Dario's relationship panned out. Bell was a tough nut to crack and eventually Dario was able to do that. Dario and Gwen's relationship gah it just tugged at my heartstrings. You will understand once you read it. I'm so pumped for the next book in this series. I cannot wait to see how this is going to play out.

Thanks to Netgalley for an arc.

GAHHHHHH! I was hooked from the start. I wasn't sure where the story was going to go at first but wow.
Loved!

I’m struck dumb! Not just by the impressive cliffie but by the magistral writing that I just read. This book had one great development of a plot, a love story, and a suspense that had me biting my nails.

Dario Capece is a big man in Vegas. He owns the Majestic hotel and several casinos around it, and he and his wife Gwen are a driving force in the glittering world of Vegas. Until one day he went sniffing around this small casino, very successful and exclusive, looking for an opportunity to invest, and found his destiny instead, in a young waitress.

Bell has it good. After a harrowing experience in her teen years, and a poor upbringing in a trailer camp, she’s now working with two great guys, with great working conditions and great pay, and she also has time, opportunity and money to pursue a college career. She doesn’t need to meet a big honcho with deep pockets, dangerous reputation, sensual vibe, and married, to burst into her life and send all her senses tingling like mad. They can’t resist their chemistry, and yet their situation is incredibly complicated, with a lot of high stakes and danger from unknown sources.

The plot moves inexorably forward, and these two play a game of one step forward, two steps back. Bell realizes the danger to her heart if she falls in love with this man, yet he’s so vulnerable and true with her. Dario is stuck between the woman he loves and the woman he swore to protect. I loved, loved how Dario and Bell fell slowly and reluctantly in love. I loved Dario’s openness and loyalty, and loved Bell’s kind and innocent manner, even with her upbringing. Dario’s and Bell’s love affair is not welcome in Dario’s world and someone is getting angry; the suspense that comes from a psycho mind starts early and goes on crescendo as the book develops.

Her two bosses and friends, Lance and Mick, were cute nerds, successful little fish in a big pond. Loved their big brother interactions with Bell, and their protectiveness. The book is written in two POV’s, Bell’s in first person and Dario’s in third person. In the beginning it was a little confusing but turned out to be a neat trick. This book was captivating and addictive! Can’t wait for next installment!

Usually, I love Alessandra Torre but for some reason, Even Money just fell flat for me. It's well written, the characters well-developed but for me personally, I just struggled to get immersed or invested in the story. The pacing felt stilted to me. And the storyline is just one that I don't normally like. I don't mind the other woman, other man aspects of it. It was the hero being married that turned me off the most I think. I'm just not a fan of cheating spouses.

Bell is guarded, determined, and sexually aware. She knew what she wanted and a relationship wasn't it. Dario is an anti-hero. He's an alpha to the bone with a side no one wants to meet in a dark alley. The chemistry between the two of them is seriously hot. The connection between them, immediate. As I mentioned, they are both well-written with elaborate backstories that deepen the storyline. The secondary characters are just as flawlessly developed. I really wish I could have loved it.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is a good book. It just wasn't the book for me. I've fallen in love with Torre's writing in the past, so if you're on the fence about this one, give it a try. It just might be for you. And while I probably won't read the next in this duet, I will be reading more of Torre in the future.

Firstly, gah! This book made me want to go back to Vegas!!

Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul - or at least Bell's soul - on fire!

I was hooked on Even Money from the minute I started reading. I adored Bell, liked that she didn't just throw herself at a rich guy just because she could. She makes Dario fight for every morsel of her time, and I love her for that.

Dario - oh my goodness I want that man's... goodness! He has upped the ante on what I want in my BBFs.

As this is a duet, I knew that there would be a cliffy of some kind, however Ms Torre has upped the stakes with this one, and my jaw hit the floor as I hit the last page.

It is only a few weeks until we get the conclusion to this story, and I for one cannot wait.

