My marriage seemed perfect from the outside looking in.People envied me. They wanted my life, wanted to be me.Mrs Alejandra Gambino. Wife of Dino Gambino. Daughter of Eduardo Castillo.Respected. Loved. Mob royalty.They had no idea of the horrors that lurked behind closed doors.They didn’t know I was at the lowest point a person could reach.Enter Julius Carter.Aloof, handsome, blue-eyed Julius … Carter.
Aloof, handsome, blue-eyed Julius Carter.
He saved me.
I screwed him over.
Now everybody was after me. My life was forfeit.
It was only a matter of time. I was a dead woman walking.
The question was, who would get to me first?
more
4.5 Stars
Alejandra – Ana – is the daughter of a mob boss.
When she was 18 years old, her ‘normal’ life ended. She was asked/forced by her dad, to marry into another crime family. And at first Dino was perfect. They became best friends. But after being married for a while, she finally met the real Dino. The mega-jealous, violent, angry, mean Dino. The Dino who liked watching his little psycho brother violently rape his wife.
And now finally, after six years of constant fear, there might be a change in her miserable life.
Her former highschool boyfriend, and now-husband of her younger sister, has been killed. Probably by Dino, because he found out that he was his wife’s ex.
Alejandra’s brother Miguel hires our darling Twitch’s best friend Julius to investigate, and, if need be, to eliminate.
Enter Julius – and his new side-kick – Ling!
But of course all is not as it seems, and suddenly Ana is chased by everyone. One side wants her dead deader deadest. And the other side – aka Julius – just wants to bring her back home – to probably get killed too, but at least she has a chance that way.
And of course our darling Julius is kind of intrigued by this beautiful girl.
But will he believe her when she finally tells him the truth???
Oh, and if all that wasn’t exciting enough – we also follow our beloved Twitch around the world trying to eliminate every single threat to his family’s lives, in a more or less legal way – so that he can maybe, one day soon, come back home!!!!
WHAT WiLL HAPPEN WiTH ANA & JULIUS & TWiTCH???
WiLL THERE BE A HAPPY EVER AFTER FOR ALL OF THEM???
OR WiLL THERE BE A CLiFFHANGER???
I’m not telling you that of course
DIRTY IS HERE GUYS!!! Finally! And the best thing about it!!!!! TWITCH is in here too!!!!
I already started crying the first time Twitch and Lexi were mentioned. Julius remembers the time when he saw Lexi after Twitch ‘died’. Ugh, soooo heartbreaking!!!
OK – back to DIRTY!
Just like RAW, Dirty is a book full of criminals and bad guys and our good bad guys trying to rid the world of the very bad guys all the while trying to save the bad girl from being killed by the very baddest guy! Makes sense?
It’s not as complicated as that just sounded.
This was an amazingly interesting and raw and dirty romance.
The romance part is at first of course not really the main part. It takes our darlings a long while to trust. But we’ll get there.
There’s lots of violence and hitting and shooting and killing and whatnot to entertain us until we’ll get to the romance part. That doesn’t mean that the violent and criminal part is over once we kissed for the first time. It’s only getting started.
Julius is a really great guy. Really hot and sexy and …
Yesss, he’s kind of a killer and a bad guy. But he’s also this adorable softie underneath. All his bad-guying only started as a teenager when his sister got hurt and he had to help her.
I really enjoyed this book. I cried A LOT!!!!
A few tiny things….
It was a tiny bit too violent for me. Violent in an ugly way. I’m not one of those ‘an-eye-for-an-eye’ people. I prefer following the law. And those mafia types, they’re not really law-abiding folks.
But of course you pretty much know what you’re getting into when you start reading this series.
Even though I loooved Julius, I sometimes felt we were just wasting time with his story, while waiting for Twitch to be ready for his book! I was looking forward to Twitch’s chapters way too much. Maybe he shouldn’t have been in this book all that often (a chapter at the end would’ve probably been better) – it wasn’t really fair to Julius and Alejandra! Their lovestory felt a bit flat and shortened and too insta and a bit weird…..
Also – can I say that I hate Ling? I already hated her in the first book and she’s no better now. She’s horrible and she will probably be even more horrible in the next book. I don’t like her, I don’t want her, I think she should just go somewhere else and not be in these books.
BUT – I still loved the story a lot! It was a great Romantic Suspense book!
