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Gambling Men #1
The Twin Switch
NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling Author
She must save her brother’s wedding…
without falling for a forbidden stranger!
Layla Gillen needs to focus! But while tracking down her brother’s runaway bride-to-be, she gets sidetracked herself, falling into bed with hotel mogul Max Kendrick. Too bad his twin is the one who seduced the bride-to-be! Now Layla must choose between betraying her brother and pursuing forbidden passion. And Max can be very persuasive….
She must save her brother’s wedding…
without falling for a forbidden stranger!
Layla Gillen needs to focus! But while tracking down her brother’s runaway bride-to-be, she gets sidetracked herself, falling into bed with hotel mogul Max Kendrick. Too bad his twin is the one who seduced the bride-to-be! Now Layla must choose between betraying her brother and pursuing forbidden passion. And Max can be very persuasive….
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 16, 2019
50 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Dunlop
465 books149 followersBarbara Dunlop is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over sixty romance and romantic comedy novels, including the new Paradise, Alaska Romance series for Berkley and the recent Gambling Men series with Harlequin Desire. Published in multiple languages across a worldwide market, Barbara’s books have received numerous awards with a number of her stories optioned for film and television.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 17, 2020
5 Stars
This book is in the Harlequin Desire line over at Harlequin Books. The next book in this unnamed series is THE DATING DARE featuring James and Nat who also appear in this book. Not sure if they have a book out for Brooklyn and Colton, but I would be totally interested in reading that to get the other perspective on this story.
This book totally captivated me. I was all-in from page one.
Layla Gillen thought her life was perfect. Her best friend and her brother were getting married. What could be better than that? Then on the eve of Brooklyn’s wedding, she disappeared from the bachelorette party and ended up in Vegas. Turns out Brooklyn had fallen head over heels for Colton, whose family owned the hotel chain on the Vegas strip where most of this book is played out.
Quickly, Layla’s mission becomes to save her brother’s wedding. She convinced herself that the flirtation was only cold feet on the bride’s part. Then during her mission, Layla runs into debonaire Max Kendrick and falls head over heels for him. She reminds herself not to get distracted from her mission to save the wedding but Max is just so tempting. He keeps popping up wherever she is pulling her attention away from Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Brooklyn is more enamored with Colton than ever. When Layla comes face to face for Colton for the first time, that is when things start to get awkward. Colton is Max’s identical twin!
I think I was stressed out the entire time reading this. Not stressed out in the bad way but stressed out in the “what will happen next” way. I could totally resonate with Layla who didn’t want her friend to make the biggest mistake of her life. I kept having to remind myself that we have to let people make their own mistakes and live their own lives. We can’t make those types of decisions for anyone but ourselves.
This book may have had a simple premise: save a friend from making a mistake. but it really gets you thinking. It shows us that no matter how we try to change things, some things are just meant to be.
I loved how Max never gave up on Layla until she told him she couldn’t leave and run off with him. Talk about making a mistake! She was so worried about making decisions for her friend that she almost missed her own happily ever after!
We can learn lessons in so many unusual ways, can’t we?
This may not have been as steamy as some Desire books, but it kept me on my toes and reading, always wanting more. Like I said above, would like to read other books in this unnamed series, for sure! Loving Dunlop’s writing style and ability to keep me on guard.
If you love a good spicy romance, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.
This book is in the Harlequin Desire line over at Harlequin Books. The next book in this unnamed series is THE DATING DARE featuring James and Nat who also appear in this book. Not sure if they have a book out for Brooklyn and Colton, but I would be totally interested in reading that to get the other perspective on this story.
This book totally captivated me. I was all-in from page one.
Layla Gillen thought her life was perfect. Her best friend and her brother were getting married. What could be better than that? Then on the eve of Brooklyn’s wedding, she disappeared from the bachelorette party and ended up in Vegas. Turns out Brooklyn had fallen head over heels for Colton, whose family owned the hotel chain on the Vegas strip where most of this book is played out.
