Monday, January 29, 2007

The Poker Diaries by Liza Conrad

Lulu has the best of both worlds in New York City. She spends time among high society with her mom in uptown New York. And she spends every other weekend playing backroom poker at her grandfather’s bar in downtown New York. Lulu is leading a pretty uneventful life until her best friend, Dack, breaks the number two poker rule: never bet what you can’t afford to lose. Now Lulu has to try to win back Dack’s watch, deal with her mom’s engagement to the mayor of New York, and her downtown love interest, Mark. But when she is suddenly blackmailed, everything gets out of control. Now she has to play a high stakes, highly illegal poker game or risk a leak to the press that could ruin the mayor’s chances of re-election and her mom’s happiness.

I absolutely loved this book! I could hardly put it down. This is the perfect book for a quick weekend or summer read. Liza Conrad combines the right amount of humor and suspense. I liked the love story between Mark and Lulu and Lulu’s mom and the mayor. I, also, really enjoyed the poker hands, poker slang, and poker rules that were included.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Erlanger, Kentucky United States