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The Associates #3
Into the Shadows
He’s working undercover for the good guys. That doesn’t mean he’s one of them.
HE’S A KILLER.
Thorne McKelvey knows exactly how Nadia sees him—as a brute and a killer just kinky enough to play her sexy games. And that’s how it has to stay. Leaving her was the hardest thing he ever did, but his undercover mission could blow up at any second. No way will he drag Nadia down with him.
SHE CAN’T RISK HER HEART.
Maybe it was foolish to fall in love with her late father’s deadliest henchman, but Nadia Volkov’s not sorry; without Thorne she wouldn’t have their beautiful little boy. There’s nothing she won’t do to protect Benny, which means she must hide his identity—especially from his father.
Now Thorne has burst back into her home, searching for clues to a gangland mystery…and stirring a hunger Nadia hasn’t felt in two years. But Benny’s identity isn’t the only secret she’s keeping, and things are turning deadly. Can Thorne and Nadia trust each other long enough to stay alive and have a chance at happiness?
HE’S A KILLER.
Thorne McKelvey knows exactly how Nadia sees him—as a brute and a killer just kinky enough to play her sexy games. And that’s how it has to stay. Leaving her was the hardest thing he ever did, but his undercover mission could blow up at any second. No way will he drag Nadia down with him.
SHE CAN’T RISK HER HEART.
Maybe it was foolish to fall in love with her late father’s deadliest henchman, but Nadia Volkov’s not sorry; without Thorne she wouldn’t have their beautiful little boy. There’s nothing she won’t do to protect Benny, which means she must hide his identity—especially from his father.
Now Thorne has burst back into her home, searching for clues to a gangland mystery…and stirring a hunger Nadia hasn’t felt in two years. But Benny’s identity isn’t the only secret she’s keeping, and things are turning deadly. Can Thorne and Nadia trust each other long enough to stay alive and have a chance at happiness?
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First published July 14, 2014
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About the author
Carolyn Crane
25 books1,162 followersAfter spending her youth thoroughly obsessed with Nancy Drew and Harriet the Spy and convinced that her suburban neighborhood was awash in dangerous secrets, Carolyn Crane grew up to become a RITA-nominated author of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and other tales of adventure and love; she also writes erotic romance about bank robbers as Annika Martin.
Her books have been published by Random House and Samhain; these days, this perfectionistic control-freak of an author likes to indie publish. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two cats and works a straight job as a freelance marketing writer. During rare moments when she’s not at her computer, she can be found reading in bed, running, or helping animals.
Her books have been published by Random House and Samhain; these days, this perfectionistic control-freak of an author likes to indie publish. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two cats and works a straight job as a freelance marketing writer. During rare moments when she’s not at her computer, she can be found reading in bed, running, or helping animals.
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July 18, 2014
3.5 STARS
Weeeeeellllll....
For all the love I have for Carolyn Crane's Disillusionists Trilogy, I'm a little ashamed to admit this is my first of hers outside that series. While this didn't necessarily disappoint, I'm hard pressed to call the high points winning over the lows. It was good in the sense that the things I didn't agree with didn't make me want to quit but still left an aftertaste that wasn't all that pleasant.
After finding the truth about her mother, Nadia Volkov has made it her mission to find her, dismantling her deceased father's illegal operations in the process. Standing in her way is Thorne, one of her father's former henchmen, current number 2 of one of the gang who inherited the spoils of her father's downfall and the unknowing father of her two-year old son, Benny. So Throne gets the nondisclosure punishment because he essentially called Nadia a hotel soap and he's a robot with a lot of enemies who want to hurt him.
When actually, he's an undercover agent of The Associates, tasked to take the leadership from The Hangman's psychotic leader Jerrod who was part of the group who killed his sister years ago. Two birds, one Thorne and all that. But that's okay since Thorne's still smarting from the hurt of hearing Nadia offer him to her hot sister Kara for some sharing time.
Secret Baby!
Misunderstanding!
Sexual tension!
See where this is going?
Though the story was a little predictable I found Thorne quite unique. Initially, I had a lot of gripes and issues against his incessant quoting of Bruce Lee and the constant use of these cheesy sound bite worthy comebacks in casual conversation. Then I realize its part of the complexity of his social maladjustment, learning how to interact with people through watching films, having no role model growing up etc. His character offered something different and fascinating in a genre overpopulated by the cookie cutter, juiced, Alpha Male heroes. His pathos was almost Aspergers-like and his efforts to compensate was a good source of emotional wattage when the story chooses to.
Yet I still wish Crane went a bit deeper into how he came to be, because while the tension between him and Nadia was quite delicious, something felt lacking in their backstories to sell the chemistry to me.
Though I think that was mostly Nadia's fault.
I had great difficulty understanding her motivations and some of her thought process veered towards disturbing. The shift from Party Princess to Human Trafficking Crusader was addressed a little too casually and I thought the conflict between staying safe for her son and risking her life to rescue her mother warranted more introspection than this afforded. Especially since her fervent efforts to keep Benny from Thorne was supposed to shield him from the violence of that world.
Meanwhile, she's running around with mercenaries freeing her father's victims and crushing his operations while finding her mother. True it's expected to have some unorthodox moral compasses and standards among people with her background, but it still felt a little like pot calling kettle black.
Their role playing was simultaneously hot and heartbreaking, most of the time. Usually when Nadia doesn't lapse into these awkward ruminations about how much Benny looks like Thorne while having sex. Maybe my mind has gone too dirty to not feel awkward over that situation and for that I am truly sorry.
Almost as sorry for the awkwardness of certain turns of phrases that stuck out like a sore thumb considering the wealth of heart-tugging moments and exchanges this is armed with.
'Coolest'? Really we're going with that one? This coming from the author who coined "Cucumbery Cock" which was a favorite of mine.
I would've gladly overlooked these few episodes but here were also lapses into valley speak ("like") and abuse of cringe inducing words (is "lovehate" really a word?) which again maybe explained by the kind of people these characters are emulating but was still something that took me out of the story and back into my critiquing-bitch seat. But for the love of God, STOP SAYING THORNE WAS RAISED BY SCORPIONS BECAUSE TECHNICALLY HE REALLY WASN'T. It came across a pathetic attempt to make him more intimidating, maybe make his past more dramatic and action hero-worthy, when he really didn't need to be.
I'm going to park the snark bus here because I really did like it but I had to overlook a lot of things to keep myself from cringing long enough to actually see its strengths, and discussing them further might make me change my mind with the rating.
Review Copy courtesy of the publishers for this late review (sorry).
Also on Booklikes.
"There are so many layers to our fucked up layer cake, I don't know how to untangle it," she said.
"You don't untangle a cake, baby," he said. "You eat it."
Weeeeeellllll....
For all the love I have for Carolyn Crane's Disillusionists Trilogy, I'm a little ashamed to admit this is my first of hers outside that series. While this didn't necessarily disappoint, I'm hard pressed to call the high points winning over the lows. It was good in the sense that the things I didn't agree with didn't make me want to quit but still left an aftertaste that wasn't all that pleasant.
After finding the truth about her mother, Nadia Volkov has made it her mission to find her, dismantling her deceased father's illegal operations in the process. Standing in her way is Thorne, one of her father's former henchmen, current number 2 of one of the gang who inherited the spoils of her father's downfall and the unknowing father of her two-year old son, Benny. So Throne gets the nondisclosure punishment because he essentially called Nadia a hotel soap and he's a robot with a lot of enemies who want to hurt him.
When actually, he's an undercover agent of The Associates, tasked to take the leadership from The Hangman's psychotic leader Jerrod who was part of the group who killed his sister years ago. Two birds, one Thorne and all that. But that's okay since Thorne's still smarting from the hurt of hearing Nadia offer him to her hot sister Kara for some sharing time.
Secret Baby!
Misunderstanding!
Sexual tension!
See where this is going?
Though the story was a little predictable I found Thorne quite unique. Initially, I had a lot of gripes and issues against his incessant quoting of Bruce Lee and the constant use of these cheesy sound bite worthy comebacks in casual conversation. Then I realize its part of the complexity of his social maladjustment, learning how to interact with people through watching films, having no role model growing up etc. His character offered something different and fascinating in a genre overpopulated by the cookie cutter, juiced, Alpha Male heroes. His pathos was almost Aspergers-like and his efforts to compensate was a good source of emotional wattage when the story chooses to.
Yet I still wish Crane went a bit deeper into how he came to be, because while the tension between him and Nadia was quite delicious, something felt lacking in their backstories to sell the chemistry to me.
Though I think that was mostly Nadia's fault.
I had great difficulty understanding her motivations and some of her thought process veered towards disturbing. The shift from Party Princess to Human Trafficking Crusader was addressed a little too casually and I thought the conflict between staying safe for her son and risking her life to rescue her mother warranted more introspection than this afforded. Especially since her fervent efforts to keep Benny from Thorne was supposed to shield him from the violence of that world.
"I don't want somebody in Benny's life who thinks its cool to be associated with gangs that run sex slaves and sweatshops."
"Hangman doesn't run sex slaves and sweatshops."
"They're friends with gangs that do," she said.
Meanwhile, she's running around with mercenaries freeing her father's victims and crushing his operations while finding her mother. True it's expected to have some unorthodox moral compasses and standards among people with her background, but it still felt a little like pot calling kettle black.
Their role playing was simultaneously hot and heartbreaking, most of the time. Usually when Nadia doesn't lapse into these awkward ruminations about how much Benny looks like Thorne while having sex. Maybe my mind has gone too dirty to not feel awkward over that situation and for that I am truly sorry.
Almost as sorry for the awkwardness of certain turns of phrases that stuck out like a sore thumb considering the wealth of heart-tugging moments and exchanges this is armed with.
People didn't realize the things they hated about themselves were often the coolest.
'Coolest'? Really we're going with that one? This coming from the author who coined "Cucumbery Cock" which was a favorite of mine.
I would've gladly overlooked these few episodes but here were also lapses into valley speak ("like") and abuse of cringe inducing words (is "lovehate" really a word?) which again maybe explained by the kind of people these characters are emulating but was still something that took me out of the story and back into my critiquing-bitch seat. But for the love of God, STOP SAYING THORNE WAS RAISED BY SCORPIONS BECAUSE TECHNICALLY HE REALLY WASN'T. It came across a pathetic attempt to make him more intimidating, maybe make his past more dramatic and action hero-worthy, when he really didn't need to be.
I'm going to park the snark bus here because I really did like it but I had to overlook a lot of things to keep myself from cringing long enough to actually see its strengths, and discussing them further might make me change my mind with the rating.
Review Copy courtesy of the publishers for this late review (sorry).
Also on Booklikes.
January 27, 2016
It's funny that I went into this book absolutely disliking Thorne, but came out of it disliking Nadia so much more. I thought she was pathetic at first...but by the end? Well, she's still pathetic, no change there...but then I realized what a POS she was on top of it all. Unless there's a damn good reason (yes REASON, not excuse), I will think you're a POS for hiding someone's child from them.
Nadia had Thorne's kid and didn't tell him about it. Why? Because of some bullshit excuse. She says that she didn't want to tell him because he's still involved in gang activity and she doesn't want Benny to be a target. Which seems fair, right? Except not. I had many issues with the flimsy excuse that the author provided for why she utilized the "secret baby" trope.
First off, Nadia is the daughter of a former mob boss. She judges Thorne for being in the life, except she was born into it herself.
She loves him...even though he's in a gang? There's good inside him...even though he's in this life??? Look, she was raised in this life, she rolled around in it until about two years ago, when it was taken from her. Who the hell is she to judge anyone when it comes to that?
And in connection to having grown up in the life and a father who ran the show at one point, who's to say that that won't come back and haunt her now? You think these gangsters aren't misogynistic fucks? And that her mob boss of a father never had enemies? Who're you kidding. Now that daddy dearest is long gone, they might try and go after his daughters as vengeance. And it's not like she's hidden away elsewhere and they won't be able to find her. She still lives in the same damn mansion her father once lived in! She doesn't know what kind of beef her father might've stirred up with people, or what kind of enemies might come after her now that he's dead because they can't get him. And then, it's only Nadia and her sister Kara there to protect Benny. Although Richard is helping during the book, he's not included here because he's a recent and temporary addition to their group, not someone who's along for the entire ride, so he's out of that equation when it comes to protection. The author doesn't address this, simply concentrating on Thorne's gang connections to keep him in the dark.
And with Thorne, she's making it worse for him by keeping it a secret. The problem with her not telling him that he's got a kid is that the kid is then an unknown variable to Thorne. Nadia says anyone who looks at Benny will be able to see that Thorne is the father. Which, you know...might include his gangster buddies! Except she doesn't bother telling him. If she'd told him, at least he'd have been able to consider what might happen if their connection was found out. But he can't do anything because she doesn't bother telling him that he's got a child out there that anyone will be able to tell is his upon a single glance! She's so stupid, I swear to God. When at one point she calls herself a "bad mother," I honestly kept thinking "Ain't it the truth, ain't it the truth" in Cowardly Lion's voice.
But the biggest reason why the author's provided excuse was flimsy at best? Nadia thinks she can't tell Thorne about his kid because a rival gang might use Benny against him because of Thorne's gang involvement. She says she wants to keep Benny out of the cross hairs of those who might go after Thorne. Uh...honey boo? So are you. And no, I'm not talking about her father having once been a mob boss. I'm talking about how she's a part of the "Co-op pirates" and fucking STEALING FROM GANGS. Her reasons for doing so may be altruistic, but she's still stealing money, drugs, electronics, sweatshop workers...FROM ALL THE GANGS (yes, more than one). You think a rival gang possibly going after Benny to get to Thorne is worse than you inviting the wrath of ALL THE FUCKING GANGS? Seriously? Get the fuck outta here.
I was honestly so pissed off that that was her stupid excuse for not telling Thorne that he had a child. She says that it's a "blessing in disguise" and that she "dodged a bullet" when she didn't tell Thorne that she was pregnant. She's so TSTL, I swear. She makes it harder for Thorne, because he doesn't know about this child's existence and how it could be held against him, she judges him for his gang involvement, yet she has a gang past (and entire life, really) and is also actively stealing from gangs at the moment. Where in the hell does she get off trying to justify not telling Thorne about his child? And the author never acknowledges any of this even once! She simply has Nadia concentrate on Thorne's gang connections, deciding it's her prerogative to deprive him of the opportunity to be in his child's life because why the fuck not, right?
Throughout the book, both Richard and Kara keep telling her to tell Thorne about Benny. She continues to refuse. Even after Thorne goes out on a limb, and against his own gang, and saves their stupid asses, she still refuses. Nadia and Richard are Public Enemy No. 1 to the gangs, but she still doesn't confide in Thorne. I find it hard to believe someone's claim of love (in this case, Nadia's) while keeping such a big secret. She knows Thorne's had a shit life and that he has difficulty believing in people and trusting them. He believes that no one realistically cares for him. She acknowledges that he'd probably believe that Benny does:
Yet she still keeps Benny a secret for a large part of the book, using some flimsy excuse. She doesn't even give Thorne the opportunity to accept or reject the child, simply taking the choice upon herself because he hurt her feelings a little once upon a time. She decides she has every right to hide it from him out of spite. And yes, I do believe it was spite because she never provides a believable reason throughout the entire book, other than when she came to tell him about her pregnancy and he rejected her before she could.
Anyway. The whole book was stupid, really. The entire problem centres around the good ol' BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. And without resolving anything, she's panting after him and they're falling into bed together within a day (not kidding). She's pathetic. The author should've just cut out any parts that include her token resistances and just have her throwing herself at Thorne's feet chanting "I don't love myself!" because that's pretty much what she did when giving in.
