Scan barcode
bookschaosnart's review
4.0
I've really enjoyed previous novels by HelenKay Dimon and this one was no different. Dirty Games centers around Finn Drummond and the head of a charity in Morocco. Shipments aren't arriving as necessary so Finn comes in to help investigate. Dirty Games had a little bit less of the mystery as neither one of the main characters is actively involved with the CIA. I enjoyed that though as we got to see more of the relationship between the characters develop which is one of my favorite parts of a book with a romance involved. If you're a fan of previous books in this universe I really think you'll enjoy this one. If you just enjoy a watching a relationship with flawed people develop I think you'll like this one too.
bookloverchelle's review
4.0
Finn has worked hard to become a ruthless businessman, learning a lot from his brothers. When money and supplies go missing from the family charity Finn is ready to hunt down the culprits. This leads him to Morocco and the heart of their charitable arm and to Justin, a man he can't get out of his mind. Justin has been attracted to Finn for years but he assumed that it could never be because he thought Finn was straight. Turns out that Finn is bisexual and has also been attracted to Justin. As Finn and Justin try to discover who has been stealing from the charity they also have to run from someone trying to keep the secrets buried. These life and death situations may help the sparks fly but have they found a love that can last? A really fun, suspenseful, sexy read. Even though this is book two of the Dirty series I felt this read very well as a stand-alone, though it's even more enjoyable if you start from the beginning. Good read!
**HelenKay is a personal friend, take this review however you choose**
**HelenKay is a personal friend, take this review however you choose**
dmconnolly1's review
5.0
Dirty Games by HelenKay Dimon is the second book in the Dirty Series. I enjoyed the action packed suspense and the romance between Justin and Finn.
jessicabush1982's review
I had a very hard time with timeframe. I'm assuming he has ptsd. Because he would just stop, freeze up and you would be dragged into memories. And because of it. The story didn't flow. You had months and even year's old events. To read through just to make it to the present. I found myself not caring about old events. If they would just kindly. Get on with it.
Didn't seem to be happening. So I simply returned book to library.
Didn't seem to be happening. So I simply returned book to library.
mommasaystoread's review
2.0
I absolutely loved Finn in the first "Dirty" book, so I was excited to read his story. Sadly, this second book in the series left me disappointed. As far as the story goes, there is plenty of action and intrigue, but whether it was just this book or I don't remember as much about the first one as I thought, I had trouble getting into this one. In the beginning, I felt a bit like I was being thrown into the middle of a story rather than the start. That aside, things did start coming together on that front and made for an interesting storyline. However, the romance between Finn and Justin just didn't feel very romantic. Justin's on and off, hot and cold was enough to give a person whiplash. He was like a lovesick puppy one minute and being a complete jerk the next. Plus, there's the added info of a past fling with Finn's brother which added nothing to the story in my humble opinion - other than a bit of an ick factor. I did still like Finn, but got a little aggravated with him being such a pushover with Justin. I spent a good deal of this story hoping that Finn would get tired of Justin's antics, give him a much needed attitude adjustment, and just walk away. That, in itself, doesn't say much for what was supposed to be a romance. So, while I did enjoy the first book, this one leaves me undecided about whether I'll check out whatever is next for the Dirty series.
katereads2much's review
5.0
Justin Miller knows Finn Drummond is off limits and out of his reach. If the woman on Finn's arm when they met hadn't told him that, Finn's brother Alec had unquestionably made it clear Finn was in love with his girlfriend and, consequently, off the market. Knowing Finn is unavailable and straight doesn't keep Justin from wanting the man. When even hooking up with Finn's brother doesn't help take the edge off his attraction, he uses the only other weapon in his arsenal to keep Finn away from him--his anger.
Finn has worked hard to prove that he knows what he's doing in business and to be the kind of leader that the charity arm of his family's company needs him to be. When Justin asks Alec to come find out why some of the supplies have gone missing, Finn insists on going instead. It is going to be his responsibility and nothing Justin throws at him is going to change his determination, not even the intense dislike Justin has for him.
