Cartel by Lili St. Germain

Cartel by Lili St. Germain

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*Review Edit*

I originally read this in August of 2015, and rated it only 3 stars and no review. Not sure why. I just did this as a "re-read" for a group challenge, and I *LOVED* it!

Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

Overall rating: 5.0

Cartel is the first book in the Cartel Trilogy, and it starts off the series with a bang! It's dark and gritty and Lili does the one thing I love the most with her books. She builds the sex scenes, (which, by the way are HOT!), *into* the story and not the other way around. The sex is well timed, and doesn't overwhelm the story.

There are several characters in this story some I liked some I hated and wanted to grab them from my Kindle and throat punch them. Everyone is twisted and crazy!

Mariana Rodriguez

"Of all the things in life, love is the most confusing. The most all-consuming. The reason we breathe, the light in our darkness." --Mariana

Mariana has been "cooking the books" for her father, Marco, for most of her life, moving money around to pay his debts. But when Marco drives a truck full of cocaine right into the waiting arms of the American DEA, there is no amount of "book cookin'" that can save him from the wrath of Emilio Ross. Emilio and his thugs show up at Mariana's home in Columbia with the intent to kill the entire family, but Mariana is taken to pay the debt instead. 

Emilio Ross

You know what they say about extraordinary times? They call for extraordinary measures." --Emilio

Emilio is the leader of the El Sangue Cartel, and he doesn't take losing a large shipment of cocaine very well. But taking Mariana will ease the pain of it... he can sell her into sexual slavery and recoup some of his loss. Emilio deals in drugs, guns, and human trafficking, and Mariana is his new target.

Dornan Ross

It was a dangerous proposition, to be falling in love with a woman who is owned by the cartel. --Dornan

Dornan is Emilio's son and the VP of the Gypsy Brothers Motorcycle Club, and his reputation precedes him as a man even more lethal than Emilio, if that's even possible.

Dornan sees Mariana and he immediately wants to help her. He is *compelled* to help her. But he can't let his father see that weakness in him. He *does* help Mariana, he saves her from being sold by telling his father about her ability to cook the books, hence turning Mariana into "The Accountant" for the El Sangue Cartel and the Gypsy Brothers. .

"Dornan respected his father, but if the right person came along and wanted to take Emilio out, Dornan would probably load the bullets into the gun and hand it to them himself."

Unfortunately, at this point, he doesn't see that any such person has come along. And Dornan, in order to keep Mariana safe, has to endure under the thumb of his suffocating father.

But unexpectedly, Dornan finds himself falling in love with Mariana and it makes keeping her safe hard. Dornan has an apartment in Santa Monica that he won in a poker game a few years ago, that he's managed to keep secret from almost everyone, it turns out to be the perfect place to keep Mariana... a place where they can spend some sexy time together. And the times do get sexy in that apartment!

John Portland

"Dornan often had to remind him that his role as president was largely symbolic; he was not the one in charge."

John is the character i fell in love with from the beginning, he's Dornan's best friend and President of the Gypsy Brothers. It's in title only (for both of them) since they flipped a coin to see who would be President and VP. They wanted the Gypsy Brothers to be a club that traveled the roads, and had each other's backs, not a gang. But when Dornan's girlfriend got pregnant and John's younger sister needed cancer treatments that were beyond his read financially, and Emilio caught up to them... the "club" officially became a "gang".

The darkness of these characters, even John, kept me turning the pages, walking through the house with my Kindle and anxious to see what was going to happen next.

I'm looking forward the the rest of this series, to see who does what to whom. This series is somewhat of a prequel to the Gypsy Brothers series showing us what shapes the characters to become who they are.

While Dornan isn't a warm and fuzzy character by any means, I hear he is much worse in the other series. So for me, it's interesting to read this series first before reading the other, even though I don't think that's how it was intended.

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Pretty Stolen Dolls by Ker Dukey

Pretty Stolen Dolls by Ker Dukey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


More reviews at Li'l Kit’s Reviews.

Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

Overall rating: 5.0



If I could give this book 10 Stars, I would!

Ker Dukey is one of my favorite dark and twisted authors. She nails it everytime and this time is no exception.

I was looking forward to this book, couldn't wait to get my hot little Kindle wrapped around it! And when I woke up and it was on my Kindle, I was like...

Then while I was reading it and I was like...

This book kept me totally engaged! Loved every page, and turned them quickly! Every character had it's place and was placed well within the story and kept me connected.

"Everyone knows I was abducted with my sister when I was fourteen and I somehow managed to escape when I was eighteen, leaving my then thirteen-year-old sister behind."

Jade Phillips and her sister Macy were taken by "Benny" (Benjamin), who is a complete psychopath! He takes the girls and keeps them in separate cells, and dresses them up like dolls.

