#COYER Review ~ Wasted Lust ~ JA Huss

Wasted Lust by JA Huss
A 321 Spinoff
Release Date: June 24, 2015
Genre: Adult, Dark Romantic Suspense
Source: Purchased on Kindle
Rating: 5 Bookworms
Goodreads

Synopsis
A girl with regrets...
Sasha Cherlin died the night she let Nick Tate walk out on her for a life of crime. Her very essence was destroyed when they broke their promise to one another.

A man with remorse...
Nick Tate made his choice with her future in mind. He loved Sasha enough to know that leaving her behind was the only way to keep her safe.

A path to revenge...
Special Agent Jax Barlow understands the bond of love and he plans to use it to get justice. Nick and Sasha will do anything to rewrite their past. He's counting on that to bring them down.

***
Wasted Lust is a standalone full-length romantic suspense filled with lies, secrets, and the power of redemption by the New York Times bestselling author, JA Huss.

Although Wasted Lust can absolutely be read as a standalone, for the veteran Huss reader, it's a gift. It takes plot threads, characters and events and weaves them together - and I'm not talking about just tying up loose ends - to create this incredibly intricate, complex, and beautiful picture. Huss doesn't shy away from the ugly - and Sasha's story is anything but simple. 

Little Sasha is all grown up. Of course, she was fairly mature at 13, when we first met her. Being a Company kid - a daughter at that - her childhood was unconventional. She learned things and saw things no child should. And it affected the person she's become despite being adopted and given the normalcy she didn't have with her dad. But at 24, Sasha is still searching - still trying to figure out where she fits after having the one thing she knew for sure she'd have taken away.

When she's met at the airport by Agent Jax Barlow, she thinks her past is finally catching up with her. He starts asking questions and he knows things about her he shouldn't. Most surprising is his certainty that Nick is back for her. Jax brings out the old Sasha - the one she's spent so much time burying. I loved seeing the Sasha she used to be shining through, threatening to break through the veneer she's perfected over the last 10 years.

Jax is intriguing. On the one hand, he's doing his job. But on the other, he's way too personally involved. This leads to many questions and we, as readers, learn right along with Jax that not everything in his life is as he thought. 

Nick...Nick broke my heart. The things he did, the life he had led is uncompromising. He sees things as they are and although some may not agree with his methods, he does what he must to make things right.

I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to ruin any of the suspense, but I will say that, in typical Huss fashion, nothing is as it seems. She takes you down one road only to take an abrupt turn in a completely different direction. And anything I thought I'd figured out was wrong. As I navigated all these twists and turns, I had revelations about many things. Again, you can read this as a standalone but reading all the books makes for a much richer experience.

Huss once said she didn't think she'd write more about Sasha. I'm thrilled that Sasha kept stomping around in her head, as only Sasha could do, demanding her story be told. As I said, Wasted Lust is a gift - whether you've read the previous novels or not. But if you haven't read Huss, I implore you to start the journey. You'll never travel the route you're expecting, but it's the journey that makes the destination such a treat!