DIRTY was a very suspensy & exciting Thrillance! Is that a word? Anyway. Lots of criminal activity. But also lots of sexiness and hope for a better future. Not only for Ana and Julius, but also for Twitch and Lexi and AJ! Can’t wait for book #3!!!!
When the first book in a series guts you (figuratively), you have no choice but to devour book two. I tore through Raw like it was chocolate and it was that time of the month. I may have read Raw in unease of my feelings, but Dirty left me no doubt.
When you meet Julius in Raw, you get an understanding though a small one. It’s a glimpse of the man, but all is laid bare in Dirty. Not only that but even though this is Julius’ tale, an old friend comes out to play.
I can tell you that I suspected this story was going to be too big at 20%, but I had absolutely no clue how big. I am still shaking my head and clutching my shirt. Shaking my head at the sheer magnitude of disbelief but also blindness I am guilty of. I am clutching my shirt because I’m all cried out. (I assure you, my tears will be replenished in time for anything the future might hold.)
Incredibly well written, Dirty takes the feels from Raw and gives them steroids, some cocaine, and a semiautomatic weapon to mangle what’s left of your heart. What a f@cking ride! I am extremely grateful to have been on this crazy train and I have no intention of ever getting off.
reviewed for The Sweet Spot Sisterhood
Pussnbooks.net Reviewing the darkest erotic books we can find.
Och man! I was so disappointed with this book. The first one was so yummy and hot and suspenseful. This one was just kinda ok.
In book one, Julius came across as a dark and dangerous man with demons of his own but in this story, he’s just kind of…I dunno, a softy with a violent job.
I’ll be honest, if this book didn’t have pieces of Twitch and Ling in it, I would have given up halfway through. I just couldn’t get with Julius and Alejandra. They both seemed “nice”, ya know?
It started out strong but then just kinda fizzled out. Although there were some good parts in it, the main storyline just didn’t do it for me.
However, it came back with a freakin’ vengeance for the last 20% of the book. Finally! Shit went down, y’all and I was loving it. Now, I am looking forward to book #3!
ALEJANDRA – This poor girl has never known a day of proper freedom in her whole life. Being a mob boss’s daughter and the eldest sibling there was a lot of pressure on her to be perfect, and she was. The perfect daughter, sister and mother figure to her siblings, and then the perfect wife.
She is such an innocent soul in such a dirty world. In fact, she’s so innocent that she tends to be a little too honest.
This honesty, unfortunately, triggers something nasty in her husband and from that day onward her life is hell. She is abused in every sense of the word and is desperate to escape this hellish life.
I found her soft and insecure at some points and then calculating and hard at others. She was an…odd mix, to say the least. And kept going back and forth between the two.
JULIUS – Ah, Julius. You could have been so much more! I was waiting for him to be some badass mofo and there were some scenes that could have made him that way, but they all just seemed to fall short.
He has awesome respect for women after witnessing what his father did to his sister when he was a kid.
Thank god for Ling and Twitch! Soooo glad that they made appearances in this book. Without them, it would have fallen flat (sorry).
I’m starting to love Ling just a little. She is so badass and hard but broke so much when Twitch “died”. Some of the things she says and does in this book have me loling where others have me like “wtf?”.
And Twitch, well damn, he’s still as yummy as he ever was (whoop whoop!)
SEX SCENES – Well, I don’t actually have much to say about the sex. There wasn’t much of it really. And what there was…didn’t get my motor going.
FINAL THOUGHTS – I was disappointed. Her first book had me on the edge of my bed but this one I was mostly just wanting to finish it so that I could get to the Twitch and Lexi story in book 3. Like I said earlier though, the last 20% or so had me glued to the Kindle screen, it was so good. Arg, mixed feelings! Imma give it 3 stars.
3 STARS
Alejandra knew being called to her father’s office wasn’t good. Her father changed when her mother died, he hasn’t been the same since, she knows he’s not a good man but he’s good to them. She never expected her father to tell her she was marrying Vito Gambino’s son Dino to help with an alliance or that she would end up liking him. But things go wrong and soon she finds herself looking for anyway out and when Julius is asks her is her husband killed her brother-in-law, she sees her out.
Julius knows that Alejandra needs to go back and they will kill her for lying, finding her something about her gets to him, he knows he should take her back and let her have her fate, but something doesn’t make sense to him and he’s going to find out.
