It's been a week and I'm still finding it hard to review this because I feel like no review of mine can express how much I LOVED this duet especially the characters. I'm ridiculously obsessed with it. Every once in a while, there are these characters that just stick with you so much. They are so good that they become your standards on what you want in a character. Lorenzo and Morgan are that way to me and are now my favorite hero and heroine. This is also one of those rare books where I absolute loved both the hero and heroine equally. It's very rare for an author to nail both and she successfully did it here. Both Lorenzo and Morgan were written so wonderfully and they both felt so human. They are perfectly flawed. What I love most though is that even though they reacted and adapted to situations, both characters still consistently stayed true to themselves. They are great alone and together. The characters complimented each other so much so that I felt that it wouldn't have worked this well if they were paired with a different character.
It goes without saying that Lorenzo is batsh-t crazy. But boy will you fall in love with this crazy man. He's just too awesome for words. If you're not sold on him yet with Menace, then he will seal the deal with Grievous. He will make you laugh and swoon so hard in this book. You can't count on him to make grand declarations of his feelings but his actions speak volumes. And the length he goes for Morgan will have you smiling from ear to ear. And he does all of these with so much style and humor. Let's also not forget that this dirty talkin' man is no slouch in bed. He'd have you hot and bothered in no time. Don't get me wrong... He didn't just go soft or anything like that. This crazy man child is still as impulsive, immature, and petty as ever. He will still have a fit and probably kill you if you speak ill of his precious Star Wars or if you ruin his puzzles. One of my favorite things about him though and is something we don't quite see in heroes is how he just lets Morgan do her thing. It's so refreshing to see a hero not dominate and dictate what the heroine should do every step of the way. He acknowledges and admires her strength. He supports her but doesn't feel the need to bend her to his will. He wants Morgan to put herself first and see where he fits in her life rather than see where she fits in his life.
Morgan Myers is one strong, badass heroine. She's definitely the best heroine I've read ever (or at least in a long, long while). She's so friggin' resilient. She's not 'strong' in the physical sense where she fights like an assassin or whatever but she is beyond strong in character. Especially for someone as young as she is. She went through more horrors and degradation than any human deserves to experience in the 21 years of her life and yet she never lost hope and the will to live. She endures because she's fighting for the people that she loves. Despite all these, she did not become some humorless and emotionless shell of a person either. She's too strong and full of life for that. She still knows how to have fun and sass her way out of things. If she was just a weak, passive broken woman, she wouldn't have captured the attention of Lorenzo at all. I'll go as far as say that the things coming out of her mouth are just as funny as Lorenzo's. Well, almost. But what I love most about her is that she did not need a man to complete her life. She acknowledges her feelings and knows that she wants this man she fell in love with but she doesn't need him in order to live because the most important thing to her will always be her little sunshine.
Like with the previous book, the little girl's chapter were still heartbreaking to read. It's depressing to see Kassian try to break the spirit of this girl who was once full of light and love before she was torn apart from her mother. In addition to Seven, we also get to know more about the rest of Lorenzo's crew like Three and Five. Three, in particular, got some time to shine.
'Grievous' picks up immediately where we left off in "Menace" with Lorenzo offering his help to Morgan after he found out her secret. From there on, it's a fight for the two to finally rescue Morgan's little sunshine. There's a lot to love in Grievous as it has the perfect blend of everything you'd expect in a great book. The first half or so is actually sweet and fluffy as you see Lorenzo does things to show Morgan how he cares for her. He will not admit it and he is perplexed himself on why he is doing these things but for us, outsiders, it's clear that this crazy man has fallen in love and is doing everything he can to bring some much needed happiness to Morgan's life. My favorite is seeing these two in the closest thing to a 'date'. And because they are who they are, they end up doing hilarious and demented things. Things get serious and take a much, much darker turn in the 2nd half. I haven't read all of Darkhower's works yet but I'd warrant a guess that this is her darkest work. Your heart will break and you will get really uncomfortable as we're given a front row seat to the horrors that Kassian can inflict on someone. Sacrifices, deaths, and a hurtful (yet understandable but still unforgivable IMO) betrayal will also make appearances at the 2nd half. Despite all these, a few things are clear: Morgan, despite wanting to break, will endure everything thrown at her for what she's fighting for and Lorenzo will scorch the earth (well more like throw grenades and stuff) to finally free Morgan from Kassian's hold once and for all.
I also enjoyed the running theme of fairy tales and happily ever afters throughout the duet. From Lorenzo's half-assed recounting of the Juniper Tree to Morgan's sexy retelling of Verde Prato, and all the way to how their story together actually has similarities to Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast.
One of my favorite parts is the last few chapters especially with how both (especially Lorenzo) unraveled with their feelings for each other. Poor guy didn't know what hit him and seeing him come undone made me grin like a fool. With the way their relationship developed, their ending felt so earned and leaves you wanting to know more about their future.
