Today marks the release of the final installment of Karina Halle's The Artists Trilogy. I've been a huge fan of this series, so I'm excited to share the details about Bold Tricks, a publisher giveaway and my review of this amazing final book. Enjoy!
Publication Date: October 15, 2013
The Faster They Live, the Harder They Fall . . .
Raised by con artists, Ellie Watt has a lot of crazy childhood memories-but none crazier than being scarred with acid by the demented crime boss Travis Raines. Now Ellie is a full-grown woman who lives for revenge, and Travis is a full-blown drug lord who kills for pleasure. The sadistic bastard has kidnapped her good friend Gus as well as her mother, whom he's been holding as prized possessions in his heavily guarded lair. And Ellie has only one chance in hell of getting them out alive-using two dangerous men who love her to death . . .
One is Camden McQueen, a talented tattoo artist who's made a permanent mark on Ellie's heart. The other is Javier Bernal, her fiery ex-lover who's busted more than a few heads in his time. From the crime-ridden streets of Mexico City to the predatory jungles of Honduras, this unlikely trio forms an uneasy alliance in the deadliest game of all-a gun-blazing battle to the finish that will pit enemy against enemy and lover against lover. And Ellie must choose the right man to trust . . . or die.
My Thoughts
Wow! What an absolute rush!! This final installment of Sins & Needles was pure adrenaline pumping action from beginning to end. I’m a bit sad to see this series conclude, but Karina Halle spared no expense at making this series finale an epic showdown. Loved it to explosive pieces!!In Bold Tricks, we pick up right where Shooting Scars left off. Javier, Ellie and Camden are trying to escape from Travis and his cartel. Ellie and Camden are on a quest to save Gus and her mother, while Javier is ready to pull out all the stops to take over Travis’s cartel and achieve the power and prestige his darkened soul seeks. With constant danger crossing their path at every turn, this unlikely trio of bad asses play a dangerous game of deceit where outsmarting and outwitting each other can mean the difference between life or death.
This entire novel played out like an action-filled movie. The scenes were explosive and vivid to such an extreme that the rush was constant from the first chapter to the last. There was not one moment of downtime and it just made the ending come that much quicker, which was bitter sweet. Halle sure knows how to end her series with both power and punch, which was exactly what I expected of her.
Because of my allegiance to Javier, I have to admit I wanted to see him get everything his dark heart desired. I really enjoyed watching his character unabashedly display his depravity. He was like a grenade that threatened constant danger who was able to detonate at any moment. He really added to the excitement of this novel. There were brief moments where he displayed his vulnerability, which at times had me wanted to just hug this twisted character, but overall he played the baddie to such a perfect extreme that I wanted some sort of reward for him at the end of the story. I won’t tell you how it ended up for him, but I will tell you he was pure bad ass.
Ellie was a character that some people had a hard time connecting with at the beginning, but if you journeyed with her through the entire series, many will find that she came full circle in her character development. She had to make some hard choices in this installment, and it was clear that the sacrifices she made broke her in small ways but never to the extreme where she was irreparable. I loved witnessing how far she was willing to go to prove she was redeemable.
If you don’t come to adore Camden, I’m thinking some sort of chip is missing. I’ll admit, I really liked him and he was attractive in a nerdy yet hard edge sort of way. He was never my first choice for coming out on top (no pun intended). However, that didn’t stop me from enjoying his bold moves and drool worthy performance. He was a perfect blend to this trio of destruction and I’m happy for how his story concluded.
Overall, this series had all the right elements to make it addicting and absolutely adrenaline pumping. Great series from beginning to end!
5 Snowflakes
About the Author
The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).
Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently splits her time between her apartment in downtown Vancouver and her sailboat, where a book and a bottle of wine are always at hand. She’s hard at work on her next novel.Authors Social Networking links:
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Be sure to enter this publisher giveaway. Details below:
1 WINNER: iPad mini pre-loaded with all three digital Artist Trilogy books (SINS & NEEDELES, SHOOTING SCARS, & BOLD TRICKS) preloaded, and ON EVERY STREET novella included!
5 WINNER: A signed print Artist Trilogy (SINS & NEEDLES, SHOOTING SCARS, BOLD TRICKS) prize pack!
