~Release Blitz~ Bold Tricks by Karina Halle
The Faster They Live, the Harder They Fall . . .
Raised by con artists, Ellie Watt has a lot of crazy childhood memories-but none crazier than being scarred with acid by the demented crime boss Travis Raines. Now Ellie is a full-grown woman who lives for revenge, and Travis is a full-blown drug lord who kills for pleasure. The sadistic bastard has kidnapped her good friend Gus as well as her mother, whom he's been holding as prized possessions in his heavily guarded lair. And Ellie has only one chance in hell of getting them out alive-using two dangerous men who love her to death . . . One is Camden McQueen, a talented tattoo artist who's made a permanent mark on Ellie's heart. The other is Javier Bernal, her fiery ex-lover who's busted more than a few heads in his time. From the crime-ridden streets of Mexico City to the predatory jungles of Honduras, this unlikely trio forms an uneasy alliance in the deadliest game of all-a gun-blazing battle to the finish that will pit enemy against enemy and lover against lover. And Ellie must choose the right man to trust . . . or die.
"T" and I are in full agreement on the Artists Triology!! This is all about the evolution of Ellie. I will admit that there have been times that I have just wanted to climb into the books and strangle Ellie. Especially when it comes to her relationship with Javier. Book three is the book where Ellie's character is finally arriving at a crossroads. She can choose Javier and embrace that dark part of herself that has always been her coping mechanism... OR she can choose Camden and allow herself a chance to embrace a part of herself that has been buried and hidden... her desire to be good... an opportunity to change her life for the better. I love how we have the ultimate love triangle here of choosing dark over light. One choice will seal her fate to continue living the life she has always known but the other will change it. I loved Ellie's character in book three. She is finally waking up to the truth and lies that surround her. She is finally recognizing the difference between love and obsession. She has slowly evolved from the naïve and damaged young woman we met in book one to a strong and fearless Ellie who will stop at nothing for the men in her life she loves.
This series for me is also about choices and consequences of those choices. We see that come full circle in regards to all of these characters... including Ellie's mom.
This book is non stop action from start to finish! There were moments that surprised me, moments that brought me to tears and it ended in a way that left me completely satisfied. There isn't a whole lot of time for steamy moments in this book as they are on the run. But, the ones we got were pretty darn good. And, there were some very tender moments that I really enjoyed between Camden and Ellie. This author won me over completely with book one. She is such a talented writer when it comes to connecting us emotionally to her characters. Book one is still the BEST book in this series. But, I am a big fan of Camden so that isn't much of a surprise. It really wasn't until this final book in the series that I was able to make my peace with Ellie and some of her previous choices. There are very few series that I would ever read twice but this one has "read me again" written all over it... so, that says a lot for how satisfied I was with it as a whole. I will be putting more of Karina Halle on my to read list. I am a big fan!
Team Javier? Team Camden? Neither. I am Team Ellie all the way.
Action, terror, threats, survival and a path to self discovery is what Bold Tricks was for me. Gone were all innocents from before leaving nothing but a rude awakening. Picking up right where we left off in Book two Ellie sits between the two men that she has loved. Or loves? A crossroads the likes of which she has never crossed.
The lives of her family members hang in the balance. Can she survive it? Hell YES! Today October 15, 2013 is release day and you will get no spoilers from me. I will tell you that Bold Tricks had my heart in my throat, tears in my eyes, heart bursting with joy and then ripped me apart multiple times. It is what Karina Halle does best as a writer. She takes us on a ride and then makes us want to get on again even though we know it might make us sick. We just can’t stop.
Roof top chases, high speed getaways and shootouts follow a path of blood, lies and betrayal. Who’s team will win and whose team do you belong .Ultimately there is only one team that matters, Ellie. She has to learn to trust her own instincts. Find her own truth and realize her decisions have impacts she never thought possible. I highlighted so many quotes in Bold Tricks and after re-reading there is just no way I can give them to you. The reader needs to go in spoiler free. You must to get the full effect of the ride.
Put simply if you are a fan of The Artist Trilogy books you will get all your questions answered. You will be satisfied and sated in ways not expected. I know I was.
Strap yourselves in guys it’s gonna be a crazy ride!
The motel room was a lot nicer than the one we stayed at before. Sort of a Best Western, middle-ground quality of place. No roaches on the floors, no geckos on the wall. Shit mattresses, I discovered as I pounded my fist on the bed, but I didn’t care.
Camden had just put the final box on my bed, Violetta sprawled out on hers in a state of drug-induced euphoria, when I noticed Javier lingering at the doorway.
“I’m going to be meeting Dom in about twenty minutes,” Javier said to me. “Is that enough time for you to get ready?”
I frowned and he quickly added, “You know he’ll want you there, if this is going to get anywhere. I figured you might want to shower and look nice.”
