Thursday, August 22, 2013

The Artist Trilogy by Karina Halle

On Every Street (The Artists Trilogy #0.5)



When young con artist Ellie Watt decides to call herself Eden White and go after the drug lord who ruined her as a child, she never expects to fall for one of his henchmen. But Javier Bernal is no ordinary man. Subtly dangerous and overwhelmingly seductive, Eden finds herself passionately in love with Javier, the very person she's set-up to betray. With her body and heart in a heated battle against her deep need for revenge, no one will walk away from this con a winner.


This 50K word (100+ pages) novella takes place six years before Sins & Needles. It can be read before or after Sins & Needles and may also be read as a standalone.


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Review:

Oh my! While reading this book I went ahead and read the summary of Sins & Needles. Wrong move :S. Here I was thinking Ellie was an As3&%&ole because Javier loved her so much and she was a lying bit"#& when he was straight forward with her since the beginning and my thoughts after I finished this book were... Fucking Javier I hate you, you motherfucking bastard from hell!!!!! I need to know what the heck happens next. Moving to #1.



Sins & Needles (The Artist Trilogy #1)


Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents' latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen. Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.


***The Artists Trilogy is a dark and sexy contemporary ride about three flawed individuals caught in a world where it's so easy to justify the bad things we do. This is a pure adult read (Not YA or NA).

This is the 1st book in the trilogy. It is followed by the novella On Every Street (released in March 2013) and the sequel Shooting Scars (released in May 2013). The third and final book in the series will also be released in 2013.***

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Review:

Ellie returns to her hometown after leaving six years ago. After a con went wrong with her parents she got some serious scars in her legs from acid that was poured to her by a drug lord when she was ten. She´s no longer using a fake name but her real name and is in need of a job to hit the road again. She meets a tattooed hot guy at a coffee shop while doing a job application. He turns out to be his former friend from high school, Camden. They were friends since childhood. 

She goes out with Camden several times while planning to con him but it all goes to shit when he discovers her true intentions. He gives her two options go to prison or help him disappear. Apparently tattooed hot guy has several skeletons on his closet too. They start with a love/hate relationship because the story is told from present and past. Guess who comes into the picture.... yeah! That´s right Javier Bernal. 

Shooting Scars (The Artists Trilogy #2)


Sometimes the right choice can be the deadliest.


When Ellie Watt made the ultimate sacrifice for Camden McQueen, she never thought it would be easy. But walking away with her ex-lover, Javier Bernal, in order to ensure Camden’s safety has brought a whole new set of dangers. With Javier’s plans for Ellie growing more secretive by the moment, Ellie must find a way to stay ahead of the game before her past swallows her whole.



Meanwhile, Camden’s new life is short-lived. Fueled by revenge and pursued by authorities, he teams up with an unlikely partner in order to save Ellie. But as Camden toes the line between love and retribution, he realizes that in order to get back the woman he loves, he may have to lose himself in the process. He might just turn into the very man he’s hunting.



Told in dual POV from Camden and Ellie.

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Review:

Woooooooooooooo!!! That was one hell of a ride....




This is the reason I hate reading a trilogy that hasn´t been finished. Now what?! 











Someone went all Liam Neeson on Javier.






I love Ellie.
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..
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I love Camden.
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..
...
....
.....
.......
........


I FUCKING LOVE... JAVIER BERNAL!!! There I said it...

I´ve never read a book that caused me so much conflict to choose between two contenders for the love of a woman!


The three of them are doing so much shit in their present that they haven´t lost their head just because they have it glued to their neck.



It is said that "all is fair in love and war"...and apparently revenge too.


I love books in which the characters do all kinds of wrongs and still the writer makes you side with them because there´s always a reason behind their actions. They make you justify, spare them your hate, and make you pray for everything to end well for them. 


The thing is, that with this book there´s not a woman and a guy and a bad guy.... There are 3 fucked up people that love/hate each other.



What the heck is wrong with me!?.. Can someone please explain?!



That motherfucking asshole is a fucking liar! A fucking CHEATER! a killer! A dangerous/deadly drug lord! Then why did I read this book with the sole hope of getting glimpses of Ellie and Javier together. Sparks fly with those two.




I mean I felt horrible for poor Camden. He is hot, he is in love with Ellie, I even love him too.. He has changed so much from last book to this one. He has evolved , as Javier told Ellie several times.

My heart aches for the man that will not get the girl. I feel like she has mixed feelings/SS with each of them since book one. First when Camden blackmailed her to help him, then Javier blackmailing her to get to Travis and she has give in to both of them.. She hates one and claims to love the other or is it the other way around? Is it real love, friendship, a distant memory of a past love. She doesn't know what she wants, who she wants, who she loves. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. This might be SS at its finest LOL. What she knows is that she is a con artist nothing more. That´s all she´s seen in her life since she was a kid and old/bad habits die hard.

In this book we see two sides of the story: Camden and Ellie´s POV.



While she is going back "unwillingly"/"willingly" to her past, Camden is on the run and has to find Gus before the cops get to him. Together Gus and Camden hit the road to go find Ellie in Veracruz, Mexico. WHAT?! Yes, she is there with Javier looking for Travis and even though Javier says he used to love her and not anymore because she broke him the moment she left, you can tell he still has feelings for her and is trying to mold her thoughts so she can stay with him and she still has feelings despite the hate she claims because she´s still not over the fact that he slept with someone else. As I said above, there´s always a reason to every action... I AM NOT justifying him, I still hate him for what he did but I feel less stung after finishing this book though. You see how fucked up this is? Javier killed people for her claiming he was protecting her, he blackmailed her too and the only thing I hate about this asshole is that he CHEATED! BAHAHAHAHA 

A strange alliance has formed, loyalties are questioned too, the villains don't look as evil as before. Who will get the girl when it´s all said and done?! 


I loved how the writer portrayed the drug issues in Mexico. Sometimes I forgot I was reading a book and thought it was a newspaper with the latest stunts the DC´s had done. What made it more believable is that she explain a real case scenario where ambulance gets to pick someone injured but then the cartels stop them and take the person with them.



She has done her research well.



I can´t wait for October to come. If there is a chance I could read the third installment earlier I would. Now what the hell am I supposed to do Ms. Halle!!!??


Impatiently waiting for...

Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3)


The thrilling conclusion to The Artists Trilogy



October 15th, 2013 ?!!! 


I can hardly wait.. Thank God this fabulous writer won´t keep us waiting a whole year to read the third installment.