4.9 Stars

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW OR THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST ONE!!!! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! But only for those who haven't read book #1.☺


Book #2 starts where the first one left us hanging!

Bell just found Gwen dead in the hotel room. Dario reacts quickly and sends her to an old buddy in Louisiana. He already knows that Gwen's father and his 'killer' girl will never let Bell live.

And poor Bell. She doesn't know what to think - to do. She's stuck in the swamps with this weird Laurent person. Does Dario even care for her, love her? After the way he reacted to Gwen's death. She's just not sure about anything anymore.

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YAY, finally book #2 - even though it hasn't been that long!

Book #1 ended with a huge Cliffy and now we're right back in that moment with Dario & Bell.

It was all mega exciting and scary and I just wanted to fast forward to the end to see if and how we'll get that happily ever after. But of course I didn't! I read the whole amazing story!

And I loved it!

It was all very edge-of-your-seat-ish. You just had to keep on reading. How would poor Dario handle his father-in-law and everything surrounding the death of his wife in Vegas?! He needs to get him arrested ... otherwise he will never be free and happy with Bell.

It's not easy, but Dario is NOT giving up. He's finally found his happily ever after person - and he'll do anything for their future life together.

And then when you think you can finally take a breath ... that it's almost time for our happy end - and BAM - it's so not over yet! Grrrr!

GREAT SEXY SUSPENSE!

I loved every minute of it!

Oh, well, if I had to name a tiny thing I didn't love? I don't like books that have chapters in the bad people's POV. I only want the two main character's thoughts!

BUT it didn't bother me all that much!

I still LOVED this duet very much! Dario is so mega swoon-worthy!

This was the perfect finale with the perfect ending to our darlings' story!


And oooh - can we get Rick and Lance's story one day??? Please!?
And Laurent too! I want ALL the stories!

spoiler [Because ... it wasn't really an ending end for the bad guy/girl. I'm afraid she'll be back one day! (hide spoiler)]

I also wouldn't mind if Netflix came along and made a show out of it!

I'm not goung to lie Dairo still irked the heck out of me, I don't know what it is, but the man thinks he's doing the right thing and in my opinion he's being a idiot, the man supposedly prides himself on being honest but the person he's supposed to be most honest with he really isn't. So it kinda took me until the almost end of the book, for me to like Dario because to me the man was a hard man to like, but he does put Bell's needs first, well at times anyway, “until you feel up to house-hunting, I’ve had the staff at Vinente prepare the Presidential suite. It’s four bedrooms, with a roof-top pool, and plenty of room to avoid me if I drive you—” This was an alright read as well, I actually liked this one a little more than book one because we were getting somewhere and things were starting to roll.

"He was broken. Like me.

After the hair-raising cliffhanger in Even Money waiting for Double Down filled me with delicious anticipation. Yeah, I know I'm not the only armchair detective who enjoys working things out, even if I'm wrong. It's the process that's so fun, right? The author did an excellent job of building the excitement and suspense. She teased me with their intense and forbidden chemistry. Pulling me into their passionate encounters and keeping me on edge as I worried about the consequences. But that didn't stop me from mentally encouraging them to go All In. Actually, they went even a step further, "Double down was a blackjack term. It's when you had a risky hand that had the potential to be strong, or the potential to be disastrous. Instead of riding the hand out, you double your bet." I did bet on them, but I confess there were times I wanted to cover my eyes, afraid to look at the cards...

Being the tale of suspense that it is, there's no way I can give you any details without ruining it for you. So, all I can do is tell you that it's told in multiple POV. The author puts you inside the heads of not only the H/h, but other characters as well. What a mindfuck it is to know the diabolical plotting going on and be unable to warn the victims. I wanted to sign up to be on their security detail so I could get one of those neat little ear pieces and listen to all the details going on behind the scenes. Also, I was a nervous wreck as I waited for shit to hit the fan and I wanted to be able to yell a warning when it did.

I really enjoyed the grand finale to this steamy and suspenseful duet. It kept my heart and my brain busy as I melted one minute and cringed the next. I kept turning those pages, anxious to know but afraid to find out. Well done.

There are some amazing support characters in this story as well, and I met a few more in this second book. I was highly entertained by their amusing banter and would love to see a few of them again in another book. I've even done a little mental matchmaking between my favorite two that haven't even met each other, but they would make a great couple. Have you considered this Alessandra Torre? Think about it, I know you know who I'm talkin' bout, cuz you're not cooyon. The line forms here...

What an amazing end to this duet. It was full of emotions, drama, suspense and action. I just loved Dario and Bell, they made the perfect couple. They fought for what they wanted, but were they be able to overcome all that was thrown at them? This duet is a must read and I can't wait for more from this author.

I am always a little afraid of being disappointed when it comes to sequels, especially when I enjoyed the first book so much. I worry it isn't going to live up to its predecessor, or the author is going to take the characters in a direction I don't like. So I was a bit nervous going into this book. I needn't have been though because I enjoyed book two just as much as I enjoyed the first.


The writing remained outstanding. It was well paced (for the most part). There was a small bit around three-quarters of the way through when the plot did start to lag a bit for me, and I felt the author could have tightened up the story a bit. But it wasn't a bit enough issue for it to affect my rating in any way. The plot remained engaging. There was no OW or OM drama. The sex scenes were suitably spicy

This book was a bit lighter on secondary characters than the first. We get a couple of brief appearances by Rick and Lance. I was a smidgen bummed by that, and I hope we see them again in books of their own. We are also introduced to a new character...Laurent. I was super intrigued by him, and yea...he needs a book of this own as well.


Both Bell and Dario continued to be very likable main characters. Their chemistry remained off the charts. As did their devotion towards each other. Last, this was all wrapped up in a sweet HAPPY FOR NOW. I will say, I expected closure on all fronts, this being a duet and all. But we are left with a pretty sizeable loose end. Because of that, I can only assume more books may be coming?? In any case, again it wasn't a huge enough issue to affect my rating. Plus, more Bell, Dario, and their friends can only be a good thing in my opinion.

Whoa!!!! What an utterly unique, shockingly suspenseful sequel this was! I was completely RIVETED by the dark and twisty course of events that transpired in Double Down. All In consumed me with its romanticism, Double Down gripped me with its unpredictability, with its edge of your seat suspense, and it all culminates into an unputdownable package, a MUST READ duet, and I enjoyed every moment. 

Double Down has a decidedly different vibe than All In. All In, for me, was very much the build, the chase, the initial taste of attraction between Dario and Bell, the infancy of their romance. But Double Down is the fall, the downward spiral into mayhem and chaos after the jaw dropping cliffhanger at the end of book one. That MINDBLOWING moment was the catalyst in the seismic shift in Dario and Bell's relationship. It changes the trajectory of their newfound romance and catapults it into uncertainty, into danger, into a search for answers and the unearthing of dispicable truths before it even gets off the ground... And what unfolds in this second book becomes something unpredictable, something terrifying, something wickedly dark and unbelievably twisted. 

This story is so different. You can tell that Alessandra Torre just loves to write romantic suspense by the care and detail that went into this duet. There are so many perspectives offered up in this sequel, so much information and so many wicked personalities. But still, the lush romance between our casino mogul and the college student he's fallen for shines through even the darkest moments. Double Down is the perfect marriage of sensual romance and thrilling suspense. It's shocking and gruesome at times, sexy and sweet at others. But it's always unpredictable, always riveting and it's completely refreshing and different from anything else I've read. I thoroughly enjoyed this duet and I strongly recommend it for its juicy change of pace, for its unpredictable roller coaster ride of intense emotion and for its fiercely addictive romance.