Unhinged

Necessary Evils

By: Onley James

Narrated by: Liam DiCosimo

Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Adam Mulvaney lives a double life. By day, he’s the spoiled youngest son of an eccentric billionaire. By night, he’s an unrepentant killer, one of seven psychopaths raised to right the wrongs of a justice system that keeps failing.

Noah Holt has spent years dreaming of vengeance for the death of his father, but when faced with his killer, he learns a daunting truth he can’t escape. His father was a monster.

Unable to ignore his own surfacing memories, Noah embarks on a quest to find the truth about his childhood with the help of an unlikely ally: the very person who murdered his father. Since their confrontation, Adam is obsessed with Noah, and he wants to help him uncover the answers he seeks, however dark they may be.

The two share a mutual attraction, but, deep down, Noah knows Adam’s not like other boys. Adam can’t love. He wasn’t born that way. But he refuses to let Noah go, and Noah’s not sure he wants him to.

Can Adam prove to Noah that passion, power, and protection are just as good as love?

Unhinged is a fast-paced roller-coaster ride of a romance with an HEA and no cliff-hangers. It features a dirty-talking, possessive psychopath and a sweet cinnamon roll of a boy with daddy issues and a core of steel. There’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, enough steam to fog up a hundred car windows, and something a lot like love. This is book one in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.

©2021 Onley James (P)2021 Onley James

So wrong … and sooo good!

Just your friendly neighborhood psychopath. ;) I enjoyed this book so thoroughly. Adam’s possessiveness, Noah’s vulnerability, the Mulvaney brothers’ banter, the emotional support vodka, the righteous violence — more, please! And the narration is absolutely spot on. Great, totally engaging start to the series!

so much fun

cuz you know, sociopaths in love almost always are. loved this story, the series premise about a family of assassins and the stream level is perfect. great narration.

5 stars

A strong fictional tradition exists of rich men “collecting” people to serve their particular purposes. James twists this trope to showcase her specific talents as a writer by creating a family of adopted psycho/sociopaths trained by their father to serve a purpose in society—a necessary evil. Oh, and it’s also super gay, super sexy, and in turn tragic and hysterical.

One of my biggest pet peeves about romance fiction is the “insta-love” trope. After thinking about this book for a bit after binge-reading it in a single amazing sitting, I’ve come to the conclusion that I enjoy reading about characters with emotional attachment issues because they are particularly intentional about who they decide “their person” is going to be. I don’t presume to understand all of Adam’s motivations in choosing Noah in this book. However, I adore how Noah’s trauma-induced jagged edges line up perfectly with what Adam is able and wants to offer him in a relationship. Though Adam’s brothers are slightly less enthused with this development in the carefully curated impression they give the rest of the world, Noah is a man on a mission (this is the tragic bit). He has no problem with dragging the Mulvaney clan along for the ride. (In the end, they don’t complain all that much, which is where a lot of the humor comes in.)

Due to the subject matter of both who Adam is as a character and Noah’s personal history, this will not be a book that appeals to all readers. James treats these topics with the respect they deserve and provides enough information to flesh out the characters without emphasizing anything unnecessarily. The romance arc is strongly intertwined with the external conflict so that both support each other rather than it ever feeling like one could be left out and still function as a complete book. Along the way, James does wonderful work in creating interest in the other Mulvaney siblings and setting up how the future may look for this series.

Readers who especially enjoyed James’ book Captivating (Elite Protection Services #2) and the Wages of Sin series should not miss this first installment to this exciting new world.

Different take

I love that there is a mental health aspect to it and shows how someone lives with it and can change it.

Nice and smutty

So I liked this book in many ways. I thought the narrator did a great job and the characters are interesting and complex. It’s a bit darker than what I usually gravitate towards but not enough to make me stop listening. The one thing that I wasn’t a super big fan of was the large number of sex scenes. I do like a good sex scene but this book had noticeably more than the norm, it seemed.

love these

Liam DiCosimo brings the right amount of sardonic energy to the voices of Adam and Noah . he makes these men and the brothers come alive and I cannot wait for rest of the series to see what this unique cast of characters gets up to

My kind of psychos!

3rd person/dual pov
Spice: 4/5

I'm so glad that I finally got around to starting this series. My bestie kept telling me to read it and I kept putting it off but not anymore. I chose to listen to it because she also raved about the narrator and boy she was not wrong. With it being in 3rd person it made it easier for me to listen to it vs reading it on my kindle. I'm not a huge fan of 3rd person unless it's written incredibly well, but I can listen to it just fine. I'll be honest though from what I heard I'm sure I could have read it and been ok even if I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook.
Adam and Noah are absolutely precious! I love the storyline of Adam's adoptive father training him and his adoptive brothers to hone what makes them different into a weapon that is used to rid the world of evil. It gives you that vigilante feeling that we love about superhero stories without them being actual superheroes. So we still get the bad boy he's just more of a "good" bad boy lol. Then we have sweet and adorable Noah. This poor guy has been through it let me tell you and he stole my heart straight away. I just wanted to wrap him up and hold him my heart hurt so much for him throughout this book. But the way Adam takes care of him and protects him had me and Noah both swooning. None of these brothers are supposed to be capable of love due to being psychopaths but of course, I don't believe that's possible. They may not be as quick to fall as the rest of us with a more normal brain makeup but I don't think they are incapable of love. I guess it just takes the right person; the right connection and it can happen. And granted, they may show it in a slightly different way but deep down it's still love.

The spice was also pretty great and the way the narrator acts it out is well... smokin. Seriously, way to commit my guy because lord have mercy it made things twice as hot as it already was haha! I definitely think this is a good one to listen to over reading. Especially because the narrator has all these different voices for the characters so even if it's one guy performing it you're actually getting as close to a full-cast narration as you can without hiring other people. So well done! I cannot wait to start the next one!

well ... that was different

📖 Story comment: Good pace, interesting characters and "out there" concept.
I went into this with no real expectations, the concept was interesting and I never thought i'd be invested in the outcome of a family of psychopaths, but there you go - I was wrong again. I liked the way these brothers have been written, "unable to love" but still finding that person who can understand and accept who they are.

🎧 Narrator comment: I enjoyed Liam DiCosimo performance, he gives each of the characters their own voice and personality, he has good timing, inflections and intonations and brings the story to life.

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📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough [3⭐] • 5 enjoyed it [4⭐] • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator [4⭐] • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]

Unhinged

I slowly learning to love audiobooks. This is May third book I’ve listened too and I think I am now hooked. I loved reading Unhinged and I loved listening to it. The narrators voice was smooth and not one I would cringe at, which is why I could never listen to Audiobooks in the past. The infections were perfect.

Loved!

I absolutely loved this book. I was captivated right from the start and loved the unhealthy obsession Adam and Noah had with each other, it was everything! Excited to continue on with the series and get to know each Mulvaney better! Liam Dicosimo narration was on point and really brought the story to life, perfection!