I didn’t write a review for “Scars” back when I first read it because I wasn’t in the business of writing book reviews back then, and I initially didnI didn’t write a review for “Scars” back when I first read it because I wasn’t in the business of writing book reviews back then, and I initially didn’t write a review for this book either when it first came out, because November of 2021 was a busy month for me last year. But, in preparation and celebration of the third book in this series, “Omens”, coming out tomorrow (May 6th, 2022), I re-visited the book and decided to sit down and write it a proper review.
“Scars” was one of the first mafia RH romance I read and instantly adored when I started reading RH romances. I loved Scarlett’s spunk, sass, and how much she reveled in her own sexuality. This wasn’t some shrinking violet of a mafia princess being held in her gilded cage until Daddy marries her off to some suitable other mafia family. No. Not Scar. Scar ran away from that life when she saw what her dad had intended for her and ran straight into the life like a character in a Billy Idol or David Bowie song: “You've torn your dress / your face is a mess / You can't get enough / but enough ain't the test”, disappearing into a world so far away from the one of a mafia princess she thought she’d made a clean escape, only to find out there were three young upstarts that had done a lot of diligent homework in tracking her down to hold her for ransom.
Only, by the end of “Scars”, they’ve only held her up, while she’s holding their hearts for ransom even as a then-unknown enemy takes her from them in the night.
That’s where “Liars” open up: with Scarlett in the hands of her apathetic and anonymous captors; and her three boys (Sebastian, Tristan, and Elliot) frantically searching everywhere for her while flipping their lids, blaming themselves, blaming one another, trying to figure out what went wrong, and trying to contemplate what the next steps will be once they get their Scar back. Elliot, in particular, has a whole bunch of issues he needs to work out with Scarlett without interference, since he still has issues with her and wants to clear the air once and for all with her before they move on.
What I love so much about Dana’s books is that she doesn’t waste page space on the mundane. This is the middle book in a reverse-harem mafia romance series. No one’s interested in any deep, philosophical conversations here. No one is in the mood for sweet, intimate conversations about love. There’s no time for it with the stakes at play. With every hour and every day that passes, there are movements happening and deals being made that affect everyone in the book in some way. These people will be lucky if they live to see the next week and they know it. Dana knows her characters and knows her plot. She knows not to insult her readers by insinuating they have time to spend the whole morning in bed laying around talking when the enemy could be taking action against them right then and there. No time to shoe shop when a hit could be going down across town.
Business first, Netflix and chill second.
The dialogue is trademark Dana: witty, quick, intelligent, never too smart for the average reader but never too dumb to come across as patronizing to smarter readers.
The cons? I saw both turns coming a mile away. I’ve started to take this as a ME problem, since I review books full-time. I’ve only had about three books in the last six months actually surprise me with their turns. I’m going to chalk it up to a hazard of the profession. The only other con I have is how quickly it took Scarlett to recover from her torture and imprisonment, but since the timeline on how long it took was fuzzy, I can’t find it in myself to be overly picky.
Make sure you pick up Scars, and then read this book, before you pick up book three in The Triad series, “Omens”, out tomorrow, May 6th, 2022. You won’t regret spending time with Scar and the boys! ...more
I was absolutely captivated by the idea of a feral, rogue, alpha female assassin. When Kathryn Moon announced this new title forTrue Rating: 3.5 Stars
I was absolutely captivated by the idea of a feral, rogue, alpha female assassin. When Kathryn Moon announced this new title for the Sweetverse, I was all a-twitter, because all those things are huge button-pushers for me. And, true to form, those aspects of our FMC, Eve, were definitely some of the best parts of “Bad Alpha” for me. The other brightest spots were taken up by her initial mark: the wily con-man omega, Adam, who is sweet as sugar one second and slippery as olive oil the next. The pair of them are the two strongest characters in the book with the strongest moments and they’re what kept me reading and invested in what I was reading.
Look, Kathryn Moon is one of my favorite romance authors. I have yet to read a bad book from her. So, just because I gave this book 3.5 stars (a lower-than-usual rating for me when it comes to her books) doesn’t mean this book is bad. It just means I didn’t have as much fun reading it as I did her other books, or even other Sweetverse books. The issue, for me, was with the other three alpha males in the book: Rory, Jamie, and Garrett. I didn’t connect with Jamie at all, Garrett felt like he was just there as a juxtaposition to Eve and that left his character lacking in further dimension… but I enjoyed Rory a good deal. I wish we’d only gotten more of Rory. Heck, I think that if this book had been split into two parts like “Lola and the Millionaires” was, I might have liked all three alpha males better, because so much time in this book had to be given over to the (deservedly so) complicated, emotional, sensitive, and time-consuming plot line that the relationships didn’t feel like they could grow more organically, we didn’t get to know everyone very well, and there could’ve been more spice. (Yes, I said it. I got to the meat and potatoes: I would’ve liked more spice and more detailed spice and I said what I said). So, this book is 506 pages, but I feel like it should’ve been a longer story and split into two shorter books.
But what we do get of Eve, I absolutely adore. She truly is like a feral cat, an abandoned puppy, a child raised by wolves… but then kind-of crossed with training in the Red Room with Natasha Romanoff, if that makes sense? She knows how to play at being human, but to actually sustain that mask of humanity on a consistent basis? Yeah, no. But watching her observe, listen, feel, learn, and then try to do the same? That’s absolutely some of the best stuff. And Adam’s wiles, determination, grit, and drive make him so much more than a needy omega trope. And I love how he and Eve compliment each other that way.
I really think if I’d gotten to know the other three alpha males better I’d be rating this right up there with Moon’s other Sweetverse books, but I just couldn’t. But it was a fun time. ...more
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