GRR Reviews When The Chips Are Down (Three Of A Kind) by Beth Rinyu

When the Chips are Down is a combination single parent love story, fling to a thing, AND family drama all rolled into one. But unlike the best plots, the B-plot remained a B-plot and had to be resolved separately instead of all resolved together.

Melanie Hanson divorced her cheating ex who traded her for a newer model. Melanie had a one night stand with a cute guy in Mexico on vacation, and what happened south of the border, stays south of the border... Until she realized "Mexico Man" is her daughter's calculus teacher. She is raising her twin daughters who are polar opposites. Melanie found she has major plumbing problems in her house, and the only (not licensed) plumber is Ben Wilder, the boy she loved to hate back in high school, and he's still as charming as ever. Things got complicated when one of her daughters fell for Ben's son Jason... while the other daughter is getting into high school drama between the queen bee (read: bitch) and one of the jocks on the football team when she won't put out. Now Melanie and her daughters Carrie and Gia had to navigate life as they figure things out...

A lot of things happen in less than 300 pages, and the book does end on a good note, but somehow the family and high school drama almost feels as if the parallel plot doesn't really fold back on itself like some of the better-plotted stories. It's not bad, it's just not extraordinary.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Single mom raising twin daughters had to choose between two guys in town even as her daughters got into drama of their own

Overall Rating: 4/5

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