From the New York Times bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes the second installment in the Saints of Denver series featuring a bad girl and a by the book attorney who could be her salvation…or her ruin. Avett Walker and Quaid Jackson’s worlds have no reason to collide. Ever. Quaid is a high powered criminal attorney as slick as he is handsome. Avett is a pink-haired troublemaker … troublemaker with a bad attitude and a history of picking the wrong men.
When Avett lands in a sea of hot water because of one terrible mistake, the only person who can get her out of it is the insanely sexy lawyer. The last thing on earth she wants to do is rely on the no-nonsense attorney who thinks of her as nothing more than a nuisance. He literally has her fate in his hands. Yet there is something about him that makes her want to convince him to loosen his tie and have a little fun…with her.
Quaid never takes on clients like the impulsive young woman with a Technicolor dye job. She could stand to learn a hard lesson or two, but something about her guileless hazel eyes intrigues him. Still, he’s determined to keep their relationship strictly business. But doing so is becoming more impossible with each day he spends with her.
As they work side-by-side, they’ll have to figure out a way to get along and keep their hands off each other—because the chemistry between them is beyond charged.
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I couldn’t stand the h when she was in the other books in the series and I didn’t think the H could ever be right for her… As usual Jay Crownover blew up my expectations and I was left with one of the most eye opening characters!!!
A great read.
Jay has done it again. Love the story line and the sex scenes were HOT!
Quaid who is at the top of his game and has everything he ever wanted until Avett who’s always finding trouble comes into his life like a storm and turns everything he ever thought around. Will Avett be able to save everyone from the storm she caused this time….
She was real.
She was genuine.
She was truth.
She was the things I hadn’t been in a very long time, I couldn’t get enough of it.
“I guess at the end of the day it’s better to have nothing with the right person than to have everything with the wrong person, isn’t it?”
“We’re in this together, Avett. We gamble together, which means we win or lose together.”
When the beautifully talented Jay Crownover announced that Avett Walker (Brite’s daughter that we’re first introduced in ROME) was getting her very own story I was super excited because I actually really liked getting to know her character in the Marked Men series and was looking forward to seeing her finally redeem herself for the trouble she got into at the end of ASA.
Sometimes it takes a down-spiral to figure out that the life that you’re living isn’t always the life that you deserve. This is something that I believe Avett experiences throughout this captivating story. I absolutely adored watching her character blossom into a responsible twenty-two year old almost as much as I loved every ounce of chemistry that radiated off the pages between herself and her gorgeous LEGAL EAGLE – Mr. Quaid Jackson!
This story was beyond anything I expected and literally blew every expectation I had out of the water. I loved every second of this story, I mean who wouldn’t love seeing a “wild child” fall in love a hot and sexy criminal lawyer who has worked his a** off (what a fine a** I’m sure it was) to reach where he is today. They may be one of the most unlikely pairs, but if you’ve read a Jay Crownover original before then you know never to doubt her!
Discover the magic beneath the pages and dive into this story today!
I enjoyed this, but oy was it wordy! There is a ton of inner monologue and it felt like it took me forever to get through it. I caught myself putting it down and doing other things and then I would come back to it. I’m a dialog girl, I likes the talky-talk. But other than that, it was good. I liked watching Avett grow throughout the story. Her and Quaid sure had some steamy sexy times! I really want to read more about Wheeler. Yum!
“Our story is still being written, Sprite. We haven’t reached the end just yet and there was a lot of editing and revision along the way.”
Brite Walker couldn’t have given his wayward daughter any better insight about life and how it’s supposed to be lived; because despite Avett’s bad decisions, reckless behavior, and need to self-destruct, her story hasn’t reached its resolution yet, and there’s still time to right the wrongs she’s committed, to stop being her own worst enemy, and to keep reaching to be better despite how low she feels about herself, about her past, about the people she put her trust in for far too long for all the wrong reasons.
I absolutely adore Avett. I knew she had a doozy of a story to tell, and I love how raw and real Jay Crownover crafted Avett’s perspective. Regardless of Avett’s long list of bad decisions and her inability to veer from the chaotic path she’s placed herself on, she’s as genuine and honest as any person could be in admitting to her flaws and holding herself accountable for her mistakes, especially the fact that, in many cases, she refused to do anything when she knew those situations weren’t meant to happen and would only cause pain and heartache for those who love her the most.
