ranger

*** Spoiler Alarm ***

“Fuck, you’re pretty,” Enzo said. “Am not,” Seven muttered. Enzo chuckled, fascinated by the way Seven allowed him to continue caressing his face, lids heavy, lips parted, half-hard in his too tight pants. He was so sensitive. He’d been sensitive that night, too, whimpering beneath Enzo at the slightest touch. Hard to believe the kid was a stone-cold killer with the way he was trembling in his arms.

This time we’re here for Seven Symanski’s and Enzo Conti’s love story. We met Enzo in the previous books—he’s the Mulvaneys’ defense attorney for many of their cases, and he comes from a family that is very similar to theirs. Seven and Enzo spend one night together when Seven is in a bad mood due to his father’s horrible treatment of him. Enzo decides he wants more than a one-night stand, but he completely messes things up when he tries to express that by propositioning Seven 🤦🤦 Seven gets pissed and heartbroken, dumps Enzo hard, and walks away. Feeling terrible, Enzo does his best to earn Seven’s forgiveness and hopes he might get a real chance at a relationship.

“I know I said her books feel like a gamble to me, but I seriously don’t understand how books written by the same author can have such huge differences in quality.” That’s exactly what I told my best friend after finishing this book 😑😑

While reading other people’s reviews, I saw comments saying the author started posting chapters on Patreon beginning with Mad Man from the Necessary Evil series and then made changes based on reader feedback 😱😱 That was exactly the book where my disappointments started. After that, things slowly went downhill for me. I don’t know if this rumor is true, but honestly it does sound plausible. The difference in quality between some of the books is just too big. At times it almost feels like certain books were written by someone else 😠😠

As you can probably guess, I didn’t like this book. However, it did go against Onley James’s usual style of instalove and everything being perfect from the start. They might hook up early, but the relationship itself is more of a slow burn with some groveling. I actually enjoyed that part ☺️☺️ I love a good groveling arc. Watching Enzo work to earn Seven’s forgiveness was nice, but I wish we had seen more of it. There were too many time skips during that period, which made his efforts feel less impactful than they could have been 😕😕

Seven comes from a horrible home life, just like the rest of Jericho’s boys. His father is a criminal with multiple wives and sons scattered everywhere, and Seven’s mother always goes back to him whenever he calls. Seven hates that dynamic, which is why he reacts so strongly when Enzo propositions him. He refuses to put himself in the same position as his mother. I actually respected him a lot for that 👍👍 It’s always satisfying to see a character know their worth and refuse to settle for anything less than what they deserve 😎😎

Nobody had ever made him feel this crazy, this childish, this… discombobulated. Not even her. Seven’s expression softened just a little as he shook his head. “I really don’t get you at all.” Enzo sighed. “Join the club.”

But aside from that, there really wasn’t much I liked about either of the main characters. They both felt boring and shallow to me 🥱🥱 Their supposed tension didn’t work at all. Their dynamic also includes a Daddy/Brat kink with dominant–submissive elements, which is very much not my thing. Every time Seven called Enzo “Daddy” I physically cringed. I had to stop reading several times because the secondhand embarrassment was too strong. Definitely not for me 🤮🤮

Their communication skills also drove me crazy. So many of their problems could have been solved with a short conversation, but instead the story dragged things out unnecessarily. This book could have been much shorter if they had just talked to each other like normal adults 👎👎

I did like both Enzo’s mom and Seven’s mom, though. They were basically the real cupids of the story 💘💘 Enzo’s family dynamic actually reminded me a lot of the Mulvaneys, and those scenes were fun to read 😂😂 There were also some cameos from other characters, though honestly I barely remember them.

The main crime plot was terrible, and the resolution made even less sense 😨😨 Someone tries to frame Seven’s mother for embezzlement, and as lawyers Enzo and Seven step in to save her. But the way they “solve” the problem makes no logical sense. They find the real culprits and eliminate them, and then the book just ends as if everything is magically fine. But Seven’s mother was already being sued and had an active case against her. Getting rid of the bad guys behind the scenes doesn’t magically close a legal case. Unless they walked into court and confessed to murder—which obviously didn’t happen. So how exactly was this resolved? The story never explains 🤨🤨

And don’t even get me started on the proposal scene. It was so embarrassing. Personally, I would not want my partner proposing to me while I’m in cosplay from a computer game in front of hundreds of people 💆‍♀️💆‍♀️

You might ask why I’m still reading Onley James’s books if I haven’t enjoyed many of the recent ones. The answer is simple: curiosity 🤷🤷 Whether I like them or not, I still want to know what happens to these characters. I’ve grown attached to them enough that I want to see how their stories end. I’m sure I’ll finish this series for that reason alone—but I’ll definitely think twice before starting another series by this author in the future. There’s no real point in reading books just to end up hating them. Coming back to this book—it simply wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy it, and I’m not particularly excited about the next one either. But we’ll see how it goes. See you later 👋👋