Macy isn't perfect anymore, not after Benny scars her face, but Jade is, Jade is his perfect Dirty Little Doll, and he uses her sexually. Jade is mouthy, she doesn't just give in to Benny, which earns her almost daily beatings.

Finally she has the opportunity to escape after four years, but in order to do so, she must leave her sister, Macy, behind. She runs, with the intent of getting help and sending them back to get Macy. But in running, she has a terrible accident, and spends time in a drug induced coma.

Once she wakes up she tries to tell the police where she and Macy were held, to no avail. They can't find the cabin.

Pick up the story eight years later and Jade is now a detective, and every spare moment is spent looking for Macy, and living with her childhood, next door neighbor, Bo. Bo *tries* to understand what Jade has been through, but he really doesn't, what he gives her is more like pity. I liked Bo, but didn't feel like he was the one for Jade.

"Dillon is the alpha male who beats on his chest and dominates my headspace."

"Dillon fucks me like a lion would his bitch in heat as his protectiveness washes over me."

Dillon is Jade's partner on the police force. Now *him* I like. He's no nonsense, and he doesn't give her pity, he just accepts and respects her for the strong woman she's become over the last 8 years since she escaped. He becomes her rock.

The one thing I didn't care for much for, and didn't expect, was the MAJOR cliffhanger.

But looks like it comes out in about 6 weeks from now, so not too long of a wait.

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24690 by A.A. Dark

24690 by A.A. Dark

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


More reviews at Li'l Kit's Reviews.

Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

Overall rating: 5.0

*****5 "Gory & Sadistic" Stars*****

"Everyone here was either slave, master, medical, or guard. Even the Attendants were slaves."

"Slave twenty-four-six-ninety was going to be mine. I had made sure of it."

I happened onto this book quite by accident and I'm so glad I did. This book puts me in the mind of Pepper Winters' Indebted series with the no holds barred darkness. This author holds nothing back in how black she paints the picture around these characters. The twists and turns just in the first half of the book kept my mind reeling. Just when I thought I knew something, I was wrong, every single time. That is probably the thing I loved most about this book, all the mind-fuckery.

Alaska Angelini writing under the pen name of A.A. Dark, is currently right up there with my favorite "Queens of Dark and Taboo". If you like true darkness, then this book is totally for you.

"I wasn't Everleigh anymore. I was no one but a dead slave, alive."

The main male characters, Bram and West, are the stuff nightmares are made of! Bram is the "Main Master" of Whitlock, a dark and sinister place where the rich and famous come to play. Anything goes between the Master's and the slaves. From purchasing one at an auction until they die either naturally or at the hand of their owner, the slaves can be subjected to all manner of deviant behavior from a simple slap to rape to flaying. There are no consequences, the slaves are nothing but toys to be played with, then discarded by death once they are broken.

Slave 24690 has been at Whitlock since she was kidnapped at 10 years old. When she came "of age" she was auctioned off and purchased by her first master. Outside of beatings, she was treated very well... until her master is murdered and she is blamed.

Bram took care of slave 24690 from the time she was 10 until she went to auction. He didn't touch her. He kept her safe, and in the dark recesses of his mind, he knew he held affection for her. But it was something Bram would never act on. Bram had sworn to never take a slave.

When Bram's father died Bram became the new Main Master of Whitlock. It was his, and everyone there worked for him. Period.

West was Bram's best friend from childhood. Where Bram was raised with a silver spoon lodged firmly in his mouth, West was not. Bram's father, seeing how close the boys were as children, as close as brothers, paid for West's education, and he became, pretty much, Bram's right hand man once Bram took over Whitlock.

West harbored a jealousy, however. No matter how good he was, Bram was always one step better. He kept the jealousy hidden, Bram was his brother, and the Main Master. Bram deserved West's respect.

As the story moves on, the darkness becomes a black hole that just sucked me in. Chapter by chapter. Page by page. At times the next frightening twist was almost too much, and I had to put my Kindle down, wrap it in a blanket, and put it under the bed or couch... afraid that what I was reading could jump off the screen and play itself out in front of me. That's how well A.A. Dark/Alaska Angelini writes. It's more than a movie playing in my head, it feels as if I'm right *there*>

From the blurb:

"***WARNING***
This book contains EXTREMELY disturbing situations, explicit sexual content, and very graphic language. This book EXCEEDS the dark genre and has been classified as PITCH BLACK. May contain triggers for some. Read at your own risk!!"

Consider yourself warned. But even *that* warning isn't enough to express how "Pitch Black" this book is.

There were times, towards the end that my mind drifted a bit.. there were a couple of parts that were unbelievable for me, and a bit redundant. But, they didn't last long and I was back in the house of horrors again. There were many editing and grammar mistakes in this book, but not enough to detract to much from the experience.

