Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Scandalous Beat Series: Tempest #6 on 11 November 2017
A rock star. A stripper. Can a hookup lead to a happily ever after?
Juaquin Acenado.
A drummer. A rapper. A rock king.
My brother’s best friend.
Arrogant. Forbidden. Do-not-go-there-trouble.
The sexy Latino was too old for me when we first met and I was in high school. But he was my first love. I’ve never gotten over him.
Miriam Jackson.
Stripper. Exotic dancer. Her stage name is Queen.
My bandmate’s little sister.
Spicy and sweet. The spark that fires my inspiration. The rhythm to my beat.
She’s the one I imagine when I settle for the others. My ultimate fantasy. Only I can never have her.
Until I arrive in Vegas to record my solo rap album, visit a strip club, and there she is. Miriam was supposed to be in college, but she’s not. She is so not.
Sin city, a place where anything can happen, and I’m the only one in the band who knows her secret.
So why resist anymore?
Who could possibly stop me?
Scandalous Beat beautifully wraps up the Tempest series. I have to say, Mankin somehow always ups the ante, and I was mesmerized by the characters, their stories, and the slow, beautiful romance.
Story:
There was even more action and suspense in Scandalous Beat than in the prior Tempest books, and I have to say that Juaquin and Miriam really worked for me. Both in the prologue when they were teens, and in the actual story when they were in their twenties. Miriam was a strong-willed young woman, and she lived her life on her own terms. She did not give in to pressure, even if that might have caught her a break as an actress.
Scandalous Beat follows Juaquin and Miriam, but other band members and their partners show up as well. There were corrupt and dangerous bosses in Las Vegas, and family troubles at home for both of them. Even if Miriam and Juaquin had not acted on their attraction when they were younger, I would still almost call this a second chance romance, because they did get their chance. But even then, things were rather complicated.
One of the things I loved the most about Scandalous Beat was how loyal these characters were. Both to themselves, each other, their friends and their family. It made them both realistic and relatable to me, plus I was invested in their romance and the danger surrounding Miriam from the start.
Characters:
Miriam used to be the good girl, the little sister who was always in love with Juaquin. As an adult, she was still good, but she had no qualms dancing in a strip-club to make ends meet.
Juaquin was very insecure, when he was younger, his oldest brother was killed by a local gang, and he could never live up to his memory. Even as a rockstar, he never felt as if he measured up.
The other characters had important roles, too, but the one I most want to mention is Miriam’s best friend, Mikey. He truly deserves his own book!
Writing style :
Dual points of view, with chapters from either Juaquin’s or Miriam’s perspective brought me into the midst of their thoughts and feelings. The first person point of view and past tense worked very well with the above average pace, and the climax of the story left me breathless.
Feels :
Boy, did I feel it! The longing, the want, the need… But even more so the fear they both felt when the suspense became almost too much to bear.
My chosen prince. He sat on the couch only inches away, his eyes a welcoming amber fire. I found myself leaning toward his warmth, almost bold enough voicing my innermost thoughts.
Eyes that had been closed when I had kissed her blinked open and focused on me as if mesmerized, as I unbuckled my belt and ripped open the button fly of my jeans.
“Sorry,” he apologized with a wry grin and cranked the sound down. “No worries. I listen to my music loud when I drive my Lamborghini, too.” “I thought your car was a Ford Fusion.” “It is. On the outside.”
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Twitter: ailynk
awww he is such a smart ass with his comment,s I like brains with brawns …well.. rock stars
Exacxtly, Ailyn 🙂
Woohoo! I’m so happy you loved Scandalous Beat as much as I did, Lex! I thought it was a great way to end the series even if I’m so very sad this series is done. :/ I know we’ll be seeing these characters somewhere in the future though. Anyway, I thought Mankin did a great job of helping Miriam and King kinda find themselves…what was important to them, and the realization they were both worthy. I loved how Miriam would stand up to King and I even giggled at King’s caveman ways. 🙂 Great review, wifey!
Happy Wednesday and I hope your week is going well thus far. Miss you and love you, darling!! {{{hugs}}}
It was so, good. And like you, I’m sad this series is done, because their stories were so well done, and they all dealt with problems that anyone can have – which just made the characters more relatable to me.
Miss you and love you, too wifey! {{{BIG HUGS}}}
Oh, you’re killing me! Now, I don’t know which one to read next. This sounds AWESOME. Great-rated books always make me happy. They have that power. 😉
I love this series so much, Geybie, and while this final book was really good, I’m sad it’s over 🙁