The Loan Shark Duet: Dubious (Book 1) & Consent (Book 2) (The Loan Shark Duet: A Dark Mafia Romance) Kindle Edition

This story went far beyond my expectations in every way. I got lost in the believable and intensely emotional story of Gabriel and Valentina. The danger had me biting my nails, the plot was engrossing and realistic, and it was off the charts h-o-t. The author was able to make us feel empathy for even the most deplorable of characters and every person in the story was well developed and nuanced. You understand what drives them and you feel their pain. This was seriously skillful writing. I am so satisfied, but I want more! This is an author to read!

Started strong. Muddy with oddly specific (unnecessary) details in the middle. Ending not bad- little rushed.Magda's motives became pretty predictable early on and I just kept waiting for it to come to light- which took forever. Secondary characters poorly developed. It needed more at the same time it needed less.

A bit of a different story line. No crazy abuse. I enjoyed it but I wouldn’t say it was the best out there. The scenes were steamy but not too over the top. It was overall a good book but I wasn’t flabbergasted.

(Book 1)My first Charmaine Paul book and I'm patting myself on the back for picking such an addicting read. Though I have a feeling all of her books will be tremendously addicting.I'm relatively new to this Dark Romance world and with each different author, I get sucked deeper and and deeper into this genre, and I'm certainly not complaining.This book actually delved into some of the activities that I don't really find appealing. Yet because of the author's writing style and abilities, those activities turned into very interesting reads. Some of the best parts of the book actually.I honestly can't say there was a single aspect of this book that I didn't enjoy. Enjoyed ALL of the characters. Even found the villain engrossing and never felt the urge to skip her parts of the book. Didn't have one issue with the supporting characters and especially not the leading characters.So, needless to say since I loved Dubious book 1, Consent book 2, is a definite must read.Dubious = 5 stars.(Book 2)The only thing I hate in regards to this series, it ended. But oh what a fabulous ending.I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one day this author will continue the, series. It's just that good. The characters are so rich and there is still so much story with endless possibilities due to their new lives and working environments. I wouldn't even mind skeletons from their past reappearing. Obviously, I'm just not ready to say good bye to these characters and will definitely reread both of these books.The readers who are familiar with Charmaine Pauls, they already know she's a sublime writer. A writer that takes the reader on a compelling journey with the subjects she writes about. This book Consent actually the entire Loan Shark Duet is a FIVE STAR read.