“I’d always been a gambler, with my money, my time, my safety … but never my heart.”

You all, life isn’t fair. One of my favorite romance writers, a steamy story in my city? Lord, I was supposed to love this. But the insta-love, the improbability, and the sex work and slut shaming just completely ruined it for me. If you want to pick up something by Alessandra Torre, I completely recommend The Girl in 6E, Love, Chloe, Sex Love Repeat, and Moonshot over Even Money.

This is a story about a girl named Bell, who works as a cocktail waitress for a very peculiar casino that her two good friends own and run. In this casino, the rich Vegas casino and business owners can gamble in private, without having to worry about giving money to any of their competitors.

And Dario Capece is the proclaimed “King of Vegas” by everyone that Bell knows. He literally started from the bottom and rose himself up the ranks. He married a woman with a very powerful father, and with that initial boost in privilege, he created an empire.

Dario, following a new business endeavor, walks into Bell’s casino one night. And after that one night, he cannot stop thinking about her. Which would be fine, because she can’t stop thinking about him either. But he does some rather suspicious (and gross) things to ensure that she’s a girl he could be with. And then, he makes it his life mission to be pursue her, no matter what she has to say about it.

Even though Dario is a very powerful man, he is being watched by an even more powerful man. And when this mystery man finds out about Bell, he will do anything to ensure that Dario and Bell can never be together. Especially since these two fall in love in like a week. *eye rolls forever*

Trigger and content warnings for rape and talk of past rape (and the talk of rape is done really bad in this book. I honestly think I would have enjoyed this book ten times more if it wasn’t included, especially just for a revenge plot line and then a protector plot line), sexual harassment, unwanted touching, a lot of negativity towards prostitutes and sex workers, slut shaming, grey area cheating, stalking, talk of murder, death, torture, violence, abduction, kidnapping, talk of alcoholism, gambling, brief mention of animal death, and a gross male toxicity.

There is also a student teacher relationship in this book, and I know that’s not for everyone. But if I’m being honest with myself, I enjoyed those steamy scenes more than any of the others. Like, I almost want to ship them together. And like, his dirty talk was 11/10, in my very humble opinion.

And I did really like how confident and secure Bell felt with her own sexuality. I love reading about girls who embrace their sexiness and desires, and Bell for sure does. I just wish she wasn’t so negative about other’s sex lives.

I will say that the Vegas setting was done really well. Like, I’ve read so many Vegas romances that are so obvious the author hasn’t been to visit, but Alessandra Torre completely and authentically captures the city. I loved it, from the talk of our skies, to our streets, just to the entire aesthetic of this story. She does a wonderful job and it was my favorite part of this book, easily. And because of this (and because I’ve love so much of her other works) I will for sure look into picking up book two in this duology!

Overall, I just really expected to love this one! Maybe I went in with too high of hopes? I still love Alessandra Torre and so many of the other books she has created. This one just sadly didn’t work for me. But I hope if you pick it up that you will enjoy it more than I did!

I have such mixed feeling about this book.
The Good:
Interesting story concept and idea. Bell is a Cinderella type character who is also strong and independent. She's survived and is thriving surrounded by friends. Well written with heavy doses of steamy and a good doses of intrigue and suspense.
The Frustrating:
I have a couple of frustrations; Some are related directly to the story and some of technical.
With the story itself, as much as I liked Bell, I had a really hard time connecting with her and with Dario. They didn't feel fully developed and three dimensional to me. I also struggled with the time line and the idea of "I love yous" after a little more than a month when there seemed to be very little relationship building between the couple
On the more technical side, Ms. Torre chose to flip between a 1st person narrative for Bell and then 3rd person for the other characters. This falls under personal preference, but it is something that bugged me. I noticed it continually and it did pull me from the story. There was also a formatting issue (hopefully just with the advanced copy) that made the book appear much longer than it really was. I opened the book and saw a file size that led me to believe I had a full length book on the shorter end; what I really had was about 75% of what I would expect a full length book to be if the extra spacing had been removed. Again - this may have just been an issue with the copy I had and may have been corrected in the final published version.
The Verdict -
Even Money is a decent and entertaining book. Ms. Torre pulled me in and has me very curious about where Bell and Dario are headed in Double Down. Thankfully, the conclusion to the duet is due to publish in a couple of weeks so no one has to wait too long to know what's going on.

