Rotten Girl by Ivy Fox – A Book Review

Posted March 14, 2019 by Booksandblurbs in Contemporary, Dark, Reverse Harem, Reviews / 1 Comment

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Rotten Girl

(A Rotten Love Duet – Book 1)

by Ivy Fox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Contemporary Mafia Slow Burn RH

Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited

Down and Dirty

Pick this book up – Now!

What is it about?

(Yup, still in a cast…. so, GoodReads blurb y’all.)

Envy.

Such an ugly sin.

Yet, here I am guilty of it.

See, I envy you.

You who wake up in the morning not knowing what your future will entail. A blessed uncertainty filled with hope and mystery, with the potential to make it whatever you aspire it to be.

Must be nice — to open your eyes and dream of such a promising existence.

I have no such hopeful misguided notions.

My fate has been written down on crumpled paper, made smooth and immaculate by bloody tainted hands for the outside world to behold, since the day I was conceived.

There is no happily ever after for me but I’ve come to terms with my gilded golden cage long ago.

It’s their destiny that keeps me up at night — the pieces of my soul.

They are the ones who I would defy the devil himself for and stare true evil in the eye, taunting it to do its worst.

There is nothing I wouldn’t do for them, yet I know the wheel of fortune is not in our favor.

So, yes — I envy you.

While you dream of your colorful tomorrow, I dread its grayish arrival.

You see, we were all born rotten.

And rotten girls and boys don’t deserve a fairytale ending.

Thoughts

Oh…my…God…!

This book was everything I hoped for plus a gallon of mafia charm and devilry. Selena is quite literally the glue that holds the next generation of Syndicate leadership together – and the funny part is that they all know it. Oh, the “adults” (read: people in charge) think the mismatched quartet are just friends as they grew up together, but the four of them know the truth – they will always belong together.

They don’t question it… none of them, they just know. Now they just need to figure out a way to make it work because the powers that be will never condone such a grouping, and the harsh realities of the outfit deny any of the youth a choice.

Which brings me to the next point… freedom and choice. None of them have it. Not the youth nor the made men and leaders. No one in this book is really free. They are all owned by the syndicate in one way or another, their fates already written in the stone proclamations of their births. Ivy Fox does a remarkable job of detailing and expressing such feelings, drawing the stark loneliness in vivid shades is grey.

Perspective:

First Person, Multiple POV

Ending Type:

Cliffhanger….. ugh!!!!!

Steam Level

Slow Burn but there is sexual action towards the end.

Pros:

Exceptionally well written.
Nice editing.
Emotion pushes this story, not action.
Acceptance is not defeat….
Character growth, quite literally. You watch them grow from children to adults – and you take the punches with them when they are thrown.
The narrative flows in such a way that the decisions make sense – even if the choices are ones you, yourself, would not have made. Presented in the context of the story, it feels only natural that there would be no other choice. It’s rare that an author can get me to align with the MC’s mentality so completely.

Cons:

Cliffhanger ending.
Bit flowery in some dialogue.

Favorite Lines

Carving an enemy is child’s play when contempt is your muse. (47%)

That’s the thing about losing someone you love without warning. You don’t know what feeling will spring out of you at any moment. Sadness. Anger. Grief. Rage. (74%)

Verdict

Solid 5 stars. I recommend this without reservations. I, personally, will be pre-ordering ‘Rotten Men’ (the next in this Duet) as soon as I relieve notice.

Published February 11th, 2019

303 Pages

Please note, this is a Reverse Harem novel and features scenes and themes, along with violence, more suited to an adult audience. 18+