This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
About The Book
Shayla Perkins isn’t the kind of girl who makes the same mistake twice, especially when it comes to Sean “Stitch” Molina. So when he gives her the world’s biggest rejection, that’s it—she’s done. Until the sexy, silent, unavailable Sean makes Shay a very personal offer. Of course, it still doesn’t mean he’s interested in her. Or does it?
Sean has done things in life. Bad things. And he’s paid the price. All he wants now is to make up for his past by doing good in the present. And no one deserves more good than Shay. Beautiful on the inside and out, Shay is the kind of woman who should be cared for and protected—especially from a man like Sean. He’s tried to keep his feelings for her in check, but a single, reckless impulse pulls them closer than ever before.
Soon the two are sharing their biggest dreams and satisfying their deepest desires. But what will happen if the only way to truly give one another want they want most . . . is to let each other go?
My Review
Bad For You is the third installment in the “Dirty Deeds” series and I immediately grabbed this one up in audiobook. I have adored being able to listen to this in narration especially with these two narrators together. They do such a brilliant job together. This story was so much more emotional than I was expecting, but it also has some great bantering and inner dialogue to balance out the more edgy topics that this author handles. We also see that this also has a single dad and friends to lovers trope.
This story begins with our hero Sean, who has a dark past of being abused and having to steal just to survive since he was just a child. He has been treated horribly in thinking the worst of himself and is a ex convict for just trying to care for his family even if it was done in the wrong way. He is a devoted father and a caring man. From the first few pages, you become so hooked into this book. Then we have our heroine, who works at the bar/restauraunt that Shane does. She has always been attracted to him, but is shy about how she has shown her attraction to him. But now Shane is wanting to explore something more with Shayla. As they begin exploring a relationship together, healing is formed when Shayla is able to reach a part of Shane that he has kept locked away for years.
Bad For You was everything that I could have hoped for and more and is my favorite book of the series and I have really enjoyed the books up until now, but there was something so much deeper and complex that is delivered within this story. This hero just broke my heart so completely, I just wanted him to find his HEA. I was completely on his team and I really found that Shayla was just right for him. She is so open and loving and exactly the type of woman that he needs. She has such a sweet fresh outlook on life that opens Shane to other possibilities. You see what a loving father he is and how much he needs more in his life. The way he is with his children, you can just see that he is bursting to love others and just wants to be loved but has never felt worthy of it.
This story is completely the journey of our hero Shane and seeing his growth and learning to let go of the past and the abuse he suffered and start believing in himself. I just wanted to cuddle this sweet man. I really felt like J. Daniels really wrote his character so well and implemented his heart in such a vivid way that just strikes directly to the heart of the reader. Its not a romance for the faint of heart and is not a rom com, but a true in depth representation of the human heart and the way that this romance is developed was beyond beautiful. Shane and Shay were just a strong pair and from the beginning you can just feel the intensity of their connection.
Overall I found this story to be a heartfelt, strike the chords of the soul story that will showcase the value of redemption, healing and unlimited love!
Title: Bad For You
Author: J. Daniels
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Length: 10 Hours and 46 Mins
Book Links
Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club
Book Evaluation
Storytelling Quality: 4.5
Story Itself: 5
Character Development: 5
Writing Style: 5
World Building 4.5
Feels + The Romantic Heart 5
Pacing 5
Plot 5
Cover Art 4
Ending 5
Book Ratings
Overall Rating of the Book
Steam Level
Simmering—soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warm- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.
Trigger Warning
Abuse, PTSD, Drug Abuse
Series Order
Dirty Deeds
Four Letter Word-Pub 2016 #1 in the Series
Hit The Spot-Pub 2016 #2 in the Series
Bad for You-Pub 2018 #3 in the Series
Down Too Deep-Pub 2019 #4 in the Series
About The Author
J. Daniels is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Alabama Summer, Dirty Deeds and Sweet Addiction series.
Best known for her sexy, small-town romances, her debut novel, Sweet Addiction, was first published in 2014 and went on to become an international bestseller. Since then, she has published more than ten novels, including the Dirty Deeds series with Forever Romance.
Daniels grew up in Baltimore and currently lives in Maryland with her husband and two kids. A former full-time Radiologic Technologist, she began writing romance after college and quickly discovered a passion for it. You’ll still catch her in scrubs every now and then, but most of her time is spent writing these days—a career she is eternally grateful for.
Always an avid reader, Daniels enjoys books of all kinds, but favors Romance (of course) and Fantasy. She loves hiking, traveling, going to the mountains for the weekend, and spending time with her family.
I love this review! This book was just so… I don’t even have words for it. I adored Shay and Shane together.
I love when a romance hits me this hard. Great review the way you describe this pair and their struggles.
It’s always nice to enjoy a book.
This looks like an interesting book that I might like. Thank you for sharing!
This sounds delightful. Lovely review.
I really enjoyed Down Too Deep so I should give this one a go. Nice to see it was a hit!
I absolutely LOVED this book and I’m so glad you did too!! Incredible review, as always ??
Great review, Renee! I’ve had such a strange experience with this series. I read the 4th book first (Down Too Deep) and loved it. Then I went back to the 1st book and… yeesh. I gave it 3 stars, I think. I had so many issues with it. It was like, how did the same person write these books? LOL After that I’ve never gone back to read books 2 and 3 but your review has me thinking I need to change that!
I have felt the same way Tanya. I actually loved the first book (but I did it in audio so maybe that made the difference), book 2 was a 4 star but this book was a five star, it was the best of the series so far for me. You have me really excited for the last book though. But each book has a different vibe to it, so its different than what I had expected to be honest but I have enjoyed it as a whole.