Reviewed by Cindy

TITLE: Love the Sinner

AUTHOR: Avril Ashton

PUBLISHER: Elora’s Cave

LENGTH: 229 pages

BLURB: Detective Gabriel Ashby has never looked twice at another man, yet the criminal across from him, the man he’s interrogating, isn’t like any other. Gabe can’t deal with the sudden, intense need he has for one of NYPD’s Most Wanted. Everyone close to Angelo Pagan ends up dead, with the smug gang leader standing amid the rubble. Gabe would love nothing more than to bust Angelo’s ass and lock him up. So why is he seeing the bastard in his dreams at night?

Angelo Pagan knows attraction to Gabe is suicide. He’s resolute to ignore the chemistry…until a police raid goes wrong. He critically injures Gabe, changing the trajectory of both their lives.

Now the two can’t get close enough. They settle into a forbidden affair threatened by lies and betrayal, living on different sides of the law with no way of breaching the gap between them. With the authorities looking to make an example of Angelo, Gabe has to decide if it’s really worth it to hate the sin but love the sinner.

REVIEW:

Gabe is a good cop who’s trying to do his job the best he can. He tries to ignore the feelings that the brash gang leader arouses in him but he seems to be fighting a losing battle.

Angelo is the leader of a gang but his loneliness and the death of his younger sister have him looking at the handsome cop with new eyes.

I love how these two men have chemistry right from the beginning but they both fight it until fate steps in and brings them together. The heat between them is sizzling and it almost made me melt.

Gabe and Angelo find something in each other that they seem to have been missing in their lives and once they find it, they can’t let it go. They both set about trying to figure out how they can be togetheor even though their lives are so different.

Angelo has his mother; the one person who knows who he is and loves him the most. She hates that he’s stuck in the world she never wanted him to be a part of but doesn’t condemn him for the things he has to do.

Gabe has his brother Kane and even though we don’t get to meet him until half way through the story, he becomes a welcome presence in the story. The author has since penned Kane a story of his own and I’m looking forward to reading it as well as the rest of the stories in the series.

There are the expected problems that come from a cop and a criminal falling in love and they are handled brilliantly. Gabe’s insecurity makes you sad for him and Angelo’s determination to do everything himself when he could have help is frustrating.

I found myself rooting for these two and desperately trying to figure out a way they could be together while still remaining who they are at heart. But all my worrying was for nothing as the author wrote them a brilliant ending that left me smiling.

This story made me laugh and cry and that’s always a good thing. I know there are those who would criticise the speed at which the attraction grew, but it works in this particular story.

I can’t wait for more by this author.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Amazon  ::  ARE