Sins & Needles

Sins & Needles  - Karina Halle 3.5 stars

So this was a complicated book right here. Now while I know that I always rave about loving books with flawed characters, to be completed honest, on this one, I didn't really like either of them until about the 55% mark. I thought both Camden and Ellie were just unlikable. She is a grifter, who has done so her whole life, and he's a bullied goth turned super hunky tattoo artist. But their actual personalities just never seemed all that likable. I will admit that I did like their eventual relationship, I loved how he tried to help her with her self image, and how he really was able to let go of the past.

Ellie Watt has had a hard life, she was home schooled to be a grifter (not so much in traditional academics) as far back as she could remember. And now after more than 20 years (most of which she was just doing what her parents told her) of theft, she wants to turn a new leaf and go straight, and where better to do that than her teenage hometown. The place where is was ridiculed mercilessly for several years after she first moved there with her parents at the beginning of ninth grade. The place where is finally made her first real friend and would eventually turn her back on him. And from the moment they see each other again, she is out to break his heart once again. I think Ellie is what a grifter is like, she is cool, calm and calculating, she is always try to figure out her escape route, and that's because she knows that at some point she will have to run. I think her trying to help Camden though the circumstances aren't ideal was a good thing for her. For the first time she wasn't alone she had to think of someone else's needs and wants as well as her own, and I think that changed her for the better.

Camden McQueen is a man who has every right to be pissed off and vengeful, but for some reason he is not. He has been bullied at school, beaten and belittled by his father, and now he is being blackmailed by some very very bad men. And when his first love, and the first girl to ever break his heart moves back into town, Camden sees a chance to get a fresh start for himself, and that girl. He knows she's trouble but he can't help how he feels even after all this time. I really liked Camden, I liked that he knew to pick himself up and brush himself off, I liked that he was always willing and able to help others, and that he loved his son more than life itself. I also thought it was sweet that he wanted to help Ellie so much, even after everything, and he trusted her, even when he knew it shouldn't he trusted her, I know that this will be a problem for him in the other books in this series.

So I thought that the first half was slow and a bit choppy, but the second half of the book makes up for it, its faster,and story gets better. I am warning this book end in a cliffhanger which sucks but I onlyu have 2 weeks to wait so.... Not so bad.