~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
So honestly, if I had known when I was signing up for this book that the hero was married I probably would have given it a pass. I am not a fan of cheating. But man, that would have been a HUGE mistake on my part because this book turned out to be majorly eccellente. The writing was fantastic. It was very well paced. The plot was super engaging and had me hooked from the getgo. I loved the setting as well. Last, that cliffhanger of an ending...cazzo di inferno. How could you do me this way, Miz Torre!? Book two better release before I am off to Italy for two weeks! *squinty face*


~HERO~
DARIO...Well first, I really needed to do a complete brain bleach because my FIL's name is Dario...and NO, just NO. Carrying on... I adored Dario. He really was perfect hero material. He was sexy. He was sweet. He was caring. He was bada$$. He was enamored with Bell right from the start. I am figuratively salivating in anticipation of watching him exact his revenge in book two.


~HEROINE~
BELL...Bell was just as awesome as Dario. She was feisty. She was strong. She was sweet. She was independent. She was a great friend. I loved how she lead Dario on a merry chase and didn't just fall at his feet. There wasn't anything I didn't like about her character.


~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
There were so many awesome secondary characters in this one. I LOVED Bell's bosses (and friends), Rick and Lance. I loved Bell's roommates. I even liked her fuck buddy Ian, and Dario's wife Gwen <--- and kudos to this author for not making Dario's wife a crazy bitch!


~HEAT LEVEL~
Low to Medium. There are a handful of spicey scenes in this one, but it is pretty late into the book before this couple has intercourse. I am usually not a fan of slow burn romances, but it worked very well in the instance. Plus, this couple has AMAZING on page chemistry.


~ANGST LEVEL - SEXUAL HISTORIES~
Low. I didn't find this one particularly angsty, to be honest. This couple's attraction was pretty insta (especially on the hero's part). There are a few ups and downs, but for the most part, they stay pretty solid throughout. Neither were virgins. Dario is married, but it is a marriage of convenience. Gwen is his best friend, and they tried once over ten years earlier to make it a physical relationship, but neither were interested in each other that way. He also starts the book with a mistress, and a waitress he f-cks. He ends both relationships when he meets Bell. Bell has a fuckbuddy (Ian), that she does have sex with a few times on page (but it isn't overly detailed). I *think* she actually slept with him once after she meets Dario, but before they become anything. Other than those things, there wasn't any OW or OM drama.


~IN THE END~
I LOVED it completely. From beginning to end this book had me in its grasp. The writing was excellent. It was fast paced. The plot was engaging. The characters, both main and secondary were intriguing and well developed. The chemistry between Dario and Bell was electric. And that ending...OMG...ripped my heart out. I seriously need to get my hands-on book two ASAP! Therefore, yours truly is going to give this one two HUGE thumbs up, and strongly suggest you add it to your TO READ list immediately.

Really loved this book. Alessandra writing and story is amazing. Couldn't stop reading it. I loved every second.

Sometimes it only takes a minute. A connection of eyes across a room, a quickened heartbeat, and everything changes.I was a cocktail waitress with a fondness for partying and meaningless sex.He owned half of Vegas, with the reputation to match.I should have turned away. Instead, I stepped closer.Then, the lies started.Rumors spread.Stalking commenced.And someone died.None of it stopped me from falling in love.When I started reading I couldn't put it down.Alessandra Torre is magnifysent writer.I cannot wait to read more of there books.Keep up the great work.You should definitely read this books.