Book Review: Ruin By Nicolina Martin

Ruin
(Russo Saga #2)
By Nicolina Martin

An innocent coffee. A dazzling stranger. What can go wrong?

Anna Raymond focuses only on her work at a little custom printing company in LA. She’s become a recluse after a traumatic experience that tore her life apart. Her only close contact is with her father. And then Eric happens, barging into her life one morning at a Starbucks. When night falls, she has witnessed a murder, fought for her life, and revealed secrets she meant to stay buried forever.

Eric Reed is a hired killer, well aware of his effect on women and how to use it to his advantage. He’s in LA for one thing only: finish the contract he’s been assigned. Anna was nothing but a means to an end, but he finds himself reluctantly drawn to the enigmatic woman, a mistake that can cost him everything.

That long, cold night, trapped together, changed something fundamental between them. Anna must make a choice, but is it her path to happiness, or will the fervent Eric burn her to ashes?

Available At:

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My Review:

As of two years ago, I decided to challenge myself to read books that I normally wouldn't pick up, with the intention of broadening my horizons and maybe even finding something I liked in stories I didn't think I would like in the first place. This book was the first winner for me with this challenge.

Anti-heroes rub me the wrong way. I've felt like this for quite a few years. I've picked up books in the past that featured this kind of character and as enjoyable as the stories were they didn't captivate me. This book proved to me that maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. The writing style was awesome and the pacing, though slow at times, did great things for the overall story.

Eric was something alright. He came off as very menacing and angry in the beginning. I disliked all the violence but I enjoyed the moments when the heroine got the upper hand on a guy twice her size (even as improbable as it was). He ended up having a sweet and somewhat devious side that kind of redeemed him in some aspects. I'm not sure what to make of him but it was one heck of an entertaining story.

Anna was getting nowhere in her life because of an incident a year before that made her decide to switch careers to try and pursue some peace of mind. She was very skittish and overall unhappy with her life. The way her relationship developed does have stockholm syndrome written all over it but I'm still ok with it (if that makes any sense)? It was well developed within the story and she did try to rationalize it away if that helps.

The ending was kind of sweet! It's like Eric becomes a different version of himself with her by his side and it helped close out the story in a peaceful way just like how it all started.

My Favorite Quotes:

"Just because you can't relate doesn't mean they don't exist. You never know what hides beneath the façade of another human being."

"I live in a world where the monsters under the bed have all come to life."

"You gave me hope when there was none to be had."

My Rating: