Thursday 19 March 2015

Review: Lili Saint Germain's "Cartel (Cartel # 1)."

Review:  Lili Saint Germain's "Cartel (Cartel # 1)." 

Amazon UK:   http://amzn.to/1ygKq09
Amazon.com:  http://amzn.to/1JpksA0

Synopsis:

The first full length Gypsy Brothers novel from the smash hit author Lili St. Germain.

How much is a life worth?

I grew up in Colombia, the daughter of a wealthy drug lord. I lived a life of extravagance, until one day a drug run went horribly wrong and everything came crashing down around us.

I was given away. A payment for a debt. The Gypsy Brothers Motorcycle Club became my new owners, and I did everything I could to survive.

But falling in love with the man who owned me wasn't part of the plan...

Review: Surj

For those of you who read Lili St Germain's "Gypsy brothers Series," you'll have already made your acquaintance with a certain Mr Dornan Ross. And the chances are, you despised him from the minute you met him in the first book until you parted ways in "One love." Yup, I don't know anyone who felt an ounce of anything positive towards this man because he was (well and truly) a monster of the worst kind. His sheer brutality, his actions, his lack of conscience and his unpredictability definitely made for addictive reading, and the fact that he was like a cat with nine lives.... Jesus... why couldn't he just stay dead already? lol. So when Lili decided to give him his own series, I was like... "whaaat? You have got to be kidding? when does the baddie ever get a book, let alone a whole series?" But the more I thought about it, the more I was intrigued. Dornan Ross had my mind racing and all of a sudden I wanted to know the younger him. I wanted inside his head. I wanted to give the devil a chance to redeem himself and so when the opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance of reading the first of his three books entitled "Cartel." 

"Do you promise?" She asked softly.

""Promise what, baby?"

"Promise that if I stay with you, you'll protect me from them?"

"I promise if you stay here with me, and do as you're told, 
I'll protect you from the whole world."

Well what can I say? I'm really not sure what I was expecting? A love story of epic proportions? A fairytale gone wrong? A man that would sweep me off my feet and make me forget all the bad things he'd done? A man who would maybe make me feel sorry for him? I don't know but what I got definitely knocked me for six and made me question how the hell this author came up this stuff. This was f**ked up, crazy shit that pushed my own boundaries beyond belief. If this was a film, I'd have winced, hid my face from what I was watching, felt sick at how certain events unfolded  ... yes I had to remind myself that this was a book based around the Cartel and they were ruthless motherf**kers who didn't give a shit who you were. The "Gypsy brothers" series felt like child's play in comparison as I was thrust into bowels of hell and into the underbelly of this way of life. If you're expecting a love story, think again because "Cartel" is less about romance and more about survival.

Together they skated the thin line between pleasure and pain, 
between necessity and madness. 

Dornan's story definitely showed me a whole new side to this man... a side I could never have envisaged seeing and very early on I was lulled into a false sense of security, the hopeless romantic in me trying to find redeemable qualities. However, it wasn't long before I saw a darkness within him, a darkness (on the whole) he suppressed very well. Unfortunately, there was no denying whose son he was and what was expected of him and time and time again, he stepped up to his role. Would he be friend of foe to Mariana? Whose side would he take?

Mariana was a feisty one whose mouth landed her in trouble more times than I could count. She was not going to take her situation lying down but her back chat often landed her a back hander. each time the cartel tried to knock her down, put the fear of god into her,  the thoughts of everything she had left behind making her adamant she would survive this... it wasn't an option. however, there was a lot about her character that I struggled to wrap my head around. How she handled the situation with Este... I guess I thought there would be more emotion, more of a struggle but he seemed to become an afterthought relatively quickly. I  tried to put myself in her shoes... the loneliness, the lack of human contact, the situation she was in... how would I react? Would it be any different? Was this almost a form of Stockholm syndrome in terms of her relationship with Dornan? After all, he was her captor but the only one who showed her any form of compassion... I think I'm going to sit on the fence with her character for now and see what the next book in the series brings. 

When she saw him, the relief on her face was palpable. It almost broke his
black heart when she looked at I'm like that- when she was so f**king happy
that her monstrous hero has returned.  

"Cartel" gave me a lot of information and really helped to bridge the gaps that had been left back when I was reading the Gypsy brothers series. I got the history of how Mariana  ended up with the Cartel, the history of how the MC actually came about and also an insight into the friendship between John and Dornan. It was during one particularly scene involving the friends (in fact) that I suddenly had an "Oh sh*t" moment, where all the events from the first Series assaulted me at once and  everything fell into place and became clearer. The picture was complete and my heart dropped yet again, knowing that the journey of destruction the clueless characters were about to embark on would ultimately lead to the downfall of so many. 

I cannot wait for the release of "Kingpin." Knowing what I know, this is going to be quite the read. I'll make sure to have my big girl panties at the ready.. lord knows I'm going to need them. 

I rated "Cartel" ♥️♥️♥️♥️

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