If you've been reading my reviews, you may know that I was lukewarm about the previous book in this series, Dirty Deeds. I liked the book, but I didn't love it. I did like Finn, who was introduced in Dirty Deeds and I was curious to see where the next book in the series would go.
Well, Dear Reader, let me just say that I was not at all lukewarm about Dirty Games, not even a little bit. This was precisely the read I was looking for in the last one. This one had me staying up so late that my eyes were watering, but I fought through every yawn to finish before I went to sleep because I had to know.
Justin is so scared of his attraction to Finn, even more so when he finds out that Finn is bi and not straight, as he had previously assumed because now he fears loving and losing.
I will say that Justin is stubborn, and it started to wear on me. However, as I would get ready to yell at him for being an idiot he would either make a step in the right direction, or his right-hand man would yell at him and say all the things I wanted to say.
There were a lot more guys in this than there were women as is typically for m/m romance, but I'm pleased to say that it at least made sense considering the environment--the actual place is fictional, but it's a believable tumultuous area where women would be discouraged from working. The women they do have in the story, make sense and are unique from each other and have different strengths, which I personally appreciate. And while each woman has people in her care, neither of them comes off as "motherly." I can't say enough how much I appreciate that.
The tension between the characters is marvelous, and the tension in the plot compliments the characters' chemistry nicely. The logistics, in my opinion, worked better in this one than in the first one and it made for a stronger, more immersive story.
There were a few places where I got a little frustrated with Justin, but overall, both characters had my heart, and I was invested in their story.
Dirty Games is exciting and engaging and hot. It is probably better if you read Dirty Deeds first, but you can read Dirty Games on its own.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Finn has worked hard to prove that he knows what he's doing in business and to be the kind of leader that the charity arm of his family's company needs him to be. When Justin asks Alec to come find out why some of the supplies have gone missing, Finn insists on going instead. It is going to be his responsibility and nothing Justin throws at him is going to change his determination, not even the intense dislike Justin has for him.
If you've been reading my reviews, you may know that I was lukewarm about the previous book in this series, Dirty Deeds. I liked the book, but I didn't love it. I did like Finn, who was introduced in Dirty Deeds and I was curious to see where the next book in the series would go.
Well, Dear Reader, let me just say that I was not at all lukewarm about Dirty Games, not even a little bit. This was precisely the read I was looking for in the last one. This one had me staying up so late that my eyes were watering, but I fought through every yawn to finish before I went to sleep because I had to know.
Justin is so scared of his attraction to Finn, even more so when he finds out that Finn is bi and not straight, as he had previously assumed because now he fears loving and losing.
I will say that Justin is stubborn, and it started to wear on me. However, as I would get ready to yell at him for being an idiot he would either make a step in the right direction, or his right-hand man would yell at him and say all the things I wanted to say.
There were a lot more guys in this than there were women as is typically for m/m romance, but I'm pleased to say that it at least made sense considering the environment--the actual place is fictional, but it's a believable tumultuous area where women would be discouraged from working. The women they do have in the story, make sense and are unique from each other and have different strengths, which I personally appreciate. And while each woman has people in her care, neither of them comes off as "motherly." I can't say enough how much I appreciate that.
The tension between the characters is marvelous, and the tension in the plot compliments the characters' chemistry nicely. The logistics, in my opinion, worked better in this one than in the first one and it made for a stronger, more immersive story.
There were a few places where I got a little frustrated with Justin, but overall, both characters had my heart, and I was invested in their story.
Dirty Games is exciting and engaging and hot. It is probably better if you read Dirty Deeds first, but you can read Dirty Games on its own.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
isalaur's review
medium-paced
4.0
This is an action packed story in a different sort of setting. The story revolves around the mystery of missing supplies at a refugee camp funded by Drummond Industries. There are lots of good red herrings and plenty of places for worry about the MCs.
