Sins & Needles

[b:Sins & Needles 16029994 Sins & Needles (The Artists Trilogy, #1) Karina Halle https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347859611l/16029994.SX50.jpg 21799599]Edge of Your Seat Brilliant.I always start a review of a book with 5 stars, and then knock off stars for justified moans or irritations. With this book I would give it more stars if that was a thing because I had no complaints. I picked this up because Scribed suggested I try this author and I have to tell you I am so glad. The story is told from Ellie's Point of view, she is the daughter of a grifting team, basically they are a family of con artists and she is their protege. The story flicks nicely between then and now. Then, tells the story of ‘the girl', this is how Ellie thinks of herself in childhood, it seems she has some PTSD regarding events that happened and needs to distance herself from her past. Ellie is still conning people, but it's obvious she's weary of it and finds everyday punishment in her guilt. Ellie is shrewd, manipulative, intuitive and intelligent and through the stories of her past you being to understand her unbearable selfishness, it's survival pure and simple. Ellie became heavily involved with a major player in a Mexican drug cartel and developed a love for this kindred spirit, however she found out that he betrayed her so she left him, taking a lot of his money and his car. Javier is now after Ellie; he is not a man to cross and he will stop at nothing to get her back........Ellie is returning to her hometown older and wiser; she can go back to her original identity as it's the only one of her fake aliases that is clean. On arrival she runs into a boy that she was best friends with in school, he was the weirdo, the one who dressed and wore make-up and black clothes like a goth. Cameron was always good to Ellie but she turned on him to ingratiate herself with the popular kids back in school and still feels terrible for what she did. Cameron has grown up, he is now a big, bad talented tattoo artist with a thriving business. Ellie's nature can't resist making him her next target although she is fighting an irresistible attraction and a genuine caring for him. Cameron has lived, he also has responsibilities and also has a reason to run.............This is an absolute roller-coaster ride of a story, it will be part of a series and whilst leaving you on an absolute cliff edge it does conclude a chunk of Ellie's life whilst introducing you to these fascinating characters......it cost less than a cup of coffee for this fast paced entertainment. Brilliant!!!!

I have mixed feelings about this book but more of the feelings are definitely positive. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the trilogy soon, probably after I read a few different books after this one. And what's up with the cliffhanger at the end? Ah, it infuriated me so.

To begin with, the writing style of this book is not my favorite but it's not that bad either. It's mediocre for me. After reading two books before this that I absolutely loved, this one fell a bit short. The writing was mediocre because it was a bit choppy for me at some parts. I found there were moments when I had to reread sentences or sections over again because I felt like I read them wrong the first time. It just didn't flow naturally for me, the writing. Although this didn't happen too often, it did take away a little from the book in my opinion.

Also, I would have liked there to be a bit more feeling and emotion in the writing but it seems the author gave just enough, the bare minimum. Being a highly emotional person myself, I thrive on raw emotion in my books and this one didn't have nearly enough. Also, even though the book was written from the perspective of Ellie Watt, I felt like I didn't get quite as deep of a look into her mind as I wanted to. A deeper connection between the heroine and the reader was missing for me. And for this reason I wasn't as on the edge of my seat as I could have been.

In addition, the smut was good but it wasn't great. I liked that it didn't overwhelm the book in any way but the writing itself in these parts could have been a bit classier and done a little more tastefully. I guess it was a little too straightforward for me. I like when there's a bigger array of different words used in a scene like that. It seemed a little redundant to me and the different sex scenes kind of blended together in my mind.

With that being said, there were also things that I loved about this book, hence why I gave it 4 stars and not 3. For example, the plot was fantastic. I thought it was very wisely done and there were a lot of surprises in this book or moments that made me go “What the actual fuck?”. Aside from all the negative stuff that I mentioned before, the plot definitely redeemed the book for me and for this reason I kept reading. Also, at first I didn't like how we kept going back between present day and the past, through Ellie's eyes but I got used to it and then I actually began to like it. It was just something different that I haven't seen in many books before, even though I haven't read nearly that many books whatsoever.

Yes, the cover was pretty too but it still didn't do the story line justice. I think the going back and forth between her past and present made the most significance when we started to see the relationship develop between Ellie and Camden (present day) and before that it wasn't necessary, although it was interesting to see how she was forced into this life as a con-artist and couldn't stop being one even when she tried. Although, it was weird that when we read about her in the past, she was referred to as “her” and not by name. I understand the significance of her being different back than and still morphing into the person that she was today but I didn't think that was necessary. It actually made it a little impersonal to me at those parts, for that reason and I felt detached from her.

Finally, I love the dark/complicated, “bad guy” characters and for this reason I love Camden. He was just the right amount of dark and light to me that I found him to be realistic and not two-dimensional. I loved how him and Ellie had history already because I haven't read too many books with some background already between the characters in the beginning of the book. And the development of their present day relationship was going at just the perfect pace, not making them fall madly in love with each other right off the bat. I love that both of them are bitter and resentful towards each other in the beginning but then gradually the love outweighs all the negative feelings they harbor towards each other and it makes for a beautiful yet messed-up relationship. Those are the best.

All in all, this book is for anyone who wants a good story to read- full of excitement, romance and a bit of smut. I think teenagers would enjoy this book and people older as well. It was good although it did miss the “wow” factor for me by a bit.

2.5 Stars

I really wanted MORE from this book. At 26 years old I was shocked at how immature and shallow Ellie was.

And now, well, now he wasn't a freak.