Synopsis
When Ellie Watt made the ultimate sacrifice for Camden McQueen, she never thought it would be easy. But walking away with her ex-lover, Javier Bernal, in order to ensure Camden’s safety has brought a whole new set of dangers. With Javier’s plans for Ellie growing more secretive by the moment, Ellie must find a way to stay ahead of the game before her past swallows her whole.
Meanwhile, Camden’s new life is short-lived. Fueled by revenge and pursued by authorities, he teams up with an unlikely partner in order to save Ellie. But as Camden toes the line between love and retribution, he realizes that in order to get back the woman he loves, he may have to lose himself in the process. He might just turn into the very man he’s hunting.
Told in dual POV from Camden and Ellie.
5 star review by Nicole Lorenzo
“She left me in a cloud of dust, a swirl of crushed cherry blossoms that crushed my heart.”
When we left off at the killer cliffhanger in Sins and
Needles, Ellie was ripped away from a screaming Camden and being driven away by
Javier. We have no idea of what Javier’s intentions are with Ellie at first,
but the well-dressed devil didn’t come all this way for her for nothing.
Sacrificing herself the way she did for Camden, Ellie truly believes she is
alone, and now she’s trapped in the dangerous hands of the man who tore out her
heart. When Ellie learns exactly what Javier plans to do with her, she is torn.
There is a part of Ellie that is trying to claw its way out and be free,
leaving behind the past for good. But that was her plan with Cam, and as Javier
likes to remind her, he is not coming for her. The other part of Ellie always
knew she deserved this life, would it be that bad to stay here and go down the
path that she was used to, the path she was always meant to take?
“Maybe I had to
accept that I really wasn’t good and I deserved someone as bad as me.”
Javier has grown darker and even more dangerous over the last
six years that Ellie has been away from him. Now that he has her in his hold
again, he doesn’t plan on letting her go, at least not without consequences. He
is consumed with revenge and redemption, and is not above using Ellie as a pawn
to get what he wants and make the people who have wronged him pay. He envisions
having Ellie by his side as he rules with a dangerous power that she wants no
part of, or does she?
“I don’t have a soul,” he said softly. “You make me feel like I do.”
Ellie lied to Camden, but she did it to give him his freedom
and a fresh start. The fact that she sacrificed herself and went with Javier
for his benefit makes him more determined than ever to go find her.
“Every bone in my
body ached to turn the GTO around, to go back for Ellie, to take her from
something she didn’t need to do, from a life she didn’t need to return to. From
a love that never was, that could never be what she needed.”
Cam turns to the only other person he knows he can trust to
help him find Ellie. Together they hatch a plan to go get the girl and they
start off on a dangerous journey that they have no idea what the outcome will
be.
“I was going to find
her, wherever she was, because I was hers. She had all of me, always had.”
Cam finds himself crossing lines he never thought he would
cross, but realizes he would do ANYTHING to make sure Ellie was safe and back
with him where she belongs. But what happens if she’s not lost after all, what
happens if he finds her and she is where she wants to be, then what?
“All I knew is what I
felt. And that the woman I loved, had always loved, had sacrificed herself for
me. There was no getting past that. She’d embedded herself in my skin, like a
tattoo I could never give myself.”
Ellie is broken; she has been let down and hurt her whole
life. Now with no one to trust or rely on she is about to choose a path she may
never come back from. What will happen when Ellie’s past and future suddenly
collide again? Good? Bad? Past? Future?
Javier?
Javier?
"...because the two of us together were as
much about deceit as we were about love. How could you ever have both of those
and still call it even?"
Camden?
"He made me feel safe, whether I was in his
arms or at his side or just in his presence. For the first time, I had a
protector- and I never knew I needed one until then."
So many choices………What
will Ellie choose?
I feel like I waited
for this book for years, but let me tell you it was worth the freaking wait!!!!
Karina Halle is amazing, one of a kind author; I have never been as obsessed
with characters in a story as I am here with this series. The complicated and
very frustrating relationships between Ellie, Camden, and Javier had me on the
edge of my seat throughout the whole book! I was almost afraid to finish it,
almost but of course I did!
Poor Ellie, with her tortured past and uncertain future, we
see vulnerability in her that we really haven’t seen before. And even though
there were times I wanted to slap and shake Ellie, I really felt the pain she
was going through.
