Laura’s Review of Inevitable (A Kingpin Love Affair, #2) by J.L. Beck

Synopsis

Best Selling Author J.L. Beck brings you the second book in the compelling Kingpin Love Affair Series. This book should be read after book one (Indebted).

Reader Warning: This book is for mature readers only. It contains graphic violence, sex, swearing, and content that is suitable for adults only.

-Roughly 260 pages-

A love story that can only end in tragedy...

She was never part of the plan.
She was never to become anything.
She was simply a payment, and once the debt was settled, she would be nothing to me.

She thought her life had changed in a blink of an eye the moment she came home to see her father strapped to a chair, a gun being held to his head. It was my life that changed that day, not hers.

The blood of my enemy ran through her veins, and no matter how much she wanted to save me, she never would have. I am a monster. I can't be saved. I would consume the world in a blaze of fire before my need for vengeance was ever fulfilled.

They say the truth will set you free…

I thought she had betrayed me in ways I never expected, but in the end, it was I who had committed the ultimate betrayal.

Doubts ruin, truths hurt, and just one lie can destroy an entire army. If being the king has taught me anything, it's that everyone desires the truth, but no one wants to be honest.

The monster inside of me has been set free, and I will stop at nothing to destroy my enemies.

I am a living, breathing, killing machine... This war has just begun.

What I Loved

       

     

    I loved that as the reader you’re really not quite sure how all of this crap swirling around Bree and Zerro is going to end. The second installment picks up a little while after the first book ends.  Zerro is recovering from his injuries while Bree is being held captive by Mack.  Obviously things are not always as they seem in this series and from the very beginning circumstances change quickly.

          I like that there was finally more questions answered when it comes to Bree and her family.  You do figure out what role her father has played in all of this and I will definitely say that the back story definitely surprised me.  I love being thrown for a loop and I definitely was a couple times while reading.  I also loved the sexual chemistry between Bree and Zerro because it was once again boiling.  Tempers between the two main characters got pretty heated at times which lead to some pretty passionate sex scenes which was definitely fun to read. 

          Also, there was a ton of action as the story progresses and at times you are never quite sure who to trust or who the enemy is.   I love stories that keep me on my toes and there were moments that had my jaw on the floor and my heart pounding.

Not So Much

          The complaints I have for this book are much of the same I had for the first one in this series.  Once again I didn’t feel like a lot of the story was organic, most of it felt forced and robotic.  There was just too much “I’m in the mafia so I kill people” kind of talk which comes off cheesy rather than dark and dangerous to me. 

          Also I felt like at times there was just too much shit swirling around Bree and the constant her being semi happy then about to lose her mind was getting too much.  It happened way too often in the story so it came off repetitive and tiring.  There was just a lot going on and maybe if some of the chaos was cut away the plot would’ve seemed more organized and grounded. 

          Once again there was no foundation built in the series and that shined through at times.  Bree’s past is very rarely mentioned and all I know of this girl is what she was like the minute Zerro walked into her life and I have nothing to compare that to because her past personality isn’t really established.  You do get more of her past involving her family but I want to understand the Bree before all of this and I never got that chance. 

To Sum It All Up!

          

         Overall this series fell a little short for me.  There wasn’t a good foundation built so it was hard to gage the character development of both Zerro and Bree.  The conversations felt really robotic and forced rather than grounded and realistic.  There was nothing really relatable about Bree or Zerro so it was hard to become emotionally attached to either of them. 

I did love the way Zerro worshipped Bree and would do anything to save her life even if that meant risking his.  I love that Bree was willing to do the same for Zerro because she believed in him so much.  The sexual chemistry between them was electric and that definitely added to the good parts of the plot.  I don’t want to give anything away and I understand that this is fiction so of course there are parts that are going to be unrealistic, but the ending was just a little too far out there for me.  It wasn’t so much how it ended but that the pace towards the end that left out a lot of details that should’ve been added to make the ending feel more real. To me it felt like the author concluded the plot line for the sake of ending the story rather than putting the time and detail that should’ve been there.  I get why a lot of people loved this story and Zerro and Bree are compelling characters but the writing and details wasn’t up to par for me.