ARC Review of Cartel: Book 1 BY Lili St Germain

This is one gritty, captivating ,amazing and dark read. It was definitely one of the most raw, violent and gritty books that you will come across in a long time. Cartel immediately grabs you in the prologue and doesn’t let up until the very last word as it lets you into the criminal world of Cartels, drugs and their networks. This doesn’t pretty up that world instead it shows the darkness of those worlds- the violence, revenge, death, drugs, sex trafficking, extortion..oh and so much more than can be named for it has to be experienced in the reading where the monsters, criminals, and dangerous bikers live. Dornan is the son of a powerful Cartel head and VP of the Gypsy Brothers MC. He is someone you DO NOT want to cross. He is nasty, violent, mean, and so much more than can be listed. He will not save you , he will throw you to the wolves type of man. When his dad brought Mariana over to the states from Columbia, he actually shows a bit of heart when it comes to her. For unexplained reasons , he shows Mariana a small bit of heart because she doesn’t bow down and she fights back even with all that happens to her. Even knowing that she belongs to his dad as his slave, Dornan still finds he is attracted to her. This is where we see this push/pull between Dornan and Mariana. She is owned by Dornan’s dad and is a slave and must work off the debt owned by them on her father.
In book one, Cartel starts laying down who are all the players are and how Mariana came to be in the possession of Dornan’s father and the Gypsy Brothers MC. Even though we see all the dark and gritty side , we also see the beginning relationship that starts between Dornan and Mariana. It is not the heart and flower kind but one of burning desire and craving , dark and heat and hot intensity kind. Oh wow, by the end of the book did we see that. By the end of the book , nothing is clear except their feelings and it sets up book 2. I cannot wait to see what happens.

My Rating: 4.8 stars *****
"I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***