She’s loved him since he saved her from her evil stepmother all those years ago. He’s sworn to never love her for fear of tainting her innocence with his criminal past. What do you do when the one person you love is the one person who can’t have? Broken Rebel is an intense, ultra-sexy standalone novel set in the world of the Lawless Kings. Sherilee Gray’s raw, hard, beautiful, deeply-emotional … hard, beautiful, deeply-emotional voice will leave you breathless long after the last page.
“Smokin’ hot, the chemistry is volatile, and the plot diabolically clever. Broken Rebel is an exhilarating thrill ride and oh, so sexy! Don’t miss it!” – The Librarian’s Corner
“So damn good.” – iScreamBooksBlog on Broken Rebel
“Shattered King is a sexy, beautiful second chance love story… a truly enjoyable read.” – Sawyer Bennett, New York Times bestselling author
“Raw, gritty, and full of supercharged sexual tension…SHATTERED KING will break you into pieces right before it stitches you back together again.” -Diana Gardin, author of SWORN TO PROTECT, Rescue OP’s Series
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Sherilee Gray’s books, especially the Lawless Kings Series, are my newest obsession! READ THEM ALL!!!
This story is definitely intense. It feels like Neco and Ruby are always struggling. They are both strong willed, both full of fear, loyal, determined and committed among other things. And that comes from the very rough past they had.
They don’t know any better when it comes to relationships, specially Neco. It’s like his need to be the protector is so overpowering that it turns him into a control freak and sadly for him, Ruby is having non of it. It is still sexy when he goes all caveman on her but they both have trouble communicating and agreeing in a compromise so that they can finally be happy and indulge in a relationship full of love. The one that was supposed to happen years back. Because there was really no one else, she is his woman and he is without a doubt hers.
He has been denying himself an opportunity with her for a very long time. But when she is the one in danger, the one attacked…there is no second guessing. It’s like a switch turned on inside him and he is ready to claim her and do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Surprisingly, she has the same mind set. She will be now what he has always been for her. Her superman. That is something I like about the story. Even when she makes mistakes, she is not looking for pity or special treatment. She is not a damsel in distress. She works hard to be strong and independent. It’s a long process for them to deal with the danger while dealing with feelings they have kept at bay for too long. But they are committed to figuring it out and in the process it makes for a steamy, page turner and pack full of action story.
3.75 stars–BROKEN REBEL is the second installment in Sherilee Gray’s contemporary, adult LAWLESS KINGS erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on the men and women who work for King Agency doing personal protection and security, private investigation (corporate and domestic) and high-risk fugitive recovery, missing persons and kidnapping investigations. This is King Security tracker Neco Malik , and King Agency receptionist Ruby Styles’ story line. BROKEN REBEL can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous installments is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual first person points of view (Ruby and Neco) SHATTERED REBEL looks at the friends to lovers relationship between King Agency employees Ruby Styles and Neco Malik. Growing up on the mean streets meant Neco was all about protecting the people whom he loved including his childhood friend Ruby Styles. The early years were never good for our leading couple but Ruby suffered at the hands of the people who were tasked with loving and caring for our younger heroine. Fast forward to present day where Ruby finds herself on the outside looking in as the man she has always loved looks beyond the woman to see the child within. Hoping to gain respect and their trust Ruby sets about proving she is just as capable as the men she works for at the King Agency by seeking employment somewhere else. But Ruby’s life is about to get a whole lot worse when our heroine is targeted but an unknown source. What ensues is the building love and fracturing relationship between Ruby and Neco, and the potential fall out when the past come back, looking for revenge.
Neco Malik struggles with his attraction to the woman that calls to his heart. From an early age Ruby saw Neco as her protector and her Superman but Neco believed himself to be the villain, and in doing so, sets about to destroy our heroine’s heart. Ruby’s love for Neco never wavers in the face of our hero’s less than stellar actions and attitude, including his attempts to dissuade Ruby through intimidation and threats.
