Gentleman Sinner by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Gentleman Sinner by Jodi Ellen Malpas

SUMMARY

Izzy White knows of the darkness in this world. After all, she escaped it long ago. Determined not to let her past beat her, Izzy has a secure, stable life with a job she loves in nursing. But one act of kindness will completely upend everything she's so carefully built-putting her right back in the crosshairs of danger she's been so desperate to avoid.

When Theo Kane shows up like a knight in shining armor, Izzy can't help thinking she's been saved from one threat and exposed to another. His imposing physique, the harsh lines of his face, and the wariness of everyone who comes close are just a few clues to Theo Kane's notorious reputation. The man is positively terrifying. But with Izzy, he's tender and a complete gentleman, and her fascination with the mysterious beast of a man becomes too powerful for her to walk away.

As Theo's demons come to light, running becomes even more impossible. And yet staying together could doom them both.

MY REVIEW

I have read multiple times and loved all the books by Jodi. It pains me to admit that this is my least favourite book so far 😕
I was expecting so much more.

*SPOILERS*

‘What’s your story, Izzy White?’
‘What’s yours, Theo Kane?’ I retort.

I loved the beginning of the book. There is mystery around Izzy and Theo. Theo is an interesting stalker (my favourite kind). One night he saves Izzy from a dark alley after she has defended a young hooker.
After that Theo seems obsessed with Izzy. He follows her to her work, he follows her at Las Vegas where she went for holidays.
He keeps saving her and following her around. He demands dinner with her. And her time. At some point, Izzy will take her chances and will have a fling with him in Las Vegas. But then they will need to go back to their everyday life in London.

‘Us happens,’ he finally says, simple and straight to the point. Except I’m not sure what us is.
‘What will us be?’
‘In truth, I don’t know.’ He sighs. ‘But I’m looking forward to figuring that out. If you’re happy to come along for the ride. Are you happy to, Izzy? Do you want to explore what us could be?’

And then the story of Theo and Izzy becomes messy. Out of control and full of unnecessary drama. Which I normally don’t mind...but in this case I did not find Theo likable at all.

Theo does one stupid thing after the other:
-He makes Izzy lose her job
-He makes her look guilty in front of her work colleagues as he creates the worst possible scene
-Invite her rapist to his club
-Punch her on the face, by mistake... but still...
-After she falls unconscious on the ground, instead of looking after her and of apologising to her, he goes and cold-bloodily kills the man that she was trying to stop him from killing in the first place.
-Then he disappears.
-Instead of grovelling back to her, she looks for him like a mad woman.
-He never tried to make Izzy feel better. He only tried selfishly to punish himself.

His excuses?
*I am broken.
*I don't want to be touched.
*My daddy did not love me.
*I cannot control my temper.

The reaction from his mother after Izzy got punched and she managed to open one eye because the other one was not functioning?
‘I told you to let him calm down, sweetheart. Why didn’t you leave him to calm down?’
Excuse me... WTF?

I am sorry, but I could not see him as a broken man who is ready to be fixed. I though that most of the times he was a needy, selfish jerk. Izzy felt safe when he was close to her, but I couldn't understand why and it was never justified enough.
If I was in her shoes, I would have get rid of him from the second that he cost me my job and my reputation.

P.S. on the other hand the love story between their friends, Callum and Jess, sounded really interesting. I would love to read their book, if there is one.