Rook and Ronin Omnibus : Tragic~Manic~Panic - The Complete Trilogy

By: JA Huss

Narrated by: Erin Mallon, Jason Clarke

Length: 19 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Rook and Ronin Omnibus contains the books Tragic, Manic, and Panic and features a runaway girl who falls into a million-dollar dream of cherry trees and rooftop swings. A bad boy with a sketchy history of breaking pretty girls. And a job called Tragic that might ruin everything.

Tragic

She’s on the run from a horrible past.

He’s got an offer of a lifetime.

Ronin

Rook Walsh appeared out of nowhere like a dark angel sent to steal my soul. And I could just tell that she was broken, and beaten, and scared.

So I made her an offer of a lifetime. She needed a job and I needed a certain "type" of girl for a modeling contract worth millions of dollars called Tragic.

I was warned to keep my hands to myself.

I was warned not to get involved.

I was warned not to ruin her.

(The way I ruined the last one.)

But I don’t take orders - I give them.

Rook

Ronin Flynn appeared out of nowhere like a bright light in my heavy darkness. And when he offered me a job, and money, and a fantasy rooftop apartment, I wanted to believe that he was good, and fair, and honest.

But I’d been tricked by a pretty face before.

I’d fallen for the knight once - and lost everything.

This was my chance to start over.

This was my chance to escape and be free.

And this was my chance to do it all by myself.

I don’t need a knight.

I don’t want to be saved.

But sometimes you find yourself trapped inside the fairy tale, and no matter how hard you try, nothing you do can stop the train wreck coming.

©2014 JA Huss (P)2020 JA Huss

Aggravating and toxic … and yet …

Books 1-3 are really just three parts of story that’s equal parts romance of Rook and Ronin, and also a thriller. The first part is almost exclusively focused on the romance amid a modeling company that specializes in erotic photos. It’s not until the second part.that things take a CrazyIvan into incredible backstories and then it takes part three to completely flip to being mostly a crime thriller with a side of romance.

But, that’s JA Huss for you. She doesn’t do traditional or simple. Instead she writes fantasy books that morph into sci-fi (Damaged Gods series), billionaire romances that become spy thrillers (Mister series), or bonkers alien romance with glowing gals and guys with two 🍆🍆s (Star Crossed series). Oh, and she generally gives her characters dark, kinky, mysterious pasts that she reveals like breadcrumbs. Sometimes it work for me. Sometimes it turns me off. And sometimes, like with this series, it manages to do both.

Things I didn’t like:
The level of toxic behavior from multiple men bothered me, especially with the 19 year old age for Rook and her being just out of a horrible DV past. For example, Ronin is manipulative and controlling of her from the moment they meet, to the point of charging men at two different times and knocking her to the ground in his hurry to thump his chest and proclaim she’s his property. He controls what she wears, where she eats, and monitors her weight. Yes, eventually we get some excusing explanations, but the failure to communicate reeked of disrespect.

Then there’s the exploitation. She’s 19 and they aren’t just taking sexy photos; in part one, he pressures her with assurances that she can say no (even though it’s the minute before the shoot and she doesn’t have the first clue about the rules of modeling) and then fingers her to pleasure in front of the camera and all the crew. This is against the rules, but nothing happens to him. Part two doubles down with a new man painting her naked body. That man also goes from artist to groper when he joins in the photo shoot and kisses and paws at her, again without advance warning that this would go down.

I also found it hard to buy that Ronin, at 22 years old, has this secret past that includes making it rich in college (and in a very unbelievable atypical way). The “group bound together by a big secret in college thing” is a contrived plot device that Ms. huss just loves.

Things I liked:
JA Huss writes clever and completely unique storylines, damaged guys and gals that are also captivating and likable even when they are A holes, and sexy kink that’s so not my thing but she makes my ear buds burn. (The actual sex scenes here are quite tame and traditional compared to her other books …take the book In To Her….Whoo!!) Her writing is the roller coaster that terrifies and energizes me in equal measure. My favorite parts are the twists, so I unfortunately can’t share them without spoiling things.

If I had purchased part one separately, I’m not sure I would have continued on. But, by the end of part two, I was invested. And, by the end of part three, which wrapped up both Rook and Ronin’s romance and the thriller, I was hooked on the remaining characters and have now wishlist the next books, which feature even more damaged men and more ludicrous thrillers.

J.A. Huss is an amazing storyteller.

Even though I could have read this through KU, I paid for the Audible version because of the authors choice of narrators. I'm so glad she values her stories enough with voice actors that can give these vibrant characters their due! I stumbled across her work while browsing Audible Escape. I was so thrilled with that first book that I am now committed to reading/listening to everything she has available. These are the 6th, 7th & 8th books I've tried, but wish I had started with these to begin with, as I believe many have an origin here in the R & R series. Regardless, I've absolutely enjoyed every one of them and will most likely re-read many along the way. I fell in love with not just Rook & Ronan, but many of the supporting characters who's stories I look forward to. 5 stars across the board!

wow

loved loved this book. wow hard to believe but some people do live like this only without the hero to save them great book. and narrators did a fantastic job 👏

Fantastic storyline

It was nice having all 3 books together to complete the entire series. So much emotion was elicited from the storyline. It was hard to put it down. Narrators did an excellent job bringing the characters to life. I love JA Huss books because she makes them interesting; not your run of the mill stories.

Omg, worth it!

What an amazing story. Definitely worth the credit for these three! What a wonderful, and intense storyline.

This is a MUST listen! Loved it

As always, JA Huss brought it. Love this trilogy so much! Love Rook & Ronin! Loved Both Jason Clarke's & Erin Mallon's narration. And always happy to hear a chapter by Teddy Hamilton during Panic!

She never fails

JA Huss never fails to get me so engaged in books that I loose myself in it, and it escapes me into the life of the book. I always feel so empty when her books end, like the ending took a piece of my soul with it, and she did it again!

GREAT BOOKS

Julie you are the bomb DIGGITY! I love the way your mind thinks and you write books. One of my FAVORITE AUTHORS!!

Just 1 word... AMAZING!;

I highly recommend this series! It had me hooked from the first chapter of book 1! I love the narrator's and all the characters so much. i got the first 3 books in a set for one credit, BUT I would have happily paid for each book! This and Harem station are my favorite JA Huss series!

Great Trilogy

I am in a ahh with this trilogy, the story, the characters the plot are awesome. I didn’t get bored with then at all, it kept me entertained all the time. I love hearing ErinMallon & JasonClarke they are great 😊 now I am going to listen the next one in line 😉