The relationship between Ruby and Neco is a friends to lovers, back and forth friendship wherein Ruby believes that to be accepted she must prove herself worthy by walking away and never looking back. Neco’s need for Ruby is palpable but his treatment of our heroine is questionable including the push and pull of sexual attraction. Saying that, Ruby knows how to push Neco’s buttons as well, including going rogue as she sets out to meet up with a potential threat to her life. The co-dependent relationship between Ruby and Neco borders on heartbreaking and problematic. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including Hunter King and his fiancee Lulu Frost (Shattered King #1), Hunter’s older brother Van King, and their guardian Raul Esposito; King Agency employees: former police officer Jude Wayland, and ex-navy SEAL sniper Zeke Stanton. We are introduced to Ruby’s roommate Scott, PI Harry Hains, as well as Neco’s mother Celeste Malik. The requisite evil has many familiar faces.
The world building continues to look at the camaraderie between the King Agency employees, most of who have known one another for most of the lives. The simmering relationship and attraction between Ruby and Neco is apparent to everyone but Neco refuses to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
BROKEN REBEL is a story of family and friendship; of one man’s struggle to move on from the past, and one woman’s need to be accepted for the woman she has become. The premise is engaging and emotional; the characters are broken, colorful and charismatic; the romance struggles in the face of unrequited love, perceived notions and one man’s battle with his demons.
Broken Rebel by Sherilee Gray
Lawless Kings #2
A book you will either love or hate…and the reviews indicate this, too. Did I love it? No. Did I hate it? No. Did I understand it? Yes. I am up in the air about whether or not I would want to meet this group of characters but they do provide an action-packed, dark, gritty and turbulent read.
Ruby and Neco grew up in difficult circumstances. Neco’s mom sold herself to keep him safe and then later he sold his “abilities” to keep her safe. Ruby was stuck in a toxic situation with the stepmother from H*ll creating one difficult situation after another for her to contend with. Ruby’s only soft place to land was at Neco’s house where his mother was the mother-like presence she so needed and Neco was her protector. Over time Ruby grows up, situations occur that require her to be saved by Neco and to keep her at a distance he begins to be…nasty. There is a lot of angst and drama and meanness in words in the first almost half of the book but there is also an underlying caring that begins to show up more and more as the story moves on. Once the two twig to the fact that their relationship is meant to be and they truly do belong together they have to find the bad guys out to get Ruby. Ruby wants to participate but Neco wants to keep her safe – a point of friction. By the end of the book most issues had been resolved and there was a HEA for the two main characters although…I don’t think I would want to live the lives they have chosen for themselves.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press-Swerve for the ARC – This is my honest review.
3-4 Stars
For as long as Ruby can remember Neco has been two steps behind her, always looking out for her, protecting her, and for a long time it was comforting to know that he was there…but now not so much. She has done the training necessary to become a private investigator, and is ready to get out into the field and catch some bad guys, but Neco decides it’s a job she isn’t cut out for, and tries to stop to it before it even gets started. She knows he is worried about her, but she can handle it, and she tries to help him see that, but he just isn’t willing to get on board, and it’s frustrating as hell. Then her past decides to come back and haunt her, and they find themselves thrown together in close quarters, and things start to take an unexpected steamy turn…
Broken Rebel is a gritty, dark, and sensual tale that will pull you in from the first page, and hold you hostage until the last… it is such a good read!! I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip to the series, so I was really excited to dive into this second offering and meet another one of Ms. Gray’s sexy P.I.’s… and I have to say Neco definitely left serious dent in my heart. He was just how I like my alpha’s, big, brooding, bossy, and sexy with a hidden softer side. This was an exceptional read, the story line was engaging, action packed (sexy & non), and had the emotional depth that I have come to expect with Ms. Gray’s stories. I think readers are really going to enjoy this one, I know that I did, it checked off all my reading must-have’s and then some! Highly recommend!!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title.
3.5 stars
Fast paced, likable characters, some danger, some violence, some sex, perfectly dominant male. Only complaint is everyone had a beyond tragic story to justify everything they thought and did.