I don't know what happened with this book in the trilogy, but I just really disliked it. The PTSD storyline took over the whole book, and it just isn't something that I enjoy reading about. More than that, I found the whole relationship between Evan and Lia totally unbelievable--what girl would stick by a guy who does what he does?! I just don't think this trilogy was for me.

Fantastic! Loved all the Evan Arden books...series is five stars.

I love Evan Arden

5 deliciously angsty ★★★★★s all the way

I loved this trilogy. LOVED it. Evan Arden is by far the roughest, most badass, grittiest, fucked-up, mentally broken, tortured, endearing asshole anti-hero I've ever met! Did I say I love the bastard? Because I do. I'm sprung. He's dark, he's damaged, he's a lost soul in a violent mafia world, and God, did I eat him up with a spoon. His story was everything I never knew I wanted in a book. I'm glad I knew so little about these books before jumping in. Had I known some of the particulars I may have hesitated, and it would have been my loss.

I would consider these books to be more Evan's story than anything else. For anyone looking for something heavily romantic, this is not that at all. This is a highly unconventional romance, but it's so good, I don't even know how these books aren't more popular. They are more romantic suspense, very much weighted on the side of suspense than romance. SPOILERISH:....... come on, the heroine, Lia, doesn't even appear in the second book, until the very last scene! end of spoilerish detail and yet, I absolutely loved the second book and how it kept me guessing, not knowing where things were going. The third book is equally good, even if it's still all told from Evan's POV. Living in his head is fascinating. It was so real, I felt like I knew what the life of a hit man really is. I understood how hollow, bloody and lonely, and how close he was to snapping.

The books are masterful in creating a character so real and full of depth that I felt for him, cried for him, hated him and loved him. I was totally mindfucked. He's immoral, he's a dick, and yet I couldn't stop rooting for him. He's led such a sad life, from growing up without parents, raised by nuns in a convent, to the torture he suffered as a prisoner of war and the terrible things he had to do as a sniper in the Marines, that my heart broke for him.

This isn't so much about Evan and Lia's relationship. It's all about Evan. Evan's struggle, Evan's undoing... Evan's journey from a Marine to a POW to a Mafia hit man, to a mentally unstable man, to a man in love. It was powerful. He was willing to stop at nothing to ensure the safety of the one woman he's come to care for after a life of nothing but hookers. I loved how he jumped through virtual hoops to earn his way out of the mafia and give himself a chance to live and love. Lia is everything to him, she is sanity itself. His desperation to have a chance at happiness was so tangible I felt it in my soul. It had me on the edge of my seat, tangled in emotion. It ate me up and spit me out. I'm now convinced I'm some sort of bookish masochist.

My only teensy tiny gripe with this book is that I would have loved to have a little more screen time with Evan and Lia as a couple. The story was so heavily centered on the suspense/crime aspect that it came at the cost of the romantic elements. Lia is mainly a secondary character to Evan's struggle to free himself of the crime world, so much so that we never get her POV. Perhaps some of that would have helped to give their relationship a little more dimension. I do understand this is really Evan's story. It seems to be what the author intended. Still, it would have served to understand Lia's thought process a little better, given how dangerous Evan's world is and how unexpected, and morally opposed to her. For how little they knew each other, I was a bit surprised at how passively she seemed to just roll with it. She mainly appeared on screen for the sex scenes (which by the way were hotter than blazes. Evan is so rough, and dirty and has a thing for women's asses. The man can do fantastic things to them.)

This is still 5 stars to me. I can't wait to read more from this author. I love her voice. It takes a heap of talent (and balls) to write a whole trilogy in the male POV. This is one of the best, most convincing ones I've EVER read. I highly recommend these books to anyone who doesn't mind angsty, rollercoaster reads with a morally dubious hardass, totally delicious anti-hero, and quite a bit of violence thrown in, not to mention the heavy mafia suspense aspect. I also recommend them to anyone looking for a breath of fresh air. These books were like nothing I'd ever read before and that made me love them all the more. ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Buddy read with my beautiful, Wendy. I couldn't have wished for a more special read to share with you. Thank you!!

I really enjoyed this installment too. Evan is a fascinating character, and I'm glad to see there are more books. But I'd like to talk about Lia. I really liked her, until this book. Even though she's handling things as well as she can, finding out her boyfriend is an assassin for the Chicago Mafia, her emotional outbursts are annoying. But I know that's closer to real life, than someone who stays calm when all that violence is happening around them. Anyway, despite my feelings for Lia, I plan to keep reading these books.

4.5 stars

I have loved this series and absolutely adore our anti hero Evan Arden. The story picks up straight after Otherwise Occupied with Evan shackled to a bed at a jail infirmary following his breakdown. He hasn't slept, is having hallucinations and dreaming of the hole in the desert where he was kept as a pow. All in all things don't look great for Evan, especially as he didn't let boss man Rinaldo know he was heading towards the deep end. Then he gets a couple of surprising visitors and the story & action kick in. To protect Rinaldo, who he looks on as a father, and Lia who has become his ticket to sanity, Evan must make a deal that ultimately puts him in the crosshairs of all of the Chicago underworld and pits him against friend and foe. I love Evan the hit man, and I adore Evan the man despite him being a hit man. This was a brilliant finale to this series but I wouldn't be adverse to reading more about this colourful cast of Chicago mobsters :-)

Didn't realize I skipped book 2. Oh well.
Really good book. I liked Evan Arden A LOT! The action was hot, the sexy times were hot, the hero is hot. Gonna go back and read book 2, not because I need to in order to understand book 3, but because I want to read more about Evan Arden. This series is a hit!