Ever since finishing Blame It On The Pain, I've been dying to figure out Ricardo and Lou Lou's story because you can tell from BIOTP they definitely have one, their connection was already felt from the other book.
Ashley Jade has woven an strongly dark and absolutely engaging story about two people who are, in the eyes of everyone around them, not meant to be together but despite these, two people who the Fates have intertwined despite all the odds.
Ricardo DeLuca knows that if you have a weakness, it/they can be used against you, from reading BIOTP, you see that he does develop two and they keep his heart humane, despite his upbringing.
Lou Lou on the other hand never had a loving embrace to fall back on, her life has been tragic since childhood (you'll see what I mean..) and though she meets her "savior", it doesn't stay idyllic for long.
When two broken souls collide, you can expect two things to happen; either they tear each other apart until one becomes the victor or they fill each others holes and fill in the cracks that mar their being. For these two though, it was both.
They were each others salvation as much as they were the others destruction.
To Ricardo, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, he would not do for Lou Lou. It might break him, it might literally erase who he is as a person but if it needed to be done for her, he will make it happen.
Lou Lou goes through so much in the hands of the DeLucas. She is such a strong heroine and it's heartbreaking witnessing her life as she lives it. Nothing of her life was easy, nothing good, and nothing hopeful. From the get go, it was always about making everyone around her happy.
At least, that's how it was until Ricardo.
Except, when money, greed, power, and corruption holds your fate and the fate of your only loved one within their control, how can one overcome this, protect all they care for and still, survive intact?
Can they even survive intact?
This story is heartbreaking, its gory and descriptive in so many ways. It will twist your heart until you bleed out, hang it to dry until it starts cracking and peeling, leaving you to wonder if it can be salvaged.
I LOVED the Blame it on the Shame series. Every page is an adventure, an experience. You will get to feel every emotion under the sun as you experience every event with these people.
It is dark and disturbing but it contains bursts of hope in between the cracks, and that's what'll keep you going.
If you love stories that will make you feel everything, that will keep your emotions high, if you enjoy stories that will keep you enthralled, then this series is most definitely for you.