That time he rejected her in the past and hurt her feelings?
And yeah, he said this for her own good blah blah blah. Except when she falls into bed with him, she doesn't know that. She still believes that this is genuinely how he feels about her. And she's all too happy to pant after him and roll around with him and lust after him. When she thinks he's being territorial about her, she feels "a ping of hope" at it. And this is BEFORE she knows he didn't mean what he said above! This is before he's apologized or made up for anything! This is while he's still taunting her. And she even feels upset that Thorne might think she's involved with Richard. She literally has zero self-respect.
There was one another part of Nadia's love for Thorne that irritated me. She wonders at one point why she still loves him, and I was wondering the same damn thing. When he was involved in her father's gang, she hypothesizes that he must've known about the sweatshops and prostitution (which was a hidden part of her father's operations). And even thinking that he might've known about it, she still loves him. I'm sorry, but what the fuck? If I found out that someone I cared for was involved in (or even just had knowledge of) sweatshops and sexual slavery, that'd be the quickest damn way to kill my love for them. Yet she's still melting at his touch and lusting for him every chance she gets. Seriously, go fuck check yourself. And at this point, she doesn't know that he's NOT involved, she just feels that he might be...yet she still loves him. Even after knowing that her mother was forced into that same sexual slavery and sweatshop work.
The only positives I have for the book come from Thorne, which was rather surprising because, in the previous book, he was the douche who was willing to hand over an abused spouse to her abuser all for the greater good of mankind! I actually ended up liking Thorne as I read on, but that might be because I felt bad for his entire ~tortured soul~ thing. I was pleasantly surprised that he was celibate for the two years they're apart, saying that "no woman but Nadia was worth fucking" (so poetically put, I know). When he thinks that Nadia had moved on after him and had a kid with another person, he says he doesn't begrudge her that. So I liked that attitude, too.
The only thing I didn't like about him afterwards is this whole "lovehate" thing he said he had going with Nadia. He was like a wounded animal, lashing out at those around him after he felt that Nadia had hurt him. Just like I didn't believe Nadia's love for Thorne when keeping Benny a secret, I didn't believe Thorne's love for Nadia. I just find it hard to believe that a person would be more than happy to hurt the person they supposedly love after they feel they've been hurt, not even bothering to talk to or question them. That's not love to me.
Anyway, just like the other books. The story takes place over a handful of days (probably three, though I didn't keep track) and the heroine is put into a damsel in distress situation. Yes, like always. Which is even more hilarious in this book because she was raised amongst gangs and knows how to use guns and blah blah blah...but the author just had to find some way to put her into a situation that needed saving, didn't she? And more than one at that.
Anyway, things are resolved, no problem, and then they deal with the baddies and things are good. HEA.
The last issue I had with this book was Bruce fucking Lee. Thorne has some sort of weird Bruce Lee obsession. This damn guy kept mentioning Bruce Lee! It was all Bruce Lee said this, Bruce Lee said that, blah blah blah...like, do you even have a thought of your own or what? Can you not function without regurgitating other people's thoughts? He even thinks about Bruce Lee when he's going to jump into the sack with Nadia! Who the hell does that??
And then because of this Bruce Lee obsession, he also does Chinese calligraphy. It's never explained how or why he started this, just that he does. At one point, Nadia asks if he's learning Japanese, and Thorne corrects her and says "It's Chinese." I found his need to make this distinction hilarious because, later on, he talks about writing the characters, and how "These last ones should be the wildest and most reckless of all, in the tradition of the Samurais going into battle." Which...what the hell? Samurai aren't Chinese! They're Japanese!
Nadia had Thorne's kid and didn't tell him about it. Why? Because of some bullshit excuse. She says that she didn't want to tell him because he's still involved in gang activity and she doesn't want Benny to be a target. Which seems fair, right? Except not. I had many issues with the flimsy excuse that the author provided for why she utilized the "secret baby" trope.
First off, Nadia is the daughter of a former mob boss. She judges Thorne for being in the life, except she was born into it herself.
She told them how she loved him, even though he was in this gang, and that there was something good inside him, even though he was in this life.
She loves him...even though he's in a gang? There's good inside him...even though he's in this life??? Look, she was raised in this life, she rolled around in it until about two years ago, when it was taken from her. Who the hell is she to judge anyone when it comes to that?
And in connection to having grown up in the life and a father who ran the show at one point, who's to say that that won't come back and haunt her now? You think these gangsters aren't misogynistic fucks? And that her mob boss of a father never had enemies? Who're you kidding. Now that daddy dearest is long gone, they might try and go after his daughters as vengeance. And it's not like she's hidden away elsewhere and they won't be able to find her. She still lives in the same damn mansion her father once lived in! She doesn't know what kind of beef her father might've stirred up with people, or what kind of enemies might come after her now that he's dead because they can't get him. And then, it's only Nadia and her sister Kara there to protect Benny. Although Richard is helping during the book, he's not included here because he's a recent and temporary addition to their group, not someone who's along for the entire ride, so he's out of that equation when it comes to protection. The author doesn't address this, simply concentrating on Thorne's gang connections to keep him in the dark.
And with Thorne, she's making it worse for him by keeping it a secret. The problem with her not telling him that he's got a kid is that the kid is then an unknown variable to Thorne. Nadia says anyone who looks at Benny will be able to see that Thorne is the father. Which, you know...might include his gangster buddies! Except she doesn't bother telling him. If she'd told him, at least he'd have been able to consider what might happen if their connection was found out. But he can't do anything because she doesn't bother telling him that he's got a child out there that anyone will be able to tell is his upon a single glance! She's so stupid, I swear to God. When at one point she calls herself a "bad mother," I honestly kept thinking "Ain't it the truth, ain't it the truth" in Cowardly Lion's voice.
But the biggest reason why the author's provided excuse was flimsy at best? Nadia thinks she can't tell Thorne about his kid because a rival gang might use Benny against him because of Thorne's gang involvement. She says she wants to keep Benny out of the cross hairs of those who might go after Thorne. Uh...honey boo? So are you. And no, I'm not talking about her father having once been a mob boss. I'm talking about how she's a part of the "Co-op pirates" and fucking STEALING FROM GANGS. Her reasons for doing so may be altruistic, but she's still stealing money, drugs, electronics, sweatshop workers...FROM ALL THE GANGS (yes, more than one). You think a rival gang possibly going after Benny to get to Thorne is worse than you inviting the wrath of ALL THE FUCKING GANGS? Seriously? Get the fuck outta here.
I was honestly so pissed off that that was her stupid excuse for not telling Thorne that he had a child. She says that it's a "blessing in disguise" and that she "dodged a bullet" when she didn't tell Thorne that she was pregnant. She's so TSTL, I swear. She makes it harder for Thorne, because he doesn't know about this child's existence and how it could be held against him, she judges him for his gang involvement, yet she has a gang past (and entire life, really) and is also actively stealing from gangs at the moment. Where in the hell does she get off trying to justify not telling Thorne about his child? And the author never acknowledges any of this even once! She simply has Nadia concentrate on Thorne's gang connections, deciding it's her prerogative to deprive him of the opportunity to be in his child's life because why the fuck not, right?
Throughout the book, both Richard and Kara keep telling her to tell Thorne about Benny. She continues to refuse. Even after Thorne goes out on a limb, and against his own gang, and saves their stupid asses, she still refuses. Nadia and Richard are Public Enemy No. 1 to the gangs, but she still doesn't confide in Thorne. I find it hard to believe someone's claim of love (in this case, Nadia's) while keeping such a big secret. She knows Thorne's had a shit life and that he has difficulty believing in people and trusting them. He believes that no one realistically cares for him. She acknowledges that he'd probably believe that Benny does:
She so craved to share Benny with him. She wished he could see how amazing his kid was. And Benny was so affectionate, what would Thorne do with that heady flow of love and acceptance? In spite of all that had happened between them, in spite of the hotel soap bit and everything else, she wanted that love for Thorne. Thorne didn’t trust when adults were kind to him, but Benny was pure and good, and never a lie. Thorne would know that.
Yet she still keeps Benny a secret for a large part of the book, using some flimsy excuse. She doesn't even give Thorne the opportunity to accept or reject the child, simply taking the choice upon herself because he hurt her feelings a little once upon a time. She decides she has every right to hide it from him out of spite. And yes, I do believe it was spite because she never provides a believable reason throughout the entire book, other than when she came to tell him about her pregnancy and he rejected her before she could.
Anyway. The whole book was stupid, really. The entire problem centres around the good ol' BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. And without resolving anything, she's panting after him and they're falling into bed together within a day (not kidding). She's pathetic. The author should've just cut out any parts that include her token resistances and just have her throwing herself at Thorne's feet chanting "I don't love myself!" because that's pretty much what she did when giving in.
That time he rejected her in the past and hurt her feelings?
Thorne couldn’t leave her. “You can’t leave me. You can’t, you just can’t!”
It was then that the coldness had come over him. “I’m already gone,” he’d growled.
She’d told him he couldn’t be gone, and she was just leading into her news when he’d grabbed onto her shoulders and looked right into her eyes, interrupting her. “When you leave a hotel, do you take the soap?”
“What?”
“Do you take the soap that you used?” he asked. “It’s a simple question.”
She remembered trembling. She knew where he was going with it, but like an idiot, she answered, because she kind of couldn’t believe it. “N-no.”
“Then why do you imagine I would take you with me?”
Shock settled over her like a haze. Her grief had been warm, but her shock was cold. Angry.
“Why would I ever do that?” he’d asked.
And yeah, he said this for her own good blah blah blah. Except when she falls into bed with him, she doesn't know that. She still believes that this is genuinely how he feels about her. And she's all too happy to pant after him and roll around with him and lust after him. When she thinks he's being territorial about her, she feels "a ping of hope" at it. And this is BEFORE she knows he didn't mean what he said above! This is before he's apologized or made up for anything! This is while he's still taunting her. And she even feels upset that Thorne might think she's involved with Richard. She literally has zero self-respect.
There was one another part of Nadia's love for Thorne that irritated me. She wonders at one point why she still loves him, and I was wondering the same damn thing. When he was involved in her father's gang, she hypothesizes that he must've known about the sweatshops and prostitution (which was a hidden part of her father's operations). And even thinking that he might've known about it, she still loves him. I'm sorry, but what the fuck? If I found out that someone I cared for was involved in (or even just had knowledge of) sweatshops and sexual slavery, that'd be the quickest damn way to kill my love for them. Yet she's still melting at his touch and lusting for him every chance she gets. Seriously, go fuck check yourself. And at this point, she doesn't know that he's NOT involved, she just feels that he might be...yet she still loves him. Even after knowing that her mother was forced into that same sexual slavery and sweatshop work.
The only positives I have for the book come from Thorne, which was rather surprising because, in the previous book, he was the douche who was willing to hand over an abused spouse to her abuser all for the greater good of mankind! I actually ended up liking Thorne as I read on, but that might be because I felt bad for his entire ~tortured soul~ thing. I was pleasantly surprised that he was celibate for the two years they're apart, saying that "no woman but Nadia was worth fucking" (so poetically put, I know). When he thinks that Nadia had moved on after him and had a kid with another person, he says he doesn't begrudge her that. So I liked that attitude, too.
The only thing I didn't like about him afterwards is this whole "lovehate" thing he said he had going with Nadia. He was like a wounded animal, lashing out at those around him after he felt that Nadia had hurt him. Just like I didn't believe Nadia's love for Thorne when keeping Benny a secret, I didn't believe Thorne's love for Nadia. I just find it hard to believe that a person would be more than happy to hurt the person they supposedly love after they feel they've been hurt, not even bothering to talk to or question them. That's not love to me.
Anyway, just like the other books. The story takes place over a handful of days (probably three, though I didn't keep track) and the heroine is put into a damsel in distress situation. Yes, like always. Which is even more hilarious in this book because she was raised amongst gangs and knows how to use guns and blah blah blah...but the author just had to find some way to put her into a situation that needed saving, didn't she? And more than one at that.
Anyway, things are resolved, no problem, and then they deal with the baddies and things are good. HEA.
The last issue I had with this book was Bruce fucking Lee. Thorne has some sort of weird Bruce Lee obsession. This damn guy kept mentioning Bruce Lee! It was all Bruce Lee said this, Bruce Lee said that, blah blah blah...like, do you even have a thought of your own or what? Can you not function without regurgitating other people's thoughts? He even thinks about Bruce Lee when he's going to jump into the sack with Nadia! Who the hell does that??
And then because of this Bruce Lee obsession, he also does Chinese calligraphy. It's never explained how or why he started this, just that he does. At one point, Nadia asks if he's learning Japanese, and Thorne corrects her and says "It's Chinese." I found his need to make this distinction hilarious because, later on, he talks about writing the characters, and how "These last ones should be the wildest and most reckless of all, in the tradition of the Samurais going into battle." Which...what the hell? Samurai aren't Chinese! They're Japanese!
July 16, 2014
Thorne is the second in command of a brutal gang that deals in human misery, everything from human trafficking to drugs. When a number of their warehouses are raided, suspicion falls on him and he finds himself needing to hunt down the raiders or end up in a shallow grave.
Two years earlier, Nadia was in love with Thorne. Then after her gangster father was killed he kicked her to the curb and moved on to another gang, the Hangmen. All that is left of him is her 2 year old son and she will do anything to protect him. Then she learns that her mother who she thought was dead is alive and slave working in one of the Hangmen gang's sweatshop. Together with a group of mercenaries who will take loot as pay and the bodyguard her father assigned to her they begin raiding the sweatshops searching for her mother.
When Thorne shows up at her home searching for a CD containing inside information on the gang's activities she knows the noose is tightening. She steps up her plans to find her mother but also needs to make sure Thorne never finds out about his child. What she doesn't know is that Thorne is deep undercover and working for the Associates. Alone and vulnerable he needs to trust someone if he wants to save the woman he has always loved.
I guess it says something that Into the Shadows took so many words to summarise. Carolyn Crane is like that. Her books aren't easily defined. There is a wonderful oddness that comes through her books, even her romantic suspense. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised to turn the page and encounter a giant seismic ray gun that will bring nations to their knees.
She always surprises me and that's why Carolyn Crane has fast become one of my favorite authors. Into the Shadows is very good romantic suspense with quite a healthy dose of steamy sexy for those who enjoy that.
Many thanks to CrushStar Multimedia and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC
Two years earlier, Nadia was in love with Thorne. Then after her gangster father was killed he kicked her to the curb and moved on to another gang, the Hangmen. All that is left of him is her 2 year old son and she will do anything to protect him. Then she learns that her mother who she thought was dead is alive and slave working in one of the Hangmen gang's sweatshop. Together with a group of mercenaries who will take loot as pay and the bodyguard her father assigned to her they begin raiding the sweatshops searching for her mother.
When Thorne shows up at her home searching for a CD containing inside information on the gang's activities she knows the noose is tightening. She steps up her plans to find her mother but also needs to make sure Thorne never finds out about his child. What she doesn't know is that Thorne is deep undercover and working for the Associates. Alone and vulnerable he needs to trust someone if he wants to save the woman he has always loved.
I guess it says something that Into the Shadows took so many words to summarise. Carolyn Crane is like that. Her books aren't easily defined. There is a wonderful oddness that comes through her books, even her romantic suspense. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised to turn the page and encounter a giant seismic ray gun that will bring nations to their knees.
