REVIEW: Didn’t I Warn You? by Amber A. Bardan

In Didn’t I Warn You? (A Bad for You Novel #1) by Amber A. Bardan, Still reeling emotionally from a tragedy in her past, Angelina is stunned when she comes face to face with a gorgeous man who takes an interest in her. No one has ever made her feel special or beautiful the way Haithem does. But Angelina also knows he’s hiding something that makes him dangerous. She’s not sure if she can trust him or if he truly trusts her. And honestly, she’s not sure she cares as long as Haithem makes her feel the emotions that are now breaking free for the first time in her life.

‘Why did Haithem, beautiful, rich, sexy, smooth, Haithem, look at me as though I might be something to be studied and broken, shaken until my secrets spilled free?’

Distrust is Haithem’s first line of defense. He’s been on the run and watching his back for what feels like forever. So when he meets young and vibrant Angelina, he immediately thinks she was sent to distract him or to spy on him. But the more Haithem gets to know her, the more unsure he is of her true intentions. Angelina seems to understand him in a way no one ever has and that gets under Haithem’s skin. Pretty soon he finds his feelings are tangled up in a situation that could prove deadly, both for himself and the lovely woman who has captured his heart.

“I know you’re a good girl, Angel.” I slid my hand against the back of her scalp and tugged her hair, tilted her face to me. Gripped her with just an edge of roughness the way she liked. “But you’re a very dirty good girl.”

With twists and turns every step of the way, Didn’t I Warn You was as seductive as it was mysterious. I fell completely under Haithem and Angelina’s spell from the very beginning and stayed there through the entirety of their story.

“Didn’t I warn you, Angel,” he says, and his thumb moves up to my chin, “that it’s not a good idea to love me?”

What a fun and sexy time this book was! Written in the first person and shifting from Angelina to Haithem’s POV, I loved how intimate and personal these character’s stories became. I really felt like I got to (eventually) know who they were and where they were coming from, as well as what happened in their past that made them who they were currently. I thought Bardan did a nice job in how the personal details were doled out through the story, each tidbit adding to the plot and cluing us readers in on Angelina and Haithem’s lives. It worked really well with this type of erotic-slash-suspenseful storyline.

There were still a lot of missing pieces until the end in regard to Haithem’s sketchy business that had people chasing after him. I am not going to spoil the surprise. (Sorry!) But I will say that I was thankfully way off in what I initially thought of him and I think readers will be happy to find out his true mission. Haithem, to me, was one of those edgy bad boys who had a heart of gold hidden beneath his layers of distrust. Even though he was hard to pin down, whether he was good or bad or both, there was no doubting his appeal and the attraction he couldn’t deny for Angelina.

Angelina herself was a pretty complex character. She had been through a lot in her twenty years but was on the road to mending emotionally. I think what I enjoyed most were her inner thoughts and monologue. Bardan presented Angelina’s thoughts as modern, using fun slang and age appropriate terms while also showing the emotional maturity that came with the life experiences she had been through. Even Angelina’s interactions with Haithem seemed pretty realistic and fit the situations very well.

If you enjoy characters with an instant connection that turns into full-on passion, an exciting plot, and the promise of more of the same in the next installment, Didn’t I Warn You is definitely for you.

Book Info:

Publication: Expected publication: April 18th 2016 | by Carina Press | A Bad For You Novel #1

Not everything dangerous is bad.

From the moment Angelina laid eyes on him, she fell into a fantasy. Mysterious, foreign, gorgeous, Haithem offered her what she needed most—a chance to feel again.

But Haithem is much more than he appears to be. He lives in a world of danger where everything comes at a price.

For Angelina, that price is her future.

He’s made sure the life she’s left behind is in tatters. Made her family believe she’s dead. Still, he talks about protecting her, about keeping her safe, but she can’t distinguish his truth from his lies. She can’t separate her pleasure from his betrayal.

Haithem warned her. He told her he’d make her heart race, her body come alive and her most primal needs rush to the surface. His for the taking.

He didn’t say she’d come to love the devil who’s destroying her, even as he keeps her prisoner.