Jingle of Coins
A Jingle of Coins by Carla Ledbetter is a romantic suspense novel with a unique paranormal twist.
Emily Sane has just landed a permanent job doing something that she loves. An artist by trade she does not know that fate has another plan in store for her.
Driving down a steep mountain incline Emily crashes her car and after months in hospital her dream job is no longer a possibility for Emily has lost the ability to draw. Once she comes to terms with this she has to move on with her life.
Still affected by the accident Emily's hearing is now highly sensitive and she finds that she has to wear a hearing aid to dull the sounds or suffer horrific headaches.
A chance outing to a small casino is the catalyst that brings to Emily's attention the unique ability she now possesses. For when Emily plays the slot machines she can hear when one is about to pay out the jackpot from the sound that it makes.
Thinking at first that it is a fluke Emily decides to test her ability and see if it is indeed a case of the machines talking to her.
Sure enough Emily finds that her gift is genuine. What she does not realise is that she has come to the attention of Glen Craigone who immediately spots that she is "cheating" but cannot figure out how.
Emily, oblivious to the attention she is getting, moves to Las Vegas in order to put her gift to good use and make enough money to live on for as long as she can get away with it. She does not realise that Glen is also heading to Vegas for his business and that when he spots her there he is determined to figure out her secret.
Emily has to question the morality of what she does and decide whether she is in fact cheating at the slots. What she does not expect is to be confronted by Glen (who is her handsome next door neighbour) who has decided that rather than turn her in, they should combine forces and he can teach her how to be less suspicious in her manner and she will split the jackpot with her.
But Emily and Glen find that they have even more to worry about when they get mixed up in another neighbour's problems.
Kate is call girl with wealthy clients. She is also working undercover for the government to bring down one of her clients who is suspected of various criminal activities.
By various twists of fate Emily is mixed up in the whole matter and when one dead body arrives on her doorstep she knows that she is in a great deal of danger.
A calm head is needed and whilst previously it had been Glen to act more rationally it is now the time for Emily to step back and see that not everything in life is about money. But Glen wants to make sure that they have enough money to live comfortably and to be protected by the government when the whole mess is over.
I don't want to give too much away since this is a suspense novel after all and if I do it will rather spoil the fun for other readers.
However I will say that it is an enjoyable read and the idea of someone having hearing that can assist in winning on the slots is a very original one.
The suspense is played out very well although avid romance readers should be aware that the romance does take very much a back seat in this novel.
Enjoyable and entertaining with a moral debate just waiting to start...would it be cheating if you had the ability to win at the slots by merely listening to them?
OVERALL RATING : 
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Jingle of Coins is available from DLSIJ Press
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