Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy Review

4.5 stars out of 5
Ahhhh! This was so fucking good and such a dark read. The whole time I would cheer on this couple killing and torturing innocent people....

Synopsis: 
"To the outside world, they look like American Royalty, giving to charities, feeding the homeless, rebuilding the city. But behind closed doors is a constant battle for dominance between two Bosses, cultures, and hearts.

Ruthless People is a romantic crime fiction set in modern day Chicago, following the life and marriage of Melody Nicci Giovanni and Liam Callahan—rivals by blood and leaders through fear. Their marriage was arranged by their fathers in hopes to end years of bloodshed between the Irish and the Italians.

Liam, next in line to lead the Irish, believes he’s getting a simple-minded wife, one he can control, one who bends to his every need . . . the complete opposite of Melody. Bred to be a Boss, a world-class marksman, master of disguise, with no mercy and no fear. Twenty-four years later, she has achieved more than any man could even dream of, killing anyone who steps in her way. She knows exactly what type of man Liam is, and she would rather die than give up the power she has spent her whole life building. But with no other family left, she must not only learn to work with Liam, but the whole Callahan clan.

The Mafia of the past is evolving, and with rival bosses gunning for them, Melody and Liam will have to figure out how to work as one to take down those who stand in their way, all while keeping up appearances.
Power, Family, and Respect are everything."

I can confidently state that this book was unlike any other book I have ever read.

I read this months ago and I still am not sure I can fully express how I felt about it. 

Like wow, just picture The Sopranos mixed with Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It was dark, twisted, and really fucked up but I loved every second of it. I mean that first sex scene...Fucked up but also really hot.

I ended up finding myself rooting for the "bad" guys and by the end of the book the lines were completely blurred to me as to who was good and who was bad. I genuinely enjoyed the carnage that this couple created. There were obviously some things that I didn't like but they was far and few between.
I was so torn with my rating; I really wanted to give this a 5 star but there were just a couple things that just made me not able.

What I didn't like:
-Mel's catatonic like state. I won't go into what made her go into this state because that is spoiler territory. I just felt that it lasted waaay too fucking long. Like I understood why but damn it got sort of annoying and felt like it went on forever.

-Mel's attitude of being "The Boss". Don't get me wrong I absolutely loved that she was ruthless and vicious, but the constant "I'm The Boss" got to be a very bit grating. I loved how she would never back down and demanded to be treated as an equal,but there were occasions where that shifted to "I'm The Boss I can do whatever I want"; it got to be childish sounding rather than sounding like she was demanding respect.

-A small thing that annoyed me but didn't make me dislike the novel as a whole was the other wives in the family. They were annoying as fuck but didn't the story for me.

I'm really trying to think of more things and none are coming to me. I haven't read it in awhile so I'm sort of blanking on what I wasn't a fan of. So moving along to..

What I enjoyed:
-The likability of the couple. Both Mel and Liam were just so easy to read and enjoy. They were both a couple that I loved watching their growth not only as a couple but also as individuals. Separate they are insane, ruthless, and just all around vicious, but together they are frightening and unstoppable.

-The darkness. I am really intrigued about morbid people and couples; and I especially love reading about it in books. This book was just really awesome. Like I can't formulate my words into anything better than "awesome", but seriously this book was just awesome. The violence is violent and Mel and Liam are extremely vicious; there is no putting a label of "redeemable bad guy", no these two and their associates are apologetically criminal and murderous. And I am in love with that.

-Liam and Mel having each other's back. They are very in the mentality of them against the world, and I really dig it man. Having a person you can trust to support you and have your back in a world of murder and mayhem is extremely hard and I think it's amazing that they found it in each other (especially in the "arranged-type" marriage situation).

-Mel. I loved that she was just a straight up bad ass. Like she did her and gave no fucks about what anyone else thought. I absolutely loved that she handled her own shit and didn't have other people do her dirty work for her.

-The opener introducing Mel to Liam. Dude that shit was amazing!

-That spoiler at the end damnnn. I mean I guess I should have expected it to be possible but wow it totally caught me off guard.

Final thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book and I really can't wait to read the rest of the series :)
Remaining books of the series:
The Untouchables (book 2)
American Savages (book 3)