Goodreads doesn't do "half" and "quarters" so let me clarify that I am giving this book three and a half stars and let me tell you why.
The story was good. Adrenaline pumped is guaranteed but the writing is one step above bad. For example, the whole book is written from the voice of Juicy, the protagonist, who speaks like she is Harlem hood: her grammar is terrible at times and curses just as a well as a sailor. Nothing is wrong with that, except for those moments when that voice is lost all because she says "nigger" instead of "niggah"-which she did switch countless times in the book, which made it seem like she couldn't make up her mind. And the moments when she says "grandmother" which not even many proper speaking people say. Seriously, after getting to know the voice in this book, it is seriously distracting to hear her go from street talk to saying words like that in their proper term. I am all for writing how the person speaks and I try not to let bad writing get in the way of a good story, but it was just too hard not to notice. Like a big pink elephant in the room.
Also, while I did like the story, I felt like it should have came with a warning. It would ruin some surprise, maybe, but let me just say closer towards the end of the book, I could have care less about the erotica that happened before or the romance--which was so watered down, btw, it was easy not to care. At one point, it stopped becoming an "erotic tale" and just became some fucked up story.
Guys, this book is most definitely not for the faint hearted and while I see this is drug business book, I didn't see the need to go all out like Noire did. There is a fine line between "raw" and "overkill", and this in my opinion, was overkill. Some of the sex was okay, some pretty hot, but at the same time you're scared for Juicy for reasons you will very quickly understand. So that gets in the way, like, ALOT.
I liked Juicy, because she was severely flawed in a very realistic way. She had her smart moments, but still she makes you ask questions and that's a well built character.
Other than this book being not what I would call well-written and a bit too hardcore, it was still entertaining and emotion provoking. One thumb up.