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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Review: A Beautiful Prison

A Beautiful Prison by Jenika Snow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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

Overall rating: 3.3 Stars

*3 *Too Short* Stars

I'm not really sure how to rate this Novella. I didn't hate it but it just fell flat for me.

In the beginning I felt like it was really going to go somewhere, I enjoy dark reads and this one had really good potential. But then, it just became... boring.

I didn't really feel a connection to the characters once Gavin had purchased Ruby, then the ending seemed so rushed.

But like I mentioned, I didn't hate it, but it wasn't a stunner for me either.

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Review: All I Need

All I Need by Emily Goodwin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After reading Stay last fall, I couldn't wait for Jackson's story to come out. After some delays, and worry that the author wouldn't publish after all, I'm happy to say, it's finally here!

OMG! What a great book. Reading Jackson's story in this companion book, was, most times, heartbreaking. Realism and plausibility are Ms. Goodwin's strong suit. Most of the time, I felt like I was right there in the house with Jackson. I could feel his pain.



The writing pulled me in, made me a part of the story, it was descriptive in all the right ways. Never overly so, but enough that you could actually picture Jackson doing something as simple as brushing his hair back with his arm. Jackson's pain is real, he has no hope for anything anymore, death would be welcome...



Until Adeline.

Knowing what Jackson was doing and thinking during all those times Adeline was alone in the basement, or being otherwise abused. Knowing that he was thinking about her, falling in love with her, finally having hope. It was so insightful and at times gutwrenching.

After reading Stay, and knowing how the story would end, reading it from Jackson's point of view, was like reading it all for the first time again.

This book made me hurt so much for Jackson, and I'm still feeling the "book hangover" effects of this one. The author, and her research, made this feel more like a true story. And, sadly, I'm sure it is similar to the plight of many in sexual slavery.

Please, before you read this companion book, (even though it *can* be read as a stand alone), and if you enjoy a seriously dark, non-con, taboo story, take the time to read Stay first. You won't be sorry. You'll get Adeline's side of things, and a much more detailed ending.

Reviewers Note: Amazon has stopped selling Stay, but, at the time of this writing, it is available here, on Smashwords

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