REVIEW: Bad Boy By Elliot Wake
New Adult/ Contemporary Romance/ Psychological Thriller
AMAZON / B & N / KOBO / BD
Blog / Twitter / GR
Vlog star Renard Grant has nothing to prove: he's got a pretty face, chiseled body, and two million adoring video subscribers. Plus the scars on his chest and a prescription for testosterone. Because Ren is transgender: assigned female at birth, living now as male. He films his transition and shares it bravely with the world; his fans love his honesty and positivity.
But Ren has been living a double life.
Off-camera, he's Cane, the muscle-bound enforcer for social justice vigilante group Black Iris. As Cane, he lets his dark side loose. Hurts those who prey on the disempowered. Indulges in the ugly side of masculinity. And his new partner, Tamsin Baylor, is a girl as rough and relentless as him. Together, they terrorize the trolls into silence.
But when a routine Black Iris job goes south, Ren is put in the crosshairs. Someone is out to ruin his life. He's a bad boy, they say, guilty of what he punishes others for.
Just like every other guy: at heart, he's a monster, too.
Now Ren's got everything to prove. He has to clear his name, and show the world he's a good man. But that requires facing demons he's locked away for years. And it might mean discovering he's not such a good guy after all.
"An eye for an eye. I'd blind the whole world if I had to."
Just as it was the case with Black Iris and Cam Girl, the last page of Bad Boy by Elliot Wake left me feeling emotionally drained and in urgent need of hugs, but as every emotional junkie/ masochist reader I'm addicted to this type of books. Books that make you feel and leave some profound impression on you.
First of all - before reading Bad Boy, I highly recommend reading Black Iris #1 and Cam Girl #2, because the stories and the characters are intertwined. Otherwise you'll feel out of the loop if you jump right on this one. Bad Boy is a story about Ren, one of the members of the vigilante group called Black Iris which is dedicted on getting revenge on those who have wronged women. But this is not your typical revenge story. The story is more complex and thoughtprovoking than that, where revenge only makes a small part of it. First and foremost, for me, it's a quite powerful and poignant story about everyday life and struggles of a transgender with the addition of gender and rape culture.
Without spoiling anything all I can say is that you should read Elliot Wake's books if not solely because of the writing which is outstanding. Whereas I adored Black Iris and Cam Girl and can't recommend them enough, when it comes to Bad Boy I'll have to agree with readers who said that the concept of the story was good, I liked it, but I wasn't exactly satisfied with the way the author concluded some situations. With this I refer especially to the ending which was in my opinion rushed and to some point anticlimatic. To sum it up- there were some parts I loved and then some not so much. That's why this time it's 3.5 stars.
Recommended to the fans of thoughtprovoking mindfucks!
"We're all trapped by something. Freedom is an illusion. It's the wind in your hair as you plummet off the cliff's edge."
RATING: 3.5 / 5 stars
Posted by PurpleBook at 6:30 PM No comments:
Labels: Contemporary Romance, dark, fangirling like crazy, favorite authors, mindfuck, new adult / adult, Purple, review, suspense, thriller
REVIEW: Wildfire (Hidden Legacy #3) by Ilona Andrews
Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy
amazon / b & n / kobo
Goodreads / Blog / Twitter / Facebook
Just when Nevada Baylor has finally come to accept the depths of her magical powers, she also realizes she's fallen in love. Connor "Mad" Rogan is in many ways her equal when it comes to magic, but she's completely out of her elements when it comes to her feelings for him. To make matters more complicated, an old flame comes back into Rogan's life…
Rogan knows there's nothing between him and his ex-fiance, Rynda Sherwood. But as Nevada begins to learn more about her past, her power, and her potential future, he knows she will be faced with choices she never dreamed of and the promise of a life spent without him.
As Nevada and Rogan race to discover the whereabouts of Rynda's kidnapped husband and are forced to confront Nevada's grandmother, who may or may not have evil motives, these two people must decide if they can trust in each other or allow everything to go up in smoke.
Ilona Andrews simply can't do wrong when it comes to creating a compelling, action-packed and breath-taking urban fantasy/paranormal romance story with a fair dose of humor and fierce, charismatic and lovable characters. They show that with their every next book, just as they showed it with the third installment of HL series. The book was simply addictive. Unputdownable. I've read it in one day.
These two authors are one of few authors who know the perfect receipt when it comes to my ideal uf/pnr romance book and they keep delivering it every time. The series is fairly new, but they've become one of my favs as soon as I've read the 1st book. One of the biggest reasons for that are kick-ass, witty main and secondary characters who never disappoint. And I can't finish this review without mentioning the main hero - the (in)famous Prime Connor Rogan who makes me think R rated thoughts...dayum... that guy is definitely my new Barrons. 4 stars because of the Rynda case which was a bit irritating in the beginning.
Highly recommended to every urban fantasy/paranormal romance fan!
