Review: Rotten Men by Ivy Fox

Rotten Men by Ivy Fox

Series: Rotten Love #2

Publication date: May 9th, 2019

Pages: 345

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Pride

A sin every made man is born into.

With a branding iron, our souls are scorched into believing there is no greater virtue than our syndicate pride--we kill and bleed to keep its honor.

Yet, some might say pride comes before destruction--a haughty spirit before a fall.

I say there are far more devastating ways to push someone into the fiery pits of hell.

A lover's betrayal cuts more deeply than any wound a knife can inflict.

When she left, we were nothing but boys; little less than your everyday thugs.

Too naive and blinded by love, to see deep into her traitorous heart.

Her departure made sure to turn us all cruel, spiteful, and vindictive.

And now, her deceitful smile returns, searching to plague us further.

She wants absolution. She craves justice.

But she is unworthy of either.

Because the boys she pretended to treasure, no longer exist.

It took one rotten girl of our past, to turn us all into the rotten men we are today.

And it's about time she got acquainted with her creations.

Rotten Men is the second and last book in this duet.

This is #whychoose contemporary romance, full length novel.

*Recommended 18+ due to mature language, adult situations and sensitive content.

Available at:

Review:

It has been ten years since Selene mysteriously ran away and the men in her life have tried their best to move on. They have become the hardened criminals they were destined to be and they have tried everything to never let themselves think about the girl who betrayed them. One minute they had the world laid at their feet and would finally have the girl they have loved for years and then the next she was simply gone. They searched for her but after a time they had to give up and write her off as lost to them. Some of them held out hope but all of them knew that the likelihood of her ever returning after so much time had gone by was slim. Which is why they are all thrown off kilter when Selene does return. But she has a request. She needs help freeing a newfound loved one from a sticky situation. Will her men willingly let her come back into their lives and even help her to fix her newly created one or will they cast her out for betraying them? Selene ran away for a reason, a secret she had hoped she would carry with her to the grave.

In my previous review I talked about how I didn't get the chance to really get to know the characters well with how fast the time progressed throughout the backstory. I feel I got a little more time with the characters to get to know them but once more their actual personalities were overshadowed by their grief with Selene leaving them and the secrets she brings with her when she returns. I had a hard time falling in love with the men but at least now there was a lot more heat between each of the men and not just Vincent. I was hoping there might be an epilogue that would showcase how each of the men were once they got their happy ending so I can see if any of their real personalities were shown in the books and perhaps I missed it. But the epilogue was just a poetic rendition of saying "and they lived happily ever after". 

I was pleasantly surprised that the one who opened up first to Selene's return was Dominic out of all the relationships she had with the men. I didn't think he would be able to shrug his enforcer mantle enough to let himself be vulnerable with her. Even Gio and especially Vincent, treated her aggressively out of anger. Dominic seemed to just be grateful that she was back. He did win my favoritism with that. But I think I liked Selene's dynamic with Gio the most. Their unwavering bond around telling the truth to each other was adorable and sweet. Vincent I still had a real hard time liking. I had hoped he would lose a bit of his icy persona.

The mystery and intrigue in the book was still really great. I did not see the twists at the end coming. It was amazing that so many people played a part in Selene's return without her ever having a clue to it. The ending was a bit choppy. It seemed to resolve really quickly without a whole lot of fanfare. Maybe if there had been a little more to it than just the usual villainous monologue of all their nefarious deeds up until that point, it would have been a five-star read. 

But I devoured this book in one night so that tells me that even with the disconnect with the characters and the quick resolution, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down. I think it is worth a read as long. The duet was an unexpected delight.