Primarily though this is a love story. It’s an enemies to lovers story (though not really) as well as a wealth gap story. Both of those themes play out big time. These are very different men, one of whom really can’t get over their differences and keeps throwing it in the other’s face. To be honest that gets pretty old and frankly the last time it happens I’m so fed up I truly wish the other MC would walk out. Justin is really a jerk and even though the author gives us a tragic background I never really felt like rooting for him. Finn on the other hand has the patience of a saint and is way too understanding from my point of view. After that final blow up he should have said enough. Additionally, they are working on a relationship in a country where homosexuality is illegal. Lots of hurdles.
But of course since it is a romance novel they work it out. The mystery is mostly solved and it appears we have our HEA. Some things are glossed over at the end but overall this is an engaging read.
Primarily though this is a love story. It’s an enemies to lovers story (though not really) as well as a wealth gap story. Both of those themes play out big time. These are very different men, one of whom really can’t get over their differences and keeps throwing it in the other’s face. To be honest that gets pretty old and frankly the last time it happens I’m so fed up I truly wish the other MC would walk out. Justin is really a jerk and even though the author gives us a tragic background I never really felt like rooting for him. Finn on the other hand has the patience of a saint and is way too understanding from my point of view. After that final blow up he should have said enough. Additionally, they are working on a relationship in a country where homosexuality is illegal. Lots of hurdles.
But of course since it is a romance novel they work it out. The mystery is mostly solved and it appears we have our HEA. Some things are glossed over at the end but overall this is an engaging read.
the_novel_approach's review
3.0
~ 3.5 Stars ~
Dirty Games is the second book in the Dirty series and follows the younger brother of Alec Drummond, one of the MCs from book one. The Drummond family is an intimidating one, and while you do not need to have read Dirty Deeds to understand this one, that first novel gives you background information on this powerful family of brothers that you will only get a smattering of in this second novel. This is also a spin-off of HelenKay Dimon’s Tough Love series, so if you are familiar with those books, this series will follow that same M/M suspense format.
The oldest brother Alec found love in book one, in book two we skip to the baby of the family, Finn, and I am really intrigued and waiting on book three which will feature the middle, elusive and most mysterious Drummond brother, Griff—hopefully! For a suspense novel to work you have to have a plausible storyline, and I think the author has one with this book. The settings seem well thought out and researched, and I didn’t think once that the sequence of events was unbelievable. It’s a slow burn for this novel, and we get a great deal of extraneous information and plot along with the romance happening on the page. This one is almost, not quite, but almost more suspense/mystery than romance.
Justin Miller is a man honed by his ten years in the army. His seven years working for the Drummond Corporation hasn’t mellowed him much. As head of the firm’s charitable arm, he keeps field operations running from his base in Morocco. He’s harsh, he’s gruff, but if he drops a ball then people could die and that is just not acceptable for Justin. When things start happening to his shipments, the aid as well as the funds to buy the aid then Justin knows he has to call in his boss, Alec, and tell him what is going on. Only Alec isn’t the one to show up, it’s Finn, the Drummond brother who has been the main star of all Justin’s fantasies for seven years. Knowing he cannot have Finn doesn’t stop Justin from dreaming about what it would be like if he could. Justin ends up gobsmacked when Finn goes after him, but Justin has spent so much time believing he could never have a relationship with the man that when it happens, it is hard for him to believe it could be real. Justin’s unicorn walks into his life and, frankly, the man has a hard time trusting that it’s real. I will say, this attitude perpetuated just a teeny bit too long in the story, and it may have gotten on my alright-already nerve. Justin also lashes out a bit as he learns to trust, so take a patience pill in regard to him. Justin has been hurt before, and trusting that Finn won’t hurt him is hard for him.
Finn is the last brother in a powerful family of complete overachievers. He learned early in his life to stake his place on the food chain. He has lusted for Justin for a long time, so when the corporation needs someone to check out missing shipments in Morocco, he jumps at the chance to prove his worth to his brothers as well as Justin. What he finds when he gets there is danger, to him personally as well as to the charity and the people they help. Untangling the web of deceit isn’t easy, especially while falling in love with a man who has more prickles than a porcupine. Finn is a big-picture guy, which is what helps him to look past the small hurts Justin inflicts on him and keep the prize in sight. Honestly, there were a few times I was like, “run away,” but Finn doesn’t and Dimