All Bets Are Off, Marguerite Labbe

Not your typical professor/student story. 

-Review by Cindi

Eli Hollister is convinced that he has finally met the right man at the right time.  His previous relationships have always ended the same way.  The right guy.  The wrong time.  When he meets Ash Gallagher and they share a sexy evening together he is convinced that he has finally found the one.  He finds out how wrong he is less than twenty-four hours later.  Eli is an English professor and Ash turns out to be one of his students.  Knowing that he must avoid Ash outside of the classroom, he does everything he can to put him out of his mind.  The only problem?  Every time he sees Ash he wants him... bad.  This makes for a difficult semester for both men as they are eager to spend more time exploring each other..... far away from the classroom.

Ash is a military man, having spent several years in the Marines and deployed all over the world.  He is now in the Reserves and is a few months  from getting his college degree and moving on to a career in some form of law enforcement, far away from the small town where he is going to college.  Eli is supposed to be a fling, nothing more.  Just a warm body to share his bed with until he moves on to bigger and better things with his life.  He remains close to all of his military buddies and some are added as secondary characters.  They are not in the book very much but when they are they are critical to Ash's story.

A tentative friendship develops between Eli and Ash.  Eli and Ash fight their attraction but it is a losing battle as neither can keep their hands off each other when they are away from school.

There is a bit of drama with someone breaking into Eli's home and office.  The head of the English department (and Eli's boss) does everything in his power to get Eli fired and makes his work life a living hell in the process.  Eli and Ash have to be secretive or the department head will have more than enough evidence to get it done.

Throughout the book, Eli and Ash place bets with each other.  Those were funny to watch.  The first one is placed during their first evening together while watching a Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees baseball game (if you know baseball, you know how intense that rivalry is).  It is no secret to all who know me that I am a serious Major League Baseball fan and they also know where my loyalties lie.   I kept reminding myself that it was fiction.  :)  While I may not share the author's love, kudos to her for writing the baseball scenes accurately and real.  While the baseball scenes are not overwhelming in any way, they are still interesting, especially to this baseball fan.

The future does not look good for Eli and Ash.  They have to overcome the difficulties of having a secret relationship that, if found out, could hurt both of them professionally. Then there is the fact that Eli is looking for long-term and  Ash is not.  The way everything finally comes together is brilliant.  There is a major "awwww!" moment at the end that had me smiling.

This is a well written story with a few very steamy sex scenes.  I highly recommend it.