Unlike any other Mia Sheridan novel I've ever read, this book is definitely not for the faint-hearted. The story is told in two alternating timelines,Unlike any other Mia Sheridan novel I've ever read, this book is definitely not for the faint-hearted. The story is told in two alternating timelines, one set eight years before, and the other in the present, both timelines having one thing in common—a woman named Josie Stratton. In the past, Josie is abducted, shackled and held captive for ten months in an abandoned warehouse before she finally escapes. In the present, there appears to be a copycat killer who is kidnapping and torturing women, and the detective in charge cannot help but be reminded of the crimes committed against Josie almost a decade before, especially when the killer starts threatening Josie. As past and present collide, the puzzle pieces slowly begin falling into place, to reveal a truth that is full of twists and turns. The author keeps us guessing until the very end, and while I LOVED the way this story was told, I struggled at times with the graphic nature of some of the scenes. This is one of those stories that stays with long after you've finished reading it, in more ways than one....more
“He was the one constant in my life that had pushed me through the darkness. He was the one constant in my life
***DUET REVIEWED AS A WHOLE***
“He was the one constant in my life that had pushed me through the darkness. He was the one constant in my life that loved me beyond everything else, beyond what I was or had been or could ever be. He wanted me to be better. He wanted to be better for me. The problem was he was as tangled in the madness as I was.”
What a thrill ride this has been! Beautifully written and wildly exhilarating, this action-packed second chance romance—set in the dangerous criminal underworld of kingpins, mobsters, and professional con artists—had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. With my knee bouncing with both anxiety and anticipation, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, desperate to piece together a story that is bursting at the seams with complex subplots and unexpected twists and turns, whilst still being infused with the kind of emotional intensity and strong romantic element I’ve come to expect from Rachel Higginson. I couldn’t have loved it any more than I did!
“He was the one constant in my life that had pushed me through the darkness. He was the one constant in my life
***DUET REVIEWED AS A WHOLE***
“He was the one constant in my life that had pushed me through the darkness. He was the one constant in my life that loved me beyond everything else, beyond what I was or had been or could ever be. He wanted me to be better. He wanted to be better for me. The problem was he was as tangled in the madness as I was.”
What a thrill ride this has been! Beautifully written and wildly exhilarating, this action-packed second chance romance—set in the dangerous criminal underworld of kingpins, mobsters, and professional con artists—had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. With my knee bouncing with both anxiety and anticipation, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, desperate to piece together a story that is bursting at the seams with complex subplots and unexpected twists and turns, whilst still being infused with the kind of emotional intensity and strong romantic element I’ve come to expect from Rachel Higginson. I couldn’t have loved it any more than I did!
"What do you need, Clare?" "You." "Then get over here and take it."
Holy cow, what a mind-blowing thrill this series has been! I can’t rememb
"What do you need, Clare?" "You." "Then get over here and take it."
Holy cow, what a mind-blowing thrill this series has been! I can’t remember the last time I read two books so quickly and so obsessively, glued onto the pages like nothing else in the world mattered, but when a story is this gripping and the writing is this good, nothing could ever peel me away from it. Now, being a much-coveted sequel to a story that had already set a remarkable tone to the series as a whole, I honestly never thought this book could live up to my own high expectations of it, yet it somehow not only met them—it hit them out of the ballpark. This series remains composed of two very distinctive romances, illustrative of two very different couples and the emotional and sexual dynamics within them. But the more we delve into their respective stories, the more we uncover all the ways they would forever be tied to one another by an unexpected twist of fate that might have brought them into each other’s lives unwillingly, but then given a common purpose to fight for. A tale of hope, survival and unconditional, motherly love—this is first and foremost Clare’s story, but it also blends seamlessly into Roman and Elisabeth’s storyline, turning it into a heartbreaking, exhilarating page-turner with a tender romance at the core of it. An absolute joy to read.
“I will fix us, Elisabeth. Mark my words. I will not spend my life without you.”
I knew it. I just knew it. When my little ‘spidey senses’
“I will fix us, Elisabeth. Mark my words. I will not spend my life without you.”
