Book Review | El Diablo – M. Robinson

El Diablo
By: M. Robinson

Genre: Mafia Romance
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: Aug. 30th 2016
My Rating: 5 Stars

Synopsis

I was ruthless.
I was feared.
I had sacrificed. Myself. Her. Everything…

Living in a world where I was worth more dead than alive was a choice. I was a bad man, never claimed to be anything else. I’ve done things I’m not proud of. Seen things that can’t be unseen. I’ve caused pain that I can’t undo.
It was all my choice.
Every decision.
Every order.
Right and wrong never mattered.
Until her.
She was under my protection, until she became my obsession.
But who was going to save her…

From. Me. The devil himself.

Fate brought us together. Destiny destroyed us.

First impression after reading the novel. HOLY HELL THAT WAS A MIND F*UCK!!!!!! I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT!

Let’s all bow down to the queen of angst, M. Robinson, for yet another amazing novel! I didn’t think it would be possible for me to like a book more than any of the Good Ol’ Boys series especially Complicate Me which is my all time favorite. but the impossible has happened. El Diablo is like nothing I have ever read. This may be my favorite now! i’ll have to think some more on that though. She did the unthinkable and made me fall in love with an asshole. No matter how much i wanted to hate Martinez i couldn’t. It’s just not possible. In fact i found myself wanting to reach in the pages and hug the poor guy. Martinez is the type of character you read in novels, that you literally want to beat the sh*t out of and then pull them in for comfort afterwards. I literally feel like one of those psycho sour patch kids on the candy commercials. Yep that was me while reading El Diablo.

The name Alejandro Martinez might sound familiar to some. If you’ve read the good ol’ boys series mainly Crave Me you will recognize Martinez as Briggs Uncle. The one that took her in and raised her after her mom and dad passed away in a car accident.

El Diablo starts off as all of M. Robinson’s novels start. With a kick ass prologue that literally sinks it claws into you and hooks you from the very beginning.

“I’m a bad man! I’ve done unforgivable things. Here’s your chance! Fucking take it! Send me straight to fucking Hell! Now!”

No use in trying to set the kindle down and walking away…it won’t work….you have literally been owned by a novel. Your mind is no longer yours to control until you get to the last page. You are literally going to be mind-fu*ked by this novel.

Throughout the pages of El Diablo there is love, overwhelming heartbreak, a hell of a lot of angst, and lets not forget the tragedy.

We are first introduced to a cocky teenage Martinez. He knows he’s in line to lead the drug cartel after his father steps down. I sense deep down that he really doesn’t want to lead the cartel but he knows its out of his hands and therefore his destiny to take his fathers spot one day.

“Even at that young of an age, I never pussyfooted around. I meant what I said, and said what I meant. I never apologized for who I was or my actions. People could take it or leave it. I didn’t give a shit.”

We are also introduced to Martinez’s older sister Amari, her friend Sophia, and his friend Leo. Martinez and Leo are sneaking off to go to a party. Little does Martinez realize the horror he is about to walk into when he returns later that night. That night was the night that everything drastically changed! The night Martinez’s father put a gun in his hand and decided his fate.

“The Realization of what I just did was like a cold bucket of ice being poured over my burning hot body. My father didn’t falter, roughly grabbing my chin, making me look him dead in his eyes.

I’ll never forget the words that came out of his mouth next.

“You’re a Martinez now.”

After that night things start to slowly progress. Day by day Martinez loses a little bit more of himself forced to take on his father’s mobster lifestyle. Forced to begin the grooming process as the next leader. His sister no longer looks at him as the man that used to protect her and comfort her when she was scared. Instead she looks at him with fear and disgust. But for a while she still has hope that she can persuade him to stop what has already been set in motion.

“Even the devil was an angel once, Alejandro. It’s only a matter of time until you become El Diablo, too.”

I loved Alejandro’s relationship with his mom. It seemed like every time he would get close to succumbing to the dark side his mom would come in. She was the bright light in his darkness.

Unlike Amari and Martinez’s crumbling relationship, Sophia and his relationship grew stronger. Since that night Sophia didn’t look at Martinez as if he were a monster she looked at him as if he were her hero. Throughout the years their relationship develops into more and soon three years have passed and they are happily engaged and planning their wedding.

This is where El Diablo takes a dark turn.

