A Dirty Business by TijanMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. This book released on December 6, 2022 and is available now..
This follows Jess, a by the book parole officer who accidentally overhears a conversation at a hockey game she wasn't supposed to hear. While it wasn't anything of great detail, the man on the phone is involved in one of the largest mafia families on the east coast. She doesn't know who Trace is or what his affiliation is, all she knows is she is instantly attracted to him and can't stop thinking about him. The attraction is mutual for Trace, but he wants nothing to do with a cop. They both know that they are bad news for each other given their professions but they keep running into each other and eventually stop fighting the pull that keeps bringing them together. Their affair is dangerous for both of them, especially when there are bigger things at play.
This book was very slow burn. The last 20% of the book is where most of the action took place, but the rest was not the action packed mafia romance we've seen from the author in the past. There are alternating scenes of Jess and Trace's lives where they are going about their daily business all the while pining for each other. I feel like we didn't get enough scenes with them together to really build their relationship and their chemistry. We definitely get the feeling of longing and desperation to be together since they are not supposed to be together but love each other anyway. I thought the action scenes were good they were just far to spread out and I still don't know what is going on. I understand this is a series so hopefully the missing pieces will become clear in the future books.
