review || THE NEXT SIN { blog tour }

The Next Sin by Georgia Cates
 
Publisher: Georgia Cates Books (2/9/2015)
Series: The Sin Trilogy, book 2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: InkSlinger/NetGalley
Purchase links || amazon | ibooks || add to goodreads
 
Rating: ★★★★★
  

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An epic tale of revenge and love in a new romantic trilogy from the New York Times best-selling author of The Beauty Series.

Bleu MacAllister is in hiding less than three months when Sinclair Breckenridge discovers her whereabouts. Her former lover, the future leader of a criminal organization known as The Fellowship, resists the tug of his heart heartstrings in her direction. Instead, he opts to watch over his beloved from afar. And she has no idea. But Sin's sacrifice is short-lived. His bonny lass is a hunted traitor. He fears Abram's assassins are closing in, leaving him with one solution for saving Bleu--make her his wife. Marriage seems an easy fix for their dilemma but wedded bliss is brief when the couple finds trouble lying in wait beyond the realm of the brotherhood. Will the original revenge seeker find herself the object of collateral damage?

about Georgia || Georgia resides in rural Mississippi with her wonderful husband, Jeff, and their two beautiful daughters. She spent fourteen years as a labor and delivery nurse before she decided to pursue her dream of becoming an author and hasn’t looked back yet.

When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing. When she’s being domestic, she’s listening to her iPod and visualizing scenes for her current work in progress. Every story coming from her always has a song to inspire it.

Representation: All questions regarding subsidiary rights for any of my books, inquiries regarding foreign translation and film rights should be directed to Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich.

connect with Georgia || facebook | twitter | website | newsletter | amazon author page | goodreads

 

{ excerpt } .

Bleu’s POV

I touch the screen. I stroke my finger down his face but it feels nothing like the real thing. I close my eyes so I can imagine the way his scruff felt against my skin.

He rarely grew what I would call a beard. He always kept his facial hair short and scruffy. And I loved it, especially when he would drag his face down the center of my body just to hear me squeal. But the best was when he’d push the crotch of my panties aside and rub his chin up and down between my legs.

“Holy shit, Bleu. That’s him, isn’t it?” I jerk when I hear Ellison’s voice over my shoulder. “That’s the man you were with in Scotland.”

I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I’ve allowed her to sneak up and catch me looking at this photograph. I was preoccupied. That’s my only excuse.

Ellison has interrogated me nonstop about my relationship with Sin. I’ve been vague. She’s on a need-to-know-only basis. That means I haven’t told her shit. But I want to. I need someone to tell me this excruciating pain in my heart is going to ease.

“Yes.”That’s my Breck. My admission feels like a ton of bricks lifted from my shoulders.

“Damn. That is one hottie Scottie.”

“I know.” I sigh as I prop my chin in my hand. I look at the handsome face of the only man in this world besides my father who has been willing to take me the way I am.

Two men. Both know the darkness I carry inside. But they love me anyway.

I’ve lost one. I’m losing the other. And it’s killing me.

“My God, Bleu. Look at the way he’s holding you … like you’re his everything. I don’t know how you walked away from him.”

You’d be surprised by the things you can do when you’re staring death in the face.

“My job was over.”

“You haven’t told me anything about it. Or him. Was it good?”

I recall the words he used to describe what being together was like for him. “The best ever.”

“You don’t think you’ll see him again?”

“No.”I won’t if I want to continue to live.
 

{ series } .

A Necessary Sin, book 1 (review) || amazon | itunes || add to goodreads
 

...and don't forget the add the conclusion to the

series to your Goodreads lists!

One Last Sin – Release Date – March 23, 2015

{ review } .
 

There are a few series that I eagerly await the next installment, and this series has been one of them. A NECESSARY SIN left off at a bit of a cliff hanger and while I typically dislike those books, I didn't mind it so much in this case. I'm not a big fan of the whole 'episode books' (Cristin Harber's ONLY series is the exception), but because of the length of these Sin books, you can't call them episodes. It's simply one huge novel split into a trilogy. And by huge, I mean 300k words or so.

 

THE NEXT SIN picks up right where we left off...

 

...well, three months later, but you don't miss a beat. When we last saw Sin and Bleu, she'd handcuffed him naked to his bed, after he held a gun to her, and left him. When he said he'd find her, that he'd always find her (not in that creepy tone, but rather loving), she sadly informed him she was a chameleon, that he'd never be able to find her.

 

Well, eat your words, Stella Bleu, because he found you. And not only did he find you, he found you weeks before he let you know. Oh! And not only that? He's kept your magazines and clothes in their appropriate drawers at his flat, months later.

 

Sin and Bleu start this book the same way -- a little bit hardheaded but a whole lot brokenhearted. They love one another and need to find a way to make it work...

 

...especially seeing as Sin's uncle is out to get Bleu.

 

While their marriage can be seen as one of convenience, if you truly know these two, you know they're truly marrying for all the right reasons. When Bleu wants to keep it from her family (for legitimate reasons, of course), Sin pretends it's ok, but eventually lets his hurt show:

"You're going to be my wife in two days and I'm fucking thrilled about it. Forgive me if I want someone besides us to know."

I'm still as in love with Sin and Bleu, and their relationship with one another, as I was when they were first learning the ins and outs of the other. Now they both know one another intimately (figuratively and literally): what he or she likes, what he or she is thinking, what he or she needs... They complete the other completely.

They each know the other's strengths, weaknesses, hopes, and fears. Not only that, they want to help the other accomplish their wants, in some way or another.

"...I'm going to do everything within my power to give you babies." -- Sin

I love how normal their relationship is, even though he's the next to lead The Fellowship. Putting the Scottish 'mafia' aside, their relationship is just like any other, from simple things like 'dates' for coffee and pastry, to teasing one another while brushing teeth. And then there's head-honcho Sin, who has killed and tortured for The Fellowship, teasing Bleu about conversing with his parents with "her" on his breath and tongue. Crude, as Bleu says? Yes. But so lighthearted and fun. Likewise, Bleu learns her roll in The Fellowship and executes it well, as if she's been watching female leaders her while life.

I just love the way Sin loves Bleu... even in the end, the retched emotion that pours out of him... Gah, is ONE LAST SIN out yet?!

In the end...

Do you need to read A NECESSARY SIN?

...I hemmed and hawed over this, and I think the appropriate answer is "Yes." Without A NECESSARY SIN, you miss the betrayal turned love story, the initiation, the handcuffs that are so fondly mentioned at the beginning of THE NEXT SIN... While there's enough information to get you through, you can't truly appreciate THE NEXT SIN without it's predecessor. THE NEXT SIN is the chunk of time between books one and three, and I feel that while it may be viewed as a 'filler', it's a very well done filler.

 

{ giveaway } .

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