I was going to deduct one star from this 5 star read, but I couldn't do it! The book is too good! My gripe: The author makes no mention about this being the first in a series, not even a hint at that fact. So the major cliffhanger ending did not amuse me in the least. But I got over it! There is hope on the horizon with book 2, "White Out" being written. Keep up with the Author's Facebook page (and look for the YouTube trailer on her closed group page for White Out. It's amazing!).

Stay busy writing Alaska! You don't have any time for breaks, I need White Out! (oh and a blurb here on Goodreads would be nice so we can mark it as "To Read" and keep up with a release date!)

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First Touch by Laurelin Paige

First Touch by Laurelin Paige

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★★
Story: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

Overall rating: 4.3

****4 Touch Me Stars!****

I'd Set out to capture him and instead he'd captured me. I couldn't fight it. It was done.

I've had this book on my TBR Shelf for quite some time now. Kept meaning to read it, but just never got to it. Then it came up for one of my challenges on my group, and watching my friends comments, I knew I had to read it. And so I did.

This book was a slow start for me. There was so many characters being introduced, so many background stories being introduced, that it was, at first, hard for me to get into the meat of the story.

But then it happened, that magical moment when a book turns the corner. When it goes from a "meh-fest" to an adrenaline rush. I was wide awake and taking notice.

Reeve and Emily... I had a love/hate relationship with them both. But when they came together (yes, that's a double entendre), it was pretty hot! And explosive! (another double entendre).

When Emily thought to herself, "the dominating bad boy type was my weakness", I could totally get behind that... and it was the turn around for me with Reeve. He was the "bad boy", and he became my "weakness" pretty damn quick!

The scene in the barn... read the book, you'll totally get it... was probably one of my favorite erotic scenes *ever* in a book! Sex scenes, sometimes I feel they are just thrown into a book for the sake of sex. I know that in order for a book to be in a certain genre (erotica in this case), that it has to have... well... sex! in it. And often. But most of the sex in this book was well placed, it made sense, the timing was perfect, and it was hot!

I enjoyed this book and will continue on to Last Kiss.

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One Hundred & Thirty-Six Scars

One Hundred & Thirty-Six Scars by Amo Jones

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Writing: ★
Story: ★
Characters: ★★

Overall rating: 1.3

*1 **Just Nope** Stars*

This book had such potential, but it fell seriously short. I wanted to DNF this one at about 30%, but I pushed through, then at 61% I was seriously struggling.

Am I the only one that noticed that Beast's agent name throughout the book is Agent 316 but on the cover of the book it's shows the tattooed number on his neck is 136?

Not good for the cover to be wrong. Just shows one of the many editing, and not paying attention to detail, mistakes in this book.

Here are a couple more.

"She follows, slipping the gloves on her hands. 'You have two weeks with me. You think you'll get enough information stored in my brain for that?' 'More than enough time,' I answered, intertwining my fingers with hers..."

Okay, neat trick when she just put on boxing gloves in the same paragraph!

"Both their bodies begin tumbling down the steps and I jump over them by gripping onto the railing before running up the rest of the stairs..."

Okay so were they falling *up* the stairs.. again, pretty neat trick.

The grammar a lot of the time was annoying. Switching between tenses sometimes within a single sentence.

We met a lot of characters in this book, most popping in for no reason, then disappearing without a trace or making no sense as to why they were even mentioned to begin with.

We had the MCs.. The Devil's Own Motorcycle Club, the Sinful Souls MC, (be consistent, either call it an "MC" or a "Motorcycle Club" when giving the names of the clubs), The Devil's Own, (or leave it off all together, that works too I guess), then we have The Army, the Russians... and even a rock group. Oh, and at one point, the Irish Republican Army is "mentioned".

If the author had just picked *one* of these to follow, it would have made things less... confusing. I don't even know what the point was of having the Russians in the story, not to mention the rock group. Too many side stories and none of them really tying into the story. There was so much that could have been done with The Army and the MC, but it all got so convoluted when you mixed in all the other organizations and people.

Beast, and other's that have been under The Army's training, are described as "engineered human killing machines". He escapes with his best friend, Hella, then the coincidences started. Just gonna leave it there, as it would contain spoilers. But Beast's transition from The Army to the President of an MC would have been better (smoother) if we'd known how he made that transition. It just seemed like, "oh, I finally escaped with my life. Oh look! I'm now the *President* of an MC."

Don't get me wrong, I liked Beast, I just feel that his character wasn't explained to it's full potential, too much was left out. And at one point in the book, I just didn't feel like he was the badass biker anymore. His whole character just deflated.

Meadow, I liked her too. I liked that fact that she didn't let what happened to her define the rest of her life.