He rapped his fingers along the doorframe, his mouth opening as if to say something else, then he turned and walked off.
Camden eyed me. “I’m going with you.”
“You might be kind of drunk, Camden,” I told him, though the determination in his voice warmed me like the finest cognac.
“I’ve never felt better,” he said, enunciating each word. His eyes, my god they were still such a clear fucking blue, even in the pallid light of the hotel room. They bore into me with such startling clarity, sending shivers down my back like trailing fingertips. He would be coming with me.
I wished he’d be coming in me. A vision of us in this hotel room, alone, him nailing me to the bed, the headboard banging, slammed into my head.
“Are you okay with that?” he asked.
I suppressed the thought, the flare of heat between my legs, and smiled quickly. “Yes, of course.”
Meanwhile Violetta’s head flopped to the side, her arm still bound to her stiffly in the sling, and started snoring lightly. I motioned to her. “Do you think it’s safe to leave her here?”
He watched her for a few moments, blinking a few times, before saying, “I think she needs to sleep it off.” He went and sat down on my bed. “I’ll be here when you get out.”
I grabbed my bag of clothes I had brought out of the car and brought it into the bathroom. I had a quick shower, trying to rub off all the grim – both real and imagined – with the flimsy hotel soap, then picked through my clothes. Everything that had been in my trunk was musty and wrinkled, some even dirty. I had a packet of unopened (and decidedly unsexy) Hanes underwear, a bra, another pair of jeans, a pair of gladiator sandals that I thought were dressy enough, a pair of Timberland hiking boots, a plain white tee shirt, a couple of wife-beaters, a coral-colored blouse, a plaid shirt, and a light blue tank dress that went to the ground. I wasn’t exactly known for my fashion sense and even with the cherry blossoms covering the scars on my leg, bringing me beauty that I didn’t have before, I didn’t see myself branching out anytime soon. Dressing up in my old clothes for Javier hadn’t exactly helped either.
I slipped on the tank dress, opting to go commando for the evening, and put on the sandals. I looked at myself in the mirror. Once again, I felt like a different person was staring back at me. This me, this Ellie, was tired and hardened. I rubbed the residue mascara away from under my eyes and applied a new coat. My skin was brown from the sun now and I didn’t need much else.
When I came out of the bathroom, Camden straightened up on the bed. I felt strangely shy in front of him, especially as his eyes trailed up and down the length of me.
“Do I look okay?” I asked him, feeling the need to say something. “I mean, if you can see me, that is.”
He bit his lip and stared, a multitude of emotions flashing through his eyes, too fast for me to pick up on each individual one. I thought I saw lust in there – maybe that’s what I wanted to see.
When he still didn’t say anything, I walked over to the dresser where I had my clutch purse left over from the other night at Travis’s and rifled through it for my lip stuff. His silence at my back was a heavy weight, laden with too many uncertainties between us. It was eating at me, burning through me, rendering me with a lead heart. There were so many things I had to focus on, to worry about, fucking impossible things, and yet I needed him to tell me I looked beautiful. I needed him to tell me I was something to him.
I heard him get off the bed and walk toward me, that heaviness, that warmth that he brought with his bones, teased at my back. He stopped, close enough to touch me, and I was about to turn around, perhaps to do something foolish, when he crouched down.
“How is my art?”
His hands found my leg, one of them lifting the hem of my dress, the other slowly moving over the cherry blossom tattoo. I sucked in my breath, holding completely still, trying to contain my nerves that were firing wildly as his fingers ran along the ridges of the ink. He touched me gently over every vine, leaf and petal, until I had to supress a shaky moan that that tried to escape from my lips.
“It feels fine,” I said softly when I found my voice.
“It looks beautiful,” he said.
“I had a beautiful artist,” I told him. I turned at the waist and look down at him, my blue dress glowing in his tanned hand, his other one placed firmly around my calf, his strong fingers imparting heat that sunk deep. He was looking up at me, lips parted slightly.
I couldn’t take a second more of this.
I turned and dropped to the ground, my knees rubbing against his.
I grabbed his face, his rough stubble pressing into my palms, and kissed him.
Hard.
There was surprise for a second, a hesitation, a pulse that refused to beat on. Then Camden kissed me back, his soft lips enveloping mine, his mouth opening to give me life. He put his hand behind my head, holding it there with power and control.
My heart was an elevator car, the cable suddenly snapped, and I was freefalling and falling and falling as his lips and tongue and hot, wet mouth took away every inch of my resolve. The more he kissed me, the deeper and longer we found each other, the thirstier I got for him. I felt like if we stopped, I would die, empty on the inside and forever longing.
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and the USA Today Bestselling author of Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, and other wild and romantic reads. She lives in a 1920s farmhouse on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
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