REVIEW – CHARGED by Jay Crownover

Posted June 1, 2016 by Emma in Blog / 6 Comments








Hello Everyone, Welcome to my very late post of the Charged Blog Tour hosted by InkslingerPR tours. Due to some personal issues I wasn’t able to make my date so they very kindly let me post it when I was ready, which is now. So before I share my review of it, here is a little bit more about the book and also an excerpt at the end…

Charged (Saints of Denver #2)
by Jay Crownover
Release Date – May 24th 2016
Publisher – William Morrow Paperbacks
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes the second installment in the Saints of Denver series featuring a bad girl and a by the book attorney who could be her salvation…or her ruin.

Avett Walker and Quaid Jackson’s worlds have no reason to collide. Ever. Quaid is a high powered criminal attorney as slick as he is handsome. Avett is a pink-haired troublemaker with a bad attitude and a history of picking the wrong men.

When Avett lands in a sea of hot water because of one terrible mistake, the only person who can get her out of it is the insanely sexy lawyer. The last thing on earth she wants to do is rely on the no-nonsense attorney who thinks of her as nothing more than a nuisance. He literally has her fate in his hands. Yet there is something about him that makes her want to convince him to loosen his tie and have a little fun…with her.

Quaid never takes on clients like the impulsive young woman with a Technicolor dye job. She could stand to learn a hard lesson or two, but something about her guileless hazel eyes intrigues him. Still, he’s determined to keep their relationship strictly business. But doing so is becoming more impossible with each day he spends with her.

As they work side-by-side, they’ll have to figure out a way to get along and keep their hands off each other—because the chemistry between them is beyond charged.

My Review

Jay Crownover has been my go-to NA read for ages and I was once again ecstatic to start reading the next venture into some serious hot tattooed bodied males. Built was an incredible start to the series and it never broke away from the Marked Men series. Saints of Denver is the baby of the Marked Men, still chasing the bad guys and girls who appreciate bold art and talent.

Charged is focused on Brite Walker’s daughter Avett. She has been a constant pain in the arse in all the books so if I’m honest I was slightly surprised that she had her own story. From a secondary character sideline Avett has been quite the troublesome and disappointment of many of the Marked brothers, from stealing at the bar to taking drugs and accepting the fact she’s being used and abused by someone she thinks she’s in love with. She’s rebellious, annoying and continuously looking for bad news. She is a disappointment, she is always trying screw up when she’s not even trying and is she really worth saving!? Trouble got to much for her, when she got caught in the firing line rendering her in a orange jumpsuit and behind bars. Hopefully her attorney will get her out and set her straight. 
Now Quaid Jackson, former soldier and now a workaholic of getting to the top to be a partner in a law firm. All his life he has taught himself to be the best in his profession, to be a certain way, to be emotionless in a way. His apartment is a reflection on just how minimalist and interpersonal he reveals about his life even with his own bosses. He has expectations from them and for himself and he can’t seem to shake the feeling that something is missing. Until a sassy, pink-haired girl stumbles upon as one of his clients and everything just flies out of the window – for her. What I loved about their relationship is that both of them have been unguided in their life until Avett and Quaid found each other. Whether Avett thinks this is the worst mistake to fall in love with him or the best and will it sacrifice and jeopardize Quaid’s rise to power and place as a partner in a law firm he has worked so hard for. Quaid has built himself from nothing and now he has something to show for himself but what will he choose and will Avett continue to rise to the top even when things get harder for her?!

What I loved more about this book was the secondary storyline especially with Brite Walker. Ever since Book 1 of the Marked Men series Brite has been their in context, behind the scenes of each of the books and of the men that were the starring role. But Brite is the King of the Marked, he’s the father they never had, the role model that believed in every single one of them. So when your faced with his very own daughter – I felt you saw the real Brite, right through him, down to the bare bones of him, how he really ticks, his life and the way these men have impacted not only his life but also Avett’s and his wife Darcy. 

