Jackpot perdant

by Melanie Dobson

Au début, lorsque Laura a actionné le bras de la machine à sous, c'était plutôt pour tuer le temps. Mais les semaines et les mois ont passé, et les choses ont changé. Un jour, elle s'est retrouvée prise dans un terrible piège qui menaçait de se refermer impitoyablement sur elle. A-t-elle réussi à s'en sortir? A vous de le découvrir à travers les pages de ce roman captivant, qui aborde un sujet rarement traité quoique de plus en plus actuel. - 400 pages.

Genres: Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2007

About the author

Writing fiction is a fun excuse for Melanie to explore ghost towns and old houses, travel to unusual places, and spend hours reading dusty books and journals. She writes both contemporary and historical fiction with threads of romance and suspense.

Melanie is the award-winning author of almost thirty time-slip, historical romance, suspense, and contemporary novels including Catching the Wind, The Winter Rose, and The Wings of Poppy Pendleton. Five of her novels including Chateau of Secrets have won Carol Awards, Catching the Wind won the Audie 2018 Inspirational Fiction award, and Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana won Best Novel of Indiana. Catching the Wind and Memories of Glass were both finalists for Christy Awards in historical fiction.

Melanie and her husband, Jon, have two daughters. After moving numerous times with Jon's work, the Dobsons have finally settled near Portland, Oregon, and they love to travel and hike in both the mountains and the cliffs above the Pacific. When Melanie isn't writing or researching, she enjoys line dancing, biking, and making up stories with her kids.

More information about her and her books is available on her website at www.melaniedobson.com. You can also connect with Melanie at www.facebook.com/melaniedobsonfiction.

Reviews

[Lizzy Bueckert · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an eye opening story about how gambling can take over someone's life!

[Nora St Laurent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts out light hearted and shows an average married couple in the early years. Leia has an accident and is confined to the house for the first time in her life. She is going crazy. What can she do to occupy her time? She starts searching the web. What does she find but a gambling site? What can it hurt? (she tells herself) The site lets her gamble for free. She knows her husband doesn't like gambling; they are Christians. Christians don’t gamble. She tells herself it's not gambling because she is not using "real" money.

Her husband Ethan is off on business trips and she is stuck home alone in the house with the computer calling to her. She is thrilled that she has won $10,000.00 play money one night. “Oh, how that could help them out if that were real money,” she thinks to herself. Maybe she would try it with real money her husband doesn't have to know. It sure would help out since she was out of work for 3 months (the lie - the seductive trap).

As I was reading the book I wanted to stop the character from entering the trap. In the authors notes at the end of the book, she states that women succumb to gambling nearly 3 times faster than men. I was surprised to also learn in this story that a gambling "addiction" can take as little as 2 weeks to develop. It is just as bad as using a substance you put into your body. This book was very informative. The characters and their stories were very believable and sometimes tough to read.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St.Laurent
The Book Club Network www.bookfun.org
The Book Club Network blog www.psalm516.blogspot.com
Book Fun Magazine www.bookfunmagazine.com

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very realistic portrayal of how an addiction can start as something very benign and spin out of control very quickly. It was a bit unsettling to read at times because it was so hard to see Leia reasoning through her poor decisions. Overall, it was a great book that should be read by many.

[Tricia Cassavaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Made me sick with all the money gone.

[Massanutten Regional Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sondra, Elkton patron, July 2016, 5 stars:

Dobson lets us see into the dangers of gambling and gives us empathy for those trapped in an addiction, through a fictional lady who is just like us.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gambling addiction...so scary! Sad

[Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A self-centered female pilot demolishes her knee on ski slopes and inadvertently gambles, losing fund$. Her husband's best friend helps her recover funds as her husband is totally against gamblin'.After surgery she is mostly stuck in her bedroom like Jimmy Stewart in 'Rear Window' so she does some no fee on-line gamblin' and wins some (which often happens) and thinks 'hey, maybe I should use real money in an effort to recover funds for medical treatment. Thus begins a terrible slide into madness and the very worst of behaviors! Interesting to see at the end what would have been an actual deal breaker. Sad.

[Laura Carter · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I had absolutely zero interest in the characters whatsoever and my ebook loan timed out, so no big loss. I don’t care what happens at all.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story of gambling addiction. I am not a risk taker myself but the author helped you see how someone who likes adventure could be drawn into gambling.

[Vickie]

reliogous

[Elaine]

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