The Book Courier: Ruthless People (Ruthless People, #1)

by J.J. McAvoy

Warning: This book contains adult language and subject matter including graphic violence and explicit sex that may be disturbing for some readers. This book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

Cover ~ A

Yes, I know: surprisingly I love this cover with the faces on them... Not very typical for me, but the image did get me interested. Plus the words, perfectly captures the plot: Power. Sex. Drugs. Murder. Family. Love. Job well done.

Plot ~ A+

To outsider, they look like American Royalty, giving to charities, feeding the homeless, rebuilding their city of Chicago. (Love that is is Chicago because I am Illinoian!) Behind closed doors they are ruthless people who battle for dominance in the Mafia. In this world, power, respect, and family are everything. Melody Giovanni and Liam Callahan are pushed into an arranged marriage by their mafia boss fathers in hopes to end the bloodshed between the Irish and Italians. Liam must marry in order to establish his claim as a Irish man and leader of the Irish. He thinks he is getting a simple-minded wife, but receives the complete opposite in Mel. She has been bred to be the Boss and shows no mercy or fear. Mel would rather die than give up the power she has spent her whole life building. But with no other family left, she had may have no other choice but to work with Liam. Mel and Liam must figure out how to work as one to take down those who stand in their way.

Characters ~ A+

Who knew villains could be so AWESOME! I am obsessed with these characters!

She looks like a sweet little lamb from afar, but when you get close, you find out she skinned and ate the damn thing just to use it as a coat. She's a beast.

Melody Giovanni is supposed to be innocent, easy to manipulate, simple daughter of the Italian Boss. But she is nothing like the Irish expected. She is not going to let some man come in and take over her success and run it into the ground. Because she is the Boss. She is one of my favorite female characters of all time! I have a shelf on Goodreads titled badass-female-characters and I almost added another shelf just for Mel because she is on a totally different level. And I fuckin love it.

God created her and then shattered the mold afterward, for the world could not handle two of her.

Liam Callahan. Words cannot describe how much I love you. I know you are evil and monster or whatever, but I love you anyways. The banter between the two is awesome. They clash because both are alphas and want to be in control.

What do you say my Mel? We end our war and join brains and bodies to destroy any against us. We become one ruthless person instead of two.

There are other awesome characters, and the the story is told from different perspectives which adds a unique flare to get inside the characters' heads. You will find yourself drawn to the characters even though they are not necessarily good people.

Writing ~ A+

McAvoy does an amazing job getting the reader to fall in love with these evil characters and dark world. When I say "dark", I mean violence, angry (hot) sex, and organized crime. It is considered an erotic romance but in this book the sex doesn't overtake the book and is not the main focus! A lost of erotica is all sex, sex, and more sex, but this book have more depth to the plot, which makes it exciting and captivating. I have fallen in love with McAvoy's writing. There are so many beautiful quotes in this book.

This is an author that I will definitely look for in the future!

Here are a few quotes I loved:

Bitch is standard mode for me, and I will work on it.

We all had the capacity to be ruthless, that all we needed was the right push.

There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy.

Overall Rating ~ 5 stars!

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes dark books. It is suspenseful and violent, but still sexy and fun.
I fucking love this book!

As of 5/19/15 this book is $4.49 for Kindle!

My tags: arranged marriage, mafia, drugs, murder, kick-ass female character, power struggle, sex, romance, love, family, revenge, loyalty, favorites, adult, violence, organized crime