Title: Bad Deeds
Author: Lisa Renee Jones
Publisher/Year:  St Martin’s Press 8/8/17
Length:   228 Pages
Series:  Dirty Money #3

Overview

Would you bleed for the one you love?

To save his family empire from the grip of the drug cartel, Shane is pushed to the edge of darkness, forced to make choices he might never make. His father is dying. His brother is desperate to rule the empire and this means war and all gloves are off. His brother only thought he knew what dirty meant. Shane is about to give it new meaning. There is another war brewing though, and that one, is inside him, his battle between right and wrong, light and dark, and in the heat of the night, it is Emily he turns to for escape. Driving her to new limits, pushing her to accept a part of him that even he cannot.

In every one of Shane’s seductive demands, Emily can taste and feel, his torment, his struggle to save his family and not lose himself. But he is losing himself, and that is a problem just as dangerous as her secret, that still lurk in the shadows, a threat to the Brandon Family waiting to erupt. No matter where she and Shane have traveled, or will travel in the future, she can’t just sit back and watch him become everything he hates, everything he never wanted to become, everything she tried to save him from when she tried to run. It could be their undoing, the end. His end.

This is war, blood will spill, and someone in the heart of the Brandon family will not survive….

Wall Street meets the Sons of Anarchy in Damage Control, the smoldering, scorching next novel in the explosively sexy Dirty Money series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones.
The only thing more dangerous than a dark secret is a damaged heart…

Shane Brandon has been pushed to the brink, torn between his corrupt family and his explosive, all-consuming desire for Emily Stevens, who he now knows is not who, and what, she seems. Has he trusted the wrong person? Will she, not his brother Derek, be the ultimate destruction of his family Empire.
Emily tries to run from Shane, but he will stop her, confront her, force her to reveal all – one hot touch and kiss, at a time, under every intimate detail of who this woman is, and what she wants, is exposed. But as he tears away the dangers of the unknowns with the woman in his bed, and in his heart, The Martina Cartel, has set their sites on his company, his family, and the one piece of leverage they believe he won’t gamble with: Emily.

My Thoughts

This series is getting intense and while we’re making progress in the story – there’s something intense and insane around each corner that throws us back a few steps.  We’re still in the middle of the Brandon Family life of chaos – Brandon Sr is still fighting for his life and Derek and Shane are fighting for control of the company.  Every time Shane things that he’s able to make a step toward the positive and clean up the operation of the company, something comes up that makes it impossible.

Add in all the women, their mother – who’s having an affair with Sr’s best friend, Emily who we know some of her past but not quite enough to get how things truly are, and Theresa – the daughter of a cartel king  and who’s finding herself intertwined in a love situation with Derek.

Throughout this third book we start to think that things will work out – Shane begins to out maneuver Adrian – the son of the cartel leader – and hopefully figure out how to get his company clean and keep everyone alive.  The challenge becomes the fact that a man in the organization with Adrian has gone rogue – always goes rogue and leaves us on a cliffhanger where people are either dying or dead at the end of this third book.

In true fashion of Ms Jones, we get to see some really intriguing and sexy relationships form.  What Emily and Shane have is something of a fantasy – they are so well suited for each other that it’s no surprise that she’s able to keep him in check when all he wants to do is protect her.  Their chemistry is off the charts and the way that their scenes are written make you feel all the sparks and passion between them.

What’s nice about this story though is that we see a few of the characters come into their own – really figure out how to be the best version of themself, regardless of what that means for everyone else.  There are tough decisions being made, and new businesses being formed that you have to wonder who’s going to be left standing at the end of book 4 to enjoy it.

I’m hopeful that there will be happy endings for everyone, but this isn’t a fantasy world they live in, so i know that we’ll have to suffer and say goodbye to some of them.  I can’t say for sure what i’m expecting since we never get exactly what i’m thinking from Lisa Renee Jones, but that’s a great quality to keep me on my toes.  Now i’m just bummed that i have to wait for the 4th book to come out.  On that note – have a nice weekend everyone!