Dirty novella series by Cheryl McIntyre

Dirty 1-5

Summary:

"Three. This is my number. It’s the exact sum of reasons I continue to go on.

One: To strengthen my body. Make it strong. Make it a machine. Make it so that what happened before can never, ever, happen again.

Two: To help others find their own strength so that what happened to me, what happened to my Olivia, doesn’t happen to them.

And three: My favorite—to find the bastards that took my life away and make them pay for what they did.

This is what my life is now. A dead man, inside a scarred body, living only for revenge."

This is a novella series by one of my favorite contemporary authors, Cheryl McIntyre.

This story is much darker than her other books, but still amazing. Even though I wish there was more books of these characters and more for me to read of their story. Keep in mind that this mini-series is not for everybody, and has some pretty dark content that might make some people uncomfortable. It talks about sexual abuse, and intense violence.

Rocky was assaulted when she was in high school, but since she wasn't exactly "innocent" the boy got away with it.  Five years later to maintain a semblance of control she spends her time in seedy bars letting random guys, for lack of better words, go down on her. She also spends as much time as she can drunk or on the verge of being drunk.

Linkin, Link, was nearly murdered four years ago, and his girlfriend, Olivia (Livie), was violently murdered right in front of him. And he spent the next four years turning his body into a machine so he could exact revenge on what was taken from him. He owns a gym where he holds a class that teaches women how to protect themselves so what happened to Livie won't happen to them.

Rocky and Link meet through her brother who is an employee of Link's at his Gym. They slowly bond over sharing the kind of damage they both suffered, and it doesn't help Link that Rocky reminds him of his dead girlfriend. Link spends most of these books hunting down the men that took his love away from him, while Rocky spends her time trying to maintain control in her life.

Through the mutual suffering, they share Link and Rocky become closer on an intimate level, and things go a little haywire for Link when he discovers a connection between Rocky and one of the men that brutalized him and Olivia. Instead of being angry with her, he is scared for her. Giving him even more reason to finish what he started.

This story does have a happy ending, but at the same time I felt there were a couple loose ends to the story. I don't know who I would recommend this book to. The dark tone would put a lot of people off, but I'm weird and don't get too bothered by this kind of content, I think it gives a more interesting story that isn't so cookie cutter and makes the people in the story seem more real. If this story sounds interesting to you, then check it out, if not, that's okay too.