Beast and Meadow, the are the only reason this is a 1.3 star read, but still not enough to bump it up to a 2 star read.

And by the way, what's up with the fade to black sex scenes? It starts out and then at the start of the next page it's the next morning.

Other than the one (yes one), "Holy shit, I didn't see that coming" moment, I felt like I was reading a YA book instead of something that should have been "Dark Romance". The characters conversations a lot of the time felt like something you'd hear around a high school cafeteria. Just didn't make me believe them.

From the opening of the blurb we see, "SO CONSUMING, SO RAW, SO DARK, SO INTENSE, SO GRITTY, SOOOOOO EPIC!!". Raw? Dark? Intense? Gritty? Not really. Epic? Umm... No.

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Echo by A. Zavarelli

Echo by A. Zavarelli

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★
Story: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★

Overall rating: 3.3

Two Weeks.

That's what it took me to get through this book. The first 70%, give or take, was a yawnfest for me. The story would start to move forward and then *BAM* sex scene. I'd skim over that.. A LOT.. the story would pick up and then *BAM* ANOTHER sex scene.

At that point it felt like the story was built around the sex, and it really didn't add anything to the story.

But towards the end, the story got pretty good. Mainly cause the main characters didn't have time or opportunity to screw. This was the redeeming factor in this book, making it a solid 3 Star read. Not bad.

I don't mind sex in a story... actually enjoy it most of the time.

- When I'm connected to the characters
- When it adds to the story
- When it isn't over the top ridiculous

The one thing I was pretty ticked off about is that this book ends in a damn cliffhanger. Really? What was the damn point in that, could have just taken out some of the sex, and finished the book.

So yes, now I'll be reading the next book... hmm.. guess *that* was the point in the cliffhanger. *smh*

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Savage Heart by Sara Fawkes

Savage Heart by Sara Fawkes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★★
Story: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

Overall rating: 4.3

"Some in the club had old ladies or girlfriends who were quiet and did whatever they were told, but that wasn't Ash's style. He wanted to respect his partner, not just have a shadow that followed him around silently."


What a story! This book was a pleasant surprise. I was just looking for something quick to read over my morning coffee, and this Novella fit the bill. It grabbed me and reeled me in from the first page, and two cups of coffee later and I was trying to catch my breath.

Eve is a investigative reporter trying to find her one big story that will help her get noticed and be the big break, not to mention help her to keep her desperately needed job. Eve's grandmother is in a retirement home, but Alzheimer's has set in and she needs to be moved right away. Eve's finances are bare bones at best. So getting this story would be quite helpful all the way around.

Ash meets pretty Eve at a biker bar, rescuing her from a brother, that is in desperate need of a bath, shave, and toothbrush, and is aptly named "Rancid". After getting rid of "Cid", Ash takes a seat and gets to know a bit more about Eve.. finding out that she's a reporter with a million questions. But, poor Eve is pretty much tongue-tied when it comes to the handsome and ooooh soooo sexy biker dude!

Things go pretty easy for this couple, he's an Alpha Biker, and she's no pushover. But they click, and even though this book is a novella, I actually *felt* that click with these two.

One major compliment to this book is the sex scenes. They were definitely HAWT, but they were well placed. The story was built on the characters and what was going on in their lives, the sex was a bonus, which made me appreciate this story that much more.

Really enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to continuing this series to see where Ash and Eve go next!

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We Were One Once by Willow Madison

We Were One Once by Willow Madison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★

Overall rating: 5.0

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

*****5 "That is INSANE" Stars*****

Willow Madison is a "new to me" author, and has thrown me right into stalkerville! She's good. She's really, really good!

It's hard to review this story without giving too much away, but I'll try!

"She's obviously crazy. Obviously broken."

Grace has been terribly abused in her past, which has left her with many emotional scars. Her only option was to try and outrun all of it.

She is a very unique character to me, I don't think I've read one quite as screwed up as this poor girl is.

"Breaking a woman is easy once you apply simple mindfuck techniques"

Simon takes women, breaks them, trains them, and sells them. It's who he is and he makes no apologies for it. He has spotted Grace, and he wants her, and in his line of work, he always gets what he wants. He's a hard character to get a read on, one minute he excites me, the next I hate him. But all wrapped up around that box of crazy is someone with a story that I want to learn more about.

Miles... now if you think what I've said here about Grace and Simon is crazy, well, just wait until you meet Miles.

"I have a plan for us, my love. A way that we can be together always. Would you like that?"

Miles is the man left behind, and he wants Grace back. She's elusive but he has the money to find her and bring her home.

And that cliffhanger! Damn! Just. Damn. This book is full of the dark and crazy, and I loved it! I can't wait to read We Were One Once Book 2!

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