Review: On Every Street by Karina Halle

On Every Street (The Artist's Trilogy #0.5)
by Karina Halle
Published March 9th 2013 by Metal Blonde Books

When young con artist Ellie Watt decides to call herself Eden White and go after the drug lord who ruined her as a child, she never expects to fall for one of his henchmen. But Javier Bernal is no ordinary man. Subtly dangerous and overwhelmingly seductive, Eden finds herself passionately in love with Javier, the very person she's set-up to betray. With her body and heart in a heated battle against her deep need for revenge, no one will walk away from this con a winner.

This 50K word (100+ pages) novella takes place six years before Sins & Needles. It can be read before or after Sins & Needles and may also be read as a standalone.

Synopsis from Goodreads

  
I'm a horrible person. This is only the first book of Karina Halle's that I've read. Let the onslaught of  heckling begin! I have purchased a few of her books, but I never seem to get around to them. And so here I begin in my journey of her books.

It will be a long journey, too, I'm sure! On Every Street is like the gateway drug of Halle's book, I swear! I'm given a little taste just to get me hooked, and by the end, I'm addicted to the hard stuff! It started off a little slow, and I was having a hard time getting into the main character Ellie/Eden. Her reason for revenge seemed a little flimsy, not nearly traumatic enough of an experience to justify upending her life in such a dangerous way. THEN, the beginning of her "relationship" with Javier also seemed a little flimsy. My interest in the book was fading fast. I found myself wishing for more revenge, less romance.

BUT - Man, oh, man, hot, hot, HOT! Karina Halle has a spicy style that I desperately want more of! Be warned, the sex, and the relationship as a whole, is very much controlled by the domineering man. Eden says all along that it's what she wants, so I'm okay with it, but a part of me always worries about the woman. For the length of the story, I suspended reality, laid back, and enjoyed the show.

While the synopsis states that this can stand alone, I wouldn't recommend it. It left me hanging at the end, so that I NEED to read the rest of the Artist's Trilogy. I NEED to know where Eden/Ellie goes from here. Novellas are usually too short to fully flush out the characters so I look forward to seeing how Halle delivers a novel length.


A copy of this book was provided by Netgalley.