I think that Avett’s story although has to be told it wasn’t really one of my favourites. If I’m going to be honest here I think that the secondary storyline and characters especially with Asa and Rome was the highlight of the book for me. And I loved the fact we had a glimpse of Church the brooding, quiet bouncer in Rome’s bar. I really, really hope he gets a story of his own soon! Please Jay, pretty PLEEEASE!

“Like recognized like. And while we had both been lost and floundering on our own, when we were together it felt like we were exactly where we were supposed to be.” 

Rating – 3.5/4 (undecided)

About Jay Crownover

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked MenThe Point, and the Saints of Denver series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she’ll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.

Read more for an excerpt….


Excerpt
Quaid
                I
tapped the edge of my thumb on the black-and-white mug shot photo and couldn’t
stop the grin from tugging at my mouth.
                She
tried to fire me.
                She
was five-foot-nothing, a lifetime younger than me, had multicolored hair that
had seen better days, wild eyes that couldn’t decide if they wanted to be
green, gold, or brown, while dressed in convict orange and obviously scared out
of her ever loving mind, yet she still tried to fire me. If it had been any of
my other clients—the cop accused of sexual battery, the frat boy accused of
manslaughter over a bet on a football game gone wrong, the middle school
teacher accused of pedophilia and having an inappropriate relationship with
several of her students, or the pro football player accused of domestic abuse—I
would have tipped my proverbial hat, wished them luck while I cut my losses,
and walked away without a backward glance. People always committed crimes.
People always needed a good defense, so it wasn’t like I was hurting for
clients, but there was something about the girl. Something about the defiant
tilt of her chin and the raw desperation in her tone when she begged me not to
call her father.
                “I don’t want your help. I don’t want
anything from you.
” She sounded like she meant it when she said it, but I
figured she was too young and too scared to know exactly what she wanted or
needed. Regardless, it was still refreshing to hear.
                Everyone
always wanted something from me and my help was usually the least of it.
                I
tapped the picture again, wondering why I found it so easy to believe that she
really hadn’t been a part of the boyfriend’s plan to rob the bar. She wasn’t
anyone’s idea of a model citizen and she had the shady track record to prove
it. She was too young, and frankly too adorable, to have a file this thick.
From what I could see, she had a set of parents always willing to ride to the
rescue when she got herself into trouble. She looked like some kind of colorful
woodland fairy from a Disney movie with her odd hair and delicate features.
None of it added up, but the sincerity in her tone when she said she would
never have gone with the boyfriend if she knew his intent and the fear in her eyes
when I mentioned her father seemed genuine.
                I
learned long ago to treat everyone like they were guilty of whatever it was I
was paid to defend them against. I didn’t want to know the truth. I didn’t want
to know the circumstances. I wanted my clients to listen to me and let me do my
job as I tried to convince the rest of the world they were innocent, regardless
if they were or not. But this girl with her faded, rose colored hair and
turbulent eyes oozed innocence through the cracks of a very guilty façade.

                Because
I was intrigued and actually believed the girl might be innocent, I wasn’t
going to let her fire me. I was going to call her father and hope that he would
help me keep her out of the slammer while I figured out how to plea bargain her
charges down or get them dismissed altogether. Again, because a cop was
involved in the robbery and because the boyfriend, junkie or not, was offering
up a pretty plausible explanation for Avett’s involvement in the crime, nothing
was a slam dunk, yet. I was going to help her whether she wanted me to or not. 

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6 responses to “REVIEW – CHARGED by Jay Crownover

  1. Can you believe that I've never tried this author? I really should, maybe not with this one since it wasn't your favorite but definitely one of her's. Great honest review!

  2. I haven't read any books by this author so probably I should get on that soon! Thanks for putting this author back on my radar, Emma! 🙂

  3. I've enjoyed Jay Crownover as well, but Avett doesn't sound like a girl I'd really like. Glad to hear you ended up liking the story even if it wasn't your favorite, Emma. Wonderful review! 🙂