It’s uncanny to me how Crownover can take two characters who don’t seem to make sense on paper and show how they’re the perfect match for each other because they force one another to look inward…to truly examine their lives and challenge them to do better…to be better not only for those whom they love but also for themselves.
Quaid Jackson may seem like Avett’s antithesis in terms of having his act together, but all it is, is a carefully constructed façade that he’s perfected in order to be more than he was and have more than he did when he was younger. Quaid’s worked his ass off to become a well-dressed, flawless criminal defense lawyer because that’s what he believed made him a worthy man…that’s what proved to himself and those around him that he deserved every materialistic item that he could acquire…that’s what built him up and civilized him in a way that he also thought he wanted…until Hurricane Avett stormed into his life and his heart.
“You’re the best bad decision I ever made, and you are, by far, my favorite story to tell.”
A pink-haired spitfire and a Legal Eagle, civilized man find that with one another, they can be wild and free…they can act on emotion and fall without thinking because they’ll be there for each other despite other people’s issues with their connection and the whirlwind of dangers that surround them. Apart, their stories were at a stalemate; they were stuck repeating the same experiences, never being able to pull themselves off of that course. But, together, their story is an adventure where they can both be untamed…where they can be somebody who matters…is loved…recognizes their worth and finds that their lives were meant to be entwined because that’s the only way that they could have a worthwhile ending – one that leads them to their true selves and the person who makes them better people every day they’re together.
I am in awe of Jay’s writing…I’m absolutely giddy every time I get to read one of her stories because I know that I’m in for a rollercoaster of emotions as well as a discovery of messages that explore what truly matters in life. No one of her tales is the same but the beauty of each one of them is that it leaves a lasting impression on the reader – one that can be learned from and one that can be experienced again and again because the stories remain long after a reader is finished reading.
A complimentary copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
5 Poison Apples
I really enjoyed Quaid and Avett’s story. I loved seeing Brite and Darcy together again. And you gave us more Rome and Asa!!
I’m so glad Avett got her story. She got to turn her life around; to keep looking and reaching up. Asa is so good for her. And the truly unconditional love of her dad. A chance to put her relationship with her mom on better footing. To be able to put to right a trauma from her past and an apology to someone more important than she realized. I got the warm fuzzies!
And Quaid! I love his character!! she didn’t change him. She made him see himself. He made her see the need to give up the guilt and turn it into something positive, more useful.
Avett is always going to jump. But jumping for the right reasons feels so much more exciting, more rewarding. And when everyone she loves jumps to help her when she needed it most? Then followed it up with the best gift she could ever have dreamed of?! More warm fuzzies.
I love her spirit. And I love Quaid for seeing the beauty and wonder of her spirit. All the feels in their story!
The fairy tale that gives us all proof that happily-ever-after is not a myth that’s only reserved for those ‘good girls’… it’s there for those of more rebellious, bad-girl-vibe kind!
There are Avett and Quaid, two people that couldn’t seem more different. But also two people who couldn’t be more perfect one for another!
Avett and Quaid are not exactly opposites that attract – throughout their story we get to know them better and see that they are more like the two sides of the same coin – they both want to prove themselves to someone else when they only need to prove their worth to themselves, they want freedom and to deserve love.
A rebellious girl and perfect lawyer; a hurricane and a legal-eagle: it’s the kind of love story that’s bound to make an explosion. The kind of love story that would be remembered and told times and times again, so beautiful in its uniqueness… and rightness.
“{we} were bound to detonate into an explosion of heartbreak and anguish by the time we were done falling in love with one another.”
It’s the story of two people who think they reached rock bottom, but help each other out of the pit of despair that failure brings along.
“Because of him, I was climbing and had my eyes firmly on anyplace that wasn’t rock bottom. I was trying to reach top.”
Brite says, Some bad decisions make a good story… Avett and Quaid’s bad/right/bad/right decisions. led to an ultimately perfect love story!
Recommended contemporary romance read!