(This review is from November 2016)
Belle Aurora left us breathless and wanting to throw our kindles at her at the end of RAW (…or at least I did), so I could not wait to get my grubby hands on Dirty. Last night I finished reading RAW for the second time and went to bed having a restless sleep with all things Twitch and Lexi on my mind. I woke up today and dove right into this book early on a Saturday morning ready to commit my day to doing laundry and and reading all of this book in one sitting.
As soon as I started this book I had to stop and ask myself, “Who the f@@k is Alejandra?” Needless to say, I did not read the blurb like a normal human because I like to feel the story as it comes at me. However, I was really expecting more Twitch and Lexi…and there is some, but this book is all about (Ana) Alejandra (Castillo) Gambino and Julius Carter with a splash of Ling-Ling Nguyen.
Ana comes from a mob family that was looking to merge with an Italian mob family, so as the eldest daughter of Eduardo Castillo, she is arranged (Yes, I said arranged) to marry, Dino Gambino, the eldest son of Vito Gambino. She was the sweetest, most beautiful young lady and at the age of eighteen, she married Dino. He is such a loving gentleman, who dotes on Ana every chance he can. However, once they get married everything changes. When Ana doesn’t fall in love with Dino as fast as he fell for her, he decides to beat the love into her. In Dino’s mind submission is love and humiliation is punishment when Ana doesn’t bend at his whim.
When Raul, Ana’s brother-in-law and ex-boyfriend, goes missing, Julius Carter and his assistant Ling-Ling Nguyen are called in as mob enforcers…this job has Julius as judge and executioner. However after acting as a witness, Ana backstabs Julius by lying and making him look like a fool in front of his peers. His job then turns into him finding Ana and bringing her back to be judged.
Meanwhile Twitch is going all over the United States to eliminate his obstacles that are keeping him from Lexi and his five year old son, AJ. Five years is way too long to go without those that you love more than yourself. Nothing will stop Twitch from achieving his goal, consequences be damned.
Belle Aurora wrote this book so you know that this story will not unfold as you think it will. The more I got into this book, the more the webs spun together causing everyone and everything to connect in the craziest way. And then again she left me NEEDING the next book in the worst way. I just hope that RAW: Rebirth will not take another two-and-a-half years to get to us. I more than recommend this book, I’m telling you that you MUST read this series…it is imperative.
I am going to try not to ruin this for anyone else that has yet to read book one , Raw , let alone Dirty .first off it took me awhile to read , because I had to wait so long after Raw to get this book in my greedy hands . It was hard .should I start it ? Should I wait until book three comes out ? Will there be another book ? How long will I wait for that one ?
I finally couldn’t wait any longer and decided to dive in . All the emotions came flooding back about Lexi , baby A.J. and The death of Twitch …Oh Twitch !!
Except we are actually reading Julius and Alejandra’s storyline ..It’s Brutal , Heartbreaking , Filled with bloodshed , action and the realization that Ling is Still a B !!
Twitch is in the book and we get a glimpse into what he’s gone through & what his grieving friends have endure since his Demise …It’s gutting , but I’m not gonna lie there is a cliffhanger ending .
And the wait is on for Raw Family Book Three…………..
This series has quickly become an unforgettable favorite.
I have no idea why I didn’t read this when it came out. I think I was just upset that it wasn’t Twitch’s book. Now I am upset at myself for waiting so long.
This was a great read! Dark, sexy, angsty perfection.
Alejandra was promised to a man to connect two family’s. At first her husband seemed perfect and then everything changed. She lived in utter hell with a monster for years. And as soon as opportunity arose to break free, she took it.
Now Julius is involved since he is the judge and executioner in the underworld. After making a mistake, now he has to hunt down Alejandra and she’s on the run.
So many twists in this story. You will get to find out where Twitch has been and why. So you still get your fix! We learn so much more about Ling; who she is and why she is the way she is.
If you love dark romance, this is a series that should not be missed. I am currently bingeing all three books and loving this series completely.
Finally! I’ve been waiting for this book for so long
I could not read fast enough and get into the pages of this intense, passionate and emotional read.
Full of twists and turns, Dirty is raw and gripping to the core.
It. Does. Not. Disappoint!!
Dead man walking… Or is it a woman?
This story introduces us to Alejandra, and the feels like it’s setting stage for the next book.
However, to get to the end, you need to find answers and there are things that must be done, and people to meet.
During this very twisted journey, are learned valuable lessons about the past present and future. In order to move forward, one has to go back where it all began.
