Grim (Havoc of Sins 1) by JL Drake-review tour

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GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204591208-grim

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 5,2024

Many sins lay in the creases of my hands. Darkness and corruption are part of my life.
After hints from my brother that all is not right with the family business, I leave Mexico and return to Vegas. I have a responsibility to protect what’s ours, no matter the price or who gets in the way. Those who don’t fall in line will soon realize why I’m called The Vegas Reaper.

I demand order and obedience, so when I come head-to-head with our beautiful new hire, I’m faced with an unusual challenge, one that infuriates yet intrigues me.

When my hotel goes up in flames, my anger flares along with it. I pull on my cut and join The Devils Reach. The desert ride pays off, but there’s more at play here than I ever imagined, and I’m caught in a chess game of power from an unseen force. Deception, secrets, and chaos threaten my world. Could our new hire hold the key to it all?

Warning: This story is meant to be read in the reading order that can be found in my Amazon bio and website. There is a heavy crossover from my Devil’s Reach Trilogy through the Quiet Mafia Series, and my Dark Water Series, where Grim is first introduced.

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REVIEW:GRIM is the first instalment in JL Drake’s contemporary, adult HAVOC OF SIN dark, erotic romance series, a cross over with the author’s Devil’s Reach Trilogy, Quiet Mafia Series, and the Dark Water Series. This is Las Vegas businessman and Devil’s Reach MC member Grimson ‘Grim’ Gates, and hostess Kenna Tame-Lodge.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise including graphic violence there WILL BE triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from three first person perspectives (Grim, Kenna, Simon) GRIM follows in the wake of the return to Las Vegas of Grim ‘Grim’ Gates. As part of the billion dollar hotel and casino business, Grim Gates return to Las Vegas is quickly followed by betrayal and trouble, trouble in the form of our heroine, Kenna Lodge, a young, abrasive and determined hostess who knows how to seal the deal, and get things done but all is not well in the high stakes games that control the criminal underground of Las Vegas, death and destruction are about to wreak havoc in the lives of Kenna and Grim . What ensues is the building but acrimonious relationship between Kenna and Grim, and the fall-out as Kenna is targeted for the sins of someone else.

The world building is detailed and busy. There are several big name and big game players both entering and leaving Las Vegas, and in this, Kenna finds herself on the precipice of losing it all. Grim suspects betrayal by someone he knows, yet when the players begin to surface, all bets are off except protecting the woman with whom he is falling in love.

The relationship between Kenna and Grim is tempestuous at best/ Kenna is hard headed, reckless, defiant, stubborn and plays a somewhat risky game of cat and mouse but she has met her match in Grimson Gates. Grimson doesn’t do relationships, yet he wants something more from our story line heroine, a woman who is pushing all of his buttons and more. As Grim and Kenna’s relationship becomes more personal, someone else is watching from the sidelines waiting to destroy them all. Grim is dangerous and dark, bossy and demanding, and in this, his reputation precedes his introduction to everyone he meets. The $ex scenes are erotic and intense.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, familiar and questionable secondary and supporting characters, many of whom were introduced in the Devil’s Reach trilogy including Brick and Minnie; Trigger and Tess., Rail and Morgan. We are introduced to Grim’s brothers Knox, Leo, and their parents Laurel and Jim; Jim’s attorney Cameron Tame aka Kenna’s father, and her sister Calli; Manager Jayden Wallace; PI Simon Gable; chef Dale, and Grim’s right hand man Jesse. The requisite evil has many faces including the Mexican Cartel, Vegas Mafia, local gangs, and someone very close to our story line couple.

GRIM is a dark, gritty and complex story of betrayal and vengeance, secrets and lies, power and control, dysfunctional family dynamics. The premise is edgy, raw, detailed and haunting; the characters are animated and charismatic; the romance is spicy and lively. GRIM ends on a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

J.L. Drake is a bestselling author with multiple series published in several different countries. The Broken Trilogy is her best seller, and her next series, Quiet Mafia, has the same kind of homey feel sprinkled with some yummy darkness. 

She was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, later moving to southern California. Though she loves the weather in Cali, she would sell her left kidney for a good rainstorm. Jodi’s love of the seasons back home in Canada definitely put in an appearance in her books.

When she’s not writing, you can often find her sitting somewhere along the coast of Huntington Beach, reading, or at home curled up on a couch with her two children and husband, binge watching Marvel movies.

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