She always surprises me and that's why Carolyn Crane has fast become one of my favorite authors. Into the Shadows is very good romantic suspense with quite a healthy dose of steamy sexy for those who enjoy that.
Many thanks to CrushStar Multimedia and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC
July 17, 2014
It’s going to be hard for another book this year to impress me more than this one. Into the Shadows has great suspense. It has a tortured, broken, scarred hero who is an undercover villain. It has a heroine who is a former party hostess to her villain father who now kicks butt. And it has dirty, dirty sex. A damn fine combination.
Thorne had a very bad childhood, and has turned into a lethal, skilled fighter because of it. His sister was sold by his drugged out father to ten men, who ended up murdering her. Thorne has made it his life’s goal to track down these ten men and kill them. There is one left, a man named Jerrod who is the leader of Hangman, a ruthless criminal gang who launders money, and trades in weapons and drugs. Long ago, Thorne met a man named Dax, who is the head of an undercover team of agents called the Associates . Dax needs someone undercover to rise up in Hangman to learn the names of the government officials who are being bribed by Hangman. Thorne needs to rise in Hangman to get close and kill Jerrod – it’s the perfect partnership. So Thorne enters Hangman, and works his way up to number two. But Jerrod isn’t the top guy for nothing. He is a sociopath who starts getting very suspicious of his number two.
Nadia grew up with a father who was the head bad guy, so to say. Once he dies, the criminal gangs divide into four groups (one being Hangman). As a young adult, Nadia and her sister would play hostess to her father’s many parties. She was nicknamed The Party Princess, and would flirt and make all those criminals feel right at home. Thorne witnessed Nadia night after night, and his lust for her grew and grew. But Thorne never feels worthy enough of her attention, until one night he sees her crying on a roof. He approaches her and from here on out they start an extremely passionate and kinky love affair. Until it all goes south, as such passion tends to do.
Now two years later, Nadia is raising her young son and learns her mother might still be alive and horrifyingly, working in one of the criminal gang’s sweatshops. Along with her bodyguard, they start raiding sweatshops, freeing the women and searching for her mother. Meanwhile, Thorne tries desperately to make Jerrod believe he is loyal to him, which eventually leads him back to Nadia…..
So begins what is such a suspenseful, passionate, action filled story. Thorne and Nadia start with what Thorne describes as being in ‘lovehate.’ He lovehates her. He totally loves her, but hates her and the events that led to them breaking up. He doesn’t have much self-worth, even when he was with her, so it’s almost like he thrives in being in pain. He likes to be degraded and called bad names (in bed). Nadia found this fun and exciting at first, but now a few years later, she feels calling him a low life thug so he will have sex with her just sad.
I think what this author does so well is get us into the characters heads. This book has some extremely tense moments (the villain Jerrod is so creepy). As we sit in Thorne’s head as he tries to outsmart Jerrod, the author brings the reader right into the room. We are right there with Thorne or Nadia as they face danger. And it’s realistic danger. Crane sets up the arc so well, that as it unfolds, I did not want to put my kindle down. Seriously, the villains in this book are ruthless. I also love that her characters are not perfect or even want to be perfect. Nadia has moments of not being the best mother, handing off her kid to her sister who loves the kid, but isn’t necessarily the best person. Thorne is a killer. He kills bad guys but still, he has no hesitation when it comes to killing someone.
Since Thorne didn’t have a mother growing up, and lived with his druggie father, rarely going to school and having to survive on his own, he never picked up on the way families work, or even people in ‘normal’ relationships work. When he was dating Nadia years ago, when her father was still alive, there were times we saw his vulnerable side:
Thorne was thinking about two years ago, stretched out on the white fuzzy rug in front of the grand fireplace with Nadia, his hand moving over her hip in the firelight, his eyes on her. Three blissful months they spent together. She was the messed-up Party Princess, and he was the lowlife loser.
He flashed on all the stupid things he’d done during that time. Like going to movies alone to figure out how men were suppose to act with women they loved. What shit they would say and do. Because what the fuck did he know about couples? He’d even read one of the Hunter S. Thompson books she loved so much.
Of course, then he starts shooting up the rug they made love on two years ago, so let’s just say he still has a lot of issues. He is such a broken hero. And later when Thorne thinks they might be in love but there is a miscommunication and he ends up thinking he is just a plaything for her, his yearning to be degraded grows even more. I think this shows Thorne’s romantic mindset well, ‘the game’ being Nadia calling him a lowlife, loser etc….
Even when things were going badly, if one of them would start the game, there was only one way to finish it.
Because that kind of disdainful talk was like a Pavlovian bell to him, starting up the snarl and hunger inside hi heart, and he’ go to her and tear into her and maul her and kiss her, and she’d grab his hair and open to him.
Even after he’d discovered he was an interchangeable part to her, he’d still go to her like that. He could resist kindness because he knew it was always fake, but he could never resist her disdain because it was real and raw.
And it got him hot.
She had daddy villain issues. She was using him. He lovehated her. It was a dark little piece of clockwork they had going. Dark and completely explosive.
Nadia goes from ‘Party Princess’ to real-life mommy. She becomes responsible, and matures. When she is reunited with Thorne, and he starts asking her to call him lowlife again, she doesn’t want to play that game. She wants something more real in her life. It hurts her so much that he can’t move past their game. It shames her to go back to it. I think it’s tricky to get the ratio of suspense to romance correct in romantic suspense books, but Crane nails it. While I would say this isn’t an erotic book, the sex scenes are dirty with a kinky edge. They are gritty and fit the violent world these two live in well. Let me give you an example of Nadia telling a story to her bodyguard, Richard.
“And then his eyes move from the tear to my lips. And I’m thinking, yes.” She waited, let the silence be there. “And then he kisses me full-on…” She could still feel it, all that desperate, magical, full-on passion, like he’d been raised in the wild or something and didn’t know proper kissing or how to be gentle. Maybe just didn’t want to. She’d liked that. “Like a thousand stampeding horses. Like his social mask got ripped clear off and he was just this rawness.”
“Well, that is hot as fuck,” Richard whispered.
“And I grab onto his leather jacket sleeves.” She got onto the bed and grabbed onto Richard’s sleeves. And I pull him to me, and I’m thinking, just…invade me. That was my mood. Fuck me out of myself. Love me. Something. Anything. And the way he looks at me—” She gazed into his eyes, trying to re-create the intoxication of Thorne’s gaze.
“You think it was the crying?”
“Definitely. That’s what drew him. He walks across the roof and…” She gasped out the breath again, re-enacting the re-enactment now. “And I tell him he’s a lowlife, and he fucking mauls me.” She dropped her voice. “It was one of the single most hottest experiences of my life, Richard. One of the single most.”
Richard blew out a breath. “Is it wrong that I want to fuck him now, too?”
You don’t need to read the previous books in this series – each has a separate hero and heroine and storyline. Although I did love the previous book and you briefly meet Thorne.
Into the Shadows is suspenseful, gritty, violent, sexy – everything I want in a romantic suspense.
Rating: A
Thorne had a very bad childhood, and has turned into a lethal, skilled fighter because of it. His sister was sold by his drugged out father to ten men, who ended up murdering her. Thorne has made it his life’s goal to track down these ten men and kill them. There is one left, a man named Jerrod who is the leader of Hangman, a ruthless criminal gang who launders money, and trades in weapons and drugs. Long ago, Thorne met a man named Dax, who is the head of an undercover team of agents called the Associates . Dax needs someone undercover to rise up in Hangman to learn the names of the government officials who are being bribed by Hangman. Thorne needs to rise in Hangman to get close and kill Jerrod – it’s the perfect partnership. So Thorne enters Hangman, and works his way up to number two. But Jerrod isn’t the top guy for nothing. He is a sociopath who starts getting very suspicious of his number two.
Nadia grew up with a father who was the head bad guy, so to say. Once he dies, the criminal gangs divide into four groups (one being Hangman). As a young adult, Nadia and her sister would play hostess to her father’s many parties. She was nicknamed The Party Princess, and would flirt and make all those criminals feel right at home. Thorne witnessed Nadia night after night, and his lust for her grew and grew. But Thorne never feels worthy enough of her attention, until one night he sees her crying on a roof. He approaches her and from here on out they start an extremely passionate and kinky love affair. Until it all goes south, as such passion tends to do.
Now two years later, Nadia is raising her young son and learns her mother might still be alive and horrifyingly, working in one of the criminal gang’s sweatshops. Along with her bodyguard, they start raiding sweatshops, freeing the women and searching for her mother. Meanwhile, Thorne tries desperately to make Jerrod believe he is loyal to him, which eventually leads him back to Nadia…..
So begins what is such a suspenseful, passionate, action filled story. Thorne and Nadia start with what Thorne describes as being in ‘lovehate.’ He lovehates her. He totally loves her, but hates her and the events that led to them breaking up. He doesn’t have much self-worth, even when he was with her, so it’s almost like he thrives in being in pain. He likes to be degraded and called bad names (in bed). Nadia found this fun and exciting at first, but now a few years later, she feels calling him a low life thug so he will have sex with her just sad.
I think what this author does so well is get us into the characters heads. This book has some extremely tense moments (the villain Jerrod is so creepy). As we sit in Thorne’s head as he tries to outsmart Jerrod, the author brings the reader right into the room. We are right there with Thorne or Nadia as they face danger. And it’s realistic danger. Crane sets up the arc so well, that as it unfolds, I did not want to put my kindle down. Seriously, the villains in this book are ruthless. I also love that her characters are not perfect or even want to be perfect. Nadia has moments of not being the best mother, handing off her kid to her sister who loves the kid, but isn’t necessarily the best person. Thorne is a killer. He kills bad guys but still, he has no hesitation when it comes to killing someone.
Since Thorne didn’t have a mother growing up, and lived with his druggie father, rarely going to school and having to survive on his own, he never picked up on the way families work, or even people in ‘normal’ relationships work. When he was dating Nadia years ago, when her father was still alive, there were times we saw his vulnerable side:
Thorne was thinking about two years ago, stretched out on the white fuzzy rug in front of the grand fireplace with Nadia, his hand moving over her hip in the firelight, his eyes on her. Three blissful months they spent together. She was the messed-up Party Princess, and he was the lowlife loser.
He flashed on all the stupid things he’d done during that time. Like going to movies alone to figure out how men were suppose to act with women they loved. What shit they would say and do. Because what the fuck did he know about couples? He’d even read one of the Hunter S. Thompson books she loved so much.
Of course, then he starts shooting up the rug they made love on two years ago, so let’s just say he still has a lot of issues. He is such a broken hero. And later when Thorne thinks they might be in love but there is a miscommunication and he ends up thinking he is just a plaything for her, his yearning to be degraded grows even more. I think this shows Thorne’s romantic mindset well, ‘the game’ being Nadia calling him a lowlife, loser etc….
Even when things were going badly, if one of them would start the game, there was only one way to finish it.
Because that kind of disdainful talk was like a Pavlovian bell to him, starting up the snarl and hunger inside hi heart, and he’ go to her and tear into her and maul her and kiss her, and she’d grab his hair and open to him.
Even after he’d discovered he was an interchangeable part to her, he’d still go to her like that. He could resist kindness because he knew it was always fake, but he could never resist her disdain because it was real and raw.
And it got him hot.
She had daddy villain issues. She was using him. He lovehated her. It was a dark little piece of clockwork they had going. Dark and completely explosive.
Nadia goes from ‘Party Princess’ to real-life mommy. She becomes responsible, and matures. When she is reunited with Thorne, and he starts asking her to call him lowlife again, she doesn’t want to play that game. She wants something more real in her life. It hurts her so much that he can’t move past their game. It shames her to go back to it. I think it’s tricky to get the ratio of suspense to romance correct in romantic suspense books, but Crane nails it. While I would say this isn’t an erotic book, the sex scenes are dirty with a kinky edge. They are gritty and fit the violent world these two live in well. Let me give you an example of Nadia telling a story to her bodyguard, Richard.
“And then his eyes move from the tear to my lips. And I’m thinking, yes.” She waited, let the silence be there. “And then he kisses me full-on…” She could still feel it, all that desperate, magical, full-on passion, like he’d been raised in the wild or something and didn’t know proper kissing or how to be gentle. Maybe just didn’t want to. She’d liked that. “Like a thousand stampeding horses. Like his social mask got ripped clear off and he was just this rawness.”
“Well, that is hot as fuck,” Richard whispered.
“And I grab onto his leather jacket sleeves.” She got onto the bed and grabbed onto Richard’s sleeves. And I pull him to me, and I’m thinking, just…invade me. That was my mood. Fuck me out of myself. Love me. Something. Anything. And the way he looks at me—” She gazed into his eyes, trying to re-create the intoxication of Thorne’s gaze.
“You think it was the crying?”
“Definitely. That’s what drew him. He walks across the roof and…” She gasped out the breath again, re-enacting the re-enactment now. “And I tell him he’s a lowlife, and he fucking mauls me.” She dropped her voice. “It was one of the single most hottest experiences of my life, Richard. One of the single most.”
Richard blew out a breath. “Is it wrong that I want to fuck him now, too?”
You don’t need to read the previous books in this series – each has a separate hero and heroine and storyline. Although I did love the previous book and you briefly meet Thorne.
Into the Shadows is suspenseful, gritty, violent, sexy – everything I want in a romantic suspense.
Rating: A
July 7, 2018
I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this one just isn't doing it for me. Improbable situations and over the top characters, not to mention angst off the charts.
Nadia Volkov, aka Party Princess, is a woman on a mission and she isn't going to let anything, or anyone stand in her way. Her father was a gangster in Miami and when he died his empire was split up among other gangs called the Quartet. His empire ran so smoothly that the other gangs just stepped right in, run it as a co-op and didn't change a thing (totally unbelievable). Two years later she finds the mother lode, a CD with the details of how his empire is run. She also finds a picture of a young woman holding her as an baby. Nadia had been told her mother had died, but she was actually a sex slave. Nadia vows to find and rescue her.
Thorne McKelvey was Victor's brutal henchman and Nadia's savage lover. He is also an Associate undercover for his own personal revenge and to help Dax take down the gangs. Their sex games and role play fed a deep need in Thorne until he overhears what he believes Nadia really thinks of him. His own self worth is so low he readily believes what he hears.
A lot can change in two years. Nadia is now a mother to a wonderful little boy and a woman bent on taking down the sex traders who have her mother. Thorne has risen to be the second in command of the ruthless gang, The Henchmen. He has no room in his life for Nadia, in fact it could be very dangerous for her. Nadia knows exactly what Thorne is and he is not a fit father for her son, so she is just going to keep that little tidbit secret. These two bent people are destined for each other and when Nadia really needs Thorne, he can't refuse.
Nadia Volkov, aka Party Princess, is a woman on a mission and she isn't going to let anything, or anyone stand in her way. Her father was a gangster in Miami and when he died his empire was split up among other gangs called the Quartet. His empire ran so smoothly that the other gangs just stepped right in, run it as a co-op and didn't change a thing (totally unbelievable). Two years later she finds the mother lode, a CD with the details of how his empire is run. She also finds a picture of a young woman holding her as an baby. Nadia had been told her mother had died, but she was actually a sex slave. Nadia vows to find and rescue her.
Thorne McKelvey was Victor's brutal henchman and Nadia's savage lover. He is also an Associate undercover for his own personal revenge and to help Dax take down the gangs. Their sex games and role play fed a deep need in Thorne until he overhears what he believes Nadia really thinks of him. His own self worth is so low he readily believes what he hears.