Can that truly happen?
Secrets are revealed and new plots emerge!
Realizations and new insights emerge creating unthinkable situations.
What’s the end result?
So many questions and then a heart wrenching cliffhanger!
You must read this beauty and find out!!!
4.5 stars!
WOW! A very good follow-up for Raw! And I cannot wait to read the next one.
I really liked Julius in the previous book and I enjoyed his chemistry with Alejandra. A broken woman that had to endure so many awful things and has to do one thing that will either scar her even more or be the death of her… You’ll need to read the book to know how it ends … But love & strength can take you to a lot of places; sometimes being strong is the only choice you have.
This book didn’t disappoint me but like the first one, there were scenes very hard for me to read but that really didn’t take anything away from the story. Definitely worth the read!
This is the book I didn’t see coming but oh man was I thrilled we got it. I devoured it. I loved everything about this book.
This book! OMG! I loved it!! Ya know, after the first book (which I absolutely loved btw) I just thought, well, what a BS ending. Because I didn’t know the story will continue and I just loved Twitch so much. (I must be crazy because Twitch isn’t a guy you’d normally wish for.)
Anyway, this book wasn’t just the story of Jay and Alejandra but also about Twitch and that crazy Ling.
I loved Twitch all over again with his cocky attitude. It was freaking hilarious sometimes.
I had the feeling that the story of Julius and Alejandra got a bit lost along the lines but I was giddy when it picked up again even though I didn’t like Alejandra that much. The first book of this series was better IMHO although too different to be compared with this one. I had to get used to the different POV’s in this book at first because every time I was engrossed in the story the change of POV messed up with me and I lost track of the story. I absolutely loved reading Twitch’s POV because he made me smile and swoon. I also loved Julius but Twitch is my number one.
The Story:
Alejandra had to make a sacrifice for her family as her father made her understand how everyone has to make scarifies in life and she would be helping her family in marrying Dino Gambino. It’s important to join these two families for the truce that’s necessary to keep the peace and safety that comes with it.
Her marriage was picture-perfect to the outside world but a living hell behind the closed doors of her home. Being abused, hurt, punished and suppressed she lived in fear of her husband though that hasn’t always been the case since he was like her best friend before the marriage.
When an opportunity offered itself she took it and had no remorse in using other people to get what she longed for so long. Freedom. But freedom comes with a price. It’s about life or death. Can she outrun her persecutor, the executioner?
Julius never gets anything wrong but it seemed this time he messed up and there is just one way to rectify this mess. Eye for an eye. Gio or rather the Gambino family seeks revenge and blood because Alejandra turned on her husband and now they are after her. Can Julius get to her first before Gio finds her? Can he sort out this mess before it gets worse?
Thoughts:
I love, love, love this story. The ending was the best or rather it made me long for more. I loved all the different characters but I had a problem with Alejandra’s because I couldn’t really warm up to her. Despite all the horrid stuff she had to endure in her marriage I thought for a long time that she was a snake for ratting her man out like that. But as the story continued I got angrier at that ass and what he’d done to her.
I honestly felt bad for Dino at some point because of what I gathered from Alejandra he was paranoid, which was surely a result of his family and their lifestyle as they always had to prove themselves and could never show any weakness or otherwise they’d likely be replaced quickly. By no means does this right his wrongs but I felt bad for an obviously young nice guy to end like this.
His brother Gio though can go to hell.
Alejandra got more annoying with each turning page – don’t get me wrong she went through horrible stuff and I would have died a thousand deaths by now if I was her but she could never make up her mind. She wanted to run, then she wanted to seduce Julius but in the next moment she was scared and wanted to die. She was desperate and I understood why but it was just getting on my nerves that she constantly changed her mind and also her attitude. She didn’t know who she was without her husband and it confused and annoyed me when she acted like a brat. That’s also why I never felt a real connection between her and Julius though I loved him even with his flaws.
I don’t know if Alejandra can ever be healed from her wounds not only physically but mentally. She had to endure so much. Poor one. I don’t want to sound mean but I hoped for Julius to find himself a strong, confident and sweet woman and I felt like Alejandra is just too broken for him.
Despite everything I mentioned above I can’t wait for the next book!!! Twitch + Lexi! Yeah!! =) I don’t want to spoil anything so I can’t really rave about what I hope for in the next book but as long as Twitch is present I’m happy.