I knew it. I just knew it. When my little ‘spidey senses’ start tingling even before I open a book—merely from reading the first few lines of the blurb—I just know it is time to put some comfortable pants on and get ready for a wild ride. This book blew my mind, everything I thought I’d find in it infinitely better than I first expected, and every page revealing a new, exciting layer to a story that I could not have even conjured in my wildest dreams. Flawlessly written, perfectly paced, this book was utterly irresistible to me from the very premise of a husband fighting to get his estranged wife back, but the more I read, the more I realised nothing could have prepared me for this kind of remarkable storytelling or the many marvellous twists and turns along the way. An absolute must-read that I am shout-recommending from the rooftops.
Certain loves can’t be fought. The harder you tried, the harder you would be knocked back, over and over again, until it beat you into submiss
Certain loves can’t be fought. The harder you tried, the harder you would be knocked back, over and over again, until it beat you into submission, until your heart caved and body surrendered. Love like that didn’t know the rules of society; it didn’t care about life mistakes. It only knew what must be, and what would happen—no matter what.
Alessandra Torre never disappoints. A bewitching tale of first loves and second chances, laced with just enough mystery to keep our hearts racing, this was a book I could not put down for a second. And even though the author wastes no time in immersing us deeply into the fast-paced world of Major League Baseball—the heart-stopping backdrop to this captivating tale—we know from the start that this is a love story first and foremost, one whose heartbeat never fails to pound to the rhythm of the game it sprouts from, up and down, faster and faster, and all the heart-stopping beats in between. I swooned, I ached, I cheered on until the very last page, and fell just a bit more in love with this author’s remarkable ability to transform her voice time and time again.
“We were terrible people who did terrible things to each other. We were slaves to hate because hate was strong and
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“We were terrible people who did terrible things to each other. We were slaves to hate because hate was strong and we sacrificed love to fuel it.”
O. M. G. There are simply no words to describe this story and do it justice. A dark, gritty read start to finish, I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience for the most part because I found myself enjoying things I most definitely shouldn’t have, and I am now convinced that Karina Halle could make me jump out of an airplane with a handkerchief instead of a parachute, because she makes Quentin Tarantino look like Walt fricking Disney. If you’re not afraid of an unconventional love story, one that won’t just push the boundaries of your comfort zone, but completely incinerate them, and still leave you smiling like a fool, I can’t recommend this trilogy highly enough. But like you’d take your shoes off at the door, walk into this story free from everything you’ve ever come to expect in a romance and allow yourself to enjoy the ride…in all its wicked depravity. Because with superb writing such as this, you won’t even want a seatbelt.
“The wife of a drug king. The queen of corruption.”
The love story between Luisa and Javier Bernal has never been a hearts-and-flowers kind of romance, their turbulent affair forged in the cauldron of the violent Mexican drug cartels, but while they were once partners and confidantes, the past year and a half has created a deep fissure in their marriage, turning them into two strangers living under the same roof. Once a ruthless, cunning, merciless man who was also capable of great tenderness towards his wife and loyalty towards his men, his twisted code of morals dictating his every decision, Javier’s grief over losing his beloved sister Alana has now turned him into a loose cannon. Unpredictable and blood-thirsty, violence has become his only outlet, making him no longer trust himself around his wife. Believing that there is no place for love in his life and that his feelings for her have become his ultimate weakness, the only thing capable of hurting him any further, he pushes Luisa away, seeing emotional distance as the only way of protecting them both.
“She had become my family, my confidante, my lover, my friend. She had become everything to me, in bed and outside of it. But she was a weakness, my weakness. She was what the would go after next, the last thing I could possibly lose. Unless I lost her first.”
Heartbroken and lost, Luisa keeps hoping Javier would find his way back to her, even though the loss of his affections is slowly making her lose herself and her purpose in this new life. She remains willing to forgive him for all his mistakes, to give him all of her, whichever way he needs it, just to have his love back. The distance between them, however, only seems to grow as time passes, driving Luisa to make desperate mistakes of her own.
