Saturday, February 18, 2023

Review: Violent Heart by Candace Wondrak

Violent Heart by Candace Wondrak
Series: A Death So Sweet #3
Publication date: April 1st, 2021
Pages: 379
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:
Revenge. Torture. Hate. No good men live in this city. Only bad men and worse--and those who were worse will get what's coming to them, even if I have to die trying.

You know my name by now. I never was an angel, and I plan on proving that again before death catches up with me. I've killed countless, and before this thing is over, I'll kill more. I'll destroy them all.

The Bloody Princess wants me to kill the remaining Luciano sons, but what she doesn't know is they have my heart, as violent as it is. Maddox, Sylvester, even Viper--I will become their instrument of vengeance. No one will touch them. I will burn this city down if I have to, even if it means I'll be caught in the blaze.

I never feared death. I've searched for it all my life. The Night Slayer is about to go head-to-head with the new head of the DeLuca family. I wish I could say she's a worthy opponent... but that bitch has no idea just how brutal and crazy I can be.

No one threatens me or my guys.


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Review:
Lola has been put through the ringer and now she has to face down the fact that she may have started the ball rolling on the Lucianos losing their hold on the city. Who knew that her serial killer tendencies would cause a full blown war to erupt? Add to that the fact that she also has her problematic abuser of a little brother to contend with and a DeLuca leader who wants to sway her to their side against her men. Silly, Bloody Princess, could she not see the connection Lola had with her men? Now, Lola has been let off the leash that the Luciano boys held and she is ready to wreck havoc throughout the city even if that meant her own downfall. Her first step is to reassure her battered and resolved men that she is on their side and that she could get their city back for them if only they followed her lead. The city will run red with blood and the cackles of a madwoman on a warpath to protect her new family.

Lola lets her psycho skip along the pages of this book. She embraces her madness and leans into it. All her guys can do is sit back and watch her work. Lola was the star of the final installment in this trilogy. She handled everything herself with her own little dash of flair. She had a brother that was disillusioned enough to believe that the abuse he put her through as a child was something she would willingly return to and a Bloody Princess who believed she was an unfeeling killer who just wanted to feel blood between her fingers without a care who that person was within her grip. She was underestimated to the extreme and she proved that was a death sentence.

This book was by far the goriest of the three to the point where the mental images that the author described made me have to take a moment to think of puppies and kitties so the horrors didn't drag me under completely. I understand the reason for it and Lola deserved every bloody second of it but... damn! The violence was very strong and the sex was a little more raunchy than it had been previously. (I absolutely loved the bickering energy Maddox and Sylvester had in one of the scenes. It made me chuckle even as my Kindle melted in my hands.)

I do think that the final action felt a bit rushed. It all went a little too easily for Lola and was a little bit of a disappointment that there wasn't more to it than just her dispatching enemies with a chaotic smirk. It kind of felt like the author had more she could have written with these characters but was almost forced into a conclusion. I could have kept reading this series as a long-standing one very happily. But all good things have to come to an end I suppose. The easy conclusion didn't take away from the wonder that this series was.

I have read several books by Wondrak and I plan to keep reading everything I can get my grubby hands on. She's a talent unto her own.