Even what Ty will never forgive her for doing.
Ty clings to vengeance and Lexie goes all out to give him back the time he lost. But Ty is battling demons within and they’re up against dirty cops and criminals who will stop at nothing to sway Lady Luck against them. All Ty and Lexie have is hope Lady Luck will finally swing their way.
And, apart from one thing, I enjoyed Lexie and Ty together. But the problem I had was that many of the male characters in the book referred to women (even ones they liked or even loved) as “pussy” or “bitch”. There was one character (who was a cow, I agree) who was referred to all the time as “toxic pussy”. I dislike women being relegated to one body part, the context (and perhaps I’m being overly sensitive here but it is what it is) of it was that the only part was the one which was “useful” to a man. (There were even a couple of uses of the even more charming “gash”.) I didn’t really like the men referring to the women as “bitches” either. The women do it a little to each other and that is less bothersome (even though it is not my favourite) because there is something about a woman using it with another woman which can (but not always) indicate taking back ownership of a derogatory word.
I haven’t gone back and checked the other books but I suspect there is a little of it in them. Maybe not. But there is a LOT of it in this book. I couldn’t skim past it.
So, when Ty wasn’t referring to Lexie as “pussy” (even if it was “my pussy” and affectionately stated – blyergh) and when he wasn’t talking to her about other “pussy” or other “bitches”, then I liked them together.
I also noticed more grammatical errors and typos in this book. I feel I am fluent in Ashley now but there were three or four sentences/passages which I could not get to make sense, no matter that I read them a number of times and even sideways to see whether that helped. The other books had very few typos – maybe one or two. This one had closer to – I don’t know, maybe 8 or 9? Anyway, enough that I noticed and they jolted me out of the story a bit.
I liked how Lexie was very protective of Ty very quickly and “had his back”. She was fierce for him and he’d never had that before. The effect on him was profound. And, seeing it, the Carnal community embraced Lexie as a keeper.
Then I shared, “I was at the garage telling him my news and Chace and Misty Keaton rolled up in an SUV. He had to stand there and watch them roll up to a garage, free and easy, not having parole officers and still hearing the clang of barred doors closing them into a cell. He had to stand there and watch those fucking two roll right on up. And he says I get her, she’s fair game after he does whatever it is he’s going to do but I don’t know if I can wait. And I don’t know what he’s going to do or how long it’s going to take. So something has to give because there’s a bitch in this town who needs a lesson and I’m the teacher.”Â
This got me stares all around.Â
Then Jim-Billy muttered, “Shit, darlin’, remind me not to get on your bad side.”Â
To which I turned my head to him immediately and said, “Don’t fuck over my husband, you’ll be fine.”
I liked the strong sense of Ty and Lexie being a team (a “Me and You Against the World” kind of thing – thank you Helen Reddy) which developed over the course of the book.
Ty isn’t a big talker, but he does manage to come out with some very romantic stuff from time to time
“Babe, we stick together, nothin’ is an issue.”Â
“What?” He stopped, stopping her with a tug on her hand then he drew her close, letting her hand go and winding both arms around her. When her shades hit his, he spoke.Â
“This is it, Team Walker, you and me. We want somethin’, we find a way to get it. We hit a rough patch, we find a way to get over it. We face a challenge, we find a way to beat it. It’s good, we savor it. What I’m sayin’ is, this team is a winner. We never forget to celebrate the victories and we get a lotta those because we never admit defeat.”
Grade: B-