Romance Readers Retreat: Review: Road to Ruin by Callie Hart & Jonny James

*****5 STARS*****

Now please forgive me, but when I discovered the co author was male cover model, Jonny James I had my doubts that this book would be of a standard I have come to expect from Callie Hart herself. Now I don't know how much input Jonny had in this, but let me tell you, I was so wrong to make any assumptions, because this book was amazing.

This is a brand new series with new characters, none of which have ever appeared before, as far as I'm aware. The book is also fairly short so I assume this series will be a similar set up to Callies Blood & Roses series that was made up of numerous shorter books. Which I have to say I am a huge fan of, providing all the books are available to read, otherwise it can be torture having to wait between books.

From the absolute beginning I was hooked and admit I have a secret crush on the antagonist, Alex Bastien just as much as the main hero, Tommy Kendrick.

For me though, Nikita was a complete surprise. I seriously didn't expect her to be so feisty and able to handle herself the way she did. She was simply a complete breath of fresh air and certainly no damsel in distress kind of girl.

Now I do think I'm fairly patient. I mean I'm not the type of reader to message an author and tell them how I can't wait a second longer for the next book, but in this instance it has taken a special kind of will power to not go all Liam Neeson from Taken and demand the next book(s) be written, or else, cause that would be strange...Right?

Reviewed by Louise Dale

Malicious Destruction of Property.

Two counts of breaking and entering.

Two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

Four counts of assault.

Three counts of illegal gambling.

Three years served in Orleans Parish Prison.

Tommy ‘Havoc’ Kendrick’s rap sheet reads like a recipe for disaster: one part mayhem to three parts chaos. There’s no arguing the matter; he’s a bad guy, or at least he used to be. For the past five years, Tommy’s been on the straight and narrow, keeping his head down and staying out of trouble. He left the French Quarter behind, along with the New Orleans crime syndicates and underground fights that used to pay his bills. Trading in the high-octane thrill of earning money with his fists to work in an auto mechanic’s was hard, and yet somehow, despite everything, he’s made it work.

Until now.

Tommy hadn’t planned on seeing his brother again. When David Kendrick turns up on his doorstep with a bag full of money and four broken ribs, Tommy finds himself heading back to the place he swore he’d never return. Back to the fights. Back to the drinking, the drugs, and the women.

Back to a life he thought he’d left behind for good.

Nikita Moreau has lived in New Orleans all her life. She learned to drive there, lost her virginity there, bought her first house there, and she’s damned if she isn’t going to die there, too. As a prison psychologist at one of the country’s most dangerous facilities, she runs the risk of dying in the state of Louisiana on a daily basis, and yet she wouldn’t give it up for the world. There’s nothing more satisfying than helping those everyone else has given up on. Nothing more rewarding than fixing something everyone said was broken.

The day she meets Tommy Kendrick, however, she learns a painful lesson: sometimes a person is too broken to be fixed. Sometimes a person is beyond reach and cannot be saved. The tall, dark and handsome, tattoo-covered devil is danger personified. She knows this. She knows he’s bad news. So then why can’t she stop thinking about him? Why can’t she stay away from him?

And, most importantly, why won’t she save herself?