Lisa Renee Jones brings us back to the world of Dirty Money in Bad Deeds. The story picks up exactly where book 2 ended and you jump right back into the family drama. A family dinner with the Brandons is more of a prequel to war than a meal and lots of bombs are loaded and aimed. Derek makes veiled threats, Mrs. Brandon tries to get everyone to the table, and Mr. Brandon mentions that he is planning to go to Germany for a treatment that will cure his incurable cancer. So, you know, normal family dinner.
Shane and Emily have a pretty rock solid relationship at this point. Shane is realizing how amazing Emily is and how much he loves her. Emily is strong and smart; her advice to Shane is always spot on and he would have already screwed up a few things without her guidance. Shane, however, doesn't want Emily to be involved in his world and wants her to docilely leave the room and let him handle business. It was frustrating at times because Emily makes Shane better.
Shane was a bit wimpy for me in the beginning book. While it was sweet and romantic to hear his inner mooning over Emily, it started to come off as a bit saccharine after awhile. I wanted him to be more self confident and dominate. Not necessarily dominate over Emily at all, but be that dominate presence that he was in the courtroom. He just came off as less self assured so often it bothered me. However, then he would turn into a cold Dom type and it felt weird. His behavior throughout the story felt off to me frequently and it was strange. I am glad there are chapters from other POVs to help balance out the weird vibe I was getting from Shane.
Bad Deeds also gives us more insight into Derek. Parts of the story are told in his and Teresa's POV so you get to see behind the curtain so to speak. Derek has been the villain throughout the story and I enjoyed getting a better insight into his possible end game. At this point in the story, no one is 100% good or clean (except maybe Emily) and the story keeps you on your toes guessing who get the dirtiest; will Derek remain the villain, will Shane make some dark decisions, will Mr. Brandon live on and continue to torture everyone? Honestly, at this point, not only is the state of the company up in the air, the villains are numerous and continuously coming, lines of good and bad are blurred into big grey blobs, and survival of anyone isn't guaranteed. The plot keeps you guessing as to how everything will work out. Frankly, the end game keeps changing and you have to read carefully to keep up! There are so many players in the game and all of them have various motives.
My biggest struggle with the story is at times it felt we took a few steps backward. Book 2 was really engaging to me, and Bad Deeds felt like it regressed at time. I will also say that with the family dynamics growing deeper in this book, it was kind of like a soap opera (I think this is both good and bad-mostly good though because I love the drama!)
- POV: dual 1st
- Tears: no
- Trope: drug cartel, dysfunctional family
- Triggers: spoiler
- Series/Standalone:
- Cliffhanger: BIG one. I think the biggest cliffhanger of the series
- HEA: unknown until the end of book 4
Trigger by LP Dover, The Devil's Daughter by Katee Robert, Nico by Sarah Castille...then you will probably like Bad Deeds!
See full review on The Book Disciple