Winner Takes All
by Sandra Kitt
Jean is the weekly announcer of the lottery winner. The when she announce Patrick as the winner she discovers her is her high school crush but obstructions were put in the way of their relationship. This win for Patrick also raises the problem of who do you trust- every one want money from your fortune. An average story but there’s too much going on to wade through that isn’t really necessary to get to the actual story in the second chance romance. 2.5/5

The writing felt oddly clunky and detached, and I never got to connect with the main characters. It read very 'surface' and not delved in at all, so this proved disappointing and a let-down for me (especially given all the raving celeb author endorsements on this one)

Dnf. Poor communication is so frustrating to me in a romance and I don’t enjoy reading when things could be resolved with a conversation at the appropriate time. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

I went into this story with so many expectations based on the blurb (and it's reviews) but unfortunately within the first few chapters I knew this was not the book for me. Jean didn't impress me much from the get-go and neither did Patrick. But I put my feelings aside and decided to give this couple a chance since the premise was interesting and I'm a sucker for a second chance romance.

Initially, I though Jane and Patrick's connection was a stretch but I decided to blame it on them not seeing each other in a while. However, as the story progressed and they started to spend time together the connection between the two felt forced. That feeling only increased as they continued to miscommunicate and create drama. Ultimately, I lost interest in the romance and everything else just fell by the wayside.

All in all, a great premise but definitely not the story for me.

Jean Travis works in PR for the Mayors office. She encounters a blast from the past when she realizes Patrick Bennett, her high school crush, has won the lottery, and boy has he won big! Patrick works for a big sports network and is already a local celebrity. He invites Jean to his big celebration and she realizes she is still attracted him. They are both generally curious about each other.

As Jean and Patrick get reacquainted, high school nostalgia changes to two adults that can be in a relationship. They find out things from the past and how Jean’s Mom may have unintentionally blocked them from getting together back in the day.

Jean and Patrick are both dealing with issues, individually and as a couple. Ms. Kitt provides plenty of detail to make sure we understand the external forces Jean and Patrick are both dealing with. Jean is impacted by hurt feelings from a prior relationship and not wanting to move too fast. Patrick is dealing with issues of becoming a millionaire overnight and how a life changing event was kept from him by his Ex.

Jean and Patrick are two caring people. There are touching moments throughout with them and their families. Overall, I was rooting for them to work things out.

This book has one of the most original plotlines I've read.

I mean, it's based around the lottery, how cool is that? Jean and Patrick used to go to high school together but lost touch after Patrick graduated. After winning the lottery, coincidence brings Jean and Patrick together again and with that a whirlwind of obstacles that get in their way.

This was a very innovative and unique second chance romance book!

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the earc in return for an honest review.

Winner Takes All by Sandra Kitt is a 2021 Sourcebooks Casablanca publication.

Jean’s job is to announce the name of the seventy-five- million- dollar lottery winner- but she is shocked to discover the lucky ticket owner is her old friend from high school- Patrick Bennett.

Patrick is a pro- athlete turned ESPN commentator- but with his lotto win- people are coming out of the woodwork to buddy up to the new multi- millionaire. The only person in his orbit without an agenda, who is giving him level- headed advice- is Jean. Although Patrick is developing deeper feelings for his old friend, one obstacle after another is blocking the path to any thought of a long-term romantic relationship.

I can’t tell you how excited I have been about Sandra Kitt's return to writing. I’ve read several of her books over the years and really liked her style and the way she weaves interesting subjects, especially that of interracial relationships, and the various challenges that presents into the story.

This book touches on some of those things as Jean is bi-racial and encounters a unique set of difficulties, at times.

The main plot, though, involves Patrick and his adjustment to sudden wealth and how this effects his desire to take his relationship with Jean to the next level.

While Kitt is a seasoned author, a little rust is evident, as the story was a little too busy, leaving some conflicts and threads fading without much follow up, while other, meatier threads, where depth and emotion could have taken the story to a higher level, were underdeveloped.

Despite that, this first book in the Millionaire Club series is a solid enough foundation to build upon. I was invested in the plot and enjoyed watching the couple fight to work through the adversity they faced. The communication breakdown was the most frustrating element of the story, but factoring in the insecurities of a new relationship, the couple needed some room to grow, and they had a lot on their plate!!

Overall, this is a nice, enjoyable, sensual second chance love story. It was so nice to reconnect with this author. I’m am definitely on board for the next installment in this series!!

Just okay. The guy-wins-the-lottery-and-problems-come-out-of-the-woodwork premise was interesting and different, but the execution didn't really work for me. Communication could have resolved their problems sooner, and there were weird inconsistencies throughout (like Jean thinking another woman would be a great fit with her ex, but then being shocked when the ex meets that other woman, likes her, and asks her out) that kept throwing me out of the story.

Rating: 3 stars / C-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

What if you won the lottery is there someone you could absolutely trust to give you the direction you need without them having an ulterior motive? What if you had no immediate significant other would you have someone other than a family member who you could turn? How much confidence, commitment, and loyalty could you expect? Remember people are going to be requesting funds for all kinds of things and family you didn’t even know that you had will crawl out of the woodwork.

