At times, I was really over Chess's angst, but it was true to her character (as written). I am looking to see if there is more than incremental growth in her character for the next couple of books.

I hope so. ( )

Prelim Review: This is more of a 4.5--and that .5 is only taken off because holee hell on a stick there is going to be smackdowns in the next book and I don't know who to vote for. I mean I really like Terrible--something about the man just makes me feel warm and smile. But Lex. Oh man. We share a name! And the cadence of his speech just sounds...beautiful. Of the two Lex is more my type honestly.

Chess just doesn't get a break from the crap life is tossing at her. And this time something far better then any high she has ever been on is offered, is sampled, and it broke my heart. I give her credit, she laid it all out for Terrible. She put herself out there for him in so many ways, just like he does for her.

Its been a few months since I've been cruising Downside so the slang and speech patterns initially threw me for a loop. One of the things I love about the Downside books is that Kane DOES infuse the books with a lot of slang, colloquialisms and street talk. Kane immerses you into the language head first, rarely pausing to have Chess explain something and usually giving the reader context to decipher.

Full review to be posted at Romance Reader at Heart ( )

FINALLY!

I think I'm just dancing around the campfire because Chess finally sorted something out. Sort of. Kind of. Maybe. Maybe not. She's got such deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy, though, that she's just not sure how to handle something real.

Wait. Hold the phone. Back up. I don't even LIKE romances, and here I am grabbing for the next book because I'm desperate to know the outcome of relationship drama? Yes, yes I am. Here I stand, loud and proud, wanting to know how the heck Chess's relationship drama has sorted itself out.

And the truth is, it really hasn't. Which is fair. Chess has issues. She's got subscriptions. No, no, she has junk mail. Stuff's just pouring in through the mail slot. And yes, there were times that my heart just broke for her, because she's just so terribly earnest about not wanting to mess things up, and she messes things up simply because of that.

Pair up one majorly damaged heroine that we all root for, because if Chess can manage to sort herself out, any of us can, really, with some majorly messed up ghosts and a brewing turf war, and we've got one of the best books from Stacia Kane yet. ( )

Chess is probably the most broken protagonist I've read, ever. I want her to succeed and be happy, but I want to grab her and shake her too. I don't want a miracle, though, I want her to genuinely get better. Also, I just really, really love Terrible. He's a bone-breaking enforcer for a drug lord/pimp/general bad dude, he's depicted as pretty-much-totally-ugly, he wears bowling shirts (although I will admit to loving the rockabilly aesthetic, like, a lot), and he uses violence as therapy, but good lord, he is the hottest thing since Jericho Barrons.

Reading these books can be really uncomfortable but I can't stop either. I intended to take a break from them, give myself a couple of weeks, maybe read something about kittens and rainbows and smiling babies, but I found myself on Amazon, one-clicking away for the rest of the series. Someone, halp. ( )

There was definitely a moment in this book where I wanted to shake Chess. Poor Terrible, I mean, poor Chess too, but she said some really cruel stuff to him, trying to hurt them, and that bugs me. I totally get her whole damaged-and-unloveable thing, but I hate that she tried to hurt Terrible - I think I just relate a bit more to self-destructiveness than I do to turning hostility outward. So that part kinda upset me. Still absolutely adoring this series!!! ( )