A lot can change in two years. Nadia is now a mother to a wonderful little boy and a woman bent on taking down the sex traders who have her mother. Thorne has risen to be the second in command of the ruthless gang, The Henchmen. He has no room in his life for Nadia, in fact it could be very dangerous for her. Nadia knows exactly what Thorne is and he is not a fit father for her son, so she is just going to keep that little tidbit secret. These two bent people are destined for each other and when Nadia really needs Thorne, he can't refuse.
July 17, 2014
4.5 stars
Warning, I liked this book a lot and when that happens, I tend to want to add everything I possibly can to the review to make others love it too. The consequence is a long review, I tried to edit myself but alas, sorry.
Into the Shadows is book three in The Associates series, would reading book one and two enhance your reading experience of this one, yes. However, as someone who didn't read the previous ones, I never got grumpy over feeling lost; the author does a great job of giving you the facts and backstory without info dumping. If you followed my reading updates, you know the first three chapters had me giddy with how great the writing and story was.
Nadia was a mob party princess but a little over a year ago her father died, she became a mother, and found out the mother she was lead to believe was dead is in fact alive…. working in a sweat shop….that Nadia's father had sold her too. Yep, Nadia's world has been turned upside down. Oh, and hey also, Nadia's baby daddy used to work for her father but is now the number two for another gang, the Hangman, and doesn't know he is the father to Nadia's son. Thorne, the baby daddy, may be the number two for the Hangman but he is also undercover and has been for years. He was recruited by the super secret group The Associates, Thorne was on a revenge mission to kill all the men involved with the death of his sister and The Associates had the name of the last remaining man Thorne wanted. The identity of the remaining man turned out to be Jerrod, the new leader of the Hangman, so in exchange The Associates reveal Jerrod to Thorne, he kills Jerrod, takes over Hangman, and works from inside gathering information about dirty cops or government officials working for Hangman, and gives the intel to The Associates.
Intermission as you process that ;)
Ok, so back to Nadia, she has recruited her bodyguard and a group of mercenaries to hit sweatshops in hopes of finding her mother, after her father's death she discovered a CD that had all this information on it. Turns out every time they hit one of these sweatshops, Thorne has no alibi. This now leads us back to Thorne. Jerrod has been getting some bad vibes from Thorne and decides to frame him for the sweatshop robberies. Thorne thinks the only way to clear his name is to go to Nadia's father’s house and search it for information on the sweatshops to try and determine when and where the next sweatshop may be hit so he can catch the actual people committing the robberies in the act. Thus, this brings us to Nadia and Thorne.
As soon as Thorne bursts into Nadia's home saying "Honey, I'm home!" you know the sparks are going to fly and they do. Thorne basically had no family life to speak of, so he doesn't know how to express or understand normal human emotions, trust is as foreign to him as Mars. I was highly impressed with how beautifully and steadily the author portrayed this. He constantly is questioning other people's good intentions toward him and thankfully realistically, never makes a miraculous recovery. The author kept him true to his character and because of this, you just may cry a little on the inside for him (and you may think back to a certain character named Zsadists). Nadia is overshadowed by him a bit but her transformation from a carefree party princess to strong and steady mother and woman on a mission will have you firmly on her side. You'll want to speed read to finally see these two together, have Thorne discover he is a father, and have them get over their Big Misunderstanding (hey it's suspense but it's still romance).
There was never a dull moment in this book for me; really I couldn't have asked for more from a romantic suspense story. As you've read, there is a lot to the suspense arc, not overwhelming though, but the romance side also holds it own with steamy sex scenes that have a dash of dirty talk. There were moments when this story was intensely deep and dark and then the dialogue would have a sense of quirkiness to it. At first, it threw me a little off but I ultimately liked it. The only thing I have a mini complaint about was how awesomely suspenseful the ending was to only have it rap up so quickly and it felt like it ended so abruptly. Honestly, this could have been a personal problem because I liked the story so much and wanted it to keep going. This is the only Carolyn Crane book I have ever read, so I can't quite add her to the small list of authors I constantly recommend to people but I'm definitely going back and reading the rest of this series. If you love romantic suspense, this book is a must for you.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Warning, I liked this book a lot and when that happens, I tend to want to add everything I possibly can to the review to make others love it too. The consequence is a long review, I tried to edit myself but alas, sorry.
Into the Shadows is book three in The Associates series, would reading book one and two enhance your reading experience of this one, yes. However, as someone who didn't read the previous ones, I never got grumpy over feeling lost; the author does a great job of giving you the facts and backstory without info dumping. If you followed my reading updates, you know the first three chapters had me giddy with how great the writing and story was.
Nadia was a mob party princess but a little over a year ago her father died, she became a mother, and found out the mother she was lead to believe was dead is in fact alive…. working in a sweat shop….that Nadia's father had sold her too. Yep, Nadia's world has been turned upside down. Oh, and hey also, Nadia's baby daddy used to work for her father but is now the number two for another gang, the Hangman, and doesn't know he is the father to Nadia's son. Thorne, the baby daddy, may be the number two for the Hangman but he is also undercover and has been for years. He was recruited by the super secret group The Associates, Thorne was on a revenge mission to kill all the men involved with the death of his sister and The Associates had the name of the last remaining man Thorne wanted. The identity of the remaining man turned out to be Jerrod, the new leader of the Hangman, so in exchange The Associates reveal Jerrod to Thorne, he kills Jerrod, takes over Hangman, and works from inside gathering information about dirty cops or government officials working for Hangman, and gives the intel to The Associates.
Intermission as you process that ;)
Ok, so back to Nadia, she has recruited her bodyguard and a group of mercenaries to hit sweatshops in hopes of finding her mother, after her father's death she discovered a CD that had all this information on it. Turns out every time they hit one of these sweatshops, Thorne has no alibi. This now leads us back to Thorne. Jerrod has been getting some bad vibes from Thorne and decides to frame him for the sweatshop robberies. Thorne thinks the only way to clear his name is to go to Nadia's father’s house and search it for information on the sweatshops to try and determine when and where the next sweatshop may be hit so he can catch the actual people committing the robberies in the act. Thus, this brings us to Nadia and Thorne.
As soon as Thorne bursts into Nadia's home saying "Honey, I'm home!" you know the sparks are going to fly and they do. Thorne basically had no family life to speak of, so he doesn't know how to express or understand normal human emotions, trust is as foreign to him as Mars. I was highly impressed with how beautifully and steadily the author portrayed this. He constantly is questioning other people's good intentions toward him and thankfully realistically, never makes a miraculous recovery. The author kept him true to his character and because of this, you just may cry a little on the inside for him (and you may think back to a certain character named Zsadists). Nadia is overshadowed by him a bit but her transformation from a carefree party princess to strong and steady mother and woman on a mission will have you firmly on her side. You'll want to speed read to finally see these two together, have Thorne discover he is a father, and have them get over their Big Misunderstanding (hey it's suspense but it's still romance).
There was never a dull moment in this book for me; really I couldn't have asked for more from a romantic suspense story. As you've read, there is a lot to the suspense arc, not overwhelming though, but the romance side also holds it own with steamy sex scenes that have a dash of dirty talk. There were moments when this story was intensely deep and dark and then the dialogue would have a sense of quirkiness to it. At first, it threw me a little off but I ultimately liked it. The only thing I have a mini complaint about was how awesomely suspenseful the ending was to only have it rap up so quickly and it felt like it ended so abruptly. Honestly, this could have been a personal problem because I liked the story so much and wanted it to keep going. This is the only Carolyn Crane book I have ever read, so I can't quite add her to the small list of authors I constantly recommend to people but I'm definitely going back and reading the rest of this series. If you love romantic suspense, this book is a must for you.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
July 16, 2014
Initial Thoughts: Book 3 of the Associates series was a thrill ride! Take one strong and damaged operative on an undercover operation in the gangs and add one daughter of a mob boss on a mission of her own and you get sizzling sexual tension.
The Review
Wow. This was a thrill ride. If you have not yet started Ms. Crane’s The Associates series, you don’t know what you are missing. This is the third book in that series, however you can read each book as a standalone without really missing any important details.
In this installment, Thorne has infiltrated the Hangman gang and is presently number 2 in control. His deep cover is jeopardized by a series of thefts at some of the gang’s warehouses. Thorne needs to find Victor Volkov’s CD detailing all of his gang businesses. Problem is, Victor’s daughter Nadia found the CD and is using it to find her mother, who is being held in a gang run sweat shop.
Thorne works alone which is probably an asset in his world. He idolizes Bruce Lee and uses many of his idol’s moves in order to prepare and accomplish his dealings. I liked those Bruce Lee moments – they were very Zen-like. Thorne has a damaged past – he watched his sister die and then was left to die in the desert, surrounded by scorpions.
Nadia Volkov aka The Party Princess has her own agenda. She has assembled a team and they are raiding sweat shops and freeing the women. Each raid puts Nadia closer to finding her mother, yet they also put her in increased danger. Nadia’s raids also put Thorne in danger as he is the prime suspect for the raids.
Thorne and Nadia have a torrid past and when they meet again, their attraction is still there. The sexual tension sizzles as the two of them try to deny their feelings. Plus there’s secrets!
This was a smoking hot read. Thorne is clearly in love with Nadia, but he is unable to express that love. He calls his feelings for Nadia “lovehate” and he plays all sorts of games where he calls himself a loser. In the past, Nadia played along, but she’s looking for more.
If you enjoy romantic suspense novels and have not yet started this series, what are you waiting for?
A copy of this book was provided by the author for review purposes.
Review posted on Badass Book Reviews. Check it out!
SOS Bookshelf Bingo - Armed & Ready Shelf (abs guy is holding a gun)
The Review
Wow. This was a thrill ride. If you have not yet started Ms. Crane’s The Associates series, you don’t know what you are missing. This is the third book in that series, however you can read each book as a standalone without really missing any important details.
In this installment, Thorne has infiltrated the Hangman gang and is presently number 2 in control. His deep cover is jeopardized by a series of thefts at some of the gang’s warehouses. Thorne needs to find Victor Volkov’s CD detailing all of his gang businesses. Problem is, Victor’s daughter Nadia found the CD and is using it to find her mother, who is being held in a gang run sweat shop.
Thorne works alone which is probably an asset in his world. He idolizes Bruce Lee and uses many of his idol’s moves in order to prepare and accomplish his dealings. I liked those Bruce Lee moments – they were very Zen-like. Thorne has a damaged past – he watched his sister die and then was left to die in the desert, surrounded by scorpions.
Nadia Volkov aka The Party Princess has her own agenda. She has assembled a team and they are raiding sweat shops and freeing the women. Each raid puts Nadia closer to finding her mother, yet they also put her in increased danger. Nadia’s raids also put Thorne in danger as he is the prime suspect for the raids.
Thorne and Nadia have a torrid past and when they meet again, their attraction is still there. The sexual tension sizzles as the two of them try to deny their feelings. Plus there’s secrets!
This was a smoking hot read. Thorne is clearly in love with Nadia, but he is unable to express that love. He calls his feelings for Nadia “lovehate” and he plays all sorts of games where he calls himself a loser. In the past, Nadia played along, but she’s looking for more.
If you enjoy romantic suspense novels and have not yet started this series, what are you waiting for?
A copy of this book was provided by the author for review purposes.
Review posted on Badass Book Reviews. Check it out!
SOS Bookshelf Bingo - Armed & Ready Shelf (abs guy is holding a gun)
Want to read
December 16, 2017💝 FREE on Amazon today (12/16/2017)! 💝
July 15, 2014
Thorne and Nadia
Seriously, I don't think CC can do wrong in my eyes. I love her writing. It is raw and quirky at the same time. I need MORE of this series. Like tomorrow. Full review on Fiction Vixen Book Reviews
Into The Shadows is book three in Carolyn Crane’s The Associates series. Into the Shadows is also the continuation of my love affair with Ms. Crane and pretty much everything she writes. As far as I am concerned someone needs to chain her to a chair and only allow writing to happen. Dramatic? Maybe. But that is how I feel about her books.
Nadia Volkov is the Party Princess. Her life has been based on being the flighty daughter of a crime lord. She knew what she was viewed as and she played it up. When Thorne McKelvey came along she saw the first man who might want her for something other than what was on the surface. She fell for Thorne and she fell hard. Thorne did his best to avoid Nadia but eventually he couldn’t stay away and they came together fast and furious.
“
“Not good enough for the Party Princess.” He was getting into it too much. He whispered one bit of truth to her after another. “But I don’t care. I’ll pull you and your perfect everything down into the dirt with me. I’ll dirty you up just by being near, like a pit bull, drooling over you.”
Their intense relationship was what made it hurt so much worse when Thorne turned Nadia away. Thorne overheard a conversation with Nadia and her sister and took everything the wrong way. It ended up giving him the strength to leave her when the time came for him to take his place in a long term undercover operation. Thorne is a deeply buried agent working to bring down the four gangs that were leftover after Nadia’s father was killed. What he doesn’t know is that when he leaves her, Nadia is pregnant with his child.
Two years later Thorne is back in Nadia’s life looking for a disc. He is #2 in one of the four gangs and being accused of multiple heists involving the other three. He is really being framed by his boss, a man who recognizes Thorne’s deadliness, and he must prove he isn’t betraying his fellow members. The only way he can prove his innocence is to find a disc Nadia’s father left in the house where they are living. This will put him back in Nadia’s life but he has to survive in order to bring down the gangs.
Nadia is hiding two big secrets, Thorne’s son and the fact that she is responsible for the gang heists. Somehow she just knows he won’t recognize his child but she doesn’t like knowing she is the reason Thorne is being accused of things he isn’t doing. She won’t give up going after the gangs though because in one of those locations is the mother she was told had died. She will not stop until she finds her and takes her from that awful place. She decides to plant the disc for Thorne to find but what she doesn’t count on is the instant connection she again feels with the man upon seeing him.
“
She snorted. “Can you act any more fucked up?”
He sparkled at her, all devilish. His dark lashes gave the effect of pirate eyeliner. Everything about him was disreputable.
With so many things going on Nadia and Thorne have to protect their child, rescue Nadia’s mother, keep Thorne from being killed within his gang, bring down the bad guys and find their HEA. How they do this in 300 pages is for the reader to find out!
Into the Shadows was quite a ride. I always look forward to Carolyn Crane books and this one lived up to my expectations. This book was raw, dirty and quirky. It was the perfect mix of suspense and sexiness. Some of the scenes are disturbingly dark but they work so well with the story. Thorne needs Nadia to treat him like trash but this is finally the time Nadia wants to show him what he means to her. The push and pull between the pair is sexy and so well done.
The Associates series has become one of my favorite romantic suspense series. The good news is there are several characters still with stories to be told and I am especially excited for the head dude, Dax. I cannot wait for more of these stories. Lovers of romantic suspense books should check out this series. You won’t be disappointed. Final grade- B+
Favorite Quote:
“
“There are so many layers to our fucked up layer cake, I don’t know how to untangle it,”
Seriously, I don't think CC can do wrong in my eyes. I love her writing. It is raw and quirky at the same time. I need MORE of this series. Like tomorrow. Full review on Fiction Vixen Book Reviews
Into The Shadows is book three in Carolyn Crane’s The Associates series. Into the Shadows is also the continuation of my love affair with Ms. Crane and pretty much everything she writes. As far as I am concerned someone needs to chain her to a chair and only allow writing to happen. Dramatic? Maybe. But that is how I feel about her books.
