ARC Review: Satisfaction by Lexi Blake

Series:	Lawless #2
Pub. Date:	Jan. 3, 2017
Publisher:	Berkley
Length:	384 pages
Source:	NetGalley

This is one of my blogger shame books - a review that fell through the cracks back the first of the year when I had to get one of those dreaded eye injections. So I apologize to Lexi and Berkley for this being so late. I definitely wish I would have gotten to it sooner than now! Things have gotten very interesting in the Lawless family.

The next mark for the Lawless siblings is Carly Fisher, personal assistant to the evil television homemaker, Patty Cain. Carly got conned by an embezzling ex-husband and is being blackmailed to stay in her job with Patty, so her life is fairly miserable. When the country girl escaped from Alabama to join the glitzy team with Patricia's Paradise, things didn't turn out quite like she hoped. Despite her friendly and caring personality, things with Patty and the ex instilled Carly with self-esteem and adequacy issues. When she is approached by Brandon Lawless, with his movie star good looks and mesmerizing smile, Carly's perceived inadequacies often went into overdrive and had her second-guessing his motives, words and attraction.

Brandon Lawless, the youngest brother, had the roughest time of all the Lawless siblings. Left in foster care until a traumatic event when he was 16, Bran was left with anger problems and his own self-esteem and adequacy issues.  This particular quote summed him up perfectly:

Something deep and dark had happened to Bran. Something that made him think he wasn't worthy of being loved. It made him wary of conflict and always looking to be the one who got pushed away.

My heart really went out to Brandon, and I thought he was great hero. He was one of the broken, broody and dangerous characters that you want to protect and shield from further harm, while going all swoony at his protective instincts. Add to that some serious steamy skills, and I fell for Bran hook line and sinker.

The romance between these two was paced nicely within the confines of the story. I was glad that Bran approached Carly and laid everything on the table from the beginning, instead of making her a mark like Ellie in Ruthless. I liked them working together as a team toward a common goal, and I loved that Bran brought Carly out of her shell sexually and undid some of the damage done by her ex-husband. Sometimes the combined feelings of inadequacy did seem a bit much... but they were overcome by a certain point and stopped popping up at every turn. 

The investigation into the murder of the Lawless parents ebbed and flowed in this installment. There wasn't quite as much action as I had expected, until the last 10-15% of the book. There were some good clues that had my mind churning, and several of my suppositions were confirmed by the end of the story. Even though I had guessed the twist before the end, I still think its a dynamic plot conflict and I am really looking forward to how this all plays out in the next book, Revenge. I still think that Drew is going to be my favorite Lawless character... particularly after a little more of his geeky side came out in this installment.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from the publisher, Berkley.

Lawless