Dangerous Game by Bel Blackwood is an opposites attract, humorous crime thriller between a hapless nanny and an ice cold Russian Mafiosa.
Ah, sweet revenge. That’s all Wren Sawyer wants, for the rest of the world to suffer as she has. So she sends pretty invitations in the mail, creates elaborate party favors and cocktails, and waits in her apartment for everyone to show up and see how well she’s taking the breakup. And waits, and waits. When no one shows up she goes to plan B.
The smirking other woman her girlfriend cheated on her with is Wren’s next target. Mission: seduce the woman then break her heart. But life even cheats her of that when she discovers Katya Volkov is a dangerous Russian mob boss. She has two vicious children who become Wren’s job to care for after she’s kidnapped by the gorgeous and menacing mobster.
Writing
The humor remains first rate throughout the book, even as it takes a definite turn toward thriller. Wren is the character the reader follows most of the time, with just enough Katya to help understand where she’s coming from and to underscore the mystery. I was on the edge of my seat with the Kleenex suspense, and then again much later in the book. By the time things heat up all a reader can do is hold on and root for Wren, who they will love by about page two.
Normally the political maneuvering of a kingdom or family, both of which is involved with the mob, leaves me cold. The author has a deft hand at making the politics of crime organizing understandable and interesting. There aren’t a lot of characters, but they are all compelling in some way. The author keeps the essence of Wren intact through enormous changes and dangers in her life.
There is a bit of everything in the book, from humor to thriller and suspense, and all of it works well. There’s even a mystery which had me completely fooled and made me want to immediately go back to page one and start again.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
The humor is outstanding throughout. Even when I was literally on the edge of my seat at one point I was also giggling – yet again – at some kind of self-deprecating, observational absurdity from Wren, who I totally wanted to cuddle so hard by page two.
Set up of the plot is so smooth, and the pacing so spot on that I had a hard time putting the book down for non-essentials like eating and sleeping. When I say that there is one scene that had me on the edge of my seat I’m not kidding. By that point the reader will have a good idea just how dangerous Wren’s new world is, and she’s so adorable it would be unbearable to have anything else bad happen to her.
Child characters are almost always sweet and loveable in fiction but Luka and Yuliya are the complete opposite. I was surprised at how believable their rehabilitation felt. Children who threaten to murder their nanny is not only funny but becomes a lesson plan in child psychology.
Heads Up
Threats of violence and a torture (not described). The plot is predicated on an infidelity.
The Conclusion
This book has so much it’s bonkers. Unrelenting humor that always works, mystery, thriller, and an epic opposites attract romance that on paper seems impossible. Wren Sawyer is a meek daycare worker who doesn’t want much. She just wants to seduce and break the heart of Katya Volkov, the woman her girlfriend cheated on her with. Wren wins the Absolutely Cruddy Day Sweepstakes by discovering gorgeous Katya is a dangerous mob boss with two disastrously awful children who could use a nanny. After being kidnapped and practically forced into servitude, Wren is dismayed to discover she is falling for the ice cold bratva queen.
Even when the going gets perilous, the funny shines through, and though the children really are dangerous they’re just kids who need a deft and loving hand. There are few characters I’ve fallen in love with more quickly and deeply than Wren, so of course implausible Katya can’t help but fall in love with her.
Excerpt from Dangerous Game by Bel Blackwood
That one glass of wine turned into another, and then she was dragging a finger around the lip of her glass, looking down at the empty seat across from her.
She was an artist, painting a picture of dejection so big that everyone in the restaurant couldn’t ignore it. Woe is me!, her slumped shoulders screamed.
All that wine wasn’t simply a prop, either. As that pleasant warmth spread through her, it mingled with the anticipation of her revenge, igniting something inside her.
Set-up? Check. Liquid courage? Check.
Now, there was only one thing missing…
Without raising her head, Wren looked up from underneath her lashes and scanned the room.
The other woman. Wren had spent enough time scoping out the Wheatsheaf to know that she was a regular.
Call it reconnaissance. Call it knowing thy enemy. Definitely call it one of those things, because ‘making yourself peek through the windows of a restaurant for a whole week and repeatedly watching your girlfriend cheat on you while you work up the courage to break up with her’ was just plain sad.
Wren’s gaze slowly moved across the room – and then her heart stopped.
There, tall and elegant at the head of her regular table, was the woman.
Wren’s target.
That vixen. That…that hussy!
Did anyone actually say hussy these days? Wren wasn’t sure. She eyed the other woman. No, not just the other woman: The Other Woman.
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 978-83792337110
Publisher: Indie Author
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