For champion poker player Brett Hennessey luck has always been a lady. Until he takes his fortune and turns his back on the card tables – that’s when she turns into a witch, stalking him in every aspect of his life in Vegas. That’s how others explain his recent string of problems anyway, but Brett is convinced his bad fortune has nothing to do with getting on luck’s bad side and everything to do with human agents. So he climbs on the back of his bike and keeps going till he hits Pennydash, Vermont – thinking distance might protect those he loves from the fall out of his misfortunes.

Luck has never been a lady with Kirby Farrell. She’s been dealt a tough set of cards, but now that she owns The Pennydash Inn she’s certain all that is about to change. But when Vermont experiences its warmest winter in decades and she finds herself with zero guests, she realizes bad luck isn’t quite through with her. So when a lone biker pulls into her deserted driveway she is thinking more serial killer and less privacy searching celeb.

Brett comes as a surprise to her, though. Kind to kittens and spinster inn keepers alike, he turns out to be a considerate and generous guest. And he does wonders for her libido, shooting it into overdrive with just a wink and a smile. Can love really be that easy? Can it just drive to your front door when you least expect it?

Kirby wasn’t the only one surprised by Brett. I couldn’t figure out how a champion poker player, raised in the razzle dazzle of Vegas, could be such a complete beta character. He was all warm and nurturing, without the drive or ambition I would have thought it would take to get where he was. And he completely stepped into the role of caregiver with Kirby, making repairs around the inn (even though he was a paying guest), cooking dinner for her, rescuing her from physical harm when needed, and coming to her financial aid when called for. When you add the hot sex he was such a fantasy I couldn’t get my head around him. Nothing about him screamed human, everything about him shouted dream man. I had a complete disassociation from the character as a result.

Brett handed the reigns of their relationship over to Kirby a lot, but she was another passive character. Though she was supposedly working to take control of her own life, she put up only a token resistance to having Brett take it over. I didn’t blame her. He was such a kind guy, so gentle and caring, you would have to be a fool not to let him. But again, no reality or consistency of character here.

This book had a sleepy quality to it, matching Kirby and Brett’s personalities. Both of them were laid back, wary, quiet people who, aside from the sparks flying from their desire, seemed to have little passion. It gave the entire book the same feel as the setting – eerily quiet. I kept turning the page, expecting more action, but the only kind I got was the occasional tussle between the sheets. Even that was turned soporific by the characters need to converse and converse and converse before actually doing more than a peck on the lips.

The mystery should have spiced it up but nothing really happens with that until the very end. Its resolution made me rather sad, and given how little a role it played in the tale my own feeling was that the book would have been better off without it.

Here Comes Trouble has nothing really wrong with it. It has nothing really right about it either. I guess I would give it a conditional – and marginal – recommendation for anyone who loves gentle, caring heroes and would love to spend a few hours at a sleepy inn in Vermont.