Today, Clean Start, the final installment of the Violent Circle trilogy is available. S.M. Shade made me laugh out loud while reading Scarlet Toys and Frat Hell. Did Clean Start meet my expectations after the first two books? Keep reading to find out!
Everyone knows the rumors about Violet Circle and the crazy inhabitants, but becoming a resident was my best option. These are the kind of decisions you’re faced with when you have a baby at eighteen, and your knight in shining armor turns out to be a deadbeat dad in saggy boxers.
Don’t get me wrong, my five-year-old son, Aiden, is the love of my life, even when he’s telling random strangers I’m constipated, or lecturing his preschool friends on the differences in their anatomy. I wouldn’t trade him for anything, but raising him as a single parent while cleaning motel rooms for a living is like walking a balance beam made of sand. One wrong slip, and we’re homeless.
It doesn’t take us long to adjust to our new home with all its eccentric people, and Aiden is happy here, but danger lurks right across the street. Not in the apartment of the odd woman who always wears a floppy sun hat and trench coat, or the crazy apartment full of college kids. I wish it were that simple.
Neal Chambers, the single father who is ten years my senior, sets off alarms in my head.
Mainly because he sets off other things in my panties.
Review
To be honest, I think S.M. Shade is the only author that can get away putting a toilet brush on a book cover, haha. This cover fits the trilogy perfectly!
The final installment of this trilogy is about Neal and Veronica. Both of them live in Violet Circle. It’s not the best neighborhood, but it’s something they can afford. Just like in the other two books, the management is still nuts and doing a lot of things that aren’t allowed. Neal is planning on helping them and gets a lawyer to check everything out. Veronica just moved in with her five year old son and is doing her best. As a single mom, it isn’t easy, but she’s making it work.
Neal is a character we have read about in the other two books, so I was happy when I read he would be getting his story. He is a single father to his eleven year old daughter and is slowly figuring out what it will mean to have a teenager. His life in Violent Circle is always interesting, but he’s been working hard and may be leaving soon.
Neal and Veronica become good friends and help each other when it comes to their children. Both of them are missing a parent of course, so the helping hand is really imporant. For example, when Neal wanted to take his daughter to the emergency room when she starts her period, haha. Or Veronica has to explain why there is a fake penis stuck to the bathroom wall when she’s cleaning a hotel room. These are only a few of the many hilarious moments his book has to offer.
Clean Start makes you laugh out loud and hope that the characters get their happily ever after. Both Neal and Veronica don’t want to give in to their attraction, because they know what their children will lose if they end up breaking up. Along the way, with some help from Violent Circle, they realize they can look out for themselves at times as well. Their children know more than they realize. If you want to read a book with wonderful characters and neighbors that are willing to fight for eachother, this is the series for you. On top of that, laughing out loud moments and some romance as well. I’m sad this is the last installment in this anything but normal neighborhood. I hope the author visits these characters again in the future.
I highly recommend this trilogy to everybody who loves a good romance with a lot of humor!
