Review: Hard Rules (Dirty Money #1) by Lisa Renee Jones

Hard Rules by Lisa Renee Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lisa Renee Jones just put the smack down with this one! Okay, folks ... let me take a moment and just breathe ...

So, this ticks off so many boxes for me:

1. Sexy Male Lead
2. Feisty & Smart Female Lead
3. Angst. Seems simple but I need that push & pull between the characters.
4. Low Down Dirty Bad Guys
5. Characters skating the razor's edge between good and bad
6. A fully developed story

You know how you read some stories and they are just predictable and a bit humdrum? As the reader, you're just reading to get it over with? Well, this isn't the case in this nice little tale (I say little but there isn't anything little about this) and I can see this particular series picking up a real following.

To me, a good male lead can make or break a story and the same goes for the female lead. Here in Dirty Money #1 not only is the reader introduced to strong leads but equally as strong secondary characters. Shane Brandon is the sexy, smoldering (yep SMOLDERING) and dominated male lead who commands the reader to pay attention. The second son of the Brandon empire is home to save the family business from his corrupted family members. But among them, who can he really trust?

The feisty lead, Emily is on the run. Who is she running from or what caused her to give up her former life? We never really find out but the author delivers snippets of her past throughout the story that will have the reader glued to the pages to find out what her deal really is. What's important here is how well her character works with her male counterpart. So often some characters are lacking while the other is fully developed. Well, this isn't the case here and the interactions between these two is just compelling. The tension between all the characters is just so palpable and delicious.

This read was smoky and sexy with plenty of blurred lines. The author placed such great elements in this one that makes it such a worthwhile read.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


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