Consent (The Loan Shark Duet, #2)

by Charmaine Pauls

[Eve1972]

Holy mother of god was this book INTENSE. I think this may be one of the best duets I have read all year. WOWZA...so good. The writing remained fantastic. The pace (up until 75%) was great. The plot was engaging. The setting unique. There were twists and turns. The sex scenes were hot. The secondary characters were fantastic. And I LOVED both main characters (up until 75%). Valentina, what can I say? This poor girl was like a puppy that just kept getting kicked over and over and over again. And Gabriel, I wanted to smack him, then hug him, then smack him again.



That said, at 75% this book fell apart a bit for me. At that point, a particular event took place, and I was NOT a fan of the direction the author chose to go in. It was too far-fetched. There were plot holes. It was dragged out FAR too long. I was not a fan of the change an individual character(s) made. Especially considering it was one of the things that made that character unique to begin with. It didn't feel authentic to the characters or their actions up until that point. I honestly can't say more about it without spoiling things, so I am going to have to leave it and just say the last 25%ish disappointed me and cost this book a star.

Not much else to say. I'm a bit sad at the way the duet ended but for the most part, I loved the story and the characters and will be keeping my eye on this author to see what else she has up her sleeve. This gets two thumbs up from yours truly.