Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Scum
AUTHOR: K.A. Merikan
SERIES: Wrong Side of the Tracks Book 1
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 209 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 19, 2021
BLURB:
“10 years ago, he ruined my life. Now, I will ruin his son.”
Shane. Ex-con. No-good bastard. Scum.
Rosen. Trust fund boy. Virgin. Sucker.
Shane is straight out of prison, and has one goal only—to wreck everything dear to the man who put him behind bars. And number one on that list is Rosen, Ed Beck’s son. Shane’s plan is to incriminate the boy, but when the dreamy blue eyes meet his, Shane can think of a hundred other ways to ruin Rosen right under his father’s nose.
If Rosen’s dad is to pay for his art degree, Ros has to stay on the straight and narrow. Join a fraternity, avoid scandal, and keep his sexuality under wraps. Seems easy enough until he meets Shane, a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. All sanity goes out the window, and the slippery slope leads Rosen down a path of violence, blackmail, and passion too sizzling to be denied.
Shane thinks he’s in control, that Rosen is just a means to an end, a tool to be manipulated. But as a love he’d never even dreamed of becomes real, he’s starting to realize he doesn’t have to be the ‘scum’ society’s been telling him he is.
Shane now stands at a crossroads, between Rosen and revenge.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
Themes: blackmail, revenge, manipulation, ex-con, secrets, rich/poor, class differences, age gap
Genre: Scorching hot M/M dark romance
Length: ~73,000 words (Standalone)
WARNING: This story contains scenes of violence, offensive language and morally ambiguous characters.
REVIEW:
Let me preface this review by saying that I typically do not read “dark romance”. That’s not to say I haven’t read any – I have. Some I’ve even liked. However, the author must achieve a tricky balance to succeed in this genre. The dark shouldn’t eclipse the romance, at least not to the extent that it undermines the connection to the characters. Additionally, morally ambiguous or not, the protagonists need to remain consistent and true to their character, and even the bad boy needs some redeemable character traits.
I haven’t read K.A. Merikan before, but their reputation, writing style, and numerous positive reviews precede them. Coupled with the cover of this book (seriously, who can resist those eyes??) and the captivating blurb, I couldn’t resist giving Scum, the first book in the new Wrong Side of the Tracks series, a try.
But, unfortunately, Scum didn’t work for me. Several minor aspects of the story bothered me, but the primary driver behind my discontent lies in my struggle with the two leading men. I didn’t particularly like either Shane or Ros, which only worsened as the story progressed. Ros started wildly deviating from (what I thought was) his established character. Shane, for his part, definitely fits the bill as an ex-con hellbent on revenge. But while we’re to believe he slowly and unwittingly falls for Ros, his behavior doesn’t correlate. He becomes more disgusting and despicable, even towards Ros, and truly plumbs the depths of civilized behavior in a disturbing, bordering-on-rape scene in a shipping container.
I don’t want to belabor the point since I am willing to admit that maybe I’m just not the right person to evaluate Scum objectively. Perhaps if you are a tried and true K.A. Merikan fan, you’ll gobble this story up. But if you are a reader not already indoctrinated into this genre, I would not recommend Scum as your first foray into that world. Take that for what it’s worth. If dark, gritty, and disturbing content is more in your wheelhouse, you may like this book just fine. Alas, that is not me.
RATING: 
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