Quickly, Layla’s mission becomes to save her brother’s wedding. She convinced herself that the flirtation was only cold feet on the bride’s part. Then during her mission, Layla runs into debonaire Max Kendrick and falls head over heels for him. She reminds herself not to get distracted from her mission to save the wedding but Max is just so tempting. He keeps popping up wherever she is pulling her attention away from Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Brooklyn is more enamored with Colton than ever. When Layla comes face to face for Colton for the first time, that is when things start to get awkward. Colton is Max’s identical twin!
I think I was stressed out the entire time reading this. Not stressed out in the bad way but stressed out in the “what will happen next” way. I could totally resonate with Layla who didn’t want her friend to make the biggest mistake of her life. I kept having to remind myself that we have to let people make their own mistakes and live their own lives. We can’t make those types of decisions for anyone but ourselves.
This book may have had a simple premise: save a friend from making a mistake. but it really gets you thinking. It shows us that no matter how we try to change things, some things are just meant to be.
I loved how Max never gave up on Layla until she told him she couldn’t leave and run off with him. Talk about making a mistake! She was so worried about making decisions for her friend that she almost missed her own happily ever after!
We can learn lessons in so many unusual ways, can’t we?
This may not have been as steamy as some Desire books, but it kept me on my toes and reading, always wanting more. Like I said above, would like to read other books in this unnamed series, for sure! Loving Dunlop’s writing style and ability to keep me on guard.
If you love a good spicy romance, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.
June 29, 2020
2 stars. No. Just…no. The main character and her best friend were dumbasses and so self absorbed and selfish. I hated them. This was just so unpleasant and I didn’t even like the romance because Layla kept pushing Max away for no real reason. Luckily, it’s a quick read and the writing was good but I can’t say that it was enjoyable in the slightest. Nothing about this worked for me.
February 25, 2023
Yet another Colton, officially the most overused name in the Harlequin world.
This book confirms for me that cheating never works in this genre. Even romance novels meant to be fraught and complex can't withstand the weight of a cheating plot. Romance novels - Harlequin novels in particular - require a certain sheen over them, a certain level of escapism. A plot about cheating so front and centre in a story is at odds with the reader protocols of Harlequin romance. It was like reading an Alice Munro book and the Starship Enterprise landing in the middle of Hanratty.
So basically, Layla is best friends with Brooklyn and Brooklyn is about to marry Layla's brother James. But they go to Vegas and Brooklyn meets some other guy, who incidentally is also the twin of the guy Layla is also about to meet. Brooklyn wants to be with the twin she met in Vegas instead of Layla's brother, even though they're days away from getting married in a ceremony where they've invited 500 people and Brooklyn backing out would basically destroy the groom. At one point, Brooklyn points out that she hasn't had sex with the twin she's cheating with because she's not a cheater. (It seems to me that falling in love with the guy and canoodling with him without telling your fiancé is cheating too, but what do I know.) Even if the central couple end up HFN, you know the ending is going to really suck for some of the other characters. You might as well read literary fiction for this - it will be woven much better and include observations about life, which this book doesn't. At all. And if this were literary fiction, it wouldn't even be in Layla's point of view. It's sort of odd that it is anyway, as Layla is sort of on the outskirts of the action. But Layla has to be the protagonist so we can jam a romance plot into all of this.
Anyway, grating and unpleasant. I'm surprised Harlequin published it, honestly, except that it contains twins and it obviously has a long-standing and lucrative relationship with the author. I'd skip this one. There are a lot of other books in the world to read, even by Harlequin standards.
This book confirms for me that cheating never works in this genre. Even romance novels meant to be fraught and complex can't withstand the weight of a cheating plot. Romance novels - Harlequin novels in particular - require a certain sheen over them, a certain level of escapism. A plot about cheating so front and centre in a story is at odds with the reader protocols of Harlequin romance. It was like reading an Alice Munro book and the Starship Enterprise landing in the middle of Hanratty.
