I have been a fan of Keri Lake since I read Soul Avenged years and years ago! I love how she can turn dark and gritty into a beautiful, perfect love story. Backfire was no different and I immediately fell in love with the characters, the story, and the setting. Backfire was dark, gritty, romance perfection. Keri Lake weaves a story that is unapologetic with a beautiful darkness that will leave you breathless, on the edge of your seat, and begging for more and more. I. COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN!

“Shit thing about life is, when you throw an immovable object into the path of a bullet, it doesn’t follow any laws or principles. It backfires.”

Lucy is a beautiful, intelligent woman who dropped out of college after her mother’s death. She works for an underground newspaper and has a job at a strip club doing graphics for their advertisement. Doing what she needs to do to get by day by day and pay the bills. Lucy is into thrill seeking photography called urbex. When Lucy is out shooting a desolate, run down, abandoned building she is witness and records a gruesome crime. Little did she know, the thrill seeking had just begun.

“When I was seven, my mother told me that there were devils cloaked as angels, and that I would learn to see beyond their masks. Fifteen years later, though, and I could still be fooled.”

Jase is a panty-dropping, hotter than sin, bad boy. He’s had a rough childhood….a rough life all around. After being thrust into a salt mine prison for over a year, he is released by an unexpected adversary. Jase has a thirst for blood. He was to wreak vengeance on those who have wronged him and taken those he loved from him. His first task though? Find the one behind the camera who ratted him out in the first place. The one, who was responsible for him being imprisoned.

……but he has a time limit, or he could be the one who ends up dead.

“Five weeks to hunt down the men who destroyed my life. Five weeks to exact my revenge.”

While Keri Lake has a natural talent for bringing the dark, and gritty elements to her stories she also has some humor thrown in as well. Things such as…

“damn tit-slinging ninja.”

Had me giggling like a school girl. The dark elements were gritty. The sex was undeniably hot and erotic. The building of the relationship between the hero and the heroine was perfect. The slow gradual build of trust was exactly as is should be. Their was a familiarity between the two characters that neither one could put their finger on. The push and pull between the two of the made me want to yell at them! They both fought their attraction, their connection to each other, until they could fight no more.

“I didn’t want shelter or safety from his storm. I wanted to be swept up and taken away, spiraling out of control with him.”

I have been a Keri Lake fan for a long time and will continue to love and support her phenomenal work! She never disappoints! This book had everything I love and more! The dark, the romance, the sex, the ups and downs and twists and turns that you never see coming! Backfire had me on the edge of my seat, flipping page after page wondering……WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?!?! This book had me biting my nails with the suspense and anticipation of what was to come. Keri Lake definitely delivered with this phenomenally written, beautifully dark book! I can’t wait for what comes next!!

“When you want something bad enough, you can’t be afraid of the fall.”

5 Dark, Gritty Stars!!