“Please. Be rough. Hurt me. Make me bleed. Give me something.”
But while they are both busy licking their own wounds, a snake in the grass lies waiting, ready to strike and take all they’ve built together away from them. And once he does, this story explodes into an out-of-control inferno of events, each more shocking than the next, yet each fitting of this story and of these characters. This book is prickly, confronting, brutal more times than not, but it never pretends to be something it’s not, consistently zealous and out-of-the-box, and forever true to its premise. Stories like these are what nightmares are made of, but Ms Halle still manages to add a compelling human dimension even to the scariest of her monsters. And to paint even the most depraved of actions with a romantic brush. Gory, twisted, horrific from the get-go, this is not a fairy tale, each of these characters inherently flawed and damaged, but the beauty of this story lies in their self-awareness, in their ability to adapt to their circumstances, to forgive each other, to constantly push the limits of their own moral codes and keep redefining themselves in the process. Do yourself a favour and immerse yourself in this story with an open mind—you might end up loving it just as much as I have.
“It was only him and it was only me. King and Queen. That’s all that existed in this rusted, bloody space, between these two tortured, filthy souls.”
He whispered more words in her ear, words she’d never heard before, in a voice she always wanted to hear. He was ge
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He whispered more words in her ear, words she’d never heard before, in a voice she always wanted to hear. He was gentle with her, in a way he’d never been before, with a touch she could learn to live for. And as he breathed life into her veins and new thoughts into her mind and different feelings into her soul, there was just one phrase repeating itself in her head. “… we don’t have to be these people anymore …”
While not always in the mood for Romantic Suspense novels, this author’s extraordinary writing in My Time in the Affair made me pick up this book without a second’s hesitation, already certain it would be a thrill-ride of a lifetime. And how right I was! An exhilarating reading experience from the very first page, there was not a moment in this story that adrenaline was not rushing through my veins or my heart was not beating a million miles an hour. Action-packed start to finish, divinely written, raw and gritty but somehow romantic and sexy at the same time—this book was unexpected in its beauty, given the violent backdrop of the story, and I was literally left panting in the end. Panting from excitement because their story was not over, panting from all the emotions I had felt while reading this incredible story, panting because my heart felt like it had run a marathon…barefoot. A truly breathtaking tale of two enemies turning into lovers, battling their way across North Africa, trying to stay alive in order to complete their missions, as long as they don’t kill one another beforehand. A must read!
“The were destined for two very different paths.”
Marcelle “Marc” De Sant and Liliana “Lily” Brewster are mercenaries, hired by the Russian mob for a heist, Marc’s job being to steal blood diamonds from a Liberian gang, and Lily’s to smuggle them out of Africa. On their last night in the same city, as Marc completes his assignment and Lily is about to start hers, they share one night of toe-curling passion, a night meant to be expel a month’s worth of sexual tension and desire between them, knowing that after than night they’d never see one another again.
“…that woman will f*ck your world up. She looks like a pin up, f*cks like a porn star, and fights like Tyson.”
But in a world where trust and trustworthiness are rare commodities, and it’s every man for himself, Lily and Marc soon find themselves facing each other’s gun barrels, fighting to separate lies from the truth, all the while running from the very men who set them off against one another. As we follow their gripping journey from Liberia to Morocco, we watch the two lovers-turned-adversaries learning to rely on one another, even put their lives in each other’s hands, their differing agendas becoming more and more aligned as they become closer.
“Tell me what do, Marc, I’ve been making decisions for too long. Have they all been wrong? Tell me what do.”
The most badass heroine I have ever come across, Lily is no damsel in distress in any given scenario. She holds her own in every fight—punching, kicking, shooting her way out of any peril—determined to fulfill her final mission. Yet Marc’s dominant, protective traits also awaken the vulnerable young woman in her who has been looking after herself for five long years, never trusting anyone to make decisions for her or to have her best interest at heart. She craves to give herself to a man who truly understands her, a man who would take her far away from the life she has chosen for herself, and as they grow closer, their priorities start shifting, bringing them into uncharted waters they are both uncertain how to navigate. Or whether they are even capable of doing so.
