Author: Mary Catherine Gebhard
Series: N/A
Audience: Over 18
Genre: Dark Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Unglued Books
Release Date: January 7th 2020
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: Candi Kane PR
Blurb (from Goodreads):
What do you do when the man who raped you has the entire police force in his pocket? When you’re called a slut, a whore, and a liar?*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of his book from Candi Kane PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.
You get your own justice.
My name is Nami DeGrace, and six months ago I was a normal college student. I was volunteering on the campaign of a man I believed in, a man I thought to be good and noble. Then one night that man forced himself on me and everything changed.
The police didn’t believe me. The media reviled me. My friends abandoned me. I dropped out of college and only have one mission in life: make him pay. That is, until Nick Law came in to my life.
Indomitable, infuriating, and irresistible, Law is complicating things.
**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result, my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only.
***Trigger Warnings: Rape, physical violence, depression, animal abuse
I'm no stranger to darker stories, so when I heard of Dirty Law and read the excerpt, I knew I had to have it in my Kindle app. I expected a very dark story, however I didn't anticipate how dark it would get. I loved it and dreaded turning the page at the same time. Let me tell you all about it!
The book starts in the aftermath of Nami's rape. As a reader I loved that so much, as someone interested in human psychology I loved it even more. The author did a fantastic job at showing the shock, shame, and all the emotions following such a vile act. The author isn't afraid to explore the various reasons why someone would choose not to report a sexual assault. This story had it all: the frenzied media choosing to trust the charming, successful, white male over the hurt, young woman, Nami's so-called-friends choosing to believe the lies in the media, even Nami herself thinking that maybe she is the one at fault.
You get to see Nami going from terrified to angry, from self-hatred to wanting to get revenge on the man who stole her future. I honestly was so drawn in by her story and her journey throughout this book, that nothing else truly mattered to me. I wanted her story, I wanted her to finally get justice.
Law was an interesting character. I didn't connect with him from the start. Like Nami, I was very weary of him. I didn't trust him, I thought he was on the bad guy's side, and I expected him to prove me right at every page turn. His story ultimately surprised me. Yes, he lies and he says half truths and he doesn't fully explain his motives, but eventually he explains it all. I can't help but think "oh, okay, I get it". Because I did. He was only doing what he could with the resources he had, within the constraints his situation imposed. See how I'm trying to avoid spoilers?
I liked the darker parts of this book. And it had a lot of those. You get to see Nami develop an obsession with her revenge, you have her ignore personal safety and common sense in favor of catching her rapist in really bad situation in order to get justice for herself. You have Law lie and put himself in very bad situations, and you have another character that I'm not going to mention too much of, but let's just say their story is even more heartbreaking than Nami's.
The only time I truly struggled was in the second half of the book, where there's a scene with a dog. It's a brutal scene, especially because I did not expect it. I was numb, and eventually I had to take a little step back. It's probably the darkest scene in this book, and I wish I had a little bit of a hint before that.
I can't say I truly felt the romance between Nami and Law, only because Nami's quest for revenge and justice had my full attention. I was focused on nothing else than her getting to make the man who'd hurt her pay, and that's it. I was suspicious of everyone around her, as I said, but did like how things end for them.
The book is very fast paced and I read it pretty fast. I couldn't stop reading except for that one small break where I had to step away. If you're a fan of really dark books, give this one a try.
***Trigger Warnings: Rape, physical violence, depression, animal abuse
I'm no stranger to darker stories, so when I heard of Dirty Law and read the excerpt, I knew I had to have it in my Kindle app. I expected a very dark story, however I didn't anticipate how dark it would get. I loved it and dreaded turning the page at the same time. Let me tell you all about it!
The book starts in the aftermath of Nami's rape. As a reader I loved that so much, as someone interested in human psychology I loved it even more. The author did a fantastic job at showing the shock, shame, and all the emotions following such a vile act. The author isn't afraid to explore the various reasons why someone would choose not to report a sexual assault. This story had it all: the frenzied media choosing to trust the charming, successful, white male over the hurt, young woman, Nami's so-called-friends choosing to believe the lies in the media, even Nami herself thinking that maybe she is the one at fault.
You get to see Nami going from terrified to angry, from self-hatred to wanting to get revenge on the man who stole her future. I honestly was so drawn in by her story and her journey throughout this book, that nothing else truly mattered to me. I wanted her story, I wanted her to finally get justice.
Law was an interesting character. I didn't connect with him from the start. Like Nami, I was very weary of him. I didn't trust him, I thought he was on the bad guy's side, and I expected him to prove me right at every page turn. His story ultimately surprised me. Yes, he lies and he says half truths and he doesn't fully explain his motives, but eventually he explains it all. I can't help but think "oh, okay, I get it". Because I did. He was only doing what he could with the resources he had, within the constraints his situation imposed. See how I'm trying to avoid spoilers?
I liked the darker parts of this book. And it had a lot of those. You get to see Nami develop an obsession with her revenge, you have her ignore personal safety and common sense in favor of catching her rapist in really bad situation in order to get justice for herself. You have Law lie and put himself in very bad situations, and you have another character that I'm not going to mention too much of, but let's just say their story is even more heartbreaking than Nami's.
The only time I truly struggled was in the second half of the book, where there's a scene with a dog. It's a brutal scene, especially because I did not expect it. I was numb, and eventually I had to take a little step back. It's probably the darkest scene in this book, and I wish I had a little bit of a hint before that.
I can't say I truly felt the romance between Nami and Law, only because Nami's quest for revenge and justice had my full attention. I was focused on nothing else than her getting to make the man who'd hurt her pay, and that's it. I was suspicious of everyone around her, as I said, but did like how things end for them.
The book is very fast paced and I read it pretty fast. I couldn't stop reading except for that one small break where I had to step away. If you're a fan of really dark books, give this one a try.
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About the Author:
I started writing the moment I could read. My first characters were Wibbley and Squig and I used MS Word and clipart to bring them to life when I was a kid in elementary school. I started seriously thinking about being a writer in High School and I remember the day exactly, because it was such an epiphany. I was always so uncertain. You know how everyone was always asking what you wanted to be when you were older? Well I NEVER could decide. I wanted to be a marine biologist. An actor. A FIRE FIGHTER (thank you Joaquin Phoenix in Ladder 49 for that phase). One day it hit me—A WRITER. I could do it ALL. Then you couldn’t stop me from writing. I penned my first novel at fifteen (but don’t ask me to show it to you, because it’s like I was in competition to beat the thesaurus). When I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, writing became even more important, because it became my therapy. When I wrote my characters, suddenly I wasn’t so alone. These days you can find me daydreaming about where to travel with my husband, singing in my car, or lost in the newest K drama. And planning my next novel, of course
Connect w/Mary Catherine:
Website: https://www.marygebhard.com
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