Review: Domesticated Beast by Onley James
SYNOPSIS:
JAVIER DE LA FUENTE is a criminal, an ex-con with a long line of offenses, atoning for his sins by rescuing abused animals and advocating for child victims. But that doesn’t mean he’s a saint. Javier learned years ago that what’s right and what’s legal aren’t always the same thing.
BOWIE BAKER is a ballet dancer, a soloist doing his best to get ahead in his LA dance company. Until an opportunity turns his life into a nightmare that Bowie can’t seem to escape. He’s never been a victim and he’s not about to start now, even if that means storming the police station full of righteous fury and facing down a room of armed detectives.
One look at Bowie and Javier is all in, calling in favors just for an opportunity to see him again. To make him feel safe. Bowie knows Javier isn’t a good guy, but he’s had enough of the good guys and maybe Javier is the kind of bad he needs.
When an attempt to make Bowie feel safe again only thrusts him further into danger, Javier has to decide whether he’s willing to risk his freedom, and maybe even his life, to keep Bowie in his arms for good.
REVIEW:
For me, this was probably the best book out of the series. Is it sprinkled with morally gray characters and questionable decisions…yes. Is there insta-love after a questionable first meeting…yes. But by the end of the story there was enough action that I found I didn’t want to put the book down.
Javier is the questionable prisoner I was expecting throughout the series. He does things that definitely skirt the legal system, and he shows little to no remorse. Upon meeting Bowie at the police station, Javier’s first course of action was to run a thorough background search and find out where he lives and works. And honestly, I was here for Javier’s light version of stalking….and Bowie was too apparently. These two immediately fall for each other even while they spend time apart. While Javier goes to Mexico for a few weeks, this only lasts a chapter or two of them being separated. I wish we had more as they talked on the phone every night. I think this would have further solidified the relationship and made things not feel so instantaneous.
Past the romance, I adored how accepting of Bowie Javier’s family was. It was just one big love fest and given Bowie’s past, he deserves that. In terms of the danger, this story was fairly action packed. Whenever a lull occurred, it was a short lived joke to lure them into a false sense of security. The endless danger kept me turning the page. And I liked that I didn’t know who was behind everything till it was all revealed. But my major grievance is there was a loose end that we were never told if or how that was cleaned up. I would have liked a little more closure there. Overall, probably my favorite read in the series.
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