"Luisa was on her knees on the bed,
naked,
my 9-mm in her hands and aimed right at me.
I automatically had my gun pointed back at her.
The sexiest Mexican standoff I'd ever been involved in."
naked,
my 9-mm in her hands and aimed right at me.
I automatically had my gun pointed back at her.
The sexiest Mexican standoff I'd ever been involved in."
--Karina Halle, Dirty Angels
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Publisher: Metal Blonde Books
Pages: 300
Publication Date: June 15th, 2014
Source: e-ARC provdied via author in exchange for an honest review
Goodreads Description
For Luisa Chavez, a twenty-three year old former beauty queen, a better life has always been just out of her reach. Sure, she’s had men at her feet since she was a young teenager but she’s never had the one thing she’s craved – security. Having grown up in near poverty, her waitressing job in Cabo San Lucas can barely let her take care of herself, let alone her ailing parents. Every day is another unwanted advance, every day is a struggle to survive.
When Salvador Reyes, the depraved leader of a major Mexican cartel, takes an interest in her, Luisa is presented with an opportunity she can’t afford to pass up. She’ll become Salvador’s wife and exchange her freedom and body for a life of riches – riches she can bestow upon her deserving parents. But Luisa quickly finds out that even the finest wines and jewels can’t undo the ugliness in her marriage, nor the never-ending violence that threatens her every move.
Soon, Luisa is looking for an escape, a way out of the carefully controlled life she’s leading. She finally gets her wish in the worst way possible.
As it is, being the wife of Salvador makes her an ideal target for rival cartels and there’s one particular man who needs Luisa as part of his cartel’s expansion. One particular man whose quest for power has destroyed lives, slit throats and gotten him out of an American prison. One particular man who will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.
That man is Javier Bernal. And he wants Luisa. He wants to take her, keep her, ruin her.
Unless she ruins him first.
***WARNING*** This book deals with drug cartels and as such it contains a lot of sex and violence and some violent sex. It can get pretty ugly, pretty dark and pretty crazy. There is drug use, abuse, a bit of torture and dubious consent. The hero is not a hero and the villains...well, they're even worse. If this sort of thing bothers you, PLEASE DO NOT READ IT. This ain't no cupcake farting unicorn kind of book. If you are even a bit squeamish about violence, brutality and rape, this is your warning to stay away from a book that you certainly will not like (and why read books that you know you won't like?)***
For Luisa Chavez, a twenty-three year old former beauty queen, a better life has always been just out of her reach. Sure, she’s had men at her feet since she was a young teenager but she’s never had the one thing she’s craved – security. Having grown up in near poverty, her waitressing job in Cabo San Lucas can barely let her take care of herself, let alone her ailing parents. Every day is another unwanted advance, every day is a struggle to survive.
When Salvador Reyes, the depraved leader of a major Mexican cartel, takes an interest in her, Luisa is presented with an opportunity she can’t afford to pass up. She’ll become Salvador’s wife and exchange her freedom and body for a life of riches – riches she can bestow upon her deserving parents. But Luisa quickly finds out that even the finest wines and jewels can’t undo the ugliness in her marriage, nor the never-ending violence that threatens her every move.
Soon, Luisa is looking for an escape, a way out of the carefully controlled life she’s leading. She finally gets her wish in the worst way possible.
As it is, being the wife of Salvador makes her an ideal target for rival cartels and there’s one particular man who needs Luisa as part of his cartel’s expansion. One particular man whose quest for power has destroyed lives, slit throats and gotten him out of an American prison. One particular man who will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.
That man is Javier Bernal. And he wants Luisa. He wants to take her, keep her, ruin her.
Unless she ruins him first.
***WARNING*** This book deals with drug cartels and as such it contains a lot of sex and violence and some violent sex. It can get pretty ugly, pretty dark and pretty crazy. There is drug use, abuse, a bit of torture and dubious consent. The hero is not a hero and the villains...well, they're even worse. If this sort of thing bothers you, PLEASE DO NOT READ IT. This ain't no cupcake farting unicorn kind of book. If you are even a bit squeamish about violence, brutality and rape, this is your warning to stay away from a book that you certainly will not like (and why read books that you know you won't like?)***
The Darkness You guys. I'm not even kidding you when I tell you this book is dark, twisted, brutal, psychotic, and all forms of the words fucked up...so basically it was THE perfect book for my dark, twisted, dirty black soul. FOR REAL. I cannot even begin to tell you everything that is corrupt yet true with this book and all of those things made it the book it was. This book is not for the faint of heart. It deals with very real drug cartel issues and situations that you wouldn't even believe...and these things really happen. The men are brutal and ruthless and unforgiving. Javier himself is all of those things and more...but there's just so much more to him...
Javier Start me a cold shower. Get me an industrial fan. Have the fainting couch behind me because holy fucking hell Javier is HOT HOT HOT. If you look at my Twitter feed while reading it was almost painful to read at some points. My heart was basically exploding with all the feels. It was so wrong yet so right to completely swoon for this man. Call me crazy and pyscotic all you want but there is something so freaking sexy to me about a man that will do anything...and I mean anything...to protect you and make things right when you are wronged. Do I condone drug cartel'ing and murder and torture...well, no BUT the fact that he would go to those lengths for the one he loves is incredibly attractive to me. Minus illegal activities, that's my typed of man. Don't take any shit. And definitely don't fuck with his. Sorry not sorry about secretly loving the violent actions he takes to protect Luisa.
