Ruthless (Lawless, #1) by Lexi Blake

Vengeance is all the Lawless siblings have carried with them for twenty years. Having lost their parents to murder and being forced to grow-up apart. It’s time to put their plan for justice into motion. Unfortunately one of those guilty parties has died, leaving his daughter at the helm of his company. If they can’t get to Phillip Stratton himself, Ellie Stratton will have to do. Enter Riley Lang (Lawless) the goto charmer of the Lawless clan. He works his way into becoming the company lawyer for StratCast, and then he charms his way into Ellie’s bed. What Riley never planned on was falling for the enemy’s daughter and when all the lies and deceits are brought out into the open, will Riley lose the one thing he has finally found that is more important than vengeance…

I ADORE this author. Miz Blake can simply do NO wrong in my eyes. The Master & Mercenaries series is one of my all time favorite series. When I heard that she was starting a new series loosely connected to the M&M world, well let’s just say this little chicky was doing the Carlton dance all over my apartment.

Now to be honest the setup for this book isn’t one of my favorite scenarios. I’m not real fond of the whole “hero deceiving and seducing the heroine as a means to an end” Mostly because I spend the whole time with a knot in my stomach waiting for the other shoe to drop. That said. I KNOW that this author is going to give a grovel to remember. Her heroes can be assholes and screw up MAJORLY, but they don’t hold back the begging for forgiveness. This book had one of the BEST grovels I’ve come across in a LONG time. Basically half the book is spent with Riley making up for his colossal fuckup. Don’t even get me started how awesome Ellie is. She isn’t this doormat that just falls at Riley’s feet after a token “I’m sorry – I love you” he has to work at it, and work hard.

On top of all the aforementioned awesomeness, we have a fabulously layered suspense plot with fantastically developed secondary characters. Each and every one right down to the baddies are intricately layered and well developed. I can’t WAIT to read Bran and Drew’s books. I’ll admit I wasn’t really sold on Drew for a good portion of the book, but man did he grow on me. He is going to fall, and fall HARD. Of course one cannot forget the sexy times, they were both plentiful and smokin hot, but didn’t overshadow the plot.

Overall this was another FANTASTIC read the likes of which I have come to expect from this author. Two HUGE thumbs up from yours truly…