Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: (Watch Me) Break You

SERIES: Run This Town #1

AUTHOR: Avril Ashton

PUBLISHER: Sinner’s Haven Publishing

LENGTH: 66,776 Words

BLURB:

They’re in a war for control of the streets, but love will be the ultimate prize.

Here comes trouble…
Men. Women. Drugs. Dima Zhirkov’s favorite things. Add in the element of danger and he should be right as rain. But not today. It’s not working, hasn’t for a long time. He’s grasping at the flimsiest of straws to prove he’s indeed strong enough to run his streets. Until he sets eyes on him. In the midst of a room full of strangers, Dima is drawn to a man as cold and dangerous as he’s beautiful. Captivated, Dima embarks on a ruthless campaign to get his new toy into bed.
Here comes the danger…
Xavier “X” Storm is content to pull the strings while someone else handles the day to day dealings of his gang, The Rude Boys. He’s after what Dima holds closest—the Coney Island streets. He contracts out the job of killing the Russian, except Dima isn’t that easy to kill. When he suddenly shows up in X’s path, tempting him to indulge in the dirtiest play, he finds Dima isn’t all that easy to shake, either. His cocky attitude and rough submission tempts X to go where he’d vowed to never return, and they plunge head first into an affair fueled by possessive obsession.
Run for cover
Sex and pain Dima can handle, and X delivers the most depraved kind. Their connection is explosive, their games addictive, but Dima can end it whenever he wishes. He doesn’t see that X is breaking him down, giving Dima everything he wants and even more than he ever thought to need. By the time he realizes who X is and what he wants, Dima is raw and bullet-riddled. It’s run or fight. And Dima doesn’t back down. Neither does X.
Warning: Includes strong BDSM elements, and reference to rape and sexual abuse.

REVIEW:

Ok, let’s just start by saying that I’m an AVID Avril Ashton fan and I have read her Sinner’s books more than once. So, when Avril started writing this book and gave us snippets, let’s just say that I was so intrigued and couldn’t wait. When the chance came to review this book….I jumped on board so damn fast your head would’ve spun. So…now that that’s out of the way, let’s get this review started.

Dima Zhirkov is the leader of the Russian Mafia that controls Coney Island. Dima is strong, tough and so very sexily dangerous. Dima is so many things and yet, no one knows all of him. Dima feels so lost, in so much as nothing that used to work for him isn’t working any longer. He needs to find something to make him feel again. Dima is this wonderful blend of danger and sweet submission. Now, the danger is what everyone sees. What he lets people see, but the submission…that’s only for the one that he found to give it to him. Dima sees Xavier at a BDSM club and he wants him. He wants the control, the emotion that X keeps well under lock and key. Dima NEEDS the pain and pleasure. He needs X for more than he ever imagined.

Xavier “X” Storm is a lawyer by day and the “Brains” of The Rude Boys Gang. It’s not the job that he originally intended for his life, but when push came to shove, he took the role and made it his own. X is the kind of man that has such control over EVERYTHING that is in his purview. That control is there to keep him safe, safe from the past and safe from ever hurting that way again. X is that dangerous guy that you don’t see coming. You look at the façade and see the lawyer or the Dom, but to see the true man, the really dangerous man…it’s so well hidden. X will do ANYTHING to get what he wants and what he wants is Coney Island. Nothing, not even the Russian is going to stand in his way. Really?

The secondary characters in this book kept true to who our MC’s needed them to be. Is is the face of The Rude Boys and he has earned his place. He’ll do and say what he needs in order to get the job done. He’ll only question when he doesn’t understand something, however, he’ll go toe to toe with anyone and make damn sure it works his way. Pyotr, Dima’s older brother….well, I knew about him the moment he came on screen. Everything that he said and did just reinforced my original thoughts on him and he proved me right. There were so many people who popped up and yet, they were all vital to the story and that made them important in the overall scheme of things. I will say that no matter what was going on with Dima and X, the secondary characters did what they were there to do and that was to help move the story along.

Now, let’s get into the SEX!! If you’ve read an Avril Ashton book before, you know that Av can write some AMAZING Sex Scenes. This book was no different. Holy Hannah, I thought that my kindle was going to go up in smoke it was so damn sexy. The scenes between Dima and X have lots of BDSM elements. It was RAW, DIRTY AND SO, SO, SO VERY SEXY!! I needed to get a cold drink and a smoke after some of their scenes together.

This was another wonderful, thrilling, heart-wrenching book from Avril. Trust me when I say that there were moments where I had to stop and try not to cry. I felt so raw and I thought my heart was going to break. Avril took me from the high to the lowest points and held me hostage. I was breathless. I couldn’t move for the ache and pain I was going through. Then…like the Angel of Mercy that is Av…I was being lifted from the dark and could find my balance again.

HOLY HANNAH!!! That’s how I felt reading this bad boy. I couldn’t stop once I started. You should have seen me reading on my commute to and from work. I’m popping my gum in order for me not to start talking to my KIndle, it’s THAT DAMN GOOD. This is one of my new faves from Avril. TRUST ME, when I say that you WANT, NEED, MUST HAVE THIS BOOK!! You are in for so damn much that you really need to take this ride and follow along on the journey that is Dima and X. You Won’t Regret It!!

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

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