Luisa Oh my gosh Luisa!! You all know how much I love to connect with characters. And there are a wide range of characters who are all extremely different that I connect with for different reasons. Luisa most definitely appealed to that hardcore Sicilian I have inside me. I like to joke about throat punching people but to be honest, if there really was a situation that called for violence to protect myself or the people I love, I would probably be the first person throwing a punch. The Hunger Games? I feel pretty confident if that shit was real I would totally win. If it's between life and death and you and me, I'm gonna fucking kill you, okay? I don't mean that to sound crazy, which I know it does, I just mean that I would fight for what's mine. Luisa's stance on survival and doing what it takes to protect those she loves was seriously a breath of fresh air. She wasn't perfect. She wanted to survive and be with the ones she loves and she doesn't make excuses. She's fought longer and harder than anyone and shit if this girl doesn't want and deserve her happy ending. I just LOVED that she accepted Javier and his business dealings and took the good with the bad.
The Story The breaking down of walls. The refusal to be broken mentally. The build up of the relationship between Javier and Luisa. I mean, all of it was amazing. The pacing was perfect. The sexytimes were beyond hot. The thing that makes this book amazing to me are the small moments. The quiet ones when you see Javier start to care and do small comforts for Luisa he normally would never do. These moments are what make the book extra amazing and really get you invested in their story. The writing of Karina Halle is incredible to say the least. There is a fluidity and eloquence to it that makes it feel effortless while you are reading. The story unfolds right in front of you and I've now read 6 of her books and they are all like this. The story ebbs and flows in a perfect rhythm and has you enraptured pretty immediately. Love love love.
Javier Start me a cold shower. Get me an industrial fan. Have the fainting couch behind me because holy fucking hell Javier is HOT HOT HOT. If you look at my Twitter feed while reading it was almost painful to read at some points. My heart was basically exploding with all the feels. It was so wrong yet so right to completely swoon for this man. Call me crazy and pyscotic all you want but there is something so freaking sexy to me about a man that will do anything...and I mean anything...to protect you and make things right when you are wronged. Do I condone drug cartel'ing and murder and torture...well, no BUT the fact that he would go to those lengths for the one he loves is incredibly attractive to me. Minus illegal activities, that's my typed of man. Don't take any shit. And definitely don't fuck with his. Sorry not sorry about secretly loving the violent actions he takes to protect Luisa.
Luisa Oh my gosh Luisa!! You all know how much I love to connect with characters. And there are a wide range of characters who are all extremely different that I connect with for different reasons. Luisa most definitely appealed to that hardcore Sicilian I have inside me. I like to joke about throat punching people but to be honest, if there really was a situation that called for violence to protect myself or the people I love, I would probably be the first person throwing a punch. The Hunger Games? I feel pretty confident if that shit was real I would totally win. If it's between life and death and you and me, I'm gonna fucking kill you, okay? I don't mean that to sound crazy, which I know it does, I just mean that I would fight for what's mine. Luisa's stance on survival and doing what it takes to protect those she loves was seriously a breath of fresh air. She wasn't perfect. She wanted to survive and be with the ones she loves and she doesn't make excuses. She's fought longer and harder than anyone and shit if this girl doesn't want and deserve her happy ending. I just LOVED that she accepted Javier and his business dealings and took the good with the bad.
The Story The breaking down of walls. The refusal to be broken mentally. The build up of the relationship between Javier and Luisa. I mean, all of it was amazing. The pacing was perfect. The sexytimes were beyond hot. The thing that makes this book amazing to me are the small moments. The quiet ones when you see Javier start to care and do small comforts for Luisa he normally would never do. These moments are what make the book extra amazing and really get you invested in their story. The writing of Karina Halle is incredible to say the least. There is a fluidity and eloquence to it that makes it feel effortless while you are reading. The story unfolds right in front of you and I've now read 6 of her books and they are all like this. The story ebbs and flows in a perfect rhythm and has you enraptured pretty immediately. Love love love.
The Time Totally greedy reader moment. It took way too long for them to get to the good stuff. I know that's not an actual negative because everything needed to build up to it and it was paced perfectly but...but...shit if I wasn't sweating it out wanting one of them to bend. It's long shot 'Beast' but it's all I could come up with because I loved everything about this book.
Backstage Pass
I love dark and twisted books that give you a story and situation you otherwise would NEVER think of. The darker, more twisted, more sexy, and more fucked up a book is the more I'll probably like it. This book had all of that and more with emotion that had me constantly turning the pages. I could not read fast enough. If you like dark and twisted, this is most definitely a book for you.
I like that your title made me think of that Willa Ford song -- off to the spotify.
ReplyDeleteDirty Angels does sound really dark and twisted. I am not sure if I'd like it. Maybe. Hmmmm. I have to think about this.
I love your honesty in this entire review, especially that first line. It made my laugh but because I can totally relate and I love how blunt you are. I like to read this dark, dangerous, violent, sexy stuff too, call it what you will. I will definitely be reading this one after I finish Bold Tricks. I cannot wait.
ReplyDelete