Michelle Brown (5)

I'm giving this book a solid 3.5.

Rosalina Maria killed her first man when she was 8. Her father sent her off to be trained as a killer and so she could lead her father's Mexican Mafia faction after he died. When she comes home to lead, she starts running into a lot of problems as a woman in what is very much a man's world.

Anthony de Los Santos was sent by his father to talk to Rosalina about taking over her family's businesses. When she tells him it's not about to happen, they have to start negotiating.

Michelle Brown took a chance with having a female being the head of a Mafia family. That's not how the story usually works. I applaud that choice. It's nice to see a strong woman in charge. Tony doesn't appear to be submissive to her, but seems like he is her equal. I'm not sure exactly, because he doesn't feel as fully fleshed out to me as Rosalina is.

This is a debut novel and I think overall it's pretty good. There are some flow issues, but I think that will straighten itself out in later books as the writer gets more experience under her belt. It's worth a read.… (mere)

I had this anthology on preorder forever. I knew going into it that it would be a hard read. Generally, I love all things dark but there were a few books here that finally pushed my limits. This is no means a romance anthology. I knew that going in. Even as uncomfortable as I was the authors did their job. This was horror. I t was twisted and depraved and gory as hell. I enjoyed some stories A LOT (looking at you JM Walker and Murphy Wallace) and others not as much which is par for the course with this many authors.

There are different triggers in this book so I advise anyone thinking about reading this to be prepared. This isn't a book about redeemable antiheroes (for the most part) these characters were morally bankrupt (again barring a few of the stories) However, the world-building that each of the authors used to make me uncomfortable was impressive. Furthermore, the purpose of this anthology of all profits going to the Rain Forest makes it doubly worth it.… (mere)