Dr Lisa Bakker is a group counsellor and diversion therapist working in a clinic in Las Vegas. Will Huntley, so-called ‘bad boy’ of the Huntley family, has been frittering away the money paid to him to seek out new suppliers in Europe and America for the family business, House of Diamonds in Bondi, but in reality living it up on the Riviera and losing heavily gambling in casinos. His mother has been subsidising his lifestyle as well from her home in France but when he ends up sleeping on the streets in Las Vegas she books him into the Peters Clinic and makes him promise to sort himself out.
Addiction to gambling is treated seriously in this charming book by Amber Jakeman. A love story is threaded through it as in the previous book in this series, House of Diamonds, but the principal characters are both coming to terms with serious past issues as well as falling in love. There are some interesting facts about how and why gambling becomes an addiction, as capable of destroying lives as any other addiction; and insights into individual counselling sessions as well as group therapy.
Boulder City, Las Vegas and the Nevada desert and mountains all play a part in shaping the development of the story of House of Hearts, which is not as light as the cover might suggest. I think the two books I have read in the series each deserve a slightly more serious cover.
I look forward to following the saga of the Huntley family!
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