I’m so happy about the ending of this book. I hope we get to see a few of the characters again in the next book and I definitely want a HEA! Please!! I don’t know this author well so I don’t know how she will end this trilogy but I hope for the best.
I read Raw and absolutely loved it, so was dying to dive into Dirty.
It’s everything you want and more, if you’re a fan of Raw you will not be disappointed with this. I really don’t want to say much because you need to experience this without knowing anything. You will enjoy this and I can’t wait for the last installment.
* ARC PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR FOR AN HONEST REVIEW *
Hell. Yes.
I seriously don’t care that it took 2 1/2 years for this story to come out, it was well worth the wait to me. I reread Raw 2 days ago while waiting for this to come out and I’m so glad that I did. We got soooo much more in this book, it was action packed. Tons of backstory on pretty much everyone, a whole bunch of questions were answered (for me) and holy crap there’s going to be a 3rd book! Wheeeeee! I say take your time girlfriend, because that 3rd book is going to be epic!! (
As a reader I have been waiting so very patiently for this instalment of the Raw Family.
It’s been long awaited, and finally….finally I got my fix.
And my review….
There will be no teasers.
There will be no little intro into what it’s about.
There will be not much of anything really.
And my reasons….
There is no way that I would want to ruin it for anybody wanting to read Dirty….
Dirty needs to be read without teasers, intros or hints.
Because what will you discover in Dirty is simply mind blowing.
But I will say this….
Dirty is nothing short of absolute sheer perfection.
Raw, gritty, dark, stomach turning.
Heartbreaking, breathtaking.
Gruesome, detailed, ugly, beautiful.
They are only just a few words that I can give you to explain what I felt with every page I turned.
I was captivated from the prologue, putting it down was never an option.
The story line….Perfect.
The detail….Deep.
The characters….Complex.
The emotion….Consuming.
The twists….Explosive.
Dirty….Unique.
Dirty in its own right is one of the best novels for 2016 that will stay with me always.
For me it deserves so much more than 5 stars, because it feels almost criminal to rate uniquenesss and pure genius.
So in short….People you need to read this….Trust me when I say you will not be disappointed.
5 stars
“Everyone loves a villain.”
Two and a half years is how long I have been waiting on this book. I LOVED the first book RAW so I had very high expectations for Dirty. I am happy to announce Dirty has met all my expectations. I love this book so much. Belle did a phenomenal job with linking everything perfectly together. All the new characters were very intriguing and added so much more to the story. As for the characters we already, they were still as awesome as they were in Dirty. This book gave me the perfect RAW experience.
“They can take everything from me, but I won’t let them have my pride. They can pry it from my cold, dead fingers.”
The two main characters in this book are Julius (Twitch’s best friend/right hand man) and the beautiful Alejandra. We already met Julius in RAW and I loved him in that book and couldn’t wait to get my hands on his story. We see another side to him that I admire so much. He was still his strong, loyal, dangerous self. But we also got to see a soft, caring and protective side to him. Alejandra had been dealt a very messed up and horrible hand and my heart broke for her. She was in my eyes still very strong and didn’t just give up. I was very proud of her and her determination to survive. Julius and Alejandra were a perfect match and I loved seeing their relationship develop. A lot of crazy and horrific things happened in this book. It was dark and twisted, just the way I like my books. This was a complete story that didn’t left me wanting more.
We also get a better view of Ling, who is Julius partner. She intrigued me the most. She is so complicated and I just couldn’t get enough of her. Her relationship with both Twitch and Julius was very unique and kind of destructive. I need MORE of her!!!!! There were so many twists in this book and now I need the third and last book RAW: Rebirth to see what is going to happen. I was very happy Twitch had many POVs in this book, they showed us what he was up to. I love him so much! The last book is going to be explosive and I expect a lot of crazy things to happen. Again this book is AMAZING and another favorite of mine. Belle Aurora doesn’t disappoint!
I have waited two years for more Twitch and finally got my itch for more of Twitch’s story scratched with Dirty. Raw has been my favorite mafia book. Twitch was my first drug dealing mafia book boyfriend and believe me he is so worth the wait. Dirty is now my second favorite mafia book. Belle Aurora gives us more story of the people in Twitch’s life and Dirty is so freaking good and what a mafia book is all about. I had a few choice words for the ending and I have yet to get my fill of Twitch. All I can say is I am ready for the next book.
Happy Reading Everyone!!!