Nadia Volkov is the Party Princess. Her life has been based on being the flighty daughter of a crime lord. She knew what she was viewed as and she played it up. When Thorne McKelvey came along she saw the first man who might want her for something other than what was on the surface. She fell for Thorne and she fell hard. Thorne did his best to avoid Nadia but eventually he couldn’t stay away and they came together fast and furious.
“
“Not good enough for the Party Princess.” He was getting into it too much. He whispered one bit of truth to her after another. “But I don’t care. I’ll pull you and your perfect everything down into the dirt with me. I’ll dirty you up just by being near, like a pit bull, drooling over you.”
Their intense relationship was what made it hurt so much worse when Thorne turned Nadia away. Thorne overheard a conversation with Nadia and her sister and took everything the wrong way. It ended up giving him the strength to leave her when the time came for him to take his place in a long term undercover operation. Thorne is a deeply buried agent working to bring down the four gangs that were leftover after Nadia’s father was killed. What he doesn’t know is that when he leaves her, Nadia is pregnant with his child.
Two years later Thorne is back in Nadia’s life looking for a disc. He is #2 in one of the four gangs and being accused of multiple heists involving the other three. He is really being framed by his boss, a man who recognizes Thorne’s deadliness, and he must prove he isn’t betraying his fellow members. The only way he can prove his innocence is to find a disc Nadia’s father left in the house where they are living. This will put him back in Nadia’s life but he has to survive in order to bring down the gangs.
Nadia is hiding two big secrets, Thorne’s son and the fact that she is responsible for the gang heists. Somehow she just knows he won’t recognize his child but she doesn’t like knowing she is the reason Thorne is being accused of things he isn’t doing. She won’t give up going after the gangs though because in one of those locations is the mother she was told had died. She will not stop until she finds her and takes her from that awful place. She decides to plant the disc for Thorne to find but what she doesn’t count on is the instant connection she again feels with the man upon seeing him.
“
She snorted. “Can you act any more fucked up?”
He sparkled at her, all devilish. His dark lashes gave the effect of pirate eyeliner. Everything about him was disreputable.
With so many things going on Nadia and Thorne have to protect their child, rescue Nadia’s mother, keep Thorne from being killed within his gang, bring down the bad guys and find their HEA. How they do this in 300 pages is for the reader to find out!
Into the Shadows was quite a ride. I always look forward to Carolyn Crane books and this one lived up to my expectations. This book was raw, dirty and quirky. It was the perfect mix of suspense and sexiness. Some of the scenes are disturbingly dark but they work so well with the story. Thorne needs Nadia to treat him like trash but this is finally the time Nadia wants to show him what he means to her. The push and pull between the pair is sexy and so well done.
The Associates series has become one of my favorite romantic suspense series. The good news is there are several characters still with stories to be told and I am especially excited for the head dude, Dax. I cannot wait for more of these stories. Lovers of romantic suspense books should check out this series. You won’t be disappointed. Final grade- B+
Favorite Quote:
“
“There are so many layers to our fucked up layer cake, I don’t know how to untangle it,”
December 28, 2014
Thorne has given up everything he has to continue his undercover mission for the Associates, even if all he had was Nadia, the Party Princess whom he loves fiercely and was blissfully happy with for a brief span two years ago. Even if she only thought of him as a low life thug and someone she could use to play out her fantasies with, he loves her anyway. But, he never expected his life would bring her back in his path and he never wanted it to as with him he only brings danger and death. Nadia’s heart was broken when Thorne left her, especially as she pregnant with his child, a child she never got to tell him about before he left. Now he is back, but can she really take the risk on Thorne again and potentially not just lose her own heart again but her sons as well?
Wow. I loved this book! This is one of my best books of the year and has reminded me why Carolyn Crane is one of my favourite authors. With Into the Shadows she has crafted a book that was emotionally intense, full of action and hot as hell. Plus, look at that cover! This is definitely my favourite installment so far of The Associates series.
What always sets Carolyn Crane apart is her style; the way she puts a little twist in everything she does or takes a slightly different view on something tried and tested to create something uniquely hers. In The Associates series each agent has a talent that sets them apart, from logistics to linguistics, it hardly makes them sound like badasses but Crane twists it and turns it into something exciting, sexy and new. In Into the Shadows the hero, Thorne, is an expert fighter and styles himself after Bruce Lee and damn, Thorne was hot, not just because he was all tattooed and muscled, but because he had this brutal, honest intensity about him. You feel his personality shouting out from the page and it made me want to climb into the book and snuggle the crap outta him.
“I’m the brute and the asshole who will never deserve you, but I’ll always protect you. They could destroy me within an inch of my life and I’ll still lay waste to heaven and hell to help you.”
If you like your books with a fair bit of action in them as well, then there is a few heists and a couple of gun fights that keeps the excitement flowing. This book does an excellent job of keeping the tension up, as you struggle to see how Thorne and Nadia could possibly be together and still keep themselves alive. What I mainly read this for though was the romance, which ticked all my boxes, it was passionate, it was emotional and it was sexually charged. Nadia and Thorne led us on an emotional journey and I loved every second. And I couldn’t resist adding my favourite quote of the book, which I think shows you perfectly the intensity of their romance:
He thought she was out of his system, but even now he could feel himself turning back into the lovehating brute she liked him to be. His lovehate made a wound in him. His lovehate for her was a prison and a heaven.
Wow. I loved this book! This is one of my best books of the year and has reminded me why Carolyn Crane is one of my favourite authors. With Into the Shadows she has crafted a book that was emotionally intense, full of action and hot as hell. Plus, look at that cover! This is definitely my favourite installment so far of The Associates series.
What always sets Carolyn Crane apart is her style; the way she puts a little twist in everything she does or takes a slightly different view on something tried and tested to create something uniquely hers. In The Associates series each agent has a talent that sets them apart, from logistics to linguistics, it hardly makes them sound like badasses but Crane twists it and turns it into something exciting, sexy and new. In Into the Shadows the hero, Thorne, is an expert fighter and styles himself after Bruce Lee and damn, Thorne was hot, not just because he was all tattooed and muscled, but because he had this brutal, honest intensity about him. You feel his personality shouting out from the page and it made me want to climb into the book and snuggle the crap outta him.
“I’m the brute and the asshole who will never deserve you, but I’ll always protect you. They could destroy me within an inch of my life and I’ll still lay waste to heaven and hell to help you.”
If you like your books with a fair bit of action in them as well, then there is a few heists and a couple of gun fights that keeps the excitement flowing. This book does an excellent job of keeping the tension up, as you struggle to see how Thorne and Nadia could possibly be together and still keep themselves alive. What I mainly read this for though was the romance, which ticked all my boxes, it was passionate, it was emotional and it was sexually charged. Nadia and Thorne led us on an emotional journey and I loved every second. And I couldn’t resist adding my favourite quote of the book, which I think shows you perfectly the intensity of their romance:
He thought she was out of his system, but even now he could feel himself turning back into the lovehating brute she liked him to be. His lovehate made a wound in him. His lovehate for her was a prison and a heaven.
September 22, 2015
3.5
Thorne is introduced in the previous book as a ruthless killer and a deep undercover agent. He is awesome here. His heartbreaking history, the reasoning behind his actions could save this book even if it didn't have a heroine as great as Nadia.
One of the best scenes in this book involves Thorne and the first time he gets together with other Associates and tells them about Benny.
I really enjoyed this book. It has almost everything one could wish in a romantic suspense.
Thorne is introduced in the previous book as a ruthless killer and a deep undercover agent. He is awesome here. His heartbreaking history, the reasoning behind his actions could save this book even if it didn't have a heroine as great as Nadia.
One of the best scenes in this book involves Thorne and the first time he gets together with other Associates and tells them about Benny.
I really enjoyed this book. It has almost everything one could wish in a romantic suspense.
September 1, 2014
I received this book from Netgalley for my honest review.
Well, I honsetly cannot say that I loved this book... I didn't disliked it, but I was bored often...
The story could have been interesting, but there was too much stressing the hero's "thug-ness", "wothless-ness", "looser-ness", etc... And the worst thing is that it was him who did the stressing!
I got that it was done to render his feeling of not deserving the heroine, but it was overdone!
The heroine tried to keep the baby secret too much. I could understand that she wanted to do it at the beginning, but she kept doing it almost to the end!
Their relashionship and behaviour was too confusing and contradictory.
The flow of the story was disjointed: it kept jumping from past to present to past, often interrupting the action.
Well, I honsetly cannot say that I loved this book... I didn't disliked it, but I was bored often...
The story could have been interesting, but there was too much stressing the hero's "thug-ness", "wothless-ness", "looser-ness", etc... And the worst thing is that it was him who did the stressing!
I got that it was done to render his feeling of not deserving the heroine, but it was overdone!
The heroine tried to keep the baby secret too much. I could understand that she wanted to do it at the beginning, but she kept doing it almost to the end!
Their relashionship and behaviour was too confusing and contradictory.