Patrick Bennett was announced as a lottery winner and lo and behold the announcer was a girl from his high school days. Jean Travis had a crush on Patrick, but what she didn’t know was he thought she was cute in high school and wanted the chance to get to know her, but her mother put a kabash into that opportunity.

Now with this tense situation would the two even be able to have a relationship because money does things to people.

The author has a good idea for a storyline, but there needed to be more interesting dialogue between the characters because it seems really stilted and just a statement of facts. I think the most interesting talk was between Jean and Patricks boss, Brian as they were riding bikes.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

REVIEW RATING: B | REVIEWER: Wayne Jordan

I read my first Sandra Kitt book in the 1980s when she wrote for Harlequin. At the time, I didn’t realise that she was black until she penned, ADAM AND EVA, the first Harlequin book to feature a black hero and heroine. Later, Ms. Kitt would also release the first romance to feature an interracial couple, THE COLOR OF LOVE, one of my all-time favorite romance novels. In the last few years, Ms. Kitt has been mostly dormant, so I was more than delighted when WINNER TAKES ALL appeared as a future release.

WINNER TAKES ALL begins with Jean Travis announcing the latest lottery winner. She is surprised that the winner is none other than her high school crush, Patrick ‘Trick’ Bennett. While teenagers, there was an attraction between the two, but unfortunate obstacles got in the way. Now, the possibility of a second chance presents itself. WINNER TAKES ALL explores the nature of second chance romances, but the hero and heroine must face challenges of the present before they find their happily-ever-after.

There is a lot I enjoyed about this book. I found both the hero and heroine to be likeable. I loved the fact that Ms. Kitt does not shy away from dealing with race issues. And, yes, I love to read stories about second chances and friends becoming lovers. Jean has grown into a strong, confident woman and has a successful public career. Patrick, too, has been successful and now, that he has won the lottery, he must deal with the problems that most lottery winners have to face. All this pointed to a story that intrigued me.

I did enjoy WINNER TAKES ALL. However, at times, the story felt a bit bogged down by too much going on, as if the author wanted to cover as many issues as possible. A good relationship, to me, is built on a couple’s ability to communicate. Jean and Patrick failed to do this and as a result, their journey to their happily-ever-after seems drawn out. While this was a satisfying romance, I did not feel that intense emotional appeal which is a hallmark of Ms. Kitt’s writing.

WINNER TAKES ALL is a welcomed return to writing romance for Ms. Kitt and one I enjoyed. I look forward to the others in the series and recommend this to long-time fans of Ms. Kitt’s work and those new readers looking for a good romance.

This one sounded so sweet in synopsis. But when I started reading this I just could not connect with the characters and the story. This one was just not for me. 2.5 stars..

What would you do if you won the lottery?
This is the premise of the book. But it never really takes off and goes anywhere.
There is a lot of telling in this book (not showing) and that drives me crazy.
I liked the lead characters ... well kinda.
Patrick drove me nuts. He doesn't share with Jean what is really happening and Jean just goes along and says it's ok. There is very little communication between them. In fact, I was more intrigued with Jean's parents than with the lead characters.
I will try the next in the series because I really like this trope.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for letting me read an eARC of Winner Takes All! I thought the premise of this book was super interesting, because people are always thinking about what they would do if they win the lottery and the benefits of it, but no one ever thinks about any of the consequences and I really liked that aspect of this book (along with the romance, of course).

Winner Takes All 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

“Great story-telling of the most romantic kind.”—Brenda Jackson, New York Times bestselling author
“A warm-hearted story and a clever plot reflecting current issues with sensitivity, warmth, and wisdom.”—Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Jean Travis has the job of announcing the latest lottery winner on TV and is stunned to find that Patrick Bennett, her teenage crush, is the top mega winner. They haven’t seen each other in years, and Patrick is thrilled to renew their acquaintance. Jean, not so much. After all, a lot has changed since they used to study together and Jean worked so hard to hide her feelings. Now that he’s won so much money, Patrick faces a whole new world of demands from family, friends, coworkers, strangers. The only person he knows for sure he can trust, is Jean…
“Romantic, tender, emotional, and compelling.”—RaeAnne Thayne, New York Times bestselling author

I really liked how Jean and Patrick got together again after high school, so this was kind of like a second chance romance novel. That aspect was super cute. And as I stated before, I really liked how some of the negatives of winning the lottery were explored, like people coming out of the woodwork looking for money and becoming a target for con artists. One of the things that I didn't really like about this book was that there seemed to be a lot of ideas and threads that the author started/created for us to follow and they weren't all fully followed or they were fleshed out in a way that seemed kind of half assed- while it didn't really impact the HEA/love story between our main characters, it did sometimes give me a little bit of whiplash because we seemed to just go from thing to thing pretty quickly. I did think that this was a really great first book in a series- it really set up the whole "Millionaires Club" charity pretty well and I assume that's the thread that's going to tie the rest of the books within the series together. Overall, I thought it was a fun and cute romance novel that I definitely enjoyed reading!

