Review: Bella Jewel's "Melancholy (Joker's Wrath #2)."

4 Hearts Review: Bella Jewel's "Melancholy (Joker's Wrath #2)." 

Amazon UK:   http://amzn.to/ZE5X9k

Amazon.com:  http://amzn.to/1COL20e

Synopsis:

"There's never been a time I've cared about anything more than my club. Today that all changed. Today I got you." 

To truly understand a story; you need to start from the beginning, but to start from the beginning; you have to go back, further than just you. After all, our stories don’t start with us, do they? Our stories start with the person before us, and the person before them. We are created from the stories of those people - from their mistakes, from their achievements, from their love and their hate. 

No one’s story is ever truly their own. 

I tried to create my own story, my own path, and my own actions. I’ve seen things people only see in their worst nightmares, but I never let it beat me down. I never let it become who I was. I picked myself up, and I kept going. Everything was what it was. 

There was no point analyzing what it could be. 

Could be’s didn’t matter. 

Until Maddox came into the picture. He saved my life. He changed my world; giving me the second chance some of us only dream about. There was only one thing missing in my second chance, and she was the reason I fought so hard to survive. 

My sister. 

My sister who is supposed to be dead, well, at least, that’s what I thought. 

That’s what he told me. 

Now is where my story changes, but to understand this story, you have to start at the beginning…where it all began…and before.

Review: Surj Harvey

The first book in Bella Jewel's "Joker's Wrath" series entitled "Precarious" was brilliant and with the turn of events that lead to the mother of all endings, I couldn't wait to get my hands on Maddox and Santana's book. Whatever it was between this (none) couple (those unspoken words, those conflicted feelings) had me intrigued and I was desperate to see how their story would unravel. Well, to say "Melancholy" was drama loaded is probably an understatement because this book was (quite literally) full to the brim with it. From the first page to the last, there was always something going on that kept me on my toes, held my attention and more often than not drove me BAT SH*T CRAZY!!! Lol. Yup, Maddox and Santana have got to be one of the most frustrating couples I have ever met and there were so many occasions where I just wanted to bang their bloody heads together and knock some sense into them. 

I dream of two things. A tall, dark man who I know is bad for me and a man who can 

give me a white picket fence. There is a true battle between good and evil, and evil is so 

tempting. Maddox is my evil- he's my dark place, yet I can't seem to push myself away from him. 

Santana was (to put it bluntly) a brat. She was childish and immature and some of her behaviour less than impressed me. However, there was also a strength to her, a fighting spirit that I admired and so her character for the most part left me conflicted. And Maddox... as much as I loved our president's alpha hotness, his stubborn streak wound me up no end. One minute I wanted to stroke his lovely toned torso, the next, I was ready to strangle him!!! 

We're a time bomb, slowly ticking together. 

I was desperate to see this couple together but every time I thought they were close, their lack of communication or sheer stupidity would push them further apart... just grow up and talk to each other FFS!!! At one point I was quite literally pulling my hair out, they'd annoyed me that much. However, please don't interpret the way the characters made me feel the wrong way because the growth I saw in both characters and the maturity they showed when faced with adversity really did make up for the shortcomings in their earlier behaviour. 

As much as the romance (or lack of) between Maddox and Santana was the main cause of the drama that weaved itself through the pages of "Melancholy," it was the sub plots that really tugged at the heart strings. Chapters from Santana's past were brutal and really brought home what this woman had been through as a child and the secret Maddox was keeping from the woman he had kept safe for the last five years was one that would surely lead to heart ache. 

I'm going to lose her before I've had the chance to even have her.

And so I read on with bated breath to see what the fall out would be and my oh my, it was not good. OK so maybe not good for the characters but I kind of loved it because I got to see The Joker's MC do what they do best... go to war!!! Woo Hoo!!! A Bella Jewel MC novel wouldn't be the same without blood, gore and gun battles now would it and she did not disappoint in that department. 

I loved getting the opportunity to catch up with Krypt and Ash and the rest of the Joker's MC but the one thing that really does stand out in both books in this series is the overwhelming sense of family and belonging I get from these boys and their ladies. There isn't anything they wouldn't do for one another and that just fills my heart with a warmth like no other. 

"Melancholy" was a fantastic second book to this series and I cannot wait to get Mack's story which is coming next. There's just something about that man that makes me want to get under his skin and into his head and my chance to do just that is on its way. 

I rated "Melancholy" 4 Hearts. 

That girl is the one thing that's made me smile in a long, long time. If I lose her now

... shit... fuck... I just can't. I can't lose the one thing I've fought so hard for.

If I lose Maddox, the only man I've ever loved with all my heart, I'll never recover.