Blood Gamble

By: Melissa F. Olson

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

If there is one city that Scarlett Bernard hates, it's Las Vegas. But when the cardinal vampire of Los Angeles convinces her to go investigate a new vampire-themed stage show, Scarlett quickly finds herself shoulder-deep in sequins, slot machines, and Old World intrigue.

The show's creators are vampire celebrities Arthur and Lucy Holmwood, who once inspired characters from the original Dracula. Now, however, they have no qualms about announcing their true status to the human world, endangering the secrecy of the Old World and Scarlett's mission to keep it hidden.

But before she can begin untangling the Holmwoods' motives, Scarlett also discovers that their new production has attracted more than just fans: Las Vegas's many vampires are suddenly disappearing, and rumors are flying that actual vampire hunters may have followed Arthur and Lucy to town.

Now, without her allies, her bargest, or her frequent partner Jesse Cruz, Scarlett must navigate a new underworld of secrets and murders in a city where nothing is ever as it seems. And the stakes have never been higher.

©2017 Melissa F. Olson. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Good but I miss my friends

We find Scarlett and Molly living together again. Scarlett has free time now that her and Eli are no longer a couple. She works freelance as a null and has the bragast, Shadow. Shadow did not get sufficient storytime. Not fair!

If you have been following this series from the beginning, you can see Scarlett has grown a back bone, developed her nulling skills and acquired fighting skills. She meets Dashiell as an equal, even makes demands. Her strength of character is demonstrated when meeting Silvo, the cardinal vampire of the city of Los Vegas, she does not back down and even calls him a wimp.

Scarlett reluctantly finds herself in Los Vegas, far from her cohorts. Dashiell needs someone to check out a Vegas show. Scarlett goes with her sister-in-law and her friends. She is pissed in how Dashiell forced her to do it and like child is going to stick to the letter of what was asked for her to do. After reporting her findings getting mouthy with Dashiell, he thanks her for scouting the area and leaves her to resolve the vampire problem in Los Vegas.

While in Vegas, the paranormals come to her for help, there are missing vampires and with a wimpy vampire cardinal for Vegas, people cannot get help. Scarlett is the famous null. She has to help, right? Despite the need to keep her traveling party safe, her loyalty to an old friend is the catalyst that gets her in the fight. She puts together a fighting group and kick ass.

There is a void from the characters we have come to enjoy; the snarky back and forth conversation with Jesse, the talks and rescues from Will and evenings with Molly. That turn out to be okay because we get to see how Scarlett can handle herself.

Even though many of my favor characters are not in the story, it was good to see how strong Scarlett has grown and how she takes down Vegas.

3 people found this helpful

Good listen!

Scarlett once again finds herself involved in vampire politics, corruption, murder, & mayhem. We meet a few additional characters whose overall support was well written. The book does end with a surprise (which I wondered if it would happen :)). The narrator did a great job!

2 people found this helpful

Love

this is such a good series! would have never found it, thank Goodness for Kindle unlimited with narration!

1 person found this helpful

Speechless

This story was both enjoyable and frustrating at the same time. I felt like parts of the story dragged and then there was too much going on in the next minute. There were a LOT of surprises in the plot which is what I found most enjoyable. Just be sure you listen to the end. I hate reading a trilogy before all three are released, this book is the prime example of why!

1 person found this helpful

I cant even.

How was this book even better than the first book? I find it almost impossible as the first book was so good. And now I need the third book in my life!!!!!

1 person found this helpful

Omggggg!!!

As if I didn’t love Scarlett enough before... I’m so happy with this book. Highly recommended.

1 person found this helpful

Can't wait

I love this author and her books. I can't wait for the next one.

1 person found this helpful

Great performer, great mystery

This is a great mystery with tons of other little things going on. Again this numerator does an amazing job at the performance. Doing very well with telling jokes and little quips, the change of voices and tension. I laugh out loud several times when listening to this performer. She's great! Though I really enjoy the regular characters in the scarlet world, it was a fresh look of being taken out of the element that is consistent in the series, which is LA. It was missing a little bit more of the supernatural feel than usual. But I'm one of those people that like it when there's so much going on you can't keep your story straight almost. Lol

1 person found this helpful

Melissa F. Olson DELIVERS!

This book was fantastic. Scarlett Bernard is one of my favorite characters and Amy McFadden does a wonderful job of portraying her snarky wit.
The beauty of Scarlett is that even though she is a flawed heroine, you can't help but love her. These little flaws in her character and moments of terrible decisions make her feel more authentic.
The end of this one SHOCKED me... obviously I was expecting a cliff-hanger, but I would never have guessed it to be something like this. I can't wait for the next one!

1 person found this helpful

Hope to read the next book soon.

I did not think I would like this book. I was on the fence on the Dracula concept but was satisfied with the way it was intertwined. Also like Scarlett, I am not a fan of Las Vegas. The twist has me curious. I suggest a book on Sashi.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent

I enjoyed this story, as usual well written, excellent descriptions making visualing the places and action easy. Good development of the characters plenty of witty dialog.

Another brilliant story

Another page turner. Always original with thought provoking moments and well hidden twists and turns.

New location

I bought this book and Shadow Hunt at the same time I’m so glad I did! This book was different as we had a lot of different characters and a different location. We do meet an old character which is nice and I fell in love with Wyatt. Sasha was super cool as well (no spoilers but very cool story with her and someone in LA!)
But I did really miss Jesse Cruz and Shadow

You never see it coming till it arrives

A really good follow up story with plenty of excitement and action and a story line that kept me guessing all the way through, ending in a block buster last sentence. Wow . Highly recommended both books and the narration is top class

Blood gamble

People from Scarlett's passed just keep popping up, plenty of action and intrigued all the way through, and what a cliff hanger can,t wait for number three. Amy McFadden has again done an excellent job of narrating Melissa F. Olson' s Blood Gamble. She kept me hooked , an excelled series all round. please both of you keep upon the good work.

Good but not a classic

Solid continuation of the Scarlett Barnard story.

Good points
- Scarlett continues to develop and there are a couple of decent new characters introduced.
- Amy McFadden does a great job with the narration, well apart from the attempt at an English accent.

Average points
- The plot - its OK but very predictable in general though there are a few twists to keep the interest.

Bad points
- All the characters we know and love from previous books are reduced to bit parts (Mollie, Dashel, Shadow and even Jesse) or aren't even in other than mentioned in passing.

Well worth a listen if you like the other Scarlett books

Recommend

This is such a good series, Melissa F Olson writes at the top of Author's and brings great characters alive. Highly recommended.