Product Description
Vice Detective, Brandon Carr, despite his tattoos and bad-boy cool, lives in the closet with no intention of ever coming out. Then he meets Nevada Gaming Agent, Nick O’Malley, at a Goth convention and his perfectly constructed world starts to crack. Nick’s passions for him, a restored hearse and rope bondage might drown Brandon’s will. With the odds stacked against them they try to move from simply sex to something more. Sparks fly as the pair probes a world of chea… More >>
#1 by Elisa on April 30, 2010 - 7:36 pm
Nick is an agent for the Eletronic Services for Gaming Control at Las Vegas and he is also a goth guy with long black hair, almost fangs like a vampire and with an heaser for car. If not for his tanned skin of Native American descendant, he would be the perfect vampire. At a goth convention he meets Brandon, a cop from North California. After a night of passion Brandon says they can see again but that he is in the closet at home and he is not ready or willing to correct this position. And Nick is rebounding after a bad breakup with his last lover. Not the best fundaments for starting a lasting relationship but they try.
But Brandon’s attitude when they are in public, his continuing flirting with girls, and the murder of one of Nick’s former colleague, soon after they spoke on phone, puts Nick on top of suspects.
Both Brandon and Nick are difficult characters. They are not typical, not full good heroes and not at all bad boy. In looks they are maybe more bad boy, but Nick is also a sentimental character. He is jelaous and he is still trying to overcome the inferiority’s feeling left him by his former lover. And the reaction he has when said former lover pissed him off is a clearly proof of his sentimental and hot nature.
Brandon instead is like Dr Jeckill and Mr Hyde: he can be soo sweet and loving when he is alone with Nick, and then so cold and detached when he is in public. Maybe not the right choice for one like Nick that in this moment would need a bit of reassurance. But still Brandon manages to outweight the bad moments with the good ones: in the end not having him is a lot worst than having him with some issue they have to overcome.
Cheating Chance is a good thriller, more adventure than romance, and even if the sex is a bit kink and there is a good bondage scene, it’s not overly erotic (and it’s not a complaint, I want to say that there is a good mix of sex and story…)
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by M. Nix on April 30, 2010 - 8:31 pm
Nick O’Malley is an agent for the Nevada gaming commission. Brandon Carr is a vice detective. They meet at a goth convention. Nicky is goth all the way. Brandon is full of piercing and tattoos. They hit it off and spend the rest of the weekend in Nicky’s hotel room but Nicky lives in Las Vegas and Brandon lives in California.
Nicky works as a field agent but also in the lab sometimes. He’s doing the work ups on a few slot machines when he gets a call from a friend asking him to send him some of those parts. Not long after Nicky talks to him, he’s murdered. Pretty soon Nicky’s knee deep in possible Mafia connections, drug money and hired thugs. Nicky’s got problems in his personal life too. His ex-boyfriend is sniffing around him again and he’s falling hard for Brandon who’s not out of the closet and doesn’t ever intend to be. Things are going to get worse before they get better for Nicky and Brandon.
Cheating Chance is a little dark sometimes, hot all the time and very exciting. I love Nicky and Brandon. They’re sexy and fun and incredibly hot together. Cheating Chance is more than a great story with two all around great guys who have amazingly hot sex. It offers an education in casinos, the mechanics of slot machines and what it might be like to be a vice detective. It’s interesting, entertaining and very well written. I want more of Nicky and Brandon!
There is a scene with nonconsensual sex in Cheating Chance.
Nannette
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Vixen on April 30, 2010 - 9:27 pm
This story is terrific. Nicky and Brandon are excellent characters and the chemistry between them just sizzles. The story here is great; you’ve got action, adventure, humor and some seriously steamy love scenes. Do not miss this book – and while your at it – pick up the sequel “Inland Empire”. You’ll be glad you did!!
