TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains mature subject matter pertaining to child abduction, alcoholism, and other abuse. !8+ Reader discretion advised.
Never has a TW been so appropriate, or a title been so apt. The author wants people to know this isn’t an easy ride before they dive into this book.
Tainted Love is an uncomfortable, but compelling read. Face it, a lot of people would see couples like Vixen and Whiskey in WalMart and judge them just for their tattoos, their crude language and tough demeanour. But dig a bit deeper, and you find a couple utterly devoted to each other and their adopted children. At first, it’s easy to dismiss Whiskey (Pax) as a thug, but he’s been through stuff no one would want their children to experience. Vixen is the rich girl who seems to have it all, but with an abusive mother and an absent father, she sees Whiskey as her soulmate. Whilst he is terrified of hurting her, she is determined their unique love will save both of them. She’s a tough cookie who takes no shit, whilst he is an anti-hero in the truest sense.
I read the trilogy because I don’t think you can really not after the first book. This is about survival, mental health, facing your fears and how to deal with being demonised by a media obsessed with lurid details and finding scapegoats. It’s a well-written, unusual love story which blossomed from a terrible place and now has to fight to survive.
Vixen isn’t a saint. She isn’t there to “save” Whiskey from himself. They save each other. She gives as good as she gets, and as the story progresses you can see their bond growing, lurching from crisis to crisis and coming back stronger.
The surrounding characters are brilliant, from the abusive mum who finds redemption, if not total forgiveness, and the slippery lawyer who is a diamond when it counts. And there are Ken, Verna and Cliff, Whiskey’s only comfort when they were all abducted, who have their own story in a coming prequel.
In short, I loved this book. It was so fresh, putting a unique and uncompromising spin on the romance genre. Even though there was some tragedy, the ending was all I hoped it would be. Whiskey and Vixen are true survivors.