From the Blurb:
I wanted to have him. I never thought I’d want to keep him.
Connor
My
family’s livelihood in New York City is under attack and a vicious
murderer is on the loose. I believe a nefarious sex cult is at the heart
of these attacks and my mission to solve the puzzle and save our people
brings me face to face with my past. Austin Carrington was my college
obsession but he left me wrecked and humiliated. He’s now next in line
to become the head of my family’s top rival organization. Can we put our
past and our loyalties aside and work together for a common goal? I’ll
do anything to keep my family safe. Even put my heart on the line.
Austin
Cooperating
with our enemy to catch a madman in Manhattan is not how I expected to
step into my new role as leader of The Void. But once I set eyes on him
again, I’m willing to follow him anywhere. Shy, socially awkward Connor.
He and I have history. I promised him I’d hunt him down, and I mean to
keep that promise. Because whether he likes it or not, Connor Donnelly
is mine.
Shameless is a 65,000 word M/M enemies-to-lovers,
mafia romance. It is part two of The Undeniable, but can be read as a
stand-alone.
Sarah C's Review:
Lola Malone is a new to me author and the blurb to this book sounded right up my alley.
And
my initial instinct that I'd enjoy the book was correct. However, I
didn't enjoy it quite as much as I'd hoped. While the book is well
written, there were a few issues in it that made it harder for me to
enjoy. So let's dive into the good and the bad of this Shameless book.
First,
the characters. They fall under good and bad. I love a good morally
grey character. I love prickly hard to know characters. And our MCs?
They fall under these categories. They are members of opposing crime
families, forced to work together when there's an outside threat to both
of their organizations. Unbeknownst to the rest of their organizations,
they know one another from university.
Based on those
descriptions, these characters should have had me salivating.
Unfortuntely, they fell a little flat. Their motivations seemed muddled
at times and they never seemed to actually like one another, let
alone love one another. There was chemistry - like melt the page levels
of chemistry. I could see the lust between them, but I couldn't see much
beyond that. The actual love confession came at a point in the novel
that gave me emotional whiplash.
But these characters were very
well written and had a solid and steady voice that didn't waver. I felt
like I could get to know them as people, but as a couple? I can honestly
say I did not feel it. And in a romance book, that's enough of a reason
to knock off a star.
This book also suffered from whiplash
timing and skipping over a few scenes that felt like they should've been
there in order to further the plot or to explain things that happened.
It felt like getting edged - except time ran out before you got the pay
off. That's not to say that there isn't pay off. I don't think I
would've minded this as much if these didn't occur both in terms of the
relationship and in terms of the actual over arching plot.
There
were also parts of the plot that I really enjoyed. I loved the concept
of the villain and how that played out. I loved some of the darker
aspects - both in the lust filled relationship between Connor and Austin
and in the interactions with the families and the villain's
organization. Malone had some great world building in these groups and I
loved the interactions between Austin and his group or Connor and his
group. The friendships and the side characters? Top notch.
All
in all, this book was a solid read. It had some flaws, but as this was
Lola Malone's second book and first MM, that's to be expected. I know
I'll read this author in the future.
Content Warning: This book contains on page dub-con, violence, murder, some implied non-con, and a bit of blackmail.
Rating: 4 Stars
Shameless is available for purchase on Amazon and as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.
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