Grievous by J M Darhower
“There’s something about you, Lorenzo,” I say, shaking my head as I look away, unconsciously returning his smile. “Sometimes I think you might just be human.”
“You’re making shit weird again, Scarlet.”
Here comes the conclusion to Lorenzo & Morgan‘s story!
I’m glad I waited for the release of Grievous by J M Darhower to read “Menace” because I’M TERRIBLE WITH CLIFFHANGERS and I ended up devouring this duet!
In this book Morgan’s life is still threatened by Kassian, a nightmare that plagues her from the age of 15 and Lorenzo’s loyalties are put to the test.
Great pacing, dark twists and turns, hilarious banters, off-the-charts chemistry…an amazing combination that kept me engaged all the way through, EVERY SINGLE PAGE.
In the first book I fell in love with Lorenzo, his raw intensity, sociopathic tendencies, his addiction to oranges and his Star Wars obsession.
I re-read all the quotes and yep…
In Grievous I fell even deeper with this crazy and protective man.
With Morgan in the picture, gone is the time when only his brother could see the heart of him.
Now Morgan sees it too, even when he tries his best to keep it from her.
“What do you want, Morgan?” he asks after a moment, his voice low. “Just… tell me what you want from me. I can’t stand here and do this with you.”
“You named me,” I say. That’s not the first time I’ve heard him call me by my real name. Morgan. “You only name what you keep, remember?”
He does.
Morgan has landend herself one of the best anti-hero/knight in shining armor combination I’ve seen so far in romanceland!
Both MCs are written spectaculary.
Our heroine is a force to be reckoned with, sassy and strong-willed but also very vulnerable.
She was able to survive a tragedy and she keeps on fighting for what is precious to her.
She never gives up on the people she loves.
Never.
Lorenzo included.
“You want the fairy tale,” he continues. “You want the happy ending. You want the little boy to be a fucking bird so he can fly away and make everything okay, but I can’t do it. I’ve told you that. It’s not me.”
“I know.”
“So why the fuck are you here?”
“Because I love you anyway.”
I really enjoyed the conclusion and the nice epilogue but…
Yep there’s a BUT.
I was a bit disappointed with the characters/plot consistency two times.
↓ Skip the spoiler section if you don’t want the details ↓
• 1# Lorenzo discovers that Markel (Kassian’s brother and Morgan’s nightmare) tried to “help” Morgan and Sasha and he’s also probably Sasha’s father and Lorenzo just kills him, point blank.
I know he is not exactly “sane” and Markel is a despicable human being (less than his brother but despicable all the same) but after Markel’s confession I expected something different, ANYTHING but 3 bullets that end it all.
He deserved hell for what Morgan went through, she was only 15!!
But…what was the point (plotwise) of knowing about Markel trying to save Morgan and him being Sasha’s father?
• 2# Lorenzo forgives “Seven” too easily.
I mean…he calls his men by numbers because they’re expendable and when his most trusted man betrays him, causing Morgan to be tortured some more, what does Lorenzo do?
Kill him on the spot?
Torture him?
Nope.
When Morgan and Sasha are safe, he ends up taking him back!
That’s not exactly Lorenzo’s M.O.
It was completely out of character.
That said, J. M. Darhower did a wonderful job with Grievous (Scarlet Scars Book 2)
⭐ 4 Stars ⭐
* You can find my review of “Menace” (Scarlet Scars Book 1) here
~ My ratings ~
Writing: 4 /5
Plot: 4 /5 (Not 5 because those 2 spoilers I mentioned didn’t convince me)
Hero: 4 /5
Heroine: 4 /5
Secondary Characters: 5 /5
MC’s chemistry: 5 /5
Triggers: Rape, Violence, Explicit Sexual Scenes Included, sex scenes with other people before MCs get together, coarse language.
Recommended to: Adult Romance Readers looking for a dark romance with a mafia-related plot.
Quotes may help you decide if this is the right book for you, check them out!
~ Quotes ~
“You ever worry you might really be crazy?”
“Worry? No. I’m pretty sure.”
“You’re pretty sure you’re crazy?”
“Yes.”
I laugh, looking at him, seeing he’s watching me curiously. The light changes and people go around us, but he doesn’t move. Not right away.
“There’s nothing wrong with being crazy,” he says. “It’s all just a matter of perception. Hell, I think my brother’s crazy, working some bullshit job with his beauty queen girlfriend studying whatever she’s studying, spending tens of thousands for a little piece of paper that’ll declare her competent enough to get her own bullshit job where she’ll make not even a fraction of what I make, when I didn’t even finish high school. But the world thinks that’s normal, and really, that’s all normalcy is—it’s whatever fucking brand of crazy has the majority.”
He goes on so long, staring at me, that the light changes again and people gather around us.
I stay quiet, waiting until it’s safe to walk.
“Besides,” Lorenzo says, turning to cross the street, “crazy gets shit done, Scarlet.”
“Speaking of the couch,” Leo chimes in, “you were just kidding, right? You didn’t really steal the new couch from some strip club.”
As soon as he says that, I glance into the living room, seeing a familiar black leather couch with gold accents. Oh god, did he seriously…?
“Do you think I’d really do that?” Lorenzo asks.
“I’m hoping not,” Leo grumbles.
“Go to work,” Lorenzo tells him again before turning to Melody. “And you, go wherever it is you go when you’re not in my house, breathing up all of my oxygen.”
They grumble goodbyes and head out, while Lorenzo stands there, staring at the door, making sure they’re gone before turning to me.
He looks like he has something to say, but I beat him to talking.
“You stole a couch,” I say, “from a strip club.”
“So?”
“So do you know what happens on those couches?”
“Probably the same ooey-gooey shit my brother does on it, but it doesn’t matter. I disinfected it.”
“You disinfected it.”
“Yeah, got a can of Lysol and sprayed the fuck out of the thing.”
I scrub my hands over my face. “I, uh… I’m too tired to think of a response to that.”
I smirk. “You know, you’d probably be a lot scarier if your junk wasn’t dangling all up in my face.”
Before the last syllable is completely out of my mouth, he steps toward me, grabbing his cock. “Keep talking shit, I’ll fucking slap you with it.”
“She wants the fairy tale with the happy ending. All I have are bullet holes in a house with no soul.”
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