Thoughts: Beg for Mercy

Beg for Mercy

by Jami Alden
Book 1 of Dead Wrong

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

He lurks in the shadows, waiting and watching.... And once he has you, all you can do is...

BEG FOR MERCY

Megan Flynn thought she was falling in love.  Cole Williams wasn't just handsome and passionate, he was one of the good guys.  Or so she thought, until he arrested her brother-the only family she has left-for a murder she knows he couldn't have possibly committed.  Now, with her heart broken and her brother's life hanging in the balance, Megan will risk everything to prove his innocence.  Even if that means throwing herself into the path of a sadistic killer with a hauntingly familiar MO.

Seattle Detective Cole Williams had given up on making Megan see reason where her brother is concerned.  But when she insinuates herself into the most shockingly brutal case Cole has ever worked, he can't stand idly by.  Plunged into a secret world where the city's elite indulge their darkest desires, Cole will do whatever it takes to bring down a madman who has made Megan his most coveted prey.

I was actually really looking forward to this book (and this trilogy), mainly because I've read a few erotica-contemporary romances by Jami Alden and really DID enjoy them.  They were written well with some fluff love stories that I found decently likable.

And, to be honest, Beg for Mercy was enjoyable for some reasons... but utterly frustrating for others.  The book is written quite well.  Even the mystery and the story's set-up wasn't too bad.

But the murderer was completely obvious the moment he strolls into the book.  And also, I absolutely hated our main couple!  Okay.  Maybe "hated" might be too strong a word for two characters who made me cringe with everything they said and did.  To be blunt:  Megan Flynn is stupid, and Cole Williams is a douche-nozzle.  That is probably the best way to describe these two--their relationship will probably mainly have to be sustained on steamy sex and Megan's ability to overlook every asshole thing Cole does.

From the moment their relationship falls apart in the beginning to their subsequent reunion three years into the present, to Megan's frustrating attempts at investigating her brother's case, to Cole's continued douche-hole behavior...  I just really, really got frustrated with these two before the mid-mark of the book came around.

Megan's amateur and non-existent investigation skills not-withstanding, she is just a trouble magnet who can't seem to do anything right.  While I understand, and also admire, her desperation to find the real killer and get her brother out of prison, she really DOES just recklessly bowl into every situation without thinking about any consequences, and then is surprised when her activities come back to bite her in the ass.

Cole is just a jackass, period.  Even after admitting that he didn't handle his relationship with Megan very well, he still continues to prove to me that he's just a jackass.  He continues to handle his reunion relationship with Megan very poorly, and at times is kind of a condescending jerk.

And the romance was hard for me to root for because Megan all but drops her pants whenever Cole is around her, even though she's still vengefully angry at him for arresting her brother as well as dropping her like a hot potato three years prior when it all happened.  Though I suppose she DOES manage to walk away at least twice before finally just having sex with the asshole...

It's just that, even if she were able to understand Cole's "just doing his job" by arresting Sean because all the evidence added up; I'm not sure that it would have been as easy for her to forgive him for that fact, nor forgive him for walking away from her during a time when she needed support the most.  Sean is her only family, and with him being arrested, Megan pretty much had no one else in her life except for her not-so-serious-but-becoming-serious-because-love boyfriend, Cole.

Anyway...

The reason why this book got an average, 'meh' rating though, is because the book DOES pick up after the midpoint when Cole stops being an asshole and Megan starts using her common sense a little bit more.  Things get a little more interesting.

And also, I liked Sean Flynn.  For a guy stuck in a prison for most of the book, I think he was probably my favorite of all the characters in the entire book.  Coming in a close second might be some side characters such as the fourteen-year-old Devany who actually kind of exhibits a bit more sense than Megan does, even if she DOES make some terrible mistakes--but she's fourteen, so I'm more forgiving.  Also there's the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Kristin Slater, who makes a brief appearance; and even the mysterious former Ranger, Jack Brook.

But mainly, I liked Sean.  He is pretty much like the ideal older, protective brother.

And for this reason, I'm going to continue on reading the rest of the trilogy since Sean is the main character of the second book.


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