Love the Sinner by Avril Ashton

Summary:

Detective Gabriel Ashby has never looked twice at another man, yet the criminal across from him, the man he’s interrogating, isn’t like any other. Gabe can’t deal with the sudden, intense need he has for one of NYPD’s Most Wanted. Everyone close to Angelo Pagan ends up dead, with the smug gang leader standing amid the rubble. Gabe would love nothing more than to bust Angelo’s ass and lock him up. So why is he seeing the bastard in his dreams at night?

Angelo Pagan knows attraction to Gabe is suicide. He’s resolute to ignore the chemistry…until a police raid goes wrong. He critically injures Gabe, changing the trajectory of both their lives. Now the two can’t get close enough. They settle into a forbidden affair threatened by lies and betrayal, living on different sides of the law with no way of breaching the gap between them. With the authorities looking to make an example of Angelo, Gabe has to decide if it’s really worth it to hate the sin but love the sinner.

 Reviewer: Fashionta

Bad boy Angelo Pagan is in an interrogation room with Detective Gabriel Ashby, yet as they sit across from each other the sparks flying between them are undeniable! Even with his 12 yrs on the force (and Gab is straight), how come he can’t stop the slow stirring attraction building up inside of him for Angelo. Well I for one can’t wait to find out! The idea behind this story you simply can’t go wrong with! Cop and Criminal; falling in love, even with the odds against them? Bring it on!

 

This is definitely one of those lust-at-first-sight-though-I-know-I-should-hate-you type of book. It’s almost a bit unbelievable how immediately Gab reacts to Angelo cataloging his features, comparing them to women even though he is confused and struggling against the gut reactions Angelo thrusts towards him just by his laid back attitude and Brooklyn accent flavored with a hint of his Spanish background. Let's not even mention the girl waiting back at home for Gab though he seems to barely remember her all of a sudden as he now can’t stop thinking about this tough gang leader who just lost his sister in an apparent gang related murder. Angelo’s can’t seem to keep his eyes off Gab either, tossing him little smirks like he’s saying, 'Come on lets have some fun!' LOL

 

Holy damn! The first kiss between them is filled with so much emotion, so many unsaid words, unfamiliar feelings and an uncontrollable need for more. The heat coming off them both is fierce. You can see Gab struggling beforehand not wanting to accept the need growing within him, but once they kiss, the rightness of it consumes him. Yet he only asks for a kiss, foolishly thinking he’ll be able to forget Angelo after one taste. And how Angelo is able to walk away after giving Gab that kiss I don’t know, maybe it was that his feelings for Gab seem to be stronger, but he won’t allow himself to force Gab into something he doesn’t want, because Gab is straight – right? 

Every time they come together the atmosphere around them just intensifies. They are so good together, so hot, so sexy. In order for their relationship to work, they decide to keep the Cop and Gang Leader separate; when they are together they are just Gab and Angelo. Even as they make the promise to keep it all separate it’s almost immediate the difficulty and strife they each have to go through to leave it all separate, yet the thought of not being with the other is strong enough to work past the initial feelings to judge the other. 

It seems Angelo has one pissed off uncle – Carlos who he is sure is the cause of not only his sister’s death but the recent deaths popping up as well: a family blood feud that escalades into a gang war. My heart really goes out to Angelo, when you get the story behind the fighting between the gangs, and the emotional pain he goes through with those memories. It makes it so real, so tangible. 

Then you have Gab, being a detective, having to deal with learning about all the things going on with Angelo’s gang, getting blindsided, their relationship hits many potholes, but you can see the growing love between them as they struggle to hold onto each other. (I liked how no matter what tried to stand in their way they held strong, with only minor hiccups. It felt very real and believable. I was able to understand the characters and live in the moment with them, cheering for them.)

 

Something I didn’t like so much was Angelo’s ability to kill so easily. I understood it; he’s a gang leader and has to demand loyalty, and to never allow any weaknesses to show through. Maybe it was him dealing out the punishments that felt wrong for me? But I just loved his sweet side he showed to his mother and to Gab, I felt everything else was just a façade. Almost as if the only reason he’s even the leader of the gang is due to the cruelty his uncle had dished out – killing his own brother, Angelo’s father, then turning around and killing Angelo’s sister as well. Only a cruel, twist, sadistic man would do such a thing to family. But than that’s Carlos … you can’t help but hate him from the moment you learn about him and the pain he has caused Angelo and his family. 

The twist in this story leaves you speechless. Even though you can see it coming, it’s the raw emotions between Gab and Angelo that hit you. You want to both scream and be happy at the same time. The ending … is beautiful, heartfelt, and so right. 

I give this 4.5 stars. Hot, sexy and will have you turning the page demanding to know what’s going to happen next! Definitely recommended! 

  

Publisher: Ellora Cave                        
Source:  Purchased