The flow of the story was disjointed: it kept jumping from past to present to past, often interrupting the action.
no-way-jose
January 26, 2016https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Enough said. Well said. Hate the plot.
Enough said. Well said. Hate the plot.
July 16, 2015
ก่อนรีวิวขอบอกให้เหลือบสายตาลงไปดูปกหนังสือเรื่องนี้กันหน่อยนะคะ คือเราไม่ใช่คนที่อู๋อ๋าไปกับรูปผู้ชายกึ่งเปลือยเท่าไหรน่ะค่ะ จริง ๆ แล้ว เราไม่ค่อย comfortable ด้วยซ้ำกับปกที่วาบหวาบเยอะ ๆ แต่ปกของหนังสือเรื่องนี้ทำให้เราต้องพลิกไปดูหลายต่อหลายรอบระหว่างที่อ่านเรื่องนี้ เพราะนี่เป็นครั้งแรกจริง ๆ ที่เรารู้สึกว่า สื่อได้ถึงคาแร็คเตอร์ของพระเอกในเรื่องได้แบบตรงเป๊ะ ลักษณะทางกายภาพอาจจะมีบางส่วนไม่เหมือนกับที่คนแต่งบรรยายเอาไว้นะคะ (มือของเขาที่ปกติ ไม่ผิดรูปเหมือนอย่างที่คาแร็คเตอร์เป็น) แต่ attitude ที่แสดงออกมา ช่างเป็นธอร์นแบบ.... (ขอเวลาไปชื่นชมปกอีกรอบก่อนจะกลับมาเขียนรีวิวเป็นเรื่องเป็นราว
เล่มสามในชุด และตอนนี้คือเล่มที่สนุกที่สุด สนุกแบบโคตรสนุก หลังจากที่เข้าอารมณ์บ้าเรื่องแนวโรแมนติกสืบสวนเพราะอ่าน Consumed by Fire ของแอนน์ สจ๊วตจบไป เราก็ได้พบเรื่องที่ใกล้เคียง (หรืออาจจะดีกว่าด้วยซ้ำ) เรื่องที่มีความคล้ายคลึงกันในแง่ของพระเอกที่เป็นองค์กรปราบอาชญากรรมที่ต้องแฝงตัวเข้าไปในกลุ่มผู้ร้าย แต่ก็มีความเป็นตัวของตัวเองมากพอที่จะทำให้เราอ่านได้อย่างสนุกด้วยตัวของมันเอง
อ่านไปสามเล่ม สนุกทั้งสามเล่มนะคะ แต่เล่มนี้มันเหมือนมาถึงจุดสูงสุด ที่ทุกอย่างช่างลงตัวไปหมด คาแร็คเตอร์ของพระเอก และที่เซอร์ไพร์สเราได้ ตัวนางเอกเอง พล็อตเรื่อง อารมณ์ของเรื่องที่ให้ความรู้สึกคล้าย ๆ (ย้ำนะคะว่าคล้ายๆ) เรื่องแนว New Adult ในแบบที่เราชอบพอดี กดดันหัวใจอย่างถูกจังหวะ จนอ่านไปจิกหมอนไป แล้วเรื่องตื่นเต้นเข้มข้นที่อ่านแล้ววางไม่ลง
เมื่อวานเป็นอีกคืนที่เราไม่ได้นอน เพราะต้องอ่านให้จบ
ธอร์น (ปกหลังมีบอกนามสกุลเอาไว้นะคะ แต่เท่าที่จำได้ ตลอดทั้งเรื่องแทบจะไม่ได้พูดถึงนามสกุลของเราเลย แต่คาแร็คเตอร์ของเขาก็ยิ่งใหญ่เสียจนไม่จำเป็นต้องมีสองชื่อ แค่ชื่อเดียวก็เพียงพอแล้วล่ะ) เป็นหนึ่งในสมาชิกของกลุ่ม The Associates แต่เขาคือความลับที่ไม่มีใครรู้สึก นอกจากเด๊กซ์ หัวหน้ากลุ่มแล้ว มีคนอีกแค่สองคนในโลกเท่านั้นที่รู้ว่า เขาคือสายลับที่แทรกซึมเข้าไปในองค์กรแฮงค์แมน องค์กรอาชญากรรมที่เชี่ยวชาญเรื่องการฟอกเงิน
ภารกิจของเขาก็คือ การทำทุกอย่างเพื่อก้าวไปให้ถึงตำแหน่งแฮงค์แมนเบอร์หนึ่ง เป็นหัวหน้าขององค์กรอาชญากรรมที่ไร้การควบคุม เพราะ The Associates ต้องการชื่อของคนในรัฐบาลที่ให้ท้ายกลุ่มอาชญากรนี้ (คนที่จะรู้จักคนในรัฐบาลจะมีเพียงหัวหน้ากลุ่มเท่านั้น) และตอนนี้ธอร์นก็มาใกล้มาก เขาคือแฮงค์แมนเบอร์สอง แต่นั่นก็ทำให้เขาถูกจับตามองอย่างมาดร้ายโดยจาร์รอดหัวหน้ากลุ่มในปัจจุบันที่จะทำทุกอย่างเพื่อปกป้องตำแหน่งของตัวเองเอาไว้
ดังนั้นเมื่อมีโจรมือที่สามโผล่เข้ามา แล้วออกปล้นสถานที่เก็บเงิน และทรัพย์สินของกลุ่ม จาร์รอดโยนความผิดให้กับธอร์นทันที และบีบให้เขาพิสูจน์ตัวเองด้วยการตามหาคนร้าย
เบาะแสนำธอร์นกลับเข้าไปในอดีตที่เขาเลือกจะเดินจากมา และนั่นคือ นาเดีย ลูกสาวของเจ้านายเก่า ธอร์นเชื่อว่า เจ้านายที่ตอนนี้หมดอำนาจและตายไปแล้วได้เก็บซ่อนความลับเอาไว้ในแมนชั่นบ้านที่นาเดียอาศัยอยู่ เขาพาพวกบุกกลับเข้าไปและค้นบ้าน
พล็อตไม่มีอะไรมากนะคะ แต่มันมีอะไรมากมายที่ไม่อาจเล่าออกมาได้ เรื่องนี้ถือว่า มีครบทุกรส พระเอกที่เท่ห์ชนิดที่เราไม่ได้กรี๊ดคาแร็คเตอร์ไหนเท่าที่เรากรี๊ดกับธอร์นตอนที่อ่าน ขอบอกว่า เท่ห์จนต้องหยุดอ่าน เพราะระบบเกือบจะโอเวอร์โหลด เป็นไม่กี่ครั้งที่เราเข้าสู่โหมดคลั่งพระเอก (แถมปกยังให้เข้าไปกับจินตนาการของเราอีก เลยต้องปิดเล่มนั่งดูปกไปอีกหนึ่งรอบ)
ธอร์นเป็นคาแร็คเตอร์แห่งความขัดแย้ง เขาเป็นสมาชิกกลุ่ม The Associates แต่ไม่ได้มีคุณลักษณะทรงภูมิเหมือนคนอื่น ๆ เขาเชื่อว่า ตัวเองไม่ใช่คนที่พิเศษ หรือมีความรู้เช่นเดียวกับคนอื่น และเพราะเขาคือความลับ ธอร์นไม่เคยทำงานร่วมกับสมาชิกคนอื่น และอยู่อย่างแยกห่าง แต่มันก็เห็นได้ชัดนะคะว่า เขาถวิลหาความเป็นส่วนหนึ่งในกลุ่มมาตลอด เขาค้นหาประวัติ และรู้จักสมาชิกคนอื่น ๆ ทั้งหมด
และเขายังเป็นคาแร็คเตอร์ที่ดิบมาก อย่างที่บอกค่ะ เราดูปกแล้วนึกถึงเขาทั้งที่ ท่าทางและการวางตัวในเรื่อง การเรียกเขาว่าแบดบอย ยังน้อยเกินไป ทุกอย่างสำหรับธอร์นมันคือสุดโต่ง ดังนั้นจึงไม่แปลกที่เมื่อเขารัก ก็หมดหัวใจ และในทางกลับกันเมื่อเขาเจ็บ อาการก้อออกทันทีเช่นกัน
นี่เป็นจุดที่เราเปรียบเทียบเขากับคาแร็คเตอร์ในเรื่องแนว NA เพราะธอร์นช่าง angst มาก ขนาดใช้คำว่า lovehate ในการบรรยายความรู้สึกที่เขามีต่อนาเดีย แถมอารมณ์ก็ขึ้นลงสุด ๆ แต่ไม่ได้ไร้เหตุผลนะคะ ไม่รู้จะอธิบายยังไง นอกจากบอกว่า ไปลองอ่านกันเอาเอง เรารู้สึกว่า คาแร็คเตอร์ของเขาเอาข้อดีที่เราชอบทั้งหมดในพระเอกเรื่องแนว NA (ที่ angst สุดๆ) และตัดข้อเสียทั้งหมดไป แถมเนื้อเรื่องไม่เด็ก ธอร์นไม่ได้ทำตัวเป็นเด็กให้น่ารำคาญ
เราเขียนเรียงความเกี่ยวกับพระเอกได้เลยนะคะ แต่คาแร็คเตอร์ที่ทำให้เรื่องสมบูรณ์แบบก็คือ นาเดีย นางเอกของเรื่อง เราพูดเสมอว่า พระเอกเป็นคนที่ทำให้เรา "ชอบ" หนังสือเล่มนั้น แต่นางเอกจะเป็นคนทำให้เรา "รัก" หนังสือเรื่องนั้น และนาเดียทำให้เรื่องนี้ครบถ้วน
นางเอกไม่ได้บริสุทธิ์ไร้เดียงสา เกิดมาเพื่อคู่กับพระเอก นาเดียมีคาแร็คเตอร์ของตัวเอง เธอเข้มแข็ง แต่ไม่แข็งกร้าว เราชอบฉากที่เธอถูกยิง แล้วเจ็บจนร้องไห้ออกมานะคะ เราว่า มันสื่อตัวตนของเธอเป็นอย่างดีมาก นาเดียไม่ใช่นักสู้ คือเธอสู้ได้ถ้าจำเป็น แต่ถ้าขนาดถูกยิง มันก็เจ็บนะ ก็ต้องร้องกันออกมาบ้าง
เราชอบกระทั่งผู้ร้าย เราคิดว่า คนแต่งสร้างผู้ร้ายที่คู่ควร ความเลวแน่นอนว่าสูงมาก แต่จาร์รอดไม่ใช่คนโง่ เขาทันเกมส์กับธอร์น และสร้างความกดดันให้กับเนื้อเรื่อง ให้เราต้องลุ้นว่า พระเอกจะเอาชนะคนชั่วร้ายคนนี้ได้อย่างไร
นาทีนี้เราชอบทุกอย่างในเรื่องนี้ค่ะ ตอนจบที่ธอร์นซึ่งตลอดทั้งเรื่องเขาไม่ไว้ใจใคร พึ่งพาตัวเอง ไม่เชื่อว่าใครจะช่วย หรือหวังดีกับเขาได้ เปิดใจและยอมรับความช่วยเหลือจากเพื่อนที่เขาไม่คิดว่าตัวเองมี
ถอนหายใจอีกเฮือกค่ะ ขอบอกอีกทีว่า ชอบเล่มนี้แบบมาก ๆ
เล่มสามในชุด และตอนนี้คือเล่มที่สนุกที่สุด สนุกแบบโคตรสนุก หลังจากที่เข้าอารมณ์บ้าเรื่องแนวโรแมนติกสืบสวนเพราะอ่าน Consumed by Fire ของแอนน์ สจ๊วตจบไป เราก็ได้พบเรื่องที่ใกล้เคียง (หรืออาจจะดีกว่าด้วยซ้ำ) เรื่องที่มีความคล้ายคลึงกันในแง่ของพระเอกที่เป็นองค์กรปราบอาชญากรรมที่ต้องแฝงตัวเข้าไปในกลุ่มผู้ร้าย แต่ก็มีความเป็นตัวของตัวเองมากพอที่จะทำให้เราอ่านได้อย่างสนุกด้วยตัวของมันเอง
อ่านไปสามเล่ม สนุกทั้งสามเล่มนะคะ แต่เล่มนี้มันเหมือนมาถึงจุดสูงสุด ที่ทุกอย่างช่างลงตัวไปหมด คาแร็คเตอร์ของพระเอก และที่เซอร์ไพร์สเราได้ ตัวนางเอกเอง พล็อตเรื่อง อารมณ์ของเรื่องที่ให้ความรู้สึกคล้าย ๆ (ย้ำนะคะว่าคล้ายๆ) เรื่องแนว New Adult ในแบบที่เราชอบพอดี กดดันหัวใจอย่างถูกจังหวะ จนอ่านไปจิกหมอนไป แล้วเรื่องตื่นเต้นเข้มข้นที่อ่านแล้ววางไม่ลง
เมื่อวานเป็นอีกคืนที่เราไม่ได้นอน เพราะต้องอ่านให้จบ
ธอร์น (ปกหลังมีบอกนามสกุลเอาไว้นะคะ แต่เท่าที่จำได้ ตลอดทั้งเรื่องแทบจะไม่ได้พูดถึงนามสกุลของเราเลย แต่คาแร็คเตอร์ของเขาก็ยิ่งใหญ่เสียจนไม่จำเป็นต้องมีสองชื่อ แค่ชื่อเดียวก็เพียงพอแล้วล่ะ) เป็นหนึ่งในสมาชิกของกลุ่ม The Associates แต่เขาคือความลับที่ไม่มีใครรู้สึก นอกจากเด๊กซ์ หัวหน้ากลุ่มแล้ว มีคนอีกแค่สองคนในโลกเท่านั้นที่รู้ว่า เขาคือสายลับที่แทรกซึมเข้าไปในองค์กรแฮงค์แมน องค์กรอาชญากรรมที่เชี่ยวชาญเรื่องการฟอกเงิน
ภารกิจของเขาก็คือ การทำทุกอย่างเพื่อก้าวไปให้ถึงตำแหน่งแฮงค์แมนเบอร์หนึ่ง เป็นหัวหน้าขององค์กรอาชญากรรมที่ไร้การควบคุม เพราะ The Associates ต้องการชื่อของคนในรัฐบาลที่ให้ท้ายกลุ่มอาชญากรนี้ (คนที่จะรู้จักคนในรัฐบาลจะมีเพียงหัวหน้ากลุ่มเท่านั้น) และตอนนี้ธอร์นก็มาใกล้มาก เขาคือแฮงค์แมนเบอร์สอง แต่นั่นก็ทำให้เขาถูกจับตามองอย่างมาดร้ายโดยจาร์รอดหัวหน้ากลุ่มในปัจจุบันที่จะทำทุกอย่างเพื่อปกป้องตำแหน่งของตัวเองเอาไว้
ดังนั้นเมื่อมีโจรมือที่สามโผล่เข้ามา แล้วออกปล้นสถานที่เก็บเงิน และทรัพย์สินของกลุ่ม จาร์รอดโยนความผิดให้กับธอร์นทันที และบีบให้เขาพิสูจน์ตัวเองด้วยการตามหาคนร้าย
เบาะแสนำธอร์นกลับเข้าไปในอดีตที่เขาเลือกจะเดินจากมา และนั่นคือ นาเดีย ลูกสาวของเจ้านายเก่า ธอร์นเชื่อว่า เจ้านายที่ตอนนี้หมดอำนาจและตายไปแล้วได้เก็บซ่อนความลับเอาไว้ในแมนชั่นบ้านที่นาเดียอาศัยอยู่ เขาพาพวกบุกกลับเข้าไปและค้นบ้าน
พล็อตไม่มีอะไรมากนะคะ แต่มันมีอะไรมากมายที่ไม่อาจเล่าออกมาได้ เรื่องนี้ถือว่า มีครบทุกรส พระเอกที่เท่ห์ชนิดที่เราไม่ได้กรี๊ดคาแร็คเตอร์ไหนเท่าที่เรากรี๊ดกับธอร์นตอนที่อ่าน ขอบอกว่า เท่ห์จนต้องหยุดอ่าน เพราะระบบเกือบจะโอเวอร์โหลด เป็นไม่กี่ครั้งที่เราเข้าสู่โหมดคลั่งพระเอก (แถมปกยังให้เข้าไปกับจินตนาการของเราอีก เลยต้องปิดเล่มนั่งดูปกไปอีกหนึ่งรอบ)
ธอร์นเป็นคาแร็คเตอร์แห่งความขัดแย้ง เขาเป็นสมาชิกกลุ่ม The Associates แต่ไม่ได้มีคุณลักษณะทรงภูมิเหมือนคนอื่น ๆ เขาเชื่อว่า ตัวเองไม่ใช่คนที่พิเศษ หรือมีความรู้เช่นเดียวกับคนอื่น และเพราะเขาคือความลับ ธอร์นไม่เคยทำงานร่วมกับสมาชิกคนอื่น และอยู่อย่างแยกห่าง แต่มันก็เห็นได้ชัดนะคะว่า เขาถวิลหาความเป็นส่วนหนึ่งในกลุ่มมาตลอด เขาค้นหาประวัติ และรู้จักสมาชิกคนอื่น ๆ ทั้งหมด
และเขายังเป็นคาแร็คเตอร์ที่ดิบมาก อย่างที่บอกค่ะ เราดูปกแล้วนึกถึงเขาทั้งที่ ท่าทางและการวางตัวในเรื่อง การเรียกเขาว่าแบดบอย ยังน้อยเกินไป ทุกอย่างสำหรับธอร์นมันคือสุดโต่ง ดังนั้นจึงไม่แปลกที่เมื่อเขารัก ก็หมดหัวใจ และในทางกลับกันเมื่อเขาเจ็บ อาการก้อออกทันทีเช่นกัน
นี่เป็นจุดที่เราเปรียบเทียบเขากับคาแร็คเตอร์ในเรื่องแนว NA เพราะธอร์นช่าง angst มาก ขนาดใช้คำว่า lovehate ในการบรรยายความรู้สึกที่เขามีต่อนาเดีย แถมอารมณ์ก็ขึ้นลงสุด ๆ แต่ไม่ได้ไร้เหตุผลนะคะ ไม่รู้จะอธิบายยังไง นอกจากบอกว่า ไปลองอ่านกันเอาเอง เรารู้สึกว่า คาแร็คเตอร์ของเขาเอาข้อดีที่เราชอบทั้งหมดในพระเอกเรื่องแนว NA (ที่ angst สุดๆ) และตัดข้อเสียทั้งหมดไป แถมเนื้อเรื่องไม่เด็ก ธอร์นไม่ได้ทำตัวเป็นเด็กให้น่ารำคาญ
เราเขียนเรียงความเกี่ยวกับพระเอกได้เลยนะคะ แต่คาแร็คเตอร์ที่ทำให้เรื่องสมบูรณ์แบบก็คือ นาเดีย นางเอกของเรื่อง เราพูดเสมอว่า พระเอกเป็นคนที่ทำให้เรา "ชอบ" หนังสือเล่มนั้น แต่นางเอกจะเป็นคนทำให้เรา "รัก" หนังสือเรื่องนั้น และนาเดียทำให้เรื่องนี้ครบถ้วน
นางเอกไม่ได้บริสุทธิ์ไร้เดียงสา เกิดมาเพื่อคู่กับพระเอก นาเดียมีคาแร็คเตอร์ของตัวเอง เธอเข้มแข็ง แต่ไม่แข็งกร้าว เราชอบฉากที่เธอถูกยิง แล้วเจ็บจนร้องไห้ออกมานะคะ เราว่า มันสื่อตัวตนของเธอเป็นอย่างดีมาก นาเดียไม่ใช่นักสู้ คือเธอสู้ได้ถ้าจำเป็น แต่ถ้าขนาดถูกยิง มันก็เจ็บนะ ก็ต้องร้องกันออกมาบ้าง
เราชอบกระทั่งผู้ร้าย เราคิดว่า คนแต่งสร้างผู้ร้ายที่คู่ควร ความเลวแน่นอนว่าสูงมาก แต่จาร์รอดไม่ใช่คนโง่ เขาทันเกมส์กับธอร์น และสร้างความกดดันให้กับเนื้อเรื่อง ให้เราต้องลุ้นว่า พระเอกจะเอาชนะคนชั่วร้ายคนนี้ได้อย่างไร
นาทีนี้เราชอบทุกอย่างในเรื่องนี้ค่ะ ตอนจบที่ธอร์นซึ่งตลอดทั้งเรื่องเขาไม่ไว้ใจใคร พึ่งพาตัวเอง ไม่เชื่อว่าใครจะช่วย หรือหวังดีกับเขาได้ เปิดใจและยอมรับความช่วยเหลือจากเพื่อนที่เขาไม่คิดว่าตัวเองมี
ถอนหายใจอีกเฮือกค่ะ ขอบอกอีกทีว่า ชอบเล่มนี้แบบมาก ๆ
October 13, 2014
As reviewed on Read Our Lips:
Thorne´s been working undercover for the Associates for years and he´s finally getting close to his endgame, the revenge he´s been craving for years, when another craving returns to his life.
As daughter to a notorious top dog, Nadia was used to spending time with various henchmen, but one effected her in a way no one else could.
When Thorne left her, two years ago, he did so without knowing what he really gave up on.
Now Nadia´s got another agenda, one that will bring changes for everyone.
A kickass heroine and a hero that believes he´s lost everything but his urge for revenge. Nonstop action from the first page to the last.
Action, smutty fluff, feelings and one mans redemption.
Awesome series!!
Complimentary copy provided by author for an honest review
Thorne´s been working undercover for the Associates for years and he´s finally getting close to his endgame, the revenge he´s been craving for years, when another craving returns to his life.
As daughter to a notorious top dog, Nadia was used to spending time with various henchmen, but one effected her in a way no one else could.
When Thorne left her, two years ago, he did so without knowing what he really gave up on.
Now Nadia´s got another agenda, one that will bring changes for everyone.
A kickass heroine and a hero that believes he´s lost everything but his urge for revenge. Nonstop action from the first page to the last.
Action, smutty fluff, feelings and one mans redemption.
Awesome series!!
