Book Review – Crow’s Row by Julie Hockley

Crow’s Row
Another book, another winner! And I know it’s a winner because I’ve been in a stupor all day. Moping. I’ve been thinking about these characters, rehashing scenes, using my own “imagination” for a few *ahem* (hee hee!!), laughing to myself over a specific ruined Maserati scene. I’ve been speculating… daydreaming if you will, about the upcoming second book, allllll day. I’ve been trying to discuss the book with my husband, dropping little scene hints, hoping that he’d indulge me, and finally ask me to tell him alllllll about it..

And when I wasn’t getting my fill of that, when I realized I was desperate to come home from work to blog it, discuss it… I KNEW I LOVED IT. Luckily, a few of my fellow readers who pointed this one out were there for me!

Sabrina: Just finished Crow’s Row!!! Great book!! I can’t stop thinking about it!!

Jessica: Crow’s Row… A MUST read! I literally read it cover 2 cover in one sitting… Cameron SQUEEE… I am in love! Bad boy with a capital B. Big suck… Book 2 isn’t even written yet!

Sabrina: Maybe If enough people read it — it will get author motivated to write faster on book 2 !

Jamie: Uh…..I finished and all I can say is…..WTH!!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!! I have to say around 75% I was thinking that maybe it wasn’t going to be as good as I hoped but then…BAM!!!! I was blown away! I LOVED the new *spoiler* at the end. I am so excited to see what *spoiler* becomes after all “that”! Great recommendation girls. … By the end…I wasn’t missing the cuss words at all! LOL!!!

Jessica: Ha ha ha I know what u mean about the f’bomb… Pretty much all the books I read are riddled with it so I did notice its absence! The crosses on his gun shot scars up his bad boy rep tho… *fans self*… But the ending…

Maryse’s Book Blog: I just finished this one this morning… I’m on it. Just… wow! That was quite a ride… like Sempre. But a bit different. But not. Definitely a great read.

Jamie: Yes Jessica!! … Maryse-It did have a Sempre “feel” didn’t it? I loved that… I needed to take deep breaths after that last chapter. My shoulders were up to my ears and I was forgetting to breathe!!!!

Rebecca: I read Crows Row after seeing your post,Wow that book was good up there with Slammed and Sempre …

Now I’m letting you know…  while this one, too, is squee-worthy, it’s not like the last few, where we could actually relate to the “set”. To the circumstances. To the people.  This isn’t sweet, fluffy, sad (in that bittersweet way) or specifically romantic. Well I mean, of course, the romance kicks in, but not so much run the “romantic sense” and more as a deep-seated need/desire/all consuming passion. Another case of forbidden love that just can’t be denied, and while this book is “clean”, the subject matter is not. Sure… I don’t remember anyone swearing, and the steamy stuff was alluded to, vs described in detail, but the situations, the prospects, the “world” in which the heroine suddenly finds herself, is scary as heck! Luxuries that come with a price. She becomes a bird in a guilded cage.

If you liked/loved Sempre (forever), I truly believe you you will love this one too. They are similar in style, in subject matter, in emotional intensity, steeped in secrets, dangerous circumstances, bad guys, and even badder guys. There are no good guys here, and the “good guys” you end up loving are just a different level of “bad guy”. But, despite who they are, what they do, a look into their lives and their hearts, will be enough to reel you in.

I do have to say, that while I was reading it, this was yet another one of those books that had me questioning how much I was gonna “love it”. The fact that I couldn’t put the darn thing down, and read until 3 am, and then woke back up at 6am to finish, should have told me something. But I had my reservations. Even though most everyone was an adult in this book, it was missing some of the “adult” fervor *waggles eyebrows* that hooks me to a hero, no matter what life he leads (good guy or sorta… bad guy). That personal one on one interaction, the lengthy, moody, emotionally fulfilling seclusions between two characters that, when done right, when it feels realistic, actually makes me weaken at the knees, and get those wonderful swirly knots in my stomach.

But what this one lacks in “adult” situations, it makes up for in emotional connection. The backstory, all of the secrets, as they are revealed, make this an exciting read.

So here’s the gist of it. Emily, 19 year old college student, living in poverty (along with her fellow roommates) has the shared house to herself for the summer. Sure, she lives in a bad part of town, and struggles to afford her own way, but she loves her newfound independence, and wants to prove she can make it on her own. Don’t we all? SURE!! But Emily comes from a wealthy family and doesn’t have to live that way. Not wanting to live their way of life, and feeling like she’ll never live up to their expectations, she’s decided to do her own thing. Her parents are snobs, her older brother (whom she adored) died tragically, and she simply wants nothing to do with them, anymore.

Going for her usual morning jog, she runs into 26 year old Cameron. He’s in the bad part of town. Gorgeous and brooding, it quickly becomes apparent to her that he’s someone important in this part of town. He warns her to stay away from that area…

“Emily”, I heard him call out. My heart jumped and I looked back to find that he had stopped in his tracks a few yards away. “I meant what I said. Don’t come back here.”

And yet each morning, self-preservation be damned, she runs right back through it. But her brother is buried there, and she isn’t going to let thugs keep her from him. They have some interaction, leaving her confused and… sort of pining for him. His reactions to her run… sweet… and then, not so sweet.

When his cheek picked up a shade of rose, something he had said suddenly occurred to me.

“You were… waiting for me?”

“Yes,” he slowly admitted. “Does that surprise you?”

“You were really mean to me yesterday,” I said.

And each day, she covertly looks for him. Until one day… she sees something that she shouldn’t see. And suddenly wakes up somewhere she shouldn’t be.

And that where the fun begins.

As per the book description:

“… she realizes she’s been kidnapped by a young crime boss and his gang. She is hurled into a secret underworld, wondering why she is still alive and for how long.

Held captive in rural Vermont, she tries to make sense of her situation and what it means. While uncovering secrets about her brother and his untimely death, Emily falls in love with her very rich and very dangerous captor, twenty-six year- old Cameron. She understands it’s a forbidden love and one that won’t allow her to return to her previous life. But love may not be enough to save Emily when no one even knows she is missing.”

Ooooooh when I read that, I was all… OH YES!!!! I am SO moving this to the top of my TBR list. In fact, I decided to read it right then, and right there, and the only thing I regret, is that I’m already done.

“How long are you going to keep me here?” I drowsily continued.

Cameron pulled the glass out of my numbed hands and set it on the table next to me. “For as long as it takes.”

“And what are you going to do with me?” This came out as a whisper. My eyes were barely slit open.

Cameron paused on this question. He scanned my face, like the answer was written somewhere between the freckles.

“I don’t know,”

And did I mention the end? No? Heh. And I won’t. Just know that my jaw dropped, my heart raced, my world temporarily turned upside-down, and I immediately began researching anything and everything I could find about the potential book #2. I’m raw and aching. It feels like I have a permanent lump in my throat. I’m highly anticipating. Languishing. Does this mean there’s a cliffhanger ending? Hrmmm…. *hrmph* *purses lips* maybe… But so crazy-good! Is it worth reading right now, even though book #2 isn’t finished yet? YES!!!!!

4.5 stars and yet again I’m vacillating between 4.5 & 5 stars. For sure, it would have been 5 stars had there been a little more…. steam (I mean, you know. Tasteful steam. *blush*). But no worries. Your heart will still flutter in that delicious way. 😉