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Jeffrey Erno on May 1, 2010 - 12:01 am
When I first picked up J. Buchanan’s Cheating Chance, I almost feared that I would regret investing the time it’d take to read it. When the central character Nick was introduced in the first chapter, I was certain that he was someone I would never be able to relate to. He is goth, very dark and almost sinister. He has a penchant for morbid things, and his primary mode of transpotation is a hearst. Nick is a 28 year old agent for Nevada’s gaming commision. He’s a computer geek who audits software chips that casinos use in their slot machines.
As I continued reading the story, I began to genuinely care about this extremely complex and paradoxical character. Yes, he was indeed dark and morbid, yet he also was sweet and sensitive. Nick meets his love interest Brandon at an LA goth convention. Initially the two hook up for what they each think is a one-night-stand. Their expectations are instantly surpassed, however, when they begin to fall for one another.
Brandon is a cop. He works vice, and he’s deep in the closet. Brandon has an ex-wife and an 8 year old daughter whom he rarely sees. He is a bit cocky and overly-butch, but his feelings also run very deeply. He falls hard for Nicky.
The story is a tumultous ride, as the couple struggles to find a way to mesh together their very different lifestyles. Nick becomes embroiled in a messy murder investigation when a former coworker is found dead outside a club that Nick is attending. He becomes a suspect, and for awhile even Brandon questions whether or not Nick bears any culpability.
When the real killers eventually realize that Nick is onto them, Brandon is faced with an extremely tough decision. Will he out himself in order to rescue the love of his life? Even if he does, will this be enough to save Nicky?
The most impressive and remarkable characteristic of this story is the degree of technical accuracy it contains. Obviously the author either spent a great deal of time researching casino gaming or has a gifted level of imaginative creativity. I suspect both to be true, actually. The author demonstrates a spectacular ability to beautifully weave words together in such an artful way that the reader is at times astonished by the undeniably magnificent talent.
The cop-speak and computer jargon were at times over my head, yet they were presented in what I’m assuming to be a realistic manner. In any event, they were believable. The author’s choice of vocabulary suggests a high degree of intelligence, yet the feel of the book was not snobbish or in any way pretentious. It did not seem as if the author was throwing around big words to make a good impression.
Some of the erotic scenes within the book were, in my opinion, unnecessary. The book was a great story in-and-of-itself, and didn’t even need to contain graphic sex to hold my attention. The sex, though, was hot. It also was creative and realistic.
My favorite little sub-plot in the story involved the emergence of Nicky’s ex-lover Jake. He performs a horribly hurtful and disgusting act of cruelty towards Nick, and then Nick exacts sweet yet cold revenge. I laughed about it for hours.
Overall, I was mesmerized by the book. Once I really got into the story, I couldn’t put it down. It contained elements of mystery and romance and erotica. It was a compelling and captivating read which I highly recommend. Had I followed my initial instinct and skipped reading this book, I certainly would have been the one who was cheated.
I give Cheating Chance five stars.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Venus Junkie on May 1, 2010 - 2:45 am
Cheating Chance
Nick O’Malley is an agent for the Nevada Gaming Commission; he’s also a Goth with a `68 Cadillac hearse. At the Goth convention in San Diego, Nick meets Brandon Carr, who is a cop for the Riverside California PD. They have a weekend fling and go their separate ways. When the attraction proves to be too strong for Brandon to resist any longer, he drives his Harley bike over two hundred miles to spend four days with Nick. Out for a night on the town, Nick and Brandon are leaving a club when shots are fired and a man is killed in the parking lot, which turns out to be a former co-worker and friend of Nick’s.
Cheating Chance is a walk on the dark side with a peek at the Goth lifestyle and the dirty side of casinos. Nick is an openly gay computer geek who is good at his behind-the-scene job. Brandon is still hiding in the closet, afraid of losing respect if the other cops find out he’s gay. Because of this, he ignores Nick in public and flirts with women, leaving Nick feeling used. The gifted James Buchanan lures you into the networking within the legal systems and the progression of an investigation, the emotional turmoil of a new relationship and the motivations for murder. Cheating Chance is a well written, realistic mystery blended with humor and sensuous love play that keeps your emotions attached to the very end of the story. I enjoyed this impressive and tantalizing story immensely.
Rating: 5 / 5