Now all you team Javier fans out there will be very happy
with this book, because we get to see a lot of the yellowed eyed devil in this
book! Now I’m not giving anything away, but I will say that even me: a die
–hard I hate Javier, I will always be team Cam girl, felt a “slight” sway
during parts of this book! I said slight, but still it’s saying a lot! Javier is in a very dark place in this book,
he has clearly changed since we have last seen him.
Camden is determined to find Ellie and he turns into quite
the bad –ass in this book. He is hopelessly devoted to Ellie and even though at
times he thinks the worst of her, he still doesn’t give up on her. He gets put
through the ringer in this book, poor Cam. I am 100% team Camden and I have been since I
started this journey with Sins and Needles. There is just something about this
tattooed boy that tugs at my heart and I am dying to see him finally get the
girl! Of course we have to wait for Bold Tricks to come out in October to see
the outcome! This by far my favorite book this year, if you loved Sins and
Needles and On Every Street you will devour and love this book just as much as
I did!
“A love that starts
out under a lie is bound to kill you, and sometimes you lived to tell the
tale.”
Interview with Author Karina Halle
1.)
What gave
you the inspiration to write The Artists Trilogy?
To be honest, I saw
Samantha Young’s On Dublin Street. It had just come out and I remember her
talking about how personal the book was to her. Drawn in by her dark and
distinctive cover, I wanted to write a story that dealt with some issues that
were close to my heart, something I had always been too afraid to put out there.
So I took the issues that I had and put a spin on things. I turned out good
(well, depends who you ask) but what would happen if I went the other way, if I
was fueled by vengeance against the world. I imagined being a con artist seemed
fitting and Ellie was born. I loved the idea of writing the “bad girl” in a book
world full of “bad boys” but gave Ellie vulnerability and justification, at
least in her own twisted way. She’s a tough, tragic, fatally flawed character
and I love her.
2.)
When you started
out writing this series did you already know how it was going to end, or is it a
story that in a way told itself as you wrote it?
I went to school for screenwriting, so I’ve been taught to write from an outline. I plan everything before I start. That doesn’t mean scenes don’t pop up suddenly or the book changes course for a bit…that does happen, all the damn time! I do what my characters say. But I KNEW the last scene in Bold Tricks, at the end of the trilogy. I always knew what it would be and I worked out how to get from point A to point B.
3.)
Are you team Cam
or team Javier, did you stay on one team the whole time or sway back and forth a
bit? (Better say Team Cam!!!)
Look, I love both my crazy men. Both of them have had their hand in shaping Ellie’s life and both are important to her in different ways. But only one man is the right fit for her and – and here’s the kicker – she is right for only one of those men. It goes two ways. It’s about what man needs HER. So…Team Ellie!
4.)What was your
favorite scene to write in Shooting Scars?
Oh man! *rubs hands together* I loved writing this book! It was literally such a rush. Car chase scenes are fun to write (I listen to movie soundtracks while doing so and it’s a thrill ride), there’s a scene where Camden wields a tattoo needle in an unsavory manner (love!), but I think the scene that was the most…emotional to write
5. Do you have a
favorite "love" scene (in your books or any other book) or did you enjoy writing
the sexier scenes?
I love writing sex scenes. Camden’s dream sequence in Shooting Scars was wickedly fun. There’s a scene in the orange groves in Shooting Scars too that was explosive. But my favorite love scenes are actually in Bold Tricks…you’ll see!
6. What are you
working on next?
I’m currently writing The Devil’s Reprise, the long-awaited sequel to The Devil’s Metal. It’s sexier, scarier and still set in the rock n’ roll world of the 1970’s. Then it’s a romantic comedy called Lost in Wanderlust, based on as screenplay I wrote a long time ago, then it’s back to horror romance in Experiment in Terror book #8, Ashes to Ashes.
7.) What is your
favorite book that you wrote, favorite book by another author?
That’s tough. I would have to say Sins & Needles, again because it’s personal and means something to me. Then The Devil’s Metal and Lying Season. My favorite book by another author would probably be Jane Eyre. I’m always looking for my Mr. Rochester in the books I read.
About the author
The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out.
Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently splits her time between her apartment in downtown Vancouver and her sailboat, where a book and a bottle of wine are always at hand. She is hard at work on her next novel.
Author Links
Facebook
Blog
Goodreads
Book links
Sins and Needles ~ Amazon
Shooting Scars ~ Amazon
Blog
Goodreads
Book links
Sins and Needles ~ Amazon
Shooting Scars ~ Amazon
Giveaway ~ You must have a Net Galley account to enter
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