Complimentary copy provided by author for an honest review
March 17, 2015
2.5 stars
Pure fluff. Enjoyable, if predictable.
Pure fluff. Enjoyable, if predictable.
December 2, 2018
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Into the Shadows feels like the most strategy driven story with more emotional character definition. Both Thorne and Nadia have been working hard and for some time on their projects. Now they get tangled up together and as things blow up, they need to figure out a plan to reach both their goals. The costs are brutal and their lives are on the line. It's an emotional roller-coaster. It was easy to like them and root for them!
Into the Shadows feels like the most strategy driven story with more emotional character definition. Both Thorne and Nadia have been working hard and for some time on their projects. Now they get tangled up together and as things blow up, they need to figure out a plan to reach both their goals. The costs are brutal and their lives are on the line. It's an emotional roller-coaster. It was easy to like them and root for them!
November 2, 2014
Fantastic. Engaging. Riveting. Explosive. Emotional. Gripping. Action-packed. These are the words I brainstormed about the book before writing this review. I wasn’t able to connect them all into coherent sentences, so thought I would just give it to you raw. I just finished Into The Shadows by Carolyn Crane and wow. Into The Shadows is the third book in The Associates Series and had me feeling the whole gamete of emotions. I was engaged from the first page and was pretty much on the edge of my seat until the very end. There is something very unique about Carolyn’s writing and I have yet to figure out how to describe it, so just read this book and you will know what I am talking about.
Thorne is the hero in Into The Shadows and is a very complex character. He is self-confident but in a somewhat skewed way. My heart went out to him when we were given flashbacks to help us understand the decisions he makes. I liked him from the beginning yet I never really knew what he was going to do in any situation. He kept me turning the pages. Nadia is the heroine and she seems to have a better head on her shoulders than Thorne, but she still has many issues to overcome. Throw in a toddler, a very dangerous gang leader (hate him), a lost mother and you have quite the story in Into The Shadows.
Thorne and Nadia together are potent. Like, explosive. The intimacy the two of them share is intense. I didn’t like the game they played with one another back when they were dating, mostly because it hurt my feelings to even hear them joke about things (you will understand when you read the book), however, I understood why they did it as characters. I really enjoyed Thorne and Nadia’s love story. It was definitely not a cookie cutter version of a romance. It was about two people that grew up in horrible circumstances and still make it out okay in the end. It reminded me that each love story has their own quirks and challenges, but if two people are dedicated to and love one another, anything can happen.
The plot in Into The Shadows is gritty, violent, raw and emotional all at the same time. Carolyn doesn’t sugar-coat things and gives it to you straight. While reading, I felt the same thing the characters felt. The anxiety in a situation was real to me, as I could literally feel my heart speed up while reading. The story moves fast and I found myself hanging on every word just so I didn’t miss a thing. If you like romantic suspense, you must read this series. Each book can be read as a standalone so start anywhere. If you want edge-of-your-seat action and heart-melting romance, I suggest you give Into The Shadows a try.
Thorne is the hero in Into The Shadows and is a very complex character. He is self-confident but in a somewhat skewed way. My heart went out to him when we were given flashbacks to help us understand the decisions he makes. I liked him from the beginning yet I never really knew what he was going to do in any situation. He kept me turning the pages. Nadia is the heroine and she seems to have a better head on her shoulders than Thorne, but she still has many issues to overcome. Throw in a toddler, a very dangerous gang leader (hate him), a lost mother and you have quite the story in Into The Shadows.
Thorne and Nadia together are potent. Like, explosive. The intimacy the two of them share is intense. I didn’t like the game they played with one another back when they were dating, mostly because it hurt my feelings to even hear them joke about things (you will understand when you read the book), however, I understood why they did it as characters. I really enjoyed Thorne and Nadia’s love story. It was definitely not a cookie cutter version of a romance. It was about two people that grew up in horrible circumstances and still make it out okay in the end. It reminded me that each love story has their own quirks and challenges, but if two people are dedicated to and love one another, anything can happen.
The plot in Into The Shadows is gritty, violent, raw and emotional all at the same time. Carolyn doesn’t sugar-coat things and gives it to you straight. While reading, I felt the same thing the characters felt. The anxiety in a situation was real to me, as I could literally feel my heart speed up while reading. The story moves fast and I found myself hanging on every word just so I didn’t miss a thing. If you like romantic suspense, you must read this series. Each book can be read as a standalone so start anywhere. If you want edge-of-your-seat action and heart-melting romance, I suggest you give Into The Shadows a try.
July 28, 2014
God, I love Thorne. He’s so ridiculously bad, yet vulnerable. Sometimes it was difficult to see that he was undercover because he seemed like all of the other gangsters, just better. I wanted to wrap my arms around him; he deserved more from life than what he got. Nadia and Thorne’s dynamic is so different from any other romance I’ve read before and honestly, I shouldn’t have been surprised given that Carolyn Crane wrote this book. Even though I was so overly biased on Thorne’s behalf, I think Carolyn wrote a romance for these two characters that was true to who they were and how their world worked.
And the suspense in this book was off the charts. I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering whether or not Nadia would get away or if Hangman was going to get the better of Thorne. I mean, obviously, I probably shouldn’t have been so worried, but I couldn’t help it. And again this just goes to show how awesome Carolyn is. Often times when reading romantic suspense, I get bored because I know what’s going to happen. But I was constantly worried about all of the characters in this book.
I also loved the way that the Associates were involved in this book. I wondered how it would all work considering nobody knew Thorne was a member of the Associates because he was so far undercover. I love the members of the Associates and I cannot wait for each of their books. I’m particularly interested in Rio.
From beginning to end, I was hooked on this book. Thorne has jumped onto my list of book boyfriends even if he is probably considered an anti-hero. I absolutely loved him on his own, with Nadia and especially with Benny. Seeing him with that boy was heart melting. I’m almost sad that his book is over, but I know that this will definitely be a re-read for me and likely on more than one occasion.
Arc provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review
And the suspense in this book was off the charts. I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering whether or not Nadia would get away or if Hangman was going to get the better of Thorne. I mean, obviously, I probably shouldn’t have been so worried, but I couldn’t help it. And again this just goes to show how awesome Carolyn is. Often times when reading romantic suspense, I get bored because I know what’s going to happen. But I was constantly worried about all of the characters in this book.
I also loved the way that the Associates were involved in this book. I wondered how it would all work considering nobody knew Thorne was a member of the Associates because he was so far undercover. I love the members of the Associates and I cannot wait for each of their books. I’m particularly interested in Rio.
From beginning to end, I was hooked on this book. Thorne has jumped onto my list of book boyfriends even if he is probably considered an anti-hero. I absolutely loved him on his own, with Nadia and especially with Benny. Seeing him with that boy was heart melting. I’m almost sad that his book is over, but I know that this will definitely be a re-read for me and likely on more than one occasion.
Arc provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review
June 17, 2015
Listened for Review (Tantor)
Overall Rating: 4.25
Story Rating: 4.50
Character Rating: 4.00
Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)
First Thought when Finished: Into the Shadows by Carolyn Crane was another excellent addition to The Associates series. I have a wishlist now of peeps I would like to get a story.
Quick Thoughts: You know that moment when you finish a book and you have to wait? That is how good this series is! I love it in audio so I am having to wait a little longer than the print crowd. Thorne and Nadia just made my heart a flutter. Their past, their present, their secrets--all combined made for one of those stories that you cried, laughed, and wanted to shake someone (both characters brought that out in me). Secret baby storylines are usually a troupe I avoid but somehow Carolyn made it work! KUDOS!
Audio Thoughts:
Romy is quickly becoming a "narrator I can count on". She has done an excellent job with this series. Her pacing, voicing variations, and emotion hits just the right note. Very well done!
Final Thoughts: WAITING SUCKS!
Overall Rating: 4.25
Story Rating: 4.50
Character Rating: 4.00
Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)
First Thought when Finished: Into the Shadows by Carolyn Crane was another excellent addition to The Associates series. I have a wishlist now of peeps I would like to get a story.
Quick Thoughts: You know that moment when you finish a book and you have to wait? That is how good this series is! I love it in audio so I am having to wait a little longer than the print crowd. Thorne and Nadia just made my heart a flutter. Their past, their present, their secrets--all combined made for one of those stories that you cried, laughed, and wanted to shake someone (both characters brought that out in me). Secret baby storylines are usually a troupe I avoid but somehow Carolyn made it work! KUDOS!
Audio Thoughts:
Narrated By Romy Nordlinger / Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
Romy is quickly becoming a "narrator I can count on". She has done an excellent job with this series. Her pacing, voicing variations, and emotion hits just the right note. Very well done!
Final Thoughts: WAITING SUCKS!
July 17, 2014
3 1\2
Absolutely cute, if too light for my tastes. (Yes, it's fluffy for me even with all that suspense and presumed bad-ass-ness :)
Absolutely cute, if too light for my tastes. (Yes, it's fluffy for me even with all that suspense and presumed bad-ass-ness :)
August 3, 2014
Holy Hell. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I may do a review if I can get my thoughts together enough, but needless to say, this is a must read, people!!
December 23, 2015
I have just one word for this book - THORNE!!! <3
tbr-own-this
December 17, 2017FREE on Amazon 12/16/17
February 26, 2016
ARC Review
This book is so much more than I had hoped!
Thorne is an “unofficial” operative of the Associates, a clandestine organization fighting crime so deep undercover that the members don’t even know who is on their side. Thorne is recruited by the Associates to infiltrate the Hangman gang and work his way to becoming its leader. He is in deep in more ways than one. During his tenure under the former boss, Victor, Thorne falls in love with Victor’s daughter. Unfortunately, due to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, Thorne and Nadia break up. Only years later are they reunited both in love and in purpose, but she now has her own set of secrets as she searches for a treasure that heretofore she didn’t know existed.
This is a story about being redeemed, giving and accepting love, knowing and believing that you are worthy of it, all wrapped up in an intense romantic suspense thriller. They say that the farthest distance that a person can travel is from the heart to the head. Our hero Thorne is so blinded by his past that he fails to see what is real and vital before him. He believes he is a thug; he believes he is unworthy. The only time he feels worthy is when he is with Nadia. Their relationship is tricky. There is a different kind of dynamic in the relationship, not your normal romantic trope. Their romance is edgy, relentless and devouring: There are so many layers to our fucked up layer cake, I don’t know how to untangle it.
In the past, they played this dark game where she calls him derogatory names and belittles him and he loves it. He loves it because he feels like she is naming his truth – that he is a thug and lowlife. She does it as a game; he uses it as a means to be real and connect with her: He never could resist her distain because it was real and raw. And it got him hot. However in truth, if he were truly that evil man, he wouldn’t feel any need to connect.
We discover that Thorne is a philosophical man, living the philosophies of Bruce Lee both in life and in battle. He is a zen warrior. He believes that his superpower to win fights is his ability to detach from everything and everyone: Best way to fight was to releasing all needs, need to stay undercover, releasing the desire to live. His mantra is, I’m free to win because I’m free to die.
However, despite his denial, he is a deeply feeling man. Nadia helps him find his real truth. His awkwardness is endearing and when he tries to learn to relate to her, it is so sweet:: like going to movies alone to figure out how men were suppose to act with women they loved. What shit they would say and do. Because what the fuck did he know about couples? He’d even read one of the Hunter S. Thompson books she so loved.
Nadia is a woman completely comfortable in her own skin. Growing up the daughter of a head of a criminal organization, she knows how to use humor, both soft and hard, to make people feel at ease. However, that is not who she is. Thorne breaks through the façade to see the real Nadia.
There are a lot of great things about this book – the characters, the plot, the intimate scenes, the heart-stopping suspense, but to me, the very best part of this book is the writing. Carolyn Crane has such a unique voice; there are no other writers like her. She invites readers to follow her distinctively quirky thinking – complex, but not confusing. I love how she finds and uses funny and uncommon details like the forensic botanist. Who knew? The line about the “preventive pee” before a big mission is so right on (This is a lesson I learned when I went on my first ride-along. Go the bathroom before and whenever you can because you don’t know when you’ll be able to go again). And the comment about the hotel soap…it completely gutted me. She is a master storyteller.
IN A NUTSHELL: I can always tell the level of engagement I have with a story just by the number of highlights I have in my book. This one is a sea of yellow. This is one of my best reads of the year. Period.
This book is so much more than I had hoped!
Thorne is an “unofficial” operative of the Associates, a clandestine organization fighting crime so deep undercover that the members don’t even know who is on their side. Thorne is recruited by the Associates to infiltrate the Hangman gang and work his way to becoming its leader. He is in deep in more ways than one. During his tenure under the former boss, Victor, Thorne falls in love with Victor’s daughter. Unfortunately, due to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, Thorne and Nadia break up. Only years later are they reunited both in love and in purpose, but she now has her own set of secrets as she searches for a treasure that heretofore she didn’t know existed.
This is a story about being redeemed, giving and accepting love, knowing and believing that you are worthy of it, all wrapped up in an intense romantic suspense thriller. They say that the farthest distance that a person can travel is from the heart to the head. Our hero Thorne is so blinded by his past that he fails to see what is real and vital before him. He believes he is a thug; he believes he is unworthy. The only time he feels worthy is when he is with Nadia. Their relationship is tricky. There is a different kind of dynamic in the relationship, not your normal romantic trope. Their romance is edgy, relentless and devouring: There are so many layers to our fucked up layer cake, I don’t know how to untangle it.
In the past, they played this dark game where she calls him derogatory names and belittles him and he loves it. He loves it because he feels like she is naming his truth – that he is a thug and lowlife. She does it as a game; he uses it as a means to be real and connect with her: He never could resist her distain because it was real and raw. And it got him hot. However in truth, if he were truly that evil man, he wouldn’t feel any need to connect.
We discover that Thorne is a philosophical man, living the philosophies of Bruce Lee both in life and in battle. He is a zen warrior. He believes that his superpower to win fights is his ability to detach from everything and everyone: Best way to fight was to releasing all needs, need to stay undercover, releasing the desire to live. His mantra is, I’m free to win because I’m free to die.
However, despite his denial, he is a deeply feeling man. Nadia helps him find his real truth. His awkwardness is endearing and when he tries to learn to relate to her, it is so sweet:: like going to movies alone to figure out how men were suppose to act with women they loved. What shit they would say and do. Because what the fuck did he know about couples? He’d even read one of the Hunter S. Thompson books she so loved.
Nadia is a woman completely comfortable in her own skin. Growing up the daughter of a head of a criminal organization, she knows how to use humor, both soft and hard, to make people feel at ease. However, that is not who she is. Thorne breaks through the façade to see the real Nadia.
There are a lot of great things about this book – the characters, the plot, the intimate scenes, the heart-stopping suspense, but to me, the very best part of this book is the writing. Carolyn Crane has such a unique voice; there are no other writers like her. She invites readers to follow her distinctively quirky thinking – complex, but not confusing. I love how she finds and uses funny and uncommon details like the forensic botanist. Who knew? The line about the “preventive pee” before a big mission is so right on (This is a lesson I learned when I went on my first ride-along. Go the bathroom before and whenever you can because you don’t know when you’ll be able to go again). And the comment about the hotel soap…it completely gutted me. She is a master storyteller.
IN A NUTSHELL: I can always tell the level of engagement I have with a story just by the number of highlights I have in my book. This one is a sea of yellow. This is one of my best reads of the year. Period.
