Rate this book

One Good Hand (2007)

by Rowan McBride(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Loose Id

series

One Good

review 1: This book is well-written and original, and I liked the protagonist very much. There was a nice balance of sex and plot.There are a few things that keep this from being a 5-star book. One is the length--it's pretty short and feels abrupt at times. Second, we learn fairly late in the story that the protagonist is only 26. I'd been picturing him quite a bit older and it was a bit jarring to find out he was so young. And finally, the protagonist's love interest is really, really, really big and muscular by the end, which I found somewhat off-putting.
review 2: Rowan McBride’s novella One Good Hand is actually a character study wrapped inside a sweet little story. Ace, an admitted card shark plays high stakes games where more than money changes hands. The games... more are driven by the participant’s desires to not only win big money but more than that, hold the title of the “one to beat”. Ace is that one to beat. In the opening scene he wins Spade…a senai. Senai are the equivalent of a magic genie—they can morph not only their physical selves but also their entire emotional psyche into whatever their owner desires them to be. And Spade could do just that…until he fell into the hands of Ace and began to experience emotions that he had never had before—emotions that, for the first time, were being generated by his own heart and not the heart of his master. But this book wasn’t about Spade. No, this book was all about Ace: his past and how it drove his future, his heart and how it had been broken, first by his uncle and then by a lover, and his love for the game of poker and, eventually for Spade, his senai.Broken hearted characters can fall into one of two categories for me: pathetically wounded and seeking release from their painful past or hard and merciless, waiting for a rescuer to thaw their frozen hearts. Mr. McBride happily created a new category; wounded, yet driven, cautious yet compassionate, smart and self-aware. A new kind of broken character…one you wanted to see succeed on HIS terms and not on anyone else’s. Rowan McBride delivers just that redemption wrapped in victory. I could not give this novella 5 stars because after finishing it, I realized I needed much more of these two characters…more of their story. I had lots of unanswered questions…and that left me just a little unsatisfied. However, I am not above bribery---so Mr. McBride, if you happen to read this, know that I will happily give 5 stars to this little gem if you give us a sequel. SO what do you say—are you gonna raise or call? less

Download links for: One Good Hand

Advertising