So basically, Layla is best friends with Brooklyn and Brooklyn is about to marry Layla's brother James. But they go to Vegas and Brooklyn meets some other guy, who incidentally is also the twin of the guy Layla is also about to meet. Brooklyn wants to be with the twin she met in Vegas instead of Layla's brother, even though they're days away from getting married in a ceremony where they've invited 500 people and Brooklyn backing out would basically destroy the groom. At one point, Brooklyn points out that she hasn't had sex with the twin she's cheating with because she's not a cheater. (It seems to me that falling in love with the guy and canoodling with him without telling your fiancé is cheating too, but what do I know.) Even if the central couple end up HFN, you know the ending is going to really suck for some of the other characters. You might as well read literary fiction for this - it will be woven much better and include observations about life, which this book doesn't. At all. And if this were literary fiction, it wouldn't even be in Layla's point of view. It's sort of odd that it is anyway, as Layla is sort of on the outskirts of the action. But Layla has to be the protagonist so we can jam a romance plot into all of this.
Anyway, grating and unpleasant. I'm surprised Harlequin published it, honestly, except that it contains twins and it obviously has a long-standing and lucrative relationship with the author. I'd skip this one. There are a lot of other books in the world to read, even by Harlequin standards.
November 3, 2020
This book did have my attention from start to finish (which has not been easy this year). This book was written in 1st person, single person view. Which, I have to say is my least favorite perspective. I think this book lost a lot of feels without seeing "why" Max liked/loved Layla. In fact, this book read a lot more like woman's fiction than a romance. More time was spent developing Layla and Brooklyn's relationship (past and present) than it did with our MC's. To be honest, I couldn't figure out why either of the men liked either of these women. There was also a "date" scene that while interesting seemed just thrown into the story but didn't add anything much to the plot,the character/relationship development, nor was it really referred to later in the story. Overall, an OK story, and I'll probably keep it, but it needed more romance meat on it to get a higher rating from me.
June 7, 2021
The main characters were selfish and irritating and vain. Not to mention impulsive. I read this book in a single sitting and it absolutely captured my attention. Life is messy but friendships like the two ladies have isn’t one you find every day. It was a refreshing read that made me like it because of the silly whirlwind romance I’d never do in real life. It’s fiction, you can live a thousand lifetimes without having to suffer real consequences when you read. It’s a good guilty pleasure book.
April 18, 2022
1.75⭐
La historia a ratos no tenía sentido, cambiaba de una escena a otra y sin tener algún puente que los conectará. Los personajes se me hicieron muy malos, no tuvieron desarrollo y sentía que hacían muchas cosas sin sentido, realmente quedé descolocada por los cambios bruscos en algunas partes del libro, así que no es un libro que recomiende.
*ACLARO QUE ESTA ES MI OPINIÓN Y QUE ESTA BIEN QUE A OTRA PERSONA LE GUSTARA EL LIBRO*
La historia a ratos no tenía sentido, cambiaba de una escena a otra y sin tener algún puente que los conectará. Los personajes se me hicieron muy malos, no tuvieron desarrollo y sentía que hacían muchas cosas sin sentido, realmente quedé descolocada por los cambios bruscos en algunas partes del libro, así que no es un libro que recomiende.
*ACLARO QUE ESTA ES MI OPINIÓN Y QUE ESTA BIEN QUE A OTRA PERSONA LE GUSTARA EL LIBRO*
July 11, 2020
Romantic short story, sometimes too intense. I hope next will be better.
March 19, 2025
A little insta love but lighthearted and fun. A bit unrealistic and like who gives up their life to marry a billionaire they just met. Like on both sides it’s giving me pause, but it was fun.
Read
January 2, 2020Categories
Sagas, Romance, Contemporary Romance
Miniseries
Gambling Men
Sagas, Romance, Contemporary Romance
Miniseries
Gambling Men
December 26, 2019
Love it
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews