Review: Two Tricks by Elizabeth Knight

Two Tricks by Elizabeth Knight

Series: Hidden Empire #1

Publication date: February 2nd, 2021

Pages: 242

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Listen up, and listen good--I'll only say this shit once!

Two Tricks does not work with MC gangs, and that's final. Period. The end.

No. No, you don't get to ask why. Tricks runs the West Coast smuggling ring, so if you want anything to come and go, you play by the rules. You don't like it? Well, then you're gonna get a visit from me.

Who am I? I'm Dax, his enforcer, and don't let my height or the pink hair fool you. I'll take your ass down.

Now, can someone explain to me why the hell the Phantom Saints MC gang sent someone to try and talk me into getting Tricks to work with them? Or maybe how those same assholes ended up kidnapping me?

You can bet your ass, as soon as I get the chance, I will make them regret ever having me as a 'house guest', even if they are sexy as sin. No one uses me and gets away with it!

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Review:

Dax is the enforcer for one of the most well-known and lethal crime syndicate on the West Coast. She has made her mark by being ruthless in the face of danger but also loyal and protective over the people she works with. When she gets word that a Cartel was moving in on her boss, Two Trick's, operations she is on a mission to find out who has been feeding him information and how to plug the leak. That is all put on hold when she is suddenly captured by a local MC, the Phantom Saints. All they want is for Dax to pass along a message to Two Tricks for them: Help their MC to get out from under a rival MC and they will be the army that Two Tricks could use in his war against the Cartel. But from the moment they capture the pintsized enforcer they start to question whether they could ever let her go. Maybe they needed a pintsized enforcer of their own in a much different way. Can Dax resist the handsome leaders of the Phantom Saints, return to the side of her best friend, Wes, and save her boss's organization?

The reverse harem numbers keep growing in the books I have been reading. This time Dax is potentially involved with Eagle, Sprocket, Picasso, Void, Cognac, and Wes. Six men. And yet it doesn't really seem to slow her down. Granted, in this book she doesn't end up getting involved with all of them but there is definite chemistry there. I found all the men interesting from Eagle's dominant personality, Sprocket's soft hard-to-get attitude, Void's ability to only warm to Dax, Cognac's lady's man charm, Wes's loyalty and devotion, and Picasso's focus on respect above all else. I would have to say Sprocket or Void are probably my favorites. Watching a sociopath start to feel and a man who was completely indifferent to the female persuasion suddenly take an interest in one was really interesting to watch. But they all have a lot more growing to do. The first book was only a taste of who they were and I am hungry to learn more.

Add in the fact that there is some twisted mystery of loyalties and crime that have me on the edge of my seat wondering who is betraying whom and what that means for all the organizations involved. It feels like a lot of misinformation is going around and it is causing more drama than it should. But in these cases its deadly drama that never gets resolved. It has the promise of being something intriguing as more information is learned.

Dax was a really good main female protagonist. She was damaged when she lost someone close to her in the twisted world of crime and loyalty and has never allowed herself to feel anything but respect for those around her. Sex was transactional and not meant to be anything more. That started to change a little bit as she started to get to know the Phantom Saints. It also uncovered feelings from one of her compatriots that she never truly saw coming. She is damaged, deadly, but still ultimately a woman with needs at heart. She was easy to like.

The drawback I found was that while it was a good cast of characters and a good storyline, it felt like something I had already read a thousand times over with other authors. There wasn't a lot of new stuff happening. Rival groups forced together by capture, captive feels for captors, organizations come together against a common foe, sex and violence ensue. Does that mean I won't read the next book? Of course I will. But I would have liked to see something a little bit different from the stock image norm.