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Review

4 darkly intense stars

Holy damn, what a wildly dark and gritty ride! This book is fast paced, action packed and exciting (and all kinds of dark), with fantastically complex characters and an emotional romance, and I freaking loved it! The second book in the Raw Family series, this is definitely not a standalone, and be warned that review contains spoilers for Raw.

This book begins five years after the end of Raw. Twitch is gone, and his best friend Julius and enigmatic psycho side-kick, Ling, are still struggling with his loss. But life goes on and the two of them have teamed up in a platonic partnership with Julius policing the criminal underworld – called in to be judge, jury and executioner to those who believe they exist outside of the law, and who instead are governed by power, respect and their shady dealings.

Alejandra ‘Ana’ Gambino is a victim of such a deal. Daughter to a mob boss, she is married off against her will to the son of rival to form an alliance, and for years she has suffered unimaginable torture and abuse. She suffers in silence, doing her ‘duty’ to her family, but secretly she dreams of a life of freedom, and when the opportunity arises, she grabs hold with both hands.

This life of ours is not normal.
This life is dirty.
The things is, no matter how hard my father tried to raise me to be good, I never intended on staying clean.

Julius enters Ana’s world when he is brought in to mediate a ‘situation’ following the murder of her brother-in-law, but he has no idea that he is walking into a clusterfuck. Accusations, betrayal and another murder ends with Ana on the run and Julius needing to find her before others do, so that he can save his reputation and figure out what the hell is going on.

It’s twisted and dark, but OMG I was completely engrossed. Ana’s story is so tragic, and I was immediately on her side as she fought to reclaim her life. And once Julius catches up with her, hiding her away in his secret lair, things get intense as the captive/captor dynamic begins shifts from fear to mistrust to lust and so much more. It’s a whirlwind, and I was madly flipping through the pages to see what was going to happen between them.

Regardless of how much I denied it to myself, I wanted Alejandra, and not just to warm my bed. I wanted her for my own. She had a light in her eyes that called to the darkness in mine, her very presence calming.

And while that’s all brewing, Julius is working to uncover Ana’s story and figure out how to make things right, Ling is creating waves, and an unspeakable evil is trying to track Ana down. It’s all happening, and my heart was pounding through it all!

It’s an intense read, and be aware that it’s not always an easy one. This is a violent world that these characters inhabit, and there is violence, death, sexual assault and torture all occurring in graphic detail on the page. It’s dark, but it works to create a terrifying world, and demonstrates the strength of these characters to survive within it. Ana stunned me with her ability not only to survive, but to thrive despite all that she’s been through. And then there’s Julius who, although he is absolutely badass, shines like a beacon of strength, power and goodness with a huge heart.

“You seem like the type of guy that a girl would do just about anything to have on her side.”

The love story is very fast moving, and though I loved watching it all unfold, I would have liked to see a bit more development there. It’s a bit of a weird dynamic that Julius and Ana have, and though I could feel the chemistry between them, there’s so much happening in the story that there’s not a lot of chance to explore it. I could see that they were falling for each other, and though they have their ups and downs, their plunge into coupledom was really intense, really freaking fast. And there is a surprising lack of sexy time – not that I’m a perve or anything, but after the smut-fest of book #1 and all of the dirty talk and innuendo in this one I was expecting a bit more. But still, the romance is there, there’s a nice amount of emotion, and I loved seeing the two of them together.

“It’s all about us now.”

But the question everybody wants to know – what about Twitch? Well, Twitch has been working to get back to his family, but he really kicks it up a notch in this one, going on a mission of vengeance and blood and risking it all to ensure his safe return. His story loosely crosses over with Julius and Ana’s, and I thought it was really cleverly tied together.

The story builds to a thrilling climax that is all kinds of twisty. Murder, violence, heartbreak and big shocks, and a moment of supreme WTF-ery that had me absolutely fuming and that led to even more murder, violence and heartbreak. With devastating betrayals, alliances broken and formed, unexpected reunions, and all kinds of badassery, it’s all gearing up for a really exciting finish, and though this book ends well, I’m so glad I waited until right before Raw: Rebirth is released, because I don’t want to leave this world and I’m so ready for whatever is coming next!

I loved it! 4 stars!