Review: Not a rainbow colored unicorn pooping cupcakes kind of series.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 17, 2013
I'm just going to start this off by admitting something.  I, Ali-The-Soulless-Ginger, am one of those 'pre-determined fangirls'.  There, I said it.  Do I need to be in a twelve step program? No.  Are Halle books a little like a crack addiction for me? Yes, and I'm proud to admit it.  So, if you don't want to know what a self-confessed junkie has to say... find another review to read because I am going to tell you why Bold Tricks kicks bootie.I guess I should probably also admit that I am, and always will be, Team Javier. I'll touch on that in a second.There is no lag between Shooting Scars and Bold Tricks.  We start off RIGHT where we left off.  A fact I was very happy with.  The end of Shooting Scars had me in knots with anticipation and those knots didn't loosen until I finished Bold Tricks.Bold Trick is a non-stop roller coaster ride, complete with some pretty major loop-di-loops and corkscrews.  There were several occasions where I felt a little bile rise up...thanks for that, by the way,  Ms. Halle.Ellie, who has always been a strong female character with a huge undercurrent of fragility, is loosing her grip.  Someone else mentioned that she felt more like Eden (from On Every Street) than Ellie.  I have to agree, but I didn't find that odd or bad.  To me, Eden is who Ellie always was.  Yeah, it was a fake name but she was herself in that life with Javier.  She had secrets, but she was trying to live a normal life with the man she loved.  She was real and she was vulnerable.Now she's on the verge of losing everything she's ever loved at the hands of the one man she's always hated.  And the only ones who can help her are the people that know her best. Lies and secrets and all.  She isn't the easiest heroine to love, she's extremely flawed but she comes to grip with much of that in Bold Tricks and makes some very brave moves at becoming the woman Camden always saw she could be.Camden... man, you surprised me yet again.  Camden became an even bigger baddy and I became an even bigger fan.  I never saw him as an Alpha Male, but I'm seeing it now.But, as I said earlier, I am a Javi girl.  He is such a jerk and that doesn't change here. In fact, it becomes so much more prominent.  I was very upset with him in a couple of spots, but not at all surprised.  Yet, I think he still showed a few spots of love and humanity.  I refuse to believe he's pure evil.  There is a heart there, it is just slightly shriveled and gray.  If you go into Bold Tricks thinking Javier is all of the sudden going to be this handsome Knight and ride in on a white stallion...you probably pegged him for the wrong type of guy.The end of The Artist Trilogy, a dramatically dark, exciting and sexy series - was exactly what it needed to be.  It isn't a happily ever after for all involved, everyone does not skip into the sunset giggling and kissing, heck...some don't even survive.  But The Artist Trilogy was never supposed to be a rainbow colored unicorn pooping cupcakes kind of series.