Better When He's Bad by Jay Crownover

BETTER WHEN HE'S BAD 

Author: Jay Crownover

Book Blurb: 

There’s a difference between a bad boy and a boy who’s bad . . . meet Shane Baxter.

Sexy, dark, and dangerous, Bax isn’t just from the wrong side of the tracks, he is the wrong side of the tracks. A criminal, a thug, and a brawler, he’s the master of bad choices, until one such choice landed him in prison for five years. Now Bax is out and looking for answers, and he doesn’t care what he has to do or who he has to hurt to get them. But there’s a new player in the game, and she’s much too innocent, much too soft…and standing directly in his way.

Dovie Pryce knows all about living a hard life and the tough choices that come with it. She’s always tried to be good, tried to help others, and tried not to let the darkness pull her down. But the streets are fighting back, things have gone from bad to worse, and the only person who can help her is the scariest, sexiest, most complicated ex-con The Point has ever produced.

Bax terrifies her, but it doesn’t take Dovie long to realize that some boys are just better when they’re bad.

Welcome to 2018, ya’ll! And Also, my second post. I know it’s delayed, but hey, the holidays happened and… You get where I’m going with this.

Anyway, this post is about Jay Crownover’s “Better When He’s Bad” I’ll admit that I listened to this book on Audible. I had no other time to “read” other than in the car on a drive to my next destination. I had to get my stories in somehow! ;)

Back to why we’re here before I blab on some more. The blurb and the introduction to the book had me excited to read something bad and dirty and it would be so much of those (badness and dirt) that my heart would pound and cringe at the thought of the hero doing something “bad.”

That was not what I got. I got a bunch of “he’s bad. He has a reputation. He did this. He would do that…” All talk and no action. I was more like, “eh! I’ve seen worse” And I have read some really, really bad guys before. Think Anna Zaire’s Twist Me, bad. Which, by the way, I recommend if you can handle some torment and heart break and some very messed up characters… but I digress!

Other than the lack of “badness” in my humble opinion, I started off loving the book. It was just the right amount of action and storytelling. I was not at any point irritated by the heroine. The hero had the confidence and charisma to make any girl do an actual swoon. The book has a flow that I liked. Then it started to drag… The author might have gone on a bit too long in trying to get (a key character) back from wherever he might’ve fell off the face of the earth. But Once we were out of that, it was back to action from there. And I do love me some action!

The writing overall, was a win for me. The narration, since it was an audiobook, was not too bad, either. The dual perspective worked and I highly enjoyed it. The author tied in everyone’s upcoming story pretty well too. I might just have to tune in to the rest of the series for the other characters’ stories.

I’m glad I got a happy ever after for this couple. Considering their background, not everyone got a HEA. The story seemed true. The characters didn’t miraculously become good and give up the “life” and angels sang in the heavens, no, there’s still some dirt in there. For how dirty, you’ll have to check it out. ;)

-       - Raquel 

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