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BLOG TOUR: Dent in the Universe by E.W. Doc Parris (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Shiloh’s Secret by K.D. Ellis (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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REVIEW: Blood & Bitcoin by L.A. Witt
Criminal Delights: Organized Crime: Blood & Bitcoin – L.A. Witt
Chris Emmett has a talent for screwing up and landing on his feet. As a SEAL, he managed to evade bullets and court-martials alike. As an FBI agent, he dodged danger and disciplinary action—right up until he didn’t.
With his career and freedom hanging in the balance, he’ll do whatever it takes to clean the slate… including an off-the-books deep cover solo mission.
The objective: infiltrate the Hive, a complex crime syndicate operating on the dark web, and find out who’s trying to kill Piker, the organization’s enigmatic and strangely alluring Mob boss.
The moment he’s pulled into the Hive, Chris enters a world where no one is what they seem, including the man he’s there to protect. Lines blur between moral and wrong, legal and criminal, ally and foe, and—as Piker’s seductive magnetism draws Chris in—straight and queer.
Chris is running out of time to stop a killer. He has dangerous feelings for a dangerous man, and the deeper he moves into the realms of modern day organized crime, the less he knows and the fewer people he can trust.
And that’s before he learns the truth about Piker’s assassin.
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This 104,000 word book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance. For other books in the collection, please see: Criminal Delights ListopiaWarning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.
L.A. Witt and Michael Ferraiuolo is my favorite author/narrator combination. With them at the helm, you’re almost always guaranteed a thrilling experience.
Blood & Bitcoin was one hell of a ride but one that didn’t go full throttle the way I wanted it to. This is by far, the lightest among the dark offerings of the Criminal Delights series. The characters make many morally grey decisions and ‘the end justify the means’ actions but as emphasized by Chris, it is for the right reasons. Which is all good because, yeah these are people we can root for but sadly not what was advertised in the blurb aka it needed more blood.
Also, there were moments where I just about had enough of Chris getting caught one too many times. And Piker forgiving him yet again and again and again. Oh, just shoot him already!
I absolutely love Piker! The man is lethal and mesmerizing as fuck. His effect on both men and women is palpable. I could definitely understand why Chris was so drawn to him. Michael Ferraiuolo’s Piker voice is really spot on and the slight exotic accent added to the crime lord’s enigmatic appeal. His past remained a mystery throughout the entire book. He’s so mysterious we don’t even get his real name.
Chris I liked less. He was too reckless. He was bumbling his way through the missions. I don’t know if he is just extremely lucky but his unorthodox methods worked somewhat. It helps that he got more chances than most people would dare ask from a Mafia boss. He and Piker play a dangerously exciting game of Golden Retriever & snake. Who bites who first? And for that matter, are we even sure who is the dog and who is the snake?
Although the chemistry and USTs between Piker and Chris were always a tantalizing hair trigger away from snapping, the romance needed a little more boost. Majority of the book, it was just mostly sex for them which is meh. But the last quarter of the book made up for the missing feels and convinced me their HFN would eventually be HEA.
The part about the bitcoin was info dumpy but did not majorly hinder the story. The Hive also got me intrigued about the dark web which I only learned from some hoaky Youtube videos. I’m hoping for a sequel where we get to learn more about Piker, his hacker friends who form The Hive and see if Chris learned to be circumspect.
Notwithstanding my complaint earlier about the book not being dark, in itself, Blood & Bitcoin is a very enjoyable suspense/thriller. It does not let up on the action and the twists and turns will keep your adrenaline running on high. There were many ever changing threads to unravel and identities to uncover. I had some inkling about Piker’s father but The Big Twist completely caught me off guard. That was, DAMN!
I recommend Blood & Bitcoin for those into stories about people with the right intentions doing it the wrong way.
P.S.
Other Criminal Delights books:
Only The Devil Knows (review here)
Devil Next Door (review here)
Wrong Way Home (review here)Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: In For The Kill
Artist: La Roux
Album: La Roux -
Strange Bedfellows – Cardeno C.
Can the billionaire son of a Democratic president build a family with the congressman son of a Republican senator? Forget politics, love makes strange bedfellows.
As the sole offspring of the Democratic United States president and his political operative wife, Trevor Moga was raised in an environment driven by the election cycle. During childhood, he fantasized about living in a made-for-television family, and as an adult, he rejected all things politics and built a highly successful career as far from his parents as possible.
Newly elected congressman Ford Hollingsworth is Republican royalty. The grandson of a revered governor and son of a respected senator, he was bred to value faith, family, and the goal of seeing a Hollingsworth in the White House.
When Trevor and Ford meet, sparks fly and a strong friendship is formed. But can the billionaire son of a Democratic president build a family with the congressman son of a Republican senator? Forget politics, love makes strange bedfellows.
In the last election, history was made when a trans woman won as representative of her district. She has lived as a woman for 20 years. I could imagine all the homophobic slurs her opponents might have said about her but she won by 62%, according to some articles I read. It was one bright moment in this giant mess of a country.
When I saw the blurb of Strange Bedfellows, I knew I had to read it. The book features Trevor and Ford who are both scions of rival political families (the former is the presidential son, the latter is a conservative Republican congressman) who met at a bar for a one night stand, had instant chemistry and now wants to keep seeing each other. Trevor is out but Ford keeps his sexuality under wraps because he has his political career to worry about so he can’t be seen with an openly gay guy.
70% of the book is spent agonizing over coming out. I skimmed most of it because it’s something I have read a million times before. When they finally (finally!) told Ford’s parents and started planning the election campaign, I felt a little more invested in the story because it was what I was looking forward to.
Cardeno’s style was sexposition sprinkled with some sugar. She has Trevor obsessing about Ford’s dick while they exchange info about each other’s family which didn’t really sound very sexy. People who like it steamy and sweet might go for her kind of stories. I don’t really go for steamy and the only reason I stayed is that I wanted to see how Trevor would win the election (not really a spoiler because it was pretty obvious he is going to win). This part was glossed over sadly. A gritty, realistic look at the life of a gay politician this is not but if you are looking for a cuddly love story about a gay politician and a tech billionaire, this is for you.
Rating:
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn bookSoundtrack: Fear and Delight
Artist: The Correspondents
Album: Puppet Loosely Strung(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25734007-strange-bedfellows)
