Unhinged

Necessary Evils

By: Onley James

Narrated by: Liam DiCosimo

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 good

Loved the book and really love the audiobook. Liam does such a great job giving every character their own voice.

Unhinged is such a great book. Unhinged Adam and sweet Noah. Good storyline. Great start to an amazing series!

watch tw

I really did like this book at first I kind of thought the rear was like almost whispering a little bit but that could have just been me cause the next time I put it on I wasn't as bothered by it but I was so into the book the entire time I will say there was no trigger warning read at the beginning so I'm going to put it here but the book deals with One of the mc having been abused as a child and that's a pretty heavy theme especially switching bath back and forth between lovemaking scenes and dealing with that in the next scene it's nothing too explicit but could definitely be triggering I already downloaded the next book I'm very excited and then I looked at who the characters are for the last book and it almost blew my mind I wish I had someone to talk about it with

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.