I can't believe this is the last book in the story and journey of Javier Bernal! Make sure you check out the excerpt. This book is sure to blow your mind!
RELEASE DAY: Sept 15
Blurb:
Blood. Sex. Revenge.
Being king comes at a brutal price.
Drug lord Javier Bernal has sliced and diced his way to the top of the Mexican drug trade, presiding over the country's largest cartel. But his rise to power comes at a brutal price: the death of his sister, Alana. Devastated and wracked with guilt, he turns away from his new wife, Luisa, forcing their marriage into a steady decline. But it isn't until she's pushed into the waiting arms of Esteban Mendoza, his right-hand man, that Javier realizes everything he's lost.
And it isn't until he learns the truth about Alana, that he realizes everything there is to gain.
Blood will spill.
Cities will burn.
Heads will roll.
Because Javier will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.
And what he wants is raw, ruthless revenge.
Dirty Promises is the third and final book in the Dirty Angels Trilogy. While the other two books - Dirty Angels and Dirty Deeds - can be read as standalones, it is recommended you read at least Dirty Angels before reading Dirty Promises.
EXCERPT:
All my life, I thought I could operate under my own code of morals and ideals. It was no different than most, I supposed. The cop who has to shoot someone in self-defense. The soldiers that go to war and raid villages in the name of freedom. Everyone makes excuses for what they do, because they believe in it. Because they believe they are in the right.
I had always thought of myself as a somewhat civilized, almost classy, narco. I at least wanted to bring purpose and grace to what I did. I didn’t believe in killing mercilessly. I believed in mercy, in forgiveness, in giving people second chances. I believed in letting people go after I got what I wanted from them.
I believed that to snitch was an outrage, that even though we were dealing and fighting and killing to be in a billion dollar industry. I believed that religious celebrations were to be respected. I believed that family came first. I believed that women and children would not be harmed.
For a moment, I thought that perhaps I had lost my mind. Never mind the needless, senseless deaths that were already at my hands over the last few months. Never mind that I had broken promises to others, to myself. Dirty, filthy promises. It was then and only then that I knew I had lost who I was. That every moral fibre that I based myself on was threadbare and I was close, oh so close, to losing all sense of myself forever.
It scared me. I watched Luisa leave the room and though I was reeling from her own words, the callous ones that reached deep inside me and left a scar, I knew I might have damaged her beyond repair. I could heal myself in time, but could she? Would we?
I didn’t think so.
Review
★★★★★ stars
I'm not going to lie to you. This book was brutal. Karina Halle really out did her self. I don't know what it was but this book blew my mind in all sorts of ways both expected and unexpected.
I think the reason this book hit me harder than I thought it would is because I was so emotionally invested in Javier Bernal. While Dirty Angels and Dirty Promises focuses on him, I first met him in Karina Halle's The Artists Trilogy. There was something special about him even then. Thankfully the Artist series doesn't have to read before this book, but Dirty Angels does. But I digress. I wanted Javier to find some semblance of happiness with Luisa, as much as someone like him could find.
I've read all three books in this trilogy and I've got to say even having an idea about what might happen to Luisa and Javier still didn't prepare me for everything that went down. I was devouring this story at a furious pace when something happened that both horrified and sickened me. I had to put my kindle down. I stepped away from the book for about 20 minutes and then realized not knowing what was going to happen next hurt more, so I started reading again. There were a number of times when I felt like the story was going to overwhelm me. It wasn't just the violence and brutality that occurred in the pages, but also my feelings and those of the characters.
Surprisingly enough, I never reached my breaking point; the point where things were so horrific or painful I couldn't take any more, and there were some truly horrifying moments. Weaker characters couldn't have survived, but Javier and Luisa are anything but weak. They're imperfect people who make costly mistakes and lose sight of each other amid grief and strife. How ever their inner cores of strength and resolve do not waiver or weaken a bit. Luisa truly surprised me in this book. I don't think I could come close to handling a tenth of what she endured in this book alone, but she somehow managed to remain strong and not lose her will to fight. I can't tell you how much I admired her for that.
As Karina Halle says before the book even starts, this isn't really a love story, and she's right. It's what happens after the happy-ever-after when things don't go as planned. It's gritty, raw, and violent, but it's real. It's hard to look away from and impossible to forget. While this may not have been the semi sweet with a touch of violence story I was expecting, it was 100% true to Javier and Luisa, and a story befitting of them. It's the story I didn't know I wanted and I'm thankful to Karina for taking me out of my comfort zone. I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye to Javier. He's managed to carve a special place in my heart for himself.
I think the reason this book hit me harder than I thought it would is because I was so emotionally invested in Javier Bernal. While Dirty Angels and Dirty Promises focuses on him, I first met him in Karina Halle's The Artists Trilogy. There was something special about him even then. Thankfully the Artist series doesn't have to read before this book, but Dirty Angels does. But I digress. I wanted Javier to find some semblance of happiness with Luisa, as much as someone like him could find.
I've read all three books in this trilogy and I've got to say even having an idea about what might happen to Luisa and Javier still didn't prepare me for everything that went down. I was devouring this story at a furious pace when something happened that both horrified and sickened me. I had to put my kindle down. I stepped away from the book for about 20 minutes and then realized not knowing what was going to happen next hurt more, so I started reading again. There were a number of times when I felt like the story was going to overwhelm me. It wasn't just the violence and brutality that occurred in the pages, but also my feelings and those of the characters.
Surprisingly enough, I never reached my breaking point; the point where things were so horrific or painful I couldn't take any more, and there were some truly horrifying moments. Weaker characters couldn't have survived, but Javier and Luisa are anything but weak. They're imperfect people who make costly mistakes and lose sight of each other amid grief and strife. How ever their inner cores of strength and resolve do not waiver or weaken a bit. Luisa truly surprised me in this book. I don't think I could come close to handling a tenth of what she endured in this book alone, but she somehow managed to remain strong and not lose her will to fight. I can't tell you how much I admired her for that.
As Karina Halle says before the book even starts, this isn't really a love story, and she's right. It's what happens after the happy-ever-after when things don't go as planned. It's gritty, raw, and violent, but it's real. It's hard to look away from and impossible to forget. While this may not have been the semi sweet with a touch of violence story I was expecting, it was 100% true to Javier and Luisa, and a story befitting of them. It's the story I didn't know I wanted and I'm thankful to Karina for taking me out of my comfort zone. I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye to Javier. He's managed to carve a special place in my heart for himself.
Purchase Links
Other Books in the Series
Dirty Angels (#1) Currently free on Amazon! http://amzn.to/1QooOtH
Dirty Deeds (#2) Only $0.99 on Amazon! http://amzn.to/1KrWouu
Dirty Promises (#3) $2.99 on Amazon! http://amzn.to/1QNleKK
ABOUT KARINA HALLE
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky, Racing the Sun, The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.
Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle , on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.
LINKS:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetalBlonde
*Thank you to the publicist for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for them in any manner.*
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