Dubious by Charmaine Pauls
General Genres & Darkness Level - Basic info & Content
Darkness Level 4
Contemporary
Mafia
Tropes & Triggers - Although I try my hardest not to include any spoilers, these tags may give away a little more of the story. If you don't want to risk the possibility of knowing a wee bit extra about the type of content and aren't too bothered anout exact tropes then don't click here 🙂
Age Gap
Angst
Anti-Hero
BDSM
Captive
Controlling Ass
Dubious Consent
Enemies to Lovers
Forced Preganacy
Heroine used as payment for debt
Jealous/Possessive
New Adult
Obsessive/Possessive
Scarred/Disfigured
Strong AF Heroine
Virgin Heroine
Darkness Level – 4 out of 6
My Rating is 5 Stars
Blurb
I was supposed to kill her, but I devised a dubious plan to keep her.
A DARK MAFIA ROMANCE
I’m a loan shark.
Breaking people is in my blood.
The Haynes were supposed to be a straightforward job. Go in and pull the trigger twice. One bullet for Charlie, one for his sister. But when I saw Valentina, I wanted her. Only, in our world, those who owe us don’t get second chances. No way in hell will my mother let her live. So I devised a plan to keep her.
It’s depraved.
It’s immoral.
It’s dubious.
It’s perfect.
Just like her.
Note: Dubious is Book 1 of The Loan Shark Duet and ends on a cliffhanger. Consent (Book 2) concludes the story.
My Review Of Dubious by Charmaine Pauls
Every now and then a book comes along and it blows all other’s that you’ve read in that genre lately out of the water.
The kind of book that hits you hard in the heart, the head and (because it’s me, lol) the clit!
This duet by Charmaine Pauls did that for me. And I’m utterly disgusted with myself that I havn’t read anything else by her before now!
And what’s more, is that it taught me things that I had no idea were going on in the world today.
Seriously, when I started reading Dubious, for the first few chapters I thought I was reading a dystopian novel but it turns out that I’m just completely unaware that this is how life is every day for a lot of people in South Africa.
So before I continue to describe the characters and sexy as fuck scenes (that had me clenching my thighs together in the doctor’s waiting room), I want to thank Charmaine Pauls for opening my eyes.
And now onwards to the kinky fuckery!
VALENTINA
Valentina is a straight-up badass girl and not because she’s sassy or can scrap or anything like that but because when her parents died a few years ago, she picked up the pieces of her broken heart and held them together in order to look after her brother, Charlie.
She has a strength in her that I can quite honestly say I don’t think I would have.
What makes life even harder for her is that Charlie suffered brain damage in a car accident and is now very much childlike and needs constant supervision even though he’s physically a grown man.
They live in an extremely dangerous, derelict area filled with scary dudes and dudettes. The kind of area where there are gangs, rape, violence and many other scary things happen.
In one scene she even has to suck dick – in the street!! – as ‘payment’ for keeping her and her brother safe in their own home by a local thug.
So yeah, her life sucks big hairy donkey balls.
She is trying desperately to make enough money for her and Charlie to survive but they barely have enough to eat. On top of that, she’s trying to finish veterinary school. In order to secure a better life for the two of them.
After finishing another long shift at work she comes home to find that Charlie isn’t there and neither is the neighbour he left him with.
After searching for them she finds them in the local club where, to her horror, she sees that someone has let Charlie gamble…and he’s lost way more than she could ever make in a year!
This is a BIG no-no and now just like that, they owe a very nasty family a lot of money and no way to repay it.
GABRIEL
Wow…this guy…I have so many mixed feelings for this guy.
So this is the big bad scary dude they call the loan shark. He is the one to torture and kill the people who don’t pay their debt to his family.
Guys…he’s scarred. Both inside and out.
He has awful burn scars all over one side of his face and body and he just feels like the biggest ugliest monster out there 🙁
I overcompensated for my looks by becoming a master of physical pleasure. I can’t give her a pretty face, but I can make her scream with orgasms until there’s not a breath of air left in her lungs.
He is one tough-as-nails motherfucker who deep, deeeeep down, lol, has a heart of gold but like a lot of these alpha-holes, he thinks he knows best. About everything.