“I made promises to yesterday. I can’t start giving away my tomorrows.”
A compelling, fast-paced roller-coaster ride that never tapers off, never loses steam or fails to hold us willing captives every step along the way. With an intriguing, multi-faceted cast of characters and exhilarating action on every page, this is first and foremost a love story, born against all odds, a love story between two people who somehow manage to preserve some of their humanity in the midst of a life where being human is seen as the ultimate weakness. Love made them see a better life, but the journey to believing in that life remains ahead of them as their story continues and concludes in Out of Plans…
They were like magnets, fighting against each other one minute, then stuck together the next. Whatever it was, it was tangible, and powerful, and very real, and very present. He was the first person to ever make her question her plan. To ever make her wonder if maybe revenge wasn’t the answer. “… we don’t have to be these people anymore …”
“You left me! I trusted you and you left me! I believed in you, but you never believed in me. You left me in some c
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“You left me! I trusted you and you left me! I believed in you, but you never believed in me. You left me in some country I’d never heard of, with nothing. You just left me.”
What a spectacular thrill-ride this series has been start to finish! For someone who rarely reads Romantic Suspense novels, this story has now turned me into a bona fide aficionado, and this author’s fan for life. Just as action-packed as its prequel, just as brilliantly written and masterfully executed, this was a book I was dying to get my hands on from the moment I knew it was coming, and it did not disappoint one bit. An unexpected love story, striking in its beauty, juxtaposed against a violent backdrop of deadly gun fights, sadistic mobsters, and hair-raising escapes—I felt like my poor heart was going to either burst out of my chest or give up on me altogether, and I loved every single exhilarating second of it. This is nothing less than one of my favourite reads of the year.
“She was quicker, faster. Lily 2.0. Her curves had been replaced by tone muscles, and her fiery passion had been replaced by ice cold anger.”
After surviving their diamond heist across North Africa, they might have found hope for a better life in each other’s arms, but we find our two mercenaries apart. In an attempt to spare her from risking her own life by going after the man who put a bounty on her head, Marcelle “Marc” De Sant has abandoned the love of his life on a beach in East Africa, telling her to find happiness without him. But as noble as his intentions might have been, Liliana “Lily” Brewster is all but moved by his actions, and determined now more than ever to prove to him and to everyone else what she’s made of. And then kill Marc for not believing in her.
“Do you see any of this, De Sant? Wherever you are, have you heard about me yet? You’re a coward, you’re spineless, you’re weak willed, and I’m going to prove who is the stronger one, once and for all.”
With the help of our favourite smooth-operating, suit-donning, motto-professing, deadly Englishman, Lily trains to become an unstoppable killing machine, channeling her heartbreak into an unquenchable thirst for vengeance and justice. She single-mindedly hunts the man responsible for her sister’s death, chasing him across two continents and using every resource at her disposal, but as she finally reaches her target, she finds herself in a face-off with the very man who broke her heart.
“You think I’m some delicate, fragile, little girl wandering around out here. I’m not. I wasn’t in Africa, and I’m even less of one now. You need to recognize that.” “You’re delicate to me, and I would die if I broke you.”
And so we embark on a nail-biting adventure peppered with countless twists and turns, never knowing what act of death-defying insanity we’d find as we turn the next page. Yet, as wild and dangerous as their mission becomes, the love story between Marc and Lily never fails to take centre stage, driving the story forward and infusing it with a romantic softness that stands in stark contrast to the mayhem around them.
“You’re free. Go back to work. Get some jobs. Become Marcelle De Sant again.” “Sweetheart, I haven’t been him since I looked into a pair of green eyes six months ago.”
Lily is quite possibly the most fearless heroine I have ever come across, a woman set on proving to everyone around her that she is no wilting flower and that she does not need a man to ‘save’ her, but her true courage is to be found in the way her heart refuses to stop loving even when giving her heart away is the riskiest act of them all.
“How could I have gone home? Home had become wherever he was.”