August 7, 2014
“I’m the loser who will never deserve you, but I’ll always fight for you”
The quote above practically sums up the psychology of the delicious hero in the story. Shoot me for saying this, but the reason I picked up Into the Shadows by Carolyn Crane from Netgalley hinges on the fact that the cover is so bloody hot! And I say that in the best way possible. Having never experienced Carolyn’s writing nor the fact that there are two books prior to this in The Associates series to which this book belongs to didn’t stop me from requesting for it. And though I am always a bit apprehensive about trying out new authors, I think Carolyn seduced me rather beautifully with this novel of hers.
Thorne McKelvey, the hero is deep undercover in one of the most vicious gangs in Tampa, Florida. Thorne has no illusions about who he is. He is a man who is only fit for violence, crime and would never be good enough for anyone, let alone someone like Nadia Volkov with whom Thorne had shared a blissfully happy three months until things had headed south between them. Even then, though Thorne had felt like his insides were being shredded into bits and pieces, the fact that what he has always believed about himself had only been proven by what had gone down only helps cement his belief that he would never be good enough.
Nadia has had a lot on her plate since the death of her father and the discovery that her mother needed rescuing. The knowledge that her father had lied to her all his life had been bad enough but knowing the situation into which her mother had been thrust into makes Nadia wish that her father were alive so that she could throttle him to death herself. Life had changed so much for Nadia the night Thorne had left her, and being responsible for a tiny human being who depends on her for everything makes her vow more fervently than ever that she would find and rescue her mother, whatever it took.
Trouble comes calling when Nadia’s under the cloak missions lands her on the radar of the very gang that Thorne has infiltrated, the leader of which is a man Thorne has been hunting since the night his life had changed so drastically, tied up in a desert surrounded by scorpions. There is a beauty to the savagery that is hinted at in Thorne’s character, the web of temptation that he casts on the reader that much more potent because of the fact. And when once again Thorne and Nadia find their paths inevitably merging, the long held secrets come out together with the desire between them that had not abated but grown stronger during the period of separation.
Into the Shadows is a story that I enjoyed overly much while reading. Though I did feel at times that I had missed out on what makes up the group of people known as “The Associates” on which these stories are based on by having never read the previous two books in the series, it didn’t completely distract me from what this story had to offer. While the present events unfold at a fast pace, the flashbacks into the shared past between Thorne and Nadia continued to provide the required fodder to make an emotional connection with both of them. All that I have left to say is, what the cover depicts? Totally one hundred percent true. You would have to investigate on your own to find out more. Recommended!
Rating = 4/5
Caliber SEAL: GREAT READ
For more reviews & quotes, visit www.maldivianbookreviewer.com
May 19, 2015
Originally posted at The Book Nympho
Bruce Lee. . . Secret Baby. . . Scorpions . . . Into the Shadows has it all.
Bruce Lee?
Yeah, he was my least favorite element of Thorne's story. Apparently Thorne lived and fought by the Bruce Lee code. It was cheesy and got on my nerves pretty quickly. But that's my only complaint about Into the Shadows , every thing else was great!
Secret Baby
I don't feel like I'm spoiling you on this topic since it's in the book's summary so don't give me stink eye for talking about it. I loved this trope used within Thorne and Nadia's story.
Scorpions
I won't go into what they brought to the story but I will tell you that Thorne has some tattooed on him.
The Feels!!
I had so many feelings while reading Into the Shadows . There was hot feelings during the sexy times, there was laughing, there was near tears and there was OMFG did he just do that?!
So Thorne is the bad boy of The Associates group. He doesn't play well with others and most of that is due to the fact that the others don't know he's part of their team. Thorne is in deep undercover where only the leader of the group knows about him working for The Associates.
Thorne has a really crappy childhood and it's caused him not to trust people and think that he is the lowest of the low. Nadia comes into his life and they fall in love with each other while he is undercover working with her dad. But neither has told the other they love them and things are done and said that break them apart. Two years later they are back in each others lives and they are still in love but some their old issues are still getting in the way of their HEA.
Thorne and Nadia are so touching in their trip to find that HEA. I've not rooted for a couple this hard in a long time. And Carolyn Crane's writing had me on the emotional rollercoaster with them.
The Audio
I listened to the audio through chapter five then I switched over to the ebook of Into the Shadows . Romy Nordlinger has a nice voice and I'm sure I would enjoy her narration on a different story but I couldn't get into her performance for Into the Shadows . Some narrators are prefect for some genres but not for others and I just feel like Romy wasn't the right pick for romantic suspense. She wasn't forceful enough with the male voices for my liking and it kept me from really getting into the story. I kept tuning out the audio.
Bruce Lee. . . Secret Baby. . . Scorpions . . . Into the Shadows has it all.
Bruce Lee?
Yeah, he was my least favorite element of Thorne's story. Apparently Thorne lived and fought by the Bruce Lee code. It was cheesy and got on my nerves pretty quickly. But that's my only complaint about Into the Shadows , every thing else was great!
Secret Baby
I don't feel like I'm spoiling you on this topic since it's in the book's summary so don't give me stink eye for talking about it. I loved this trope used within Thorne and Nadia's story.
Scorpions
I won't go into what they brought to the story but I will tell you that Thorne has some tattooed on him.
The Feels!!
I had so many feelings while reading Into the Shadows . There was hot feelings during the sexy times, there was laughing, there was near tears and there was OMFG did he just do that?!
So Thorne is the bad boy of The Associates group. He doesn't play well with others and most of that is due to the fact that the others don't know he's part of their team. Thorne is in deep undercover where only the leader of the group knows about him working for The Associates.
Thorne has a really crappy childhood and it's caused him not to trust people and think that he is the lowest of the low. Nadia comes into his life and they fall in love with each other while he is undercover working with her dad. But neither has told the other they love them and things are done and said that break them apart. Two years later they are back in each others lives and they are still in love but some their old issues are still getting in the way of their HEA.
Thorne and Nadia are so touching in their trip to find that HEA. I've not rooted for a couple this hard in a long time. And Carolyn Crane's writing had me on the emotional rollercoaster with them.
The Audio
I listened to the audio through chapter five then I switched over to the ebook of Into the Shadows . Romy Nordlinger has a nice voice and I'm sure I would enjoy her narration on a different story but I couldn't get into her performance for Into the Shadows . Some narrators are prefect for some genres but not for others and I just feel like Romy wasn't the right pick for romantic suspense. She wasn't forceful enough with the male voices for my liking and it kept me from really getting into the story. I kept tuning out the audio.
July 22, 2017
My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.
I started this book in the middle of the series. It came highly recommended by several other bloggers that I know. I asked around if I could start with this one or if I needed to go back and start at the beginning. I was assured by several different people that starting with this book would be fine. I have to agree. I have no idea what the first two books were about, but this one felt almost more like a book one or even a stand alone.
This story is about a late mafia boss's daughter, Nadia. It takes place right after her father has been killed and the fall of his empire. She grew up being told that her mother died in childbirth. After her father's death, she learns the truth. Her mother was brought to this country to be used in the sex trade. When she got too old for that, they moved her to sweatshops. Nadia can't stop until she finds her mother.
Thorne is a former bodyguard to Nadia, but after her father's death, he was putting himself into place to take over a new gang. Thorne is undercover trying to help find out who is politically helping these gangs. Thorne and Nadia have a past, but they both thought it was just a fling, even though they both secretly wanted it to be more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I like the undercover aspect with Thorne. He has to do some really tough things to keep his cover, he just keeps his endgame in his mind. I love how Nadia, who grew up in luxury, trying to make up for everything the blood money from her father has come. She frees dozens of women from the sweatshops.
There were a few things I didn't like. I was so sick of the phrases "party princess" and "love/hate". Also, there was a more angst that I would like to see in a romantic suspense. But over, I really enjoyed the story and will getting more from this series at some point.
Narration
I keep going back and forth on the narration. At times, I didn't mind it, but one scene that keeps sticking in my head. It was banter between Thorne and Nadia. The lines were quick and they went back and forth between the two. I couldn't tell who was saying what, there just wasn't enough difference in the voices. This didn't seem to be an issue in most scenes, but I can't get that one scene out of my head. I did listen at an increased speed, so that could've had something to do with it too. I did go to Audible to see what others were saying about this narrator after the fact and saw that many people gave her high stars. I'm willing to give her another try. I would hate for one scene to turn me off a narrator. I will try her on another book in this series.
I like to thank Tantor Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
I started this book in the middle of the series. It came highly recommended by several other bloggers that I know. I asked around if I could start with this one or if I needed to go back and start at the beginning. I was assured by several different people that starting with this book would be fine. I have to agree. I have no idea what the first two books were about, but this one felt almost more like a book one or even a stand alone.
This story is about a late mafia boss's daughter, Nadia. It takes place right after her father has been killed and the fall of his empire. She grew up being told that her mother died in childbirth. After her father's death, she learns the truth. Her mother was brought to this country to be used in the sex trade. When she got too old for that, they moved her to sweatshops. Nadia can't stop until she finds her mother.
Thorne is a former bodyguard to Nadia, but after her father's death, he was putting himself into place to take over a new gang. Thorne is undercover trying to help find out who is politically helping these gangs. Thorne and Nadia have a past, but they both thought it was just a fling, even though they both secretly wanted it to be more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I like the undercover aspect with Thorne. He has to do some really tough things to keep his cover, he just keeps his endgame in his mind. I love how Nadia, who grew up in luxury, trying to make up for everything the blood money from her father has come. She frees dozens of women from the sweatshops.
There were a few things I didn't like. I was so sick of the phrases "party princess" and "love/hate". Also, there was a more angst that I would like to see in a romantic suspense. But over, I really enjoyed the story and will getting more from this series at some point.
Narration
I keep going back and forth on the narration. At times, I didn't mind it, but one scene that keeps sticking in my head. It was banter between Thorne and Nadia. The lines were quick and they went back and forth between the two. I couldn't tell who was saying what, there just wasn't enough difference in the voices. This didn't seem to be an issue in most scenes, but I can't get that one scene out of my head. I did listen at an increased speed, so that could've had something to do with it too. I did go to Audible to see what others were saying about this narrator after the fact and saw that many people gave her high stars. I'm willing to give her another try. I would hate for one scene to turn me off a narrator. I will try her on another book in this series.
I like to thank Tantor Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
January 26, 2016
Thorne and Nadia had a passionate affair two years ago that ended badly due to a misunderstanding. That doesn't mean they are over each other though. Their love has turned into what Thorne would call "lovehate," and what I would call "annoying." I was mainly interested in how they would come back together and how the misunderstanding would be dealt with.
I don't really know how I feel about this one. On one hand I flew through the book, it was fast-paced with lots of action, and I just had to know how things would turn out for our main characters. No time to sit around twiddling thumbs, but I also didn't fall in love with it. It was missing that little something that I needed to fully connect with them.
What Worked For Me:
- I liked Thorne. He was just so alone and broken that you can't help but root for him to get his HEA.
- I also liked that they both hadn't been with other people during their separation. Many people might not care about it but I worry about these things!
What Didn't Work For Me:
- I didn't agree with Nadia on how she didn't want to tell Thorne the truth about his son. Even when he had proved that he would do anything for them, including giving his life. There is no reason or excuse in the world for you to hide a son from his father! He deserves to know the truth! What's worse is that he had to figure it out by himself, when Nadia should have been the one to tell him.
- Nadia was not the badass she thought she was. She was TSTL with the raids and just running into places, putting her life and especially her son's life in danger.
- So, Thorne and Nadia had this 'kink' where she would call him a "low life thug" and other various insults and he would get off on it. I could understand Thorne's reasons for it because he honestly felt that was true, but Nadia getting sooo turned on by calling him a "low life" didn't sit well with me. She doesn't really think that of him and it definitely shouldn't have continued after they professed their love to each other.
Overall, this book was a so-so read, with the only memorable thing being Thorne. I can already feel it slipping from my mind. Oh, well.
I don't really know how I feel about this one. On one hand I flew through the book, it was fast-paced with lots of action, and I just had to know how things would turn out for our main characters. No time to sit around twiddling thumbs, but I also didn't fall in love with it. It was missing that little something that I needed to fully connect with them.
What Worked For Me:
- I liked Thorne. He was just so alone and broken that you can't help but root for him to get his HEA.
- I also liked that they both hadn't been with other people during their separation. Many people might not care about it but I worry about these things!
What Didn't Work For Me:
- I didn't agree with Nadia on how she didn't want to tell Thorne the truth about his son. Even when he had proved that he would do anything for them, including giving his life. There is no reason or excuse in the world for you to hide a son from his father! He deserves to know the truth! What's worse is that he had to figure it out by himself, when Nadia should have been the one to tell him.
- Nadia was not the badass she thought she was. She was TSTL with the raids and just running into places, putting her life and especially her son's life in danger.
- So, Thorne and Nadia had this 'kink' where she would call him a "low life thug" and other various insults and he would get off on it. I could understand Thorne's reasons for it because he honestly felt that was true, but Nadia getting sooo turned on by calling him a "low life" didn't sit well with me. She doesn't really think that of him and it definitely shouldn't have continued after they professed their love to each other.
Overall, this book was a so-so read, with the only memorable thing being Thorne. I can already feel it slipping from my mind. Oh, well.
July 11, 2014
3 1/2*
This is the first book I've ever read by Carolyn Crane and it was an exciting introduction to some edge of your seat writing.
Nadia, former "Party Princess" is the daughter of a dead crime lord, Victor Volkov, who is struggling to take care of her baby son while staying alive during secret raids on what is left of her father's empire. She is trying to find her birth mother that Victor had locked away in a sweat shop or brothel after lying to Nadia about her for as long as she can remember.
Thorne, a bad guy's bad guy, is the product of a traumatic childhood that has left him with many scars, both physical and emotional. He is working undercover in a criminal gang until he can finally kill the leader and take retribution for the death of his sister years ago. His undercover operation briefly had him in the orbit of Nadia while he worked for her sleazy father. While they weren't together long they certainly found time to get together and play some dirty games and Thorne left, unknowingly leaving Nadia pregnant with his child.
While there seemed to be a bit of everything but the kitchen sink thrown in here it all cooked out into a suspenseful and enjoyable read that I was able to happily immerse myself in.
My only quibble was that while this is billed as a 'stand alone' novel I really felt like I was missing some kind of previous story. I'm unsure if these characters and part of this plot was a side story in the previous book but that's how it read to me and I felt like I was constantly on the back foot trying to catch up a bit with stuff everyone else already knew.
This is the first book I've ever read by Carolyn Crane and it was an exciting introduction to some edge of your seat writing.
Nadia, former "Party Princess" is the daughter of a dead crime lord, Victor Volkov, who is struggling to take care of her baby son while staying alive during secret raids on what is left of her father's empire. She is trying to find her birth mother that Victor had locked away in a sweat shop or brothel after lying to Nadia about her for as long as she can remember.
Thorne, a bad guy's bad guy, is the product of a traumatic childhood that has left him with many scars, both physical and emotional. He is working undercover in a criminal gang until he can finally kill the leader and take retribution for the death of his sister years ago. His undercover operation briefly had him in the orbit of Nadia while he worked for her sleazy father. While they weren't together long they certainly found time to get together and play some dirty games and Thorne left, unknowingly leaving Nadia pregnant with his child.
While there seemed to be a bit of everything but the kitchen sink thrown in here it all cooked out into a suspenseful and enjoyable read that I was able to happily immerse myself in.
My only quibble was that while this is billed as a 'stand alone' novel I really felt like I was missing some kind of previous story. I'm unsure if these characters and part of this plot was a side story in the previous book but that's how it read to me and I felt like I was constantly on the back foot trying to catch up a bit with stuff everyone else already knew.
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