The Muscle: Part Two

by Michelle St. James

**Part Two in the three part serial, The Muscle. **

When Luca Cassano took a position as bodyguard to the sister of a Miami kingpin, he expected nothing more than sun, surf, and a job he could do in his sleep.

Then he met Isabel Fuentes.

Luca didn't enjoy keeping Isabel under her brother's thumb even before he fell in love with her. Now she’s captivated him body and soul, and he’ll do anything to save her.

Isabel is determined to get her little sister away from their brother Diego’s mercurial temper and violent outbursts. There’s just one problem; Diego has a horrifying trump card that will ruin any chance for them to have a normal life — and that’s if they can get out alive.

As Diego becomes increasingly unpredictable, Luca and Isabel know time is running out. But when their list of options is revealed to be painfully small, they develop a plan that will finally free Isabel -- or put her in more danger than ever before.


***This is part two of a three part serial featuring the smoking hot Luca Cassano from the Mob Boss Series (RUTHLESS, FEARLESS, and LAWLESS). That series and The Muscle are independent of each other -- you can read either one first. Each installment of the Muscle is approximately 125 pages (Amazon calculates pages on ebooks based on an algorithm that isn't always correct). The final book in the series will be released December 14th. ***

Genres: Romance, Erotica, Suspense, Crime, Abuse

85 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2015

About the author

Michelle St. James is a Southern California expat now living in New York's Hudson Valley.

She is the critically acclaimed author of over fifty published novels and seven novellas. Her first series (under her not-so-secret real name) received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist and was one of Booklist's Top Ten Debut novels. Her work has also been an Indie Next selection and has appeared on prestigious lists such as the Lonestar List, New York Public Library's Stuff for the Teen Age, and Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best. Her books have been published in over thirty countries and translated into over twenty languages.

Michelle lives in a converted barn with a leaking roof, a 70-pound puppy, and three perpetually annoyed cats. She spends her free time doing yoga, watching Love Island UK, and anxiously awaiting the next season of Ozark and the Great British Baking Show.

Reviews

[Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 "Luca" stars

Holy shit, this was fast!
Like literally fast read...and I am not really talking about the number of pages.

There's action and drama and sex and mixing emotions and fucking vile things and assholes in it and you just can't stop reading it. I didn't quite developed "the more than attraction" sensation yet but I still have time...*wink*

there are two more books in the series so "thumb up"

Ahh...the story is not that original but the writing is. and that's what hooked me.
It's about Luca Cassano (he's a second hand man of Nico in The Mob boss #1-3 series), he's changing gears and now he's on his own, accepting a job of a bodyguard for the Fuentes' family.
The drug lord family, now run by Diego Fuentes, the oldest son and his two sisters Isabel and Sofia.
The tricky part being that Isabel was appointed the carrier/holder of the estate and everything goes through her and she's trapped in the hands of her vile, cruel, scumbag of a drug sniffing brother.

The only reason she stays is for her kid sister Sofia.

Isabel is constantly guarded by the changing bodyguards and the latest being Luca.

They have an instant conection that they can't escape from and they act on it, indulging the passionate body cravings...

Once you say yes, I'm going to make you mine, Isabel, and there will be no going back after that.

BUT she also carries a burden, a horrible secret that Diego has on her that she's compelled to do whatever he demandes of transferring business.
And when that secret comes out purposely presented to Luca, he goes wild and raise havoc making a promise...

I'm going to get you out of here, Isabel.
Whatever it takes, I promise.
And those fuckers are ging to pay.

There were so many mixed reviews of this little book, BUT I liked it. I like Michelle St. James' books and this was just the speedy gem to knock me down with some sexy spice!

for more info and review visit

[Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 "fishy" stars

Oh well, i praised the first book hoping the second would bring the tension near the resolvement BUT the story kinda put me off it being a bit "incoherent" and with that a bit "non-believable".

But for hotness in steamy sex scenes and incredible Luca Cassano, along with a suspensful twist in the end, the bar stayed rather high in rating...

ah, decisions, decisions...*sigh*

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good short read.

