All In by Emma Scott

My rating: 5/5 stars 

As I said in the previous review for “Full Tilt” this has been an extremely emotional journey for me, because I like beautiful stories from which you can learn. This series is exactly what someone needs when wanting to find the strength to carry on, to get up and continue living, hoping for a brighter future.

I have to admit that I have cheated a little and I read the blurb for the second installment “All In”, wanting to see if Jonah and Kacey will get their HEA. When I read that now the leading man is Theo, his brother, I was “NOOOO WAY!!!”, but I knew Emma had a plan in stored for our characters and this choice will be the best.

As you may all have figured out, Jonah is no more, leaving Kacey broken. After the sweet love story they shared, full of hopes and dreams, now she is alone again, drowning in her old addiction that this time threatens to kill her. Theo lost his brother and his family is falling apart. He also made a promise to Jonah and he intends to keep it. Only that his feelings for Kacey run deeper than just a promise, but he will need time to let Kacey heal and maybe see him with different eyes eventually, not just only as the brother of the love of her life. Things will progress naturally for them, and life will find our characters searching for a second chance in love, even if a lot of people find it odd.

If “Full Tilt” was extremely sad and emotional, “All In” is the same, but with a sprinkle of hope. Don’t get me wrong, the first one also had hope, because Jonah and Kacey loved each other knowing what will happen next and this fact only gave them hope and memorable moments to live the present. But this one had hope for the future, for something amazing and durable, which you know it’s going to last forever. Yap, “FOREVER” is the word that defines Kacey and Theo now, and the way they figured it out touched my soul in the most overwhelming way.

Kacey was amazing as a leading lady, but I want to talk about Theo a bit. I was afraid that after falling in love with Jonah, things will not work for me with Theo, but I loved him too. This loyalty to his brother and family made my knees weak and the admiration that I felt towards him was only stronger when knowing his fears and hidden desires. I had a hunch that he was in love with Kacey from book 1, but I didn’t have a clue that his feelings were so deep. The guilt that trapped both of them was understandable, but I wanted to read this book with an open mind, without judging. I am so against family dictating relationships, even when the situation is like this. So what if Kacey is in love with Theo now? I understood the hesitation, but I wanted them to surpass it and just live, be together, even if family and friends don’t get it 100%.

I wanted to shout to everybody to leave them be, to encourage their love and to let them heal. I wanted to shout to Theo’s dad to learn to be proud of this son and see how an amazing talent he is and to Kacey’s folks to love her again. They were so good together and this type of story gives you so much hope and strength, being a life lesson you won’t forget anytime soon. There is no proper time to heal after a tragic moment, no button to click and be fine, and I enjoyed the way their relationship progressed, us readers being the witnesses to everything.

When somebody will ask me that “All In” is about, I will tell them is about 2 broken souls that lost a lot, but found “forever” in each others arms. I hope I managed to sum it up properly.