Blow (The Tainted Love Duet #1) by Kim Karr @authorkimkarr

4.5 ~ 5 Mind blowing stars Suspense, half-truths, lies and deceits – a tangled web of mysteries laced throughout a lust filled romance.  Kim Karr captivated me within another riveting, hot and steamy love story whose plot twisted and turned, revealing it’s secrets layer by layer. Cleverly sprinkling hints and leaving a trail of breadcrumbs waiting to be pieced together, Karr created a world where mobsters, lawyers, and drug dealers collide. Tensions run high as Logan and Elle are coincidentally brought together, instantly attracted to one another, and danger surrounds them at every turn. Blow rattled my mind as I found myself trying to unravel a knotted string of clues. Logan McPherson fascinated me since meeting him in Toxic. He’s a hot, sexy lawyer who stuck between a rock and a hard place courtesy of his family. Working for his highly influential, obscenely rich grandfather in New York and rooted in the underground world of the Irish Mob in Boston (grandson of a former mob kingpin) - he’s a total contradiction and I felt bad for the tough situation he’s trapped in. (I totally love the ‘mob’ element giving Logan that bad-boy-under-a-clean-cut-guy vibe). Ties to both worlds pull Logan in opposite directions, saddling him with obligations that affect his life. He has secrets and troubles of his own to contend with. Add to that, fighting off an inexplicable attraction to a woman he just met, who is knee deep in trouble. His desires and the overwhelming need to protect Elle, become too powerful for him to ignore. The chemistry ignited between these two is smokin’ hot. Things are not what they seem when it comes to Logan. I found myself constantly trying to get inside his head to guess his motives and reasoning. Just when I thought I figured him out…bam, Karr throws in a curve ball. Elle Sterling is lost as she’s thrown in the middle of a bad situation, with little to no information as to what the hell is going on. Her estranged sister, who’s involved with drugs and the mob is missing, leaving Elle to care for her niece Clementine; Her brother-in-law (who I think is a shady S.O.B.) is purposefully keeping her clueless; Thoughts of her sister Elizabeth dredge up horrors from the past and memories of her bastard father; Trying to piece together this riddle places Elle in a dangerous position. Her life in a total freaking chaos. Yeesh, this girl can’t catch a break. There’s still so much more to discover regarding her past and how it’s all linked to what’s going on…ugh, my brain is muddled trying to piece this all together. Logan and Elle have a complicated relationship where so many external pressures are trying to tear them apart. Elle’s scars from her childhood, along with persistent threat from Logan’s enemies, are just some of the obstacles that stand in their way.  Despite their difficulties, they find comfort within each other’s arms. They’re magnetically drawn to one another and their sexually chemistry is sizzling. I love getting wrapped up in all the intrigue and passion whenever reading a Kim Karr story. In Blow, Karr gives her readers both POV’s with flashbacks from Logan and Elle’s past (warning, some scenes from their childhood are pretty intense and heartbreaking). THERE IS ONE HELL OF A CLIFFHANGER, which left me dangling with so many unanswered questions. The one thing I learned from reading Karr’s prior novels is to pay close attention because the devil is in her details. The beginning started a bit slow, but picked up speed during the second half of the story where the plot thickens. Their ‘falling into love’ was a bit hurried for me. Wanted to see their connection blossom some more. Looking forward to digging deeper inside Logan and Elle’s relationship in Crush. ARC received in exchange for an honest review