*** My Review of Burn For Me (Hidden Legacy #1) By Ilona Andrews
Labels: action, characters we like, dark, fangirling like crazy, favorite authors, favorite series, kickass hero & heroine, new adult / adult, paranormal romance, Purple, steamy, urban fantasy
ARC Review: DANGEROUS PROMISE (The Protector, #1) by Megan Hart
A female bodyguard with enhanced abilities. A billionaire playboy committed to destroying people like her. A romance they didn't expect…
Dive into the first book in this fantastic new series set in the near future from New York Times bestselling author Megan Hart!
Nina Bronson used to be all human -- until the experimental surgeries and internal technology that saved her life and enhanced her as a soldier also forced her to leave the army for private service. Now she and her peers are facing slow, painful deaths unless their technology is upgraded, and the one man keeping those upgrades illegal and unavailable is an obnoxious billionaire. A man too gorgeous for his own good.
A man she's supposed to guard with her life.
Ewan Donahue is the public voice speaking out against the enhancement procedures of injured soldiers. But when his lobbying leads to death threats, he needs someone to protect him around the clock. He doesn't want to rely on an enhanced soldier—Nina's tech goes against everything he stands for. But he really doesn't want her to be beautiful like she is. Doesn't want her to suffer like she will.
Doesn't want to succumb to the searing desire he feels for her.
As a series of attacks on his life send them to a remote cabin, their close proximity brings them together in ways they never imagined. They know they must prevent the need simmering between them, resist each other at all costs. But when tensions are high and danger is close, passion burns hottest of all…
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks
Dangerous Promise is a science fiction (I think) romance set in the near future written by Megan Hart. I read it because Megan Hart wrote it — it's as simple as that. I didn't even have to read the full summary to know I would be reading it. All I needed to know was that one of my favorite authors wrote it.
Science fiction and futuristic stories don't find themselves on my reading list often, probably because authors tend to set their books in a future time that's far from something to look forward to, but I wouldn't let that deter me here. The disturbingly near future Megan Hart created in this series is bleak: a lot of species are extinct, synthetic food seems to be on the main menu for most people, while real food is something only the rich can afford, humans have messed around with the Moon, and caused damage on Earth, and the United States now called the North American United States have been in, surprise, surprise, yet another war.
Nina Bronson was a soldier who got severely injured in that war and died, but she didn't stay dead. Enhancement technology was implanted in her body, and she survived and became stronger, faster, she became a super soldier. However, that technology had become illegal, making necessary upgrades impossible, so the tech which had saved her life would end it an a matter of few years.
Being enhanced meant Nina had to leave the army and work in the private sector. She worked as a protector, and her newest job was being a bodyguard of Ewan Donahue, the man most responsible for making the enhancement tech illegal. Ewan was less than pleased to have Nina as his bodyguard, but the threats on his life called for having someone extremely capable to protect him, and Nina was the best. Neither of them was satisfied with their arrangement, but they were determined to push through: Nina was a necessity for Ewan, and Ewan was a job for Nina.
Like the time the story takes place, the relationship between Nina and Ewan was cold in the beginning. It was nothing surprising given their backgrounds. What was also nothing surprising is that that changed because of all the time they spent together which really was all the time. They would have friendly talks, other times they would argue. With each attack on Ewan that Nina stopped, they became closer. Despite himself, Ewan was becoming more and more attracted to Nina, and that attraction wasn't one-sided. They danced around it a lot. It wasn't until the plan to find out who was after Ewan led them to Ewan's secret property away from anyone that they finally acted on it. That's when it got complicated and more emotional.
Complicated and emotional love stories is one of the main reasons I love Megan Hart's books, and Nina and Ewan's is apparently so complicated it needed a series to be told. Having read this book and about a third of the second installment, I can see why that is. Staying together won't be easy for them. That was clear from the beginning. The story is told from both Nina's and Ewan's perspective. What we find out about Ewan and what Nina wasn't aware of is Ewan's involvement in the development of the enhancement tech, and his reasons for lobbying to make it illegal. That was why his attraction to Nina was unwelcome, and once he developed feelings why he was afraid of Nina finding out about it. For the first time he was with a woman who made him think about forever. Sadly, he was having a hard time figuring out how to make it happen. It was the same with Nina. They were in love. Away from the world and their regular lives, everything was perfect in their little bubble. But the bubble burst. Reality and hidden truths came crashing in leaving them with heartache.
In the end I'll say this was another Megan Hart book I really liked reading. Dangerous Promise did what any first book in a series should do, and that is to make me want to read the sequel. I not only want to continue reading, I am anxious to find out what happens with Nina and Ewan. Wicked Attraction, here I come!
Labels: adult, arc, Danija, favorite authors, NetGalley, review, Romance, science fiction
REVIEW: Wildfire (Hidden Legacy #3) by Ilona Andre...
ARC Review: DANGEROUS PROMISE (The Protector, #1) ...