**
The premise of this book sounded great. I was enjoying the story, but I lost interest. I kept reading hoping I could reconnect to the story and characters. It didn't happen.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest opinion.

I loved this book!

Jean works for the Mayors office and is tasked with a last minute request to emcee the announcement of the latest lottery winners. She is surprised to recognize one of the names on the winners list as her high school crush, Patrick Bennett. Patrick is clearly happy to have bumped into each other and his interest in Jean is immediate, though the feeling is not exactly mutual. Jean guards her feelings to avoid getting hurt while Patrick seeks to get to know her better after all the years they had been apart.

After winning 75 million dollars, Patrick was being bombarded with requests for loans and gifts. It was all so overwhelming for him, but Jean wasn't interested in his winnings. She was there for Patrick and helping him think through some of the requests and ideas for managing his money. Their story was an emotional one and I loved every minute of it. I hope we hear more from these two!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Winner Takes All had a very interesting premise. What would you do if you won the lottery? Definitely fun to think about and to see how Sandra Kitt developed this idea. Loved the romance. Very cute!

I enjoyed the premise of this story, in which Patrick, a former athlete/sportscaster, wins a $75M lottery and reconnects w/ Jean, a mayoral aide coordinating the lottery winners' ceremony, who turns out to be his former student tutor in high school. Both Patrick and Jean have worked hard and achieved success in their chosen careers. When they meet again, they both feel a spark and want to explore it but life, in the form of both of their professional and personal obligations, keeps getting in the way. The book did a good job of showing the kinds of pressures that come with winning such a large sum of money. Patrick was already comfortably situated, but the lottery win takes him into the stratosphere and he becomes a target of almost constant requests for assistance. He handles them with grace and respect, but you can see the toll it's taking on him. I also appreciated that rather than just ignoring race in the book, there is some exploration of how being biracial affected both Jean's and her parents relationships.

I felt that the romantic relationship between Patrick and Jean was less well-executed with lots of telling, not much showing. They both seemed more focused on other things and it didn't feel like they were all that connected to each other. Patrick also had a hugely disruptive personal situation that he wasn't open about with Jean, and it did not seem plausible that they had already exchanged "I love you"s yet he didn't tell her about it. Then, when he finally did open up, she didn't even seem to care that he hadn't told her sooner. To me, it indicated a complete lack of trust and consideration on his part and I would have been questioning the foundations of the entire relationship, not just accepting it as if it was no big deal. In the end, although I enjoyed the story, I wish the romance had been better executed.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this story—an unexpected reunion, a second chance at romance, the darker side of the realities of winning the lottery, the flip side of fame and notoriety.
Jean is a capable and determined main character, devoted to her work and her family and to her principles. Patrick is the unrequited crush from her past, now larger than life, charming and as attractive as ever, plus he’s just won the lottery.
I wish I could say I liked them both more as characters. Their struggles to communicate (or rather their at times painful lack of communication) frustrated me. Patrick had to deal with a lot of unpleasant and untoward situations after his lottery win, but their relationship issues really hinged on their communication difficulties and self doubt, which was a bit disappointing. I kept waiting for a big nefarious reveal or for one of the secondary characters to fulfil the hints of a backstory that was unsettling or that would throw a wrench in the plot. The biggest plot twist ended up not being that big a twist in the end. Overall the story fell a bit flat for me and I wasn’t as invested in the main characters and their relationship as I’d expected to be from reading the synopsis.

Is it a second chance romance if the couple was never a couple but not for longing by at least one of them? Jean tutored Patrick, known as Trick, in high school and she had a huge crush on him. He was a jock and as time went on, became a pro athlete and then a commentator. He is given a lottery ticket and much to everyone's surprise, Jean is the one who pulls the numbers and announces that he's won $75 million, There's a cautionary tale here about what happens when there's a huge financial windfall but Kitt focuses more on this couple. Old misunderstandings come to light and a new relationship is born. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good timely and sensitive love story.

This book is a fresh spin on second chance romance. Rather than a meet-cute, or a random bump into one another on the street and spill coffee, Jean Travis is pulled in at the last minute to host a program that announces lottery winners. Yup, one of the winners is Jean's old high school crush, a sweet guy who she tutored. She had a crush on him way back then, but since she is bi-racial she had a difficult time in school and the relationship never materialized (we find out a reason why during the book, though).

Patrick "Trick" Bennett was a jock in school, turned into a professional athlete, now a sports commentator who received the lottery ticket from an ex-girlfriend/stalker. Turns out he wins $75 million, and suddenly people start crawling out of the woodwork. The only bright side he sees at first is that it reunited him with Jean, who seems to be the only person who doesn't want something from Patrick.

This was a sweet romance, dealing with some sensitive issues around race. I enjoyed it, but I don't do spoilers, so read it for yourself!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.