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Review

“When I chose Javier as my mark, I never thought my mark would choose me. Because that’s what Javier had just done. I wanted to win over his heart so I could get what I wanted. But I had a feeling he was about to get to my heart first.”

This novella is a prequel to Sins & Needles. Although I’ve seen it said that it doesn’t matter what matter you read these in, I would go with reading Sins & Needles first – it gives you a better intro into the characters, their backgrounds, and the overarching story. But that’s just me.

Set six years before Sins & Needles, it tells the story of a young and inexperienced Ellie Watt (who, during this particular period, goes by the name of Eden White). Abandoned by her grifter parents, she is trying to get her life together, but has no idea how to do so. And so she becomes convinced that getting revenge on Travis, the man that ruined her childhood and scarred her so badly, will help her to move on.

“I want to let go of my past. I have things I need to get over…
I want to hurt the man who hurt me. I want to destroy him for destroying me. And I won’t be happy, I won’t be free, until I do so.”

And so she chooses one of Travis’ henchmen, the enigmatic Javier, as the mark for her first major con – planning on getting close to him, therefore enabling her to get close enough to Travis to take her revenge.

Having met Javier in Sins & Needles, I’ve gotta say that I was really intrigued going into this one. Painted as smooth but evil, I was stoked to get the opportunity to really get to know him, to learn more about his background, and watch him and Eden fall in love and be together, and to figure out his motivation and the underlying emotion behind all that went down in Sins & Needles.

Javier is smart, sexy, suave and dangerous, and the chemistry between them is sizzling! I can totally see how Eden fell for him. He is incredibly hot, has a very dirty mouth, and their sexy time is smokin’! Being a total badass, he is violently protective of his “angel”, but he is also really sweet to her, and incredibly generous with his affection, and seeing them together and how deeply they fall in love, is gorgeous.

“Why am I good to you?” he repeated, his lips brushing against mine as he spoke. “Because I can see you are broken. And I want nothing more than to put you back together.”

“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. More than I thought I was capable of. Eden, you’ve taken my heart by surprise from the day I first saw you. It hasn’t been my heart since.”

So much emotion!!! Javier and Eden have a deep, almost obsessive, love, and my heart broke seeing Eden struggle with the need for revenge that has been driving her for so long, versus her love for Javier, and the kind of man that she knows him to be. And I loved that because all of his badassery, Javier struggled with feeling unworthy of Eden, and he wasn’t afraid to show his vulnerable side and admit how much he needs her.

“I once told you to leave and not to love me,” he cried out, muffled. “I’m taking all of that back. Not because I deserve it or because I’m worthy of your love. But because I need it like the air I breathe. I need you. I need you to believe in me. I need your love to make me feel like I can be redeemed.”

I really loved this book. It was dark and emotional, with lots of highs and lows, and an ending that feels like a punch in the gut (even when you know it’s coming). But it also has its funny moments, with the trademark Karina Halle wit – God, I love the way this woman writes!!! And despite being absolutely Team Camden, I swooned and squeed, and fell in love with the bad guy, right alongside Eden.

Javier and Eden’s story is a fantastic addition to the Artist’s Trilogy, and throws the whole, overarching storyline wide open for me now. I have so many questions, and can’t wait to see where Karina is going to take the rest of the series!

“You know,” he began, voice low and full, “if you were to ever leave me, I’d come looking for you, on every street.”
“You promise?”
“Always.”
And I knew he kept his promises.

 

The Artists Trilogy series

 

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