The Bad Ones

by Stylo Fantome

[stacey_is_sassy]

I may never look at a hot football player the same way again…

I’m a little bit freaked out. I’d read Stylo’s The Mercenaries series and I thought I was sooo cool hanging out with the other dark readers. Thought I was so tough and invincible. Well, The Bad Ones taught me that I ain’t so tough. I don’t know how many times hubby walked in on me reading The Bad Ones and I had one eye open, cringing and then trying to shake off the bad juju. He asked me why I kept reading and my answer was –

I can’t look away. It’s bloody good…and bloody bloody…literally…and they’re just so BAD!!

I don’t know how all you dark readers do it. Don’t you start questioning how people think this way? Aren’t you freaked out that all of this could be happening right next door…AND YOU DON’T KNOW? How can people not see the evil and darkness lurking?

Seriously, I came to the end of the story thinking…I need to read Pride and Prejudice again. I need clean and sparkly with NO darkness.

We meet our two lovebirds in high school. There is one year separating them school wise and a mountain separating them background and lifestyle wise. Constantine is the son of the Mayor, lives in a mansion, is the star quarterback and an academic. Dulcie lives in a trailer, her mum sells her body for drugs (not for herself but to give to her deadbeat husband and step-son), and Dulcie’s step-brother wants in her pants. Perfect and imperfect worlds collide, but the funny thing is, deep down they were exactly the same…

To be honest, I'm not sure who was the darker of the two characters. We mostly see their story play out through Dulcie's eyes and the thing that stood out the most was her lack of feeling. She describes herself as being behind a curtain and I have to agree. I did not like seeing what happened when the curtains were drawn back...it was ugly. Con's darkness was a little different. He knows how to hide it and is exceptional at giving everyone around him the perfect mayor's son, footballer and academic. The beautiful exterior hides his ugliness.

This is a SERIOUSLY trigger happy book. By that I mean, if you have triggers of any kind, you may come across it in this book. It’s not safe or hearts a flutter or even happy buzzes. What it is, is intense, consuming and a little deranged. There is love, but it's the obsessive ... possessive ... destructive kind.

Saying that, this book was exceptionally written. Stylo Fantome is an amazingly talented author. Her writing draws me in even when I don’t particularly want to deal with what I’m reading. I started questioning from the beginning how I would want this story to play out? Do I want an HEA? Does it make me sick if I did? Would it have made me feel better if the whole town of Fuller was wiped off the map, instead of having to decide whether they should get off scott-free or pay the consequences?

This story is bad...but really good too.

I received an ARC of The Bad Ones via the author for an honest review.

To purchase The Bad Ones from Amazon - http://amzn.to/1qmYWaP

I’m an Aussie chick who loves to read and review romance, drink coffee, be a Style Setter and stalk David Gandy. To see more of my reviews, fashion, food and pervathons -