Lastly, I will just beg Ms. Darhower to do give us more of them. I'll take a novella but another series would be ideal because... Lorenzo. And Morgan. And shortcake. And Three, Five, Leo, Melody, Seven... There's so much more stories I can imagine someone with Darhower's talent can tell about them. Lorenzo's life is too damn fascinating and colorful to be limited to just a duet. Please? Plus, it can't end without us knowing what Lorenzo thought of The Force Awakens and the upcoming The Last Jedi...
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“They say the eyes are the windows to the soul." - Lorenzo
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Is it really any wonder why mine are [fudged] up?” – Lorenzo“I see it when I look him in the eyes. I see the agony he feels. He’s tortured, twisted, all tied up in knots. He’s busy beating himself up inside. But most people don’t see that, because they don’t look at him. They turn away from the surface, terrified, because what he shows the world can be downright f'ing scary. But if they just took a second to really see him, they’d know what I know. They’d believe what I believe. And what I believe is this man is far from being a monster. I’ve lived with monsters. I know them.” – ScarletThere has been an unforeseen and unavoidable delay for me between the time I finished this amazing second book in the “Scarlet Scars” series. Interestingly enough, for me the characters of the book were with me in my mind and daydreams fairly regularly especially the unique hero, Lorenzo (Scar).I am astounded at the skill of Ms. Darhower in writing a book, actually a series, wherein the hero isn’t the least interested in romancing his love…if he even would acknowledge that he can or does feel such an emotion. Yet…the reader feels his heart…feels his love…feels his passion for his only love, Scarlet. Extraordinary really!!!In this second book the foreboding “Scar” the alleged psychopathic killer is more Lorenzo the man with vulnerabilities beginning to show through his armor. When he uttered the phrase, “Vedere il mio [capo] tra quelle belle labbra è una fantasia che mi ha perseguitato dal momento in cui ci siamo incontrati.” and I translated it into English, I felt that gentle flip in my heart one gets when you see or read something that moves you to feel desire…your secret crush…a beautiful explicit love scene on film…a passage written by this author.Lorenzo now knows more of the mysteries of Scarlet. Her little girl, Sasha, was taken from her from the Russian mobster, Kassian (Sasha’s father). Kassian is a cruel man obsessed with Scarlet. He abused her before she reached the age of consent and ever since he found her as a homeless adolescent wandering the streets of New York. She had managed to escape him with their daughter. Later, the mobster stole the little girl from Scarlet hoping she would return to him for Sasha’s sake. Lorenzo…for whatever reason he tells himself…wants to rescue and return the little girl to Scarlet and take down yet another mob boss. He wishes to make the world safer for both of them. His efforts, however, result in the capture of Scarlet by the Russian. Lorenzo is now focused on rescuing both his Scarlet and her daughter, Sasha.Scarlet must once again endure a dark night of the soul in her captivity. She is a marvelously strong woman who holds on the promise of one day seeing her little sunshine again through misery, pain and terror. Scarlet is the perfect heroine for Lorenzo. She is intuitively wise which to my way of thinking beats straight intelligence hands down always. She has kept her love alive in her heart through all that she suffered and she has suffered and lost quite a lot in her young life. She is not overly needy though she does want and need Lorenzo in her life. She does not profess to understand him completely, but she has a good grasp on the basics of his unique way of being. She sees Lorenzo’s heart of gold as sure as he tries to hide it. For his part, Lorenzo is treading lightly as all of this "weirdness" is new territory.The story is flawlessly told in three first person point of views. The little girl Sasha’s voicing of her experiences ratcheted up the emotional impact and the suspense to multi-fold level. Each character’s voice or POV presented after the other was authentic…drove the plot progression without creating inconsistencies or plot holes. There are some suspenseful and accelerated action scenes that can be extremely difficult to write. They are written flawlessly. These had me on the edge of my seat. When a book reads so fluidly, we sometimes forget as readers the talent and skill behind the writing that gives us such pleasure.Beyond the hotness…whoa the hotness!!! And beyond the character development and superb action writing, there are some wonderful allusions and allegory that all great writers include in their work to touch our soul and keep our minds engaged. I noticed this quality in this author’s writing from the very first book of hers that I read. Wonderful gems scattered throughout the narrative. Her word choice is also spot on for description, mood setting and general readability.I would encourage any lover of the darker romance and romantic suspense with the added flavor of the shadowy world of organized crime…you know…those dark, frightening, number one with a gun, super intense, the world is mine, alpha male heroes who live by their own moral compass that doesn't quite point true north….TO READ THIS SERIES!!!“I love this dangerous, menacing [tushy]. I can very easily stand on my own two feet, but the thought of losing him makes my knees go weak. The thought of not having him around makes my chest ache. I can breathe without him. I don’t need him. He’ll never complete me, because I’m already complete. But yet so much of me is now tangled up with so much of him that the thought of living the rest of my life without him around makes me feel cold inside, like he gives me my warmth.” - Scarlet