He witnesses the scene with Valentina and Charlie in his club and when he and his twat of a mother realise that they can’t pay the debt he’s sent in to kill them.
But…he can’t bring himself to do it because he’s kinda obsessed with her already.
So he does something that will piss his mother off to the highest degree.
He takes her as his ‘maid with benefits’.
To work off her debt to them.
FOR 9 FUCKIN’ YEARS!!
But in all honesty, she has no choice but to accept or be killed.
So she asks a friend to take in Charlie and off she goes to work her debt off.
And let me tell you, she goes through some horrendous shit.
There are all kinds of abuse in this story.
Mental, physical and emotional, oh my! (I sang that in my head to the tune of Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! From Wizzard of Oz)
SEX SCENES
Jesus Christ on a motorcycle! I may have needed to change ma knickers a few times while reading this one.
“I want you,” she whispers, breathing beauty into my room. “I want you, Gabriel. Please.” A low groan vibrates in my chest. She’s begging me. She wants me like no other woman has wanted me before–– not for my money or protection, but to ease the need I so carefully planted and nurtured inside of her. Her pleasure is mine, and I’m keeping it forever. “Oh, God, please.” She digs her nails into my back. “Fuck me, already.” We’re both out of control. I need to be lucid, or I risk hurting her, but she has me by the balls–– literally–– dragging her sharp nails from my sac up my ass and sending me way beyond sanity. I grip my shaft and squeeze the root hard, praying the bite of pain will keep me within reason. Pushing up on one arm, I pull myself from the vice of her thighs and part her legs with my knee. When she’s wide and open, I take only a second to enjoy the sight before I lodge the head of my cock in her pussy. Her lips spread wide around my girth, stretching to accommodate all of me. I have precious little control left. “Look at me,” I demand. She opens her eyes. They’re hazy with desire and smoky with need, but they’re focused on me. I rest my elbows on the mattress so I can cup her face between my hands, needing to catch her expressions like a prayer between my palms. The movement shoves me another inch into her. She gasps, and her eyes widen. She’s tight and hot, her unused channel already pushing to expel the foreign object lodged in her entrance. I push deeper, feeling her like a velvet fist around me. I’m big, and she’s fragile, small. Her slickness helps, but it’s like pushing into a narrow chamber of hot, melting lava. The deeper I go, the more she squirms. I see it all in her face–– the shock, pain, trust, and all- consuming need. Sweat beads on my brow and torso. My skin is on fire. Her breaths explode from her chest. “Gabriel…” It’s a plea for mercy. It’s moving too slow. I can drag out the discomfort or make it hurt hard and quick before fucking it all better. Pulling back until only the head of my cock is held in place by the stretching muscle in her opening, I hold on to her face tightly and drive home. Tearing through feminine tissue, I bury myself inside her body as far as I can go. It’s the moment I’ve been dreaming of, of hearing her sounds, seeing her surrender, inhaling the scent of our sex, and feeling her body stretch for my cock. She’s shaking, her fingers digging into my hips. “It’s almost over, beautiful. It won’t hurt for long.” I kiss her jaw and move, taking her with long, careful strokes until her body surrenders just like her mind, her tight channel embracing my dick rather than pushing it out. Her moans turn to panting. It’s music to my ears. When she throws her head back, I let go of her face, holding only her eyes. I play with her body, petting her breasts and clit as I stroke deeper and faster, taking everything she can give, everything that makes Valentina a woman. I knead and massage until she’s soft and pliant in my arms. She molds like wet, earthy clay under my touch, until her hips start moving to the rhythm of my fingers on her clit. And then it’s over. She breaks. Her body sucks me deeper, catching my cock in a trap of painful ecstasy. Her pupils dilate like shooting stars, and her gaze flies away from me like a comet as she comes and leaves a burning trail in my soul.
FINAL THOUGHTS on THE LOAN SHARK DUET by Charmaine Pauls
This duet was just so well written I can not recommend it enough…as long as you’re not easily triggered by dub/non-consent…or bullying…or mind games…or possessive alphas…or hot AF sex, or violence. Ya know…all the good stuff!
There was also a massive twist in there that I did NOT see coming. In fact, there were a couple.
This book is dark, gritty, emotional, hot AF, all-consuming…I loved it!
5 Stars
Thank you for reading!
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