A brilliant marriage of gripping drama and gritty action, held together by phenomenal character development and mouth-watering chemistry between them, this is a book I devoured as quickly as I could, absolutely entranced by this author’s vivid prose and flair for effortlessly mixing action sequences and sexy romance. I hope one day to see this breathtaking story on the big screen since that is where it truly belongs, the role of Lily naturally played by Bruce Willis, in a red wig or something, because…Bruce Willis.
“Her lips soothed me, her heart challenged me, her eyes made me bleed. My bed was where we held our exorcisms. She brought me peace. I brought
“Her lips soothed me, her heart challenged me, her eyes made me bleed. My bed was where we held our exorcisms. She brought me peace. I brought her fire.”
Javier Bernal. Just that name does funny things to my insides. We met him in The Artists Trilogy, and even though I personally never stopped cheering for the other guy, there has always been something utterly irresistible about this psychotic Mexican and his brand of mischief. He never really showed any redeemable qualities, none that could truly outweigh the wickedness of his ways, and yet I always hoped he would find his happy ending and perhaps even abandon the ‘dark side’ for the right woman. Well… I should have known from the beginning that no story with Javier as the leading character could ever be considered ‘ordinary’ by any stretch of the imagination, and that to truly enjoy his ‘grand finale’, one would need to abandon all hope of redemption and simply enjoy the debauchery of it all. And what a delicious ride it has been! Karina Halle has once again proven that she can make us fall in love with anyone she pleases, regardless of how depraved and morally questionable their character is, and that armed with a pen, she is the truly dangerous one.
“My destiny was constantly being rewritten and it would continue to be until it was fulfilled. Until I was at the top of the world and I had everything I’d ever wanted at my feet. Until I could crush everything with none of the mercy that was bestowed upon me.”
Back in Mexico and now a powerful drug cartel leader in his own right, Javier has put his past behind and focused all his energy on building the empire he has always dreamed of having. Forever hungry for even more power and influence, he kidnaps the wife of Mexico’s largest drug lord, planning to exchange her life for a slice of her husband’s drug trade. But nothing prepares him for Luisa Chavez, former beauty queen, and the first woman in a very long time to challenge him and make him question his ways with her stubborn defiance of him.
“They could try and carve me up, they could rape me, torture me, try and confuse me with hospitality, but they would not get to me. They would not break my soul. They would not see my pain.”
Luisa was born poor, but she has always been surrounded by unconditional love. Now the sole bread-winner in the family, she struggles to make ends meet in order to provide for her elderly parents, but never stops making their wellbeing her number one priority in life, no matter the cost to her dignity or pride. But when her beauty catches the eye of one of the most infamous drug lords in the country, her fate is sealed the moment he decides to make her his wife. By agreeing to marry him, she escapes the squalor of her daily life by entering a living nightmare. And when Javier kidnaps her, she then enters another.
“Perhaps I should have been more afraid. I was just … sad. Sad that my life had to go this way, sad that I could never catch a break. Sad that I’d probably never see my parents again.”
Trapped, tortured and living in constant fear, Luisa is determined not to let her captors break her spirit, never showing her true emotions to any of them, least of all to the most dangerous of them all—the man who slowly awakens her body and forces her to embrace the woman dying to come out and play. Lines gets crossed, walls get cracked, but there inevitably comes a point when difficult choices need to be made, and when they are both forced to make sacrifices in the name of what they believe in the most.
“Love didn’t build empires, it ruined them.”
A superb depiction of the gritty reality of Mexican drug cartels, this is a story that will force you to leave your own morals and beliefs at the door, and simply ‘swim’ in the darkness of a world where it’s every man for himself, where survival is the only priority in life, and where every monster has their own nightmares to keep them awake at night. There is something utterly entertaining, if not confronting, about being able to embrace a reality filled with nothing but depravity and still manage to find something beautiful in it. This is a love story. This is a horror story. And it is so ugly at times, that each rare moment of beauty is nothing less than blinding.
“You were always my captive. I was always the man holding the knife.”
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