Sins & Needles (The Artists Trilogy #1)

Ellie Watt doesn\’t have a lot of alternatives at the moment. A life of scamming has lead her back to her hometown as a temporary escape until she can get some money and formulate her next plan. While she wasn\’t expecting to see Camden McQueen again, they are back to square one with a past that was better off being left behind in high school. While I loved the writing, I didn\’t get attached to Ellie or Camden. I actually liked Javier the most and he wasn\’t a main character, but he plays an important role that will likely increase in the next books. However, the story gets more interesting with Camden and Ellie because they know what the other person is like and similar to a game of chess, they make their moves with calculated strategy and it\’s anyone\’s guess as to what the final outcome will be because there are surprises tucked in. And like with any roll of the dice, Ellie has even an bleaker array of choices than what she came with and I\’m intrigued with her relationship development with Camden because it\’s rather dicey, but there\’s still quite a bit of passion, too. I\’m definitely curious to see what will happen next because the story has a lot of exciting possibilities ahead.

This book begins 5 years after the break up of Javier and Eden/Ellie, (their story is On Every Street, the book before this). Returning to her roots, she resumes her real identity and runs into Camden, a guy from her past, one who was the bullied goth in school who is now, as Ellie describes him, \’sex on a stick\’. Their friendship ended really badly all those years ago, but he seems to be over the things Ellie did to him. Or so it would seem… He romances her, which is all pretty sexy and fun, and then…(I don\’t want to give anything away)…that big scene in his office completely threw me for a loop…But there were a lot of things in this book that did and, honestly, I was on the edge of my seat, nervous with anticipation, and for most of the book. More so because, after reading other reviews here, I knew Javier was eventually going to show up in this story and, frankly, I was pretty nervous about how all that was going to play out. Because I read Dirty Angels first (because I didn\’t know about this trilogy beforehand) I am sort of partial to Javier and I really wanted to be able to like him in this book…and I still did, even though he was rather scary…and made the story even more gritty and edgy. All in all, this was another story with great writing, plot, dialogue, and super sexy characters.

4,5/5 Sinfull stars It was by chance I came over Karina Halle\’s books on Amazon some time ago now- and I loved that book! Since that day I\’ve read all New books published. But Karina Halle is more than just all these wonderful new books,she has written so much more. Like \”The Artist Trilogy\”. \”Sins & Needles\” is the first novel in this trilogy. We meet Ellie, on the run from a web of cons and lies she travels back to the one Place she ever felt safe, home to her uncle.Ellie wants to start her life over, to put the con days behind her. Then she meets Camden, her High School bestfriend- her only friend. Time changes people but hurt stays in the heart. When all seems hopeless Ellie thought she found a way out.She was wrong. Things went down fast and could Things get even worse?Her past haunts her back – Javier Bernal, her x-lover and Mexican Cartell lord wants her back. There is only one thing for Ellie and Camden to do – RUN! So, if you like me love Karina Halle and her writing,You will love this book. Hot tattooed men, love, sex, drugs, sins, revenge, anger, tears, laughter. This book has it all. Enjoy the read. Does the name Javier Bernal sound familiar to you? Maybe you have read \”The Dirty Angels\” series 😉

Who is Ellie Watt? They say you can always go home, but for Ellie it\’s a little more complicated than that. She hasn\’t been that girl for a long time now. She\’s a vagabond, a drifter… a con. Her sole focus has been revenge. Revenge against the person that ruined her so long ago, but she messed up, she let her emotions get involved in the game. So now she\’s in trouble and running. She doesn\’t know where to go or who to be next so she heads \”home\” to regroup and plan her next move. She is tired of the game and ready to go legit… or is she? She needs money to go legit and how does a girl like her get money? A con of course. Who is Camden McQueen? Camden is a man from Ellie\’s past. Her one and only friend. That is until she hurt him… embarrassed him and pushed him away. Crushing him and adding herself to the list of abusive people in his life. He\’s not that boy anymore though. He is a man… a gorgeous man… a forgiving man. No longer the freaky Goth she remembers from High School … Camden is all grown up and grown up well. After a bad divorce and losing custody or his son he is back in Palm Valley running a successful tattoo parlor and playing guitar in a local band. He wants to get to know the girl he loved all those years ago. They still have a connection, but Ellie needs that last con, an out, and seeing how successful Cam is and how trusting he is of her… makes him an easy mark right? Cam is not as nave as Ellie had hoped. He sees her game coming and is prepared when she makes her move. She is blindsided and now she is at his mercy and has to make a deal with him to keep herself out of jail. Turns out Cam\’s life isn\’t so idyllic after all. He wants out. He needs her help and she can\’t refuse, but Cam has no idea what he just signed up for. Ellie has enemies, very powerful enemies who want her back. Disappearing is going to be much hard than he thought and now he is caught in the middle of her fight to survive. Oh and that pesky little crush he had on her way back when… not exactly done with that either. Great! I love a story with flawed heroes & heroines. Life is not sunshine & rainbows all the time. Every girl is not an ethereal virgin and every boy is not a young, gorgeous billionaire who needs to find the right girl to tame him. Sin & Needles delivers in the raw, gritty, scary story of life. Life where you mess up and make some stupid choices that affect not only you but the people you care about. A ripple affect of s***. Ellie is the product of her upbringing. Raised by parents who were thieves & cons and used her in their schemes. She was a child thrown into a very adult world and she was irrevocably hurt in the process. All she ever wanted was to be avenged so she set out to avenge herself. Turns out that she is not as good at the game as she hoped. Now she and Cam have to find away to start new and stay alive. It\’s a wild ride that will leave you breathless and have you cheering for the bad guys… or the good guys… oh crap, I am not even sure which is which???

For me this book was difficult to read. It took some time to get through and at one point I had to put it down. Not because it is badly written or anything, it is just because Ellie Watt or Eden White or whatever she is calling herself is a bad person and it made be uncomfortable reading it. You don\’t get to read many books where the female protagonist is bad, it is normally the guy who is bad but you end up falling for him anyway. You can\’t blame Ellie for how she has turned out as her parents were grifters. Always out to con people they used Ellie, even as a small child, to scam people and rob their safes, so it stands to reason that Ellie would turn out to be the same as her folks whether that be stealing or pretending to be a fake virgin bride. Wanting to start over a new leaf Ellie returns to her child hood home to stay with her Uncle and it is here where she meets her old friend Camden McQueen. Once she sees what a nice life Camden has made for himself with his tattoo business she just can\’t help herself to one more scam but Camden knows all about Ellie\’s past and is one step ahead of her and makes Ellie an offer she just cannot refuse. This book has lots of twists and turns as Karina Halle slowly reveals Ellie\’s tragic past to us. There is bitterness, revenge, humiliation, betrayal and love and it is a hard tale to read. I seriously disliked Ellie to begin with and felt so sorry for Camden but the tables get turned and my feelings changed throughout the book. I can\’t say too much as I don\’t want to spoil the book for you but I will say it is a thrilling ride. I would have given this book full marks but there were a few niggles about their adventure together that just didn\’t gel for me, especially with Ellie being the supposed clever bad ass that she is. The ending is huge and I immediately went to purchase the next book only to fin out it isn\’t available until August 20th so if you hate cliffhangers you may want to put off reading this book until the second one is out. Sins and needles is a difficult book to read but there is hope and romance along the way and I definitely recommend it. I\’m giving it 4 stars.

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