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Series: The Gentlemen #1
Publication date: August 6th, 2021
Pages: 432
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
Forced to live with my ENEMIES.
They think they OWN ME.
But I own their HEARTS.
Nico, Rush, and Beck are the three leaders of The Gentlemen Mafia.
For my entire life, my family has been at war with their gang, splitting our city down the middle. They're Violent, Possessive, and Psychotic.
When my sister is kidnapped, I have no choice but to turn to them. But to trust them is to risk it all.
Red Handed is an enemies to lovers contemporary mafia romance where the female main character will end up with multiple love interests by the end of the series. All the characters are in their mid-twenties. There are dark themes and graphic violence, but no bullying or violence toward the main character. This is book one of three.
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Review:
Reagan is her father's daughter. She was trained to be his thief and soldier that can fly under the radar as a female. She is the spare to his heir Sophie and is treated as such. When she is given the mission to attend a gala in their enemy's territory to pilfer trinkets from the rich guests she never expected to come face-to-face with the leader and his henchmen for the Gentlemen Mafia. As an explosion rocks the party she flees home only to have her enemies follow. It is agreed that her family and the Gentlemen are to join forces for the time being against a mutual foe. Reagan and her sister Sophie are to accompany the Gentlemen back to their hotel where they can be protected. Reagan's only reason for going is to assist in the return of some stolen goods by their enemy and to watch her sister's back. But when she starts working with the three handsome leaders can she keep her loyalty to her family and still view them as the enemies in a hesitant truce?
Reagan is a woman of many secrets. She presents herself as just a simple thief but there is so much more to her. As she goes about her days in the Gentlemen's company she starts to reveal more and more of the fighting machine that her father cultivated. She is able to hold her own as attack after attack on her and her sister start to rain down on her every time she sets foot outside the hotel. She is definitely a Firecracker as Rush calls her.
Rush was by far my favorite. The mental picture of him having heterochromia was yummy. And I loved that he didn't immediately fall into her lap like Beck did and wasn't completely against her like Nico. He was somewhere in the middle where he tried to sus her out and figure out what made her tick. Beck was the easygoing interrogator, Rush the quiet techie, and Nico was the leader and stoic asshole. They all played different roles but all seemed to be fighting hard against their attractions for Reagan (Nico more than the others).
The story did drag a bit. It just seemed like the same situations. They go outside for some random thing or another, get almost killed, run back to the hotel with their tails between their legs and then wake up and do it all over. There were a few missions and a kidnap attempt that broke it up but it was still one of those situations where every time they were out of the hotel they were attacked. Why they ever left is beyond me. The romances were excruciatingly slow burns to the point where I got to the point where I was like, "oh I don't even care of they end up together or not". I found her sister to be dull and kinda just filler in the story. No real purpose to her. In fact, the reason for Reagan even being there was like grasping at straws. There was no real reason at all. It was just... hard for me to get into it which is probably why it took me well over 2 weeks to read it when it usually takes me a day or so. I will continue with the series but I have hopes that something happens to pull my interest further into the story.
