Menace cover art

Menace

Scarlet Scars, Book 1

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Menace

By: J. M. Darhower
Narrated by: Kasha Kensington, Iggy Toma
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About this listen

Once upon a time, there was a guy who got so fed up with life that he resorted to murder and mayhem just to feel alive.

Lorenzo Gambini is bored. So f--king bored. Most people either annoy him or avoid him, afraid to face him. Figuratively. Literally. With his face partially disfigured, scarred, he looks every bit the monster the stories make him out to be: the notorious Scar. They say he's a sociopath. Maybe he's a psychopath. Whatever path he's on, people tend to stay far away from it.

Until one day, a young woman bumps right into him - a woman just as fed up with life, but for much different reasons. With a scarlet letter inked on her wrist and secrets buried deep in her soul, Morgan Myers is running from something...or maybe somebody. Lorenzo isn't quite sure. You can bet your ass he's going to figure it out, though.

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Jessica Mae Darhower (P)2017 Tantor Crime Thrillers Romance Romantic Suspense Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime Thriller Exciting Funny Witty

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All stars
Most relevant
ahh, my feelings. this book really tugged on them. can't wait to listen to the next one

surprised me how much i loved it

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I was bored and out of credits so I thought I'd give this a try, and it did not disappoint. I was hooked after a few minutes. Both characters are intriguing but, Lorenzo was the character I needed to know more about. Realistically, it would be terrifying to meet someone like Lorenzo but, the author (and narrator) gave him a charismatic persona which is difficult to ignore and hard to dislike. Even when I really shouldn't have, I found myself laughing out loud at some of the things he did/said. As the story unfolded I accepted his cold detached view of the world, and found myself rooting for him to do what he does best to help Morgan.

Loved Lorenzo

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To begin anyone considering reading/listening to this should read the author’s note as this could be very triggering for some. It’s a dark mafia romance, but where many of these type of romances don’t really have true bad guys, this one most certainly does.

This has great main characters, and where I find I’m often irritated by the female lead particularly I wasn’t here. For a start there is no real miscommunications or the usual vehicles for creating drama. The drama here is around the suspense, the violence and the darkness that surrounds their world. It’s really well written and has depth.

Morgan (Scarlet) is such a strong female character. As we learn she has been through and is going through a truly horrendous experience and yet not only can she still put one foot in front of the other she still has hope.

Lorenzo is the anti hero. Where sometimes such MMCs aren’t really that bad, or there is just hints of violence and demons, Lorenzo is everything you would expect. He is violent, cruel, bad tempered and a killer. His appearance isn’t just a facade, however he is by no means one dimensional. He’s extremely funny, with actual laugh out loud moments. He despises people in general, they annoy him to the point of killing them, literally, at times. And please make sure you know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek if you want to remain in one piece. Yet he isn’t all bad. He does have a moral compass of sorts, he has rules that he follows and he does form relationships with some people, and where he does they tend to be strong and unbreakable. The question is though is he a bad person who does some good things, or is he a good person who does some bad things?

They first meet when Morgan pickpockets Lorenzo’s wallet. For some reason he doesn’t just kill her on the spot and the relationship starts from there.

There is much more to this though than a romance. There is suspense and an ongoing mystery which we do manage to untangle in the main by the end of this book. However there isn’t a resolution, and there is a cliffhanger so be prepared to move onto the second book if you want any sort of resolution.

The villains in this book are truly horrendous. Some not quite as bad as others but one is the most horrendous character you would come across in a book. Absolutely zero redeeming qualities. As stated above trigger warnings.

The narration is superb. The female narrator does a great job of Morgan as she isn’t soft or whiny, she also does a great job of the male character, the various accents and the little people who also appear. The male narrator is also fabulous. Plays Lorenzo with the appropriate detachment one might expect from such a character, without being in anyway monotone, and also is great when Lorenzo is going through the myriad of emotions he displays. He’s also great at the humour,

This was included in Audible plus but would have been worth a credit.



Dark and intriguing

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Fantastic characters in this book, dark but with elements of humour. Well paced keeping you intrigued and wanting to know more. Recommend

Dark and gripping

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I loved everything about this series from the narrators to the characters’ inner monologues.
I couldn’t stop

A Must Read

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