I absolutely loved The Gamble. I listened to 5 hours of the audible narration for this book, which equates to about 20%, and it was fantastic. The narrator had great distinction between the various characters and accents, her pronunciations and pacing were great and she was extremely clear in her speech. 
 This book was full of suspense, fun banter, humor, seriousness, love, drama, and pretty much a bit of everything. It was all incorporated so well. The main characters were great and very likeable. One of my favorite things about Nina was her verbal diarrhea whenever she got riled. She would provide multiple words all for the same meaning to really drive the point home. Max was amazing and I fell in love with him pretty quickly and loved him more and more with every chapter. Max and Nina were both so caring and considerate. They were amazing to their group of friends. The secondary characters were great too. I really enjoyed many of them. The story keeps you guessing until the very end about who the murderer is. I had a pretty good idea but only because it was a hunch, it definitely was not obvious. 
 I loved how all sorts of different townspeople of various occupations were incorporated into this story. The picture painted was quite vivid and whole. I could imagine living in Gnaw Bone and wish I could visit their little town and be in their world. The author did a really great job all the way around with this book. The character development was really good, scene building clear, romance was steamy, and there were so many dramatic things and issues that happened during a short time yet it didn't come across as ridiculous. Even Charlie's voice in Nina's head was done in a way where we got to know him and love him from brief glimpses of him. 
 I'm so glad I read The Gamble. It left me giddy happy. Overall, I give The Gamble 5+ stars. This book had it all and I would recommend it.