This series was my introduction to this author and it was way more than I’d expected. The writing the detail and the depth made this unforgettable.Dubious- 4.5*The book paints a desolate picture, it's set in Johannesburg in what has become known as drug valley, everyone with money moved leaving the area for the drug dealers, Mafia and gangs.It's safe to say Valentina is struggling, after losing both her parents she looks after her brain damaged brother, Charlie. She's trying her best to give them a future by training to become a vet but she hardly earns enough to get by on top of feeding and looking after Charlie she has huge college bills to cover.She's barely keeping her head above water which is bad enough but the book opens with her arriving home from work one night to find Charlie missing. She knows where he'll be, her neighbour a car thief named Jerry was supposed to be watching him but as well as being a car thief he also has a gambling problem and she discovers Charlie is not only gambling but he's a VIP and owes four hundred thousand rand.She never thought to declare him incompetent and revoke his financial signing power.Gabriel Louw is known and feared and he's come to collect, Valentina has nowhere to go and no way to pay the debt.Gabriel has orders to kill both Valentina and Charlie to set an example and reinforce that's it's a bad idea to mess with the Louw family but Gabriel wants Valentina and offers her a different deal. She's his for nine years while she works off her brothers debt in any way he sees fit.Magda (Gabriel's mother) is furious she wants Val and Charlie dead and so Valentina finds herself property of the Louw family and made to clean the huge mansion.Magda pushes because she needs her to fail, she's determined to kill her whereas Gabriel is intrigued and obsessed and needs her alive but his mother is a cruel and powerful woman who always gets what she wants.Gabriel turned out to be an interesting character and not what I was expecting. I've read books similar to this before and in them the Gabriel character is always top of the food chain with total control and command and while they may have demons they answer to no one.The fact that Magda is very much at the top of food chain adds another dynamic to this book. Gabriel is also scarred and disfigured and far from the male perfection I'm used to but the attraction between him and Val is unlike anything either of them has felt before.Gabriel's obsession increases along with Magda's determination to push Valentina to fail. Valentina is caught in the middle with nine long years stretching out before her but we all know one way or another she's not making those nine years as she is now, something has to give.Valentina is strong, unbelievably strong and her love for her brother is, at first anyway the only thing that gets her through each day. As things progress Gabriel turns into the only thing getting her through the nights.This in itself makes for compulsive reading but the more Gabriel gets to know Valentina the more both she and her past confuse him and he starts to investigate.By this point, faults and all I just wanted Gabriel and Valentina to be together and this is the point a lot of books would end, with a nice HEA and I'd be happy.But here there's Magda and Gabriel needs to find a way to keep Valentina alive.I'm running on 3 hours sleep since I stayed up to finish this and even then I barely resisted starting Consent.It's safe to say this book was a surprise, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did and it's very close to getting 5* which is a rating I very rarely give.Consent - 4.5*So Consent picks up exactly where Dubious left off. Valentina is scared and running but her fear overruled her common sense, she grabbed Charlie and ran not giving a single thought to money. Now it's too late, if she withdraws any money she'll give away their location and so she finds herself alone with Charlie, no money, no where to live and no job.Gabriel is beside himself and desperate to find Valentina but he's not the only one searching for her Magda now has the excuse she needs to kill her.We know it's only a matter of time before they're reunited but the question is what will happen then?I only really had two small issues (and they are very small) with this book the first was Valentina not considering how she'd live once she ran (yes I know there's extenuating circumstances) and the second was the tragedy, Gabriel gets lost in himself and while I understood and sympathised I felt it went on just a little too long for me but it's difficult to imagine how someone would deal with that so...This book has a load of stuff going on and I'm not even going to attempt to touch any of it (so no spoilers here) you need to find out for yourself as you're reading. It twists and turns some of which I saw coming some I didn't and it certainly kept me glued the whole way through.It's a fabulous book (well two books) and the author has created characters I'll never forget, it's clever and interesting and I'm still a little surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it.I'm all about the HEA and so I loved the ending for me it was perfect, the icing on the cake and I'll be looking out for other books from this author but....I'm mentioning this only because I have friends who don't feel the same way. Dubious started as a dark read, Gabriel was a powerful and dominating man (although we always knew Valentina was his weakness) but in Consent he changes, the tragedy he suffers affects him greatly and he becomes a different man. I liked this change, I liked him and just about everything about this book but if, like my friends you like a man to stay dark and true throughout then this maybe isn't the book for you.For the rest of us who love a great HEA then start reading now.I very rarely give 5* but again this came very very close.I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley and Charmaine Pauls.

Eine wahnsinnig aufwühlende Geschichte, über das Ende lässt sich streiten, das mir ein wenig zu happy wurde. Aber nicht mal dieser Punkt würde einen Stern Abzug rechtfertigen.Ich habe dieses Buch (also beide Bände) binnen anderthalb Tagen gelesen. Lesen müssen, weil nicht nur die Geschichte fesselt, die Dramatik zweier Menschen, die keine andere Wahl haben, als die Dinge so zu handhaben, wie sie es eben tun. Sondern auch weil der Schreibstil so unglaublich unter die Haut geht. Er zieht einen mit, macht atemlos und verursacht Knoten im Magen.Die Kunst der schönen Worte, selten, dass man so einen Stil findet … Das ist keines der Bücher, die man liest und schnell wieder vergisst.

Maybe was not my style. I like dark but for me some parts of this book was too dark for my taste.Very well written, the author is able to give so many details, turns and plots.If you live a very dark love this one if for you!

This is the first time I have read from this author.. She's amazing.. I can't keep down the book until finish..I liked Gabriel and Valentina characters.. Can't wait for next book..

It's like "Fifty Shades" series. A powerful and rich man in love with an innocent and not rich woman. Interesting story line, but too many repetitive scenes (while describing sex scenes) and too often that quite disturbing (I have impression that I read the same scenes over again). Otherwise it's an easy story to follow, despite 600 page.

Entspannend,einfach perfekt für mich