Review: Great addition to this raw, edgy series!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2013
fter reading the first book in this series last year, I knew that Selling Out was not going to be an easy read. Amber Lin writes with such raw, unforgiving honesty, and I knew Shelly would be a character that pushed even those boundaries. We first met her as the hard but humorous best friend to Allie, and that glimpse of her life as an escort set the stage for one hell of a ride.There was a lot of pain in Shelly's past, both emotional and physical, and it's hollowed her and numbed her to the point where she just feels worthless and unlovable. She'd escaped the life and was trying to make more of herself and prove she wasn't just a body for sex, and her struggles to change broke my heart. She was determined to get away from that life, but at the same time, escaping her pimp Henri was proving impossible. Impossible without the help of Philip, the man she betrayed, and a certain detective she can't stop thinking about. The feelings Shelly had for the delicious detective Luke Cameron drove her mad because she knew a prostitute and a cop, even if he did care about her, could never work, right? Her frustration with both her situation and Luke's apparent disinterest were so heavy on her mind that she wondered if it was even possible for her to really move on.Let him touch and grab and pinch. Let hi slobber. Let him treat me like I was a piece of meat, no thoughts, no feelings. Let him treat me like this was all I was good for. Do it for long enough, and I might start to believe it. Lord knew I already did. ~ Shelly LOC 323Shelly was not an easy girl to love, but I think she really had to be that way. If she'd been some sweet girl with a warm disposition, she wouldn't have been believable as a woman hardened and haunted by an abusive and tawdry past. She was incredibly strong but still had a whit and sarcasm that made me warm up to her as more of her story was revealed. I do wish Luke had come into the picture as a big part of the story earlier on, because he was so abstract as a love interest until that point, yet Shelly clearly had feelings for him. I appreciated that this wasn't all about the romance, though, and the emphasis on Shelly's struggles to evade Henri allowed the reader to really get inside her head more. Amber Lin painted a painful picture that showed the vulnerability and fear that Shelly carried with her, and I respected her so much more as a character for it."My point is, the guns and the beatings, even the money, that's the web. It's easy to see, so people think that's why prostitutes stay in the life. But really they're stuck because of the venom, the sick poison of shame and fear that we'll never fit in with the regular people again-it paralyzes us. We stay there, frozen, even knowing that we're going to get eaten." ~Shelly LOC 1322Luke and Shelly put themselves in one dangerous situation after another as they tried to track down Henri, and between the suspense and the action, it was intense! I'm not sure which had my heart racing more, the steamy scenes between these two or the moments where it looked like everything was going to blow up in their faces. The betrayals and twists were well-woven into the story and kept me glued right to the end!Fans of this series will be very pleased with this second installment, and not just because we get to see more of the unforgettable supporting characters Colin, Allie, and Philip. Both Shelly and Luke's story of pain and shame tug at your emotions when you least expect it, and Selling Out was a wonderful addition to this series!