Being Bad Feels Oh So Good

"We all make our own paths in life.
Everyone we meet, everything we do, it changes us.
It makes us who we are.
And, if we're lucky, we're given the change to make things right again."

--Karina Halle, Sins and Needles

Genre: Adult Contemporray

Publisher: Metal Blonde Books

Pages: 438

Publication Date: January 25th, 2013

Source: Bought

Find on Goodreads

Goodreads Description

Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents' latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen. Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.

Mini-Review (Because I binge read these all within like 3 days)

Oooooh you all KNOW how much I love complex characters and fucked up stories. They are like my freakin’ crack cocaine. I am super picky when picking up books like this because I want to cherish this type of genre and only read the really good ones. Captive in the Dark and the Beyond Series are books of this caliber and I need to know they will at least be in the same league of the dark and twisted variety before committing to reading them. This was not a disappointment.

Sins and Needles follows Ellie Watt back to her hometown…or as close to a hometown as she knows to try and be legit after a lifetime of grifting and conning people. Now, the premise of this did not particularly pull me in. Conning and grifting? Huh? But the title and the author and the rave reviews I heard from trusted bloggers sold me. Plus, I read the preview for the spin-off called Dirty Angels and let’s just say after reading that, I know I needed to read the original series.

This book SUCKED ME IN, you guys. I could NOT put it down. Alternating between Then and Now, we see Ellie’s past struggle and pain dealing with a horrible thing that was done to her as a child and how her friendship with Camden McQueen crashed and burned. Their history is littered with hurt feelings and broken souls. Camden and Ellie in high school made my heart absolutely ache with the need to jump into this book and give them a hug. Fuck, do I hate judgmental humans but those of the high school variety most of all. People can be so ridiculously cruel and it just broke me. High school Camden might be one of my new favorite characters ever. He is independent, free-thinking, and a rebel without a cause. He knows who he is, loves who he is, and hell if he makes any excuses otherwise. I LOVED him. Love. Love. Love.

Ellie’s growth over the book was not won easily but I loved watching her character develop. She is not perfect and that’s what I love. She struggles between all she’s ever known and trying to be better. Her development was one of my favorite things in the book…that and the sex. Hot. Holy shit. That is all.

This book had me foaming at the mouth and yearning for these characters to have a happily ever after. The bad guys are bad and I can taste the future shenanigans in the form of firearms and drug cartels. My mouth is salivating with the promise of the a story of the most fucked up variety.

Backstage Pass