Love love love Luca. I loved him in Nico's books so I'm so happy to be reading his story. I enjoyed this book. It was a short read and I thought it was written well. I didn't think things were missing that could have made the story better so that was great. Looking forward to seeing how this will end.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I obtained this free e-book from Amazon and I am voluntarily writing a review. Luca is muscle for hire and as long as it is a paycheck he is not concerned he is working for a major drug lord in Miami guarding his sister. Isabel is the 23 year old sister that is being actually held prisoner by her brother Diego. When her father died he left control of the money to her and the business to her brother. Okay there is a lot wrong with this book. First it is in serious need of editing with misspelled words, wrong use of the words and a couple of instances where the author must of been thinking of using one or the other of two words and left both of them in the sentence. Sex scenes were thrown in willy nilly not making much sense in the context of what was going on at the time, I kind of got the feel they were used as page fillers to the point it was boring same old same old and I found I was skipping over them. For a book (actually three combined) there is only one or two action scenes.

[Shannon Godwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved what there was of the book. it was fast paced yet you didn't feel like anything was being left out...... The reason it gets 4 stars is bc it was so short. you know there's more coming and this is what upsets me with authors..... Go ahead and finish it before you publish it! I felt hate short unfinished stories! I wish I had noticed the length of it before I started reading. Will I read the next one, mostly likely not bc I really try hard not to buy short stories and especially ones that end in cliffhangers.

[Jenifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conflicted
I really like Luca from The Mob Boss series but I'm not sure how I feel about this story. I feel like I needed a bit more story between him & Isabel before they hooked up. Just to maybe get to know a teensy bit more of her story? Plus this first book is too short! :( I'm really not down with the whole Miami drug kingpin vibe so I'm not sure if I'm going to get the whole series....but like I said, I'm conflicted. (he's too hot to let go....)

[Diana Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in love with this series. I hate Diego. I am counting his days left till Luca gets ahold of him. Eduardo is definitely going to be a problem. Luca and Marco can handle him though. Isabel and Sofia deserve a good life after everything their evil brother has put Isabel through. Can't wait for the last part.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this one. I loved Luca in the Nico and Angel's story. But, I just didn't get into it, kinda got bored with it to be honest. I tried, I even read the second one, still did nothing for me in the end.

[Nicole Mcclain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate cliffhangers! They make me crazy because I think of all the scenarios about the "what will happen next?" Luca is amazing. I love him more as I keep reading these short stories. The passion him and Isabel have is off the charts. Next book please!

[Ingrid Spera · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, be warned that even though it says "standalone", it was released in parts!! I didn't realize this so it was all kinda sweet and sexy until you get to the end, it doesn't end and it has a really weird abrupt cliffhanger that for me turned me off of reading any more of this several part book.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite to date from the mob collection. Enjoyed reading more about Luca (May be because we’d met him in an earlier series) and how he finds his love. I may have read it in the wrong order but no matter still we’ll worth reading.

[Diana Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It was the perfect way to keep the series going. I've always loved Luca. I hate Diego. I'm rooting for Isabel and Sofia. Luca will get them out. Great book and Great writer!

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

No

2 stars only dumb book. I feel like I waited forever for Lucas book and this is all I got. So disappointed I really wanted more of a story like Nico had.

[Katie George · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess I should have judged this book by its cover BEFORE I downloaded it. Gag.

[JAX R.V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to read the rest of this series.

[CeCe · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may work for you, but it did not work for me.
Too much info. Less is more, in my opinion.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this one thinking I might begin to like the story since I couldn't get into the first one. It was a little better, I do like Marco. Basically, Marco made the book for me.

[Nicole Mcclain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking forward to Luca's story. It did not disappoint! He is hot and sweet! Isabel is his perfect companion. Now on to the next book!

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.

I have no complaints for this book. It was a great short read. Very interesting a attention grabbing. Can't wait to see how this ends.

[Shaunette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew there was a softer, caring side to Luca after seeing how much he cared for Angel and later became protective of her. Loved to see it come out.

[Shaunette · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was nice to see Luca finally find love and he truly understood what it meant to sacrifice everything for love. It was also nice to see him reunited with old friends. I loved it.

[BookWorm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. Too silly for me. If you're going to write a book about drug cartels at least know how to spell ColOmbia (not Columbia). Amateur hour.