Chapter Twelve broke my heart in two. That was the first taste of heartbreak I felt in El Diablo. I however sucked it up and put on my big girl panties and tried like hell not to bawl my eyes out. You will be happy to know that I succeeded. I did not ugly cry. However, I may have shed a few tears.

“I promise you they will pay for this. I will make them pay,” I whispered in her ear as I softly closed her eyes and did the sign of the cross over her beautiful lifeless face. The way she’d done a million times to me, kissing her forehead one last time”

throughout the novel Martinez slowly starts to lose his humanity and his soul starts to blacken piece by piece Until he is nothing but a emotionless shell of a man. He was taught at a very young age that emotions are a weakness and you never show your weaknesses.

After a chain of events and Martinez has lost his entire family and everyone he ever loved and cared for, he transformed into a man that people fear. A ruthless man that holds all the power. He became El Diablo.

“They’re already calling you El Diablo, The Devil. Twenty years old and already fucking feared. I couldn’t be more pleased to call you my son.”

Along the way he meets a fifteen-year-old Lexi. Lexi has suffered with her own demons at a very young age. Her mother was basically nonexistent living with depression throughout Lexi’s life. At nine years old she awakes to find her mother has accidently overdosed and passed away. Leaving her to suffer at the hands of her stepfather’s sexual abuse.

The meeting between the two is full of back and forth banter. I loved the back and forth banter between Lexi and Martinez. When Lexi and Martinez first met I laughed and couldn’t help but think ‘oh Martinez you have met your match. Take that ass hole. I loved it.” I knew ultimately that Lexi was going to be the one to undo Martinez. She was going to be the one that made him fall in love and eventually cave.

But then throughout the course of their relationship and the many years that surround them, my heart started to break as I watched Martinez tear down every bit of what made Lexi beautiful and unique.

“I warned you. I told you I don’t know how to love. I ordered you to stay away from me, time and time again. I’m not the man you think I am. I never was…You wanted a piece of me, a piece of El Diablo. I gave you what you wanted now get the fuck out of my room.”

Before I continue I want to let everyone know he had his reasons for doing and saying the things he did to hurt her. He was in his own weird assholey way protecting her from his enemies. He loved her from deep within but never let himself show those emotions. because if he should his emotions that would give his enemies a target. Martinez is a complicated man with a world full of enemies. Loving someone and fearing for their safety was a weakness. And weaknesses get you killed in his world. So he keeps her at arm’s length only giving into the back and forth fights that his brain and his heart are having.

“That’s how profound our connection was, which was all the more reason to let her go. To push her away. To make her fucking hate me. I would die before I ever let anything happen to her.

Every Devil needs an Angel

And she was mine.”

Due to the remainder of El Diablo being full of twists and turns I’m going to end the in depth portion of this review for fear that I will give something big away. I don’t want to spoil this for anyone who has not read it. Just be warned again to expect the unexpected because the twists are off the wall insane crazy (in the best possible way) and will have you completely and one hundred percent shocked. When I started this novel I didn’t know what to expect. I did read Crave Me so I was excited to find out M. Robinson was doing a spin off with Martinez’s story. But with M. Robinson’s writing you can never quite clear what your about to get into. All you know is the novel is going to be full of angst. With that said. I loved El Diablo just as I was expecting I would. Going into this novel I knew Martinez was going to be a grade A ass hole so with that being said I was surprised to find I actually enjoyed his character the most. I loved how his point of view showed him to be the complete opposite of how others saw him and how i was able to see all the emotions he was forced to hide to protect the ones he loved.

M. Robinson really knows how to write some crazy off the wall unimaginable sexy time scenes.

Oh my lord though I was not expecting a twist to the plot like that. I definitely did not see that coming. That was a shock to the system. I remember literally yelling at my kindle. I was so enraged. But that is okay because only the best authors can bring that type of emotion out of their reader’s. Yep that’s my story and i’m sticking to it.

El Diablo is a complex novel full of angst, tragedy, heartbreak, and…love.

I highly recommend everyone that loves Angsty novels to give El Diablo a chance! You won’t be sorry!!!!!

Thank you for checking out my review for El Diablo! and listening to my endless chatter and mindless rambles.

If you’ve read El Diablo leave me a comment and let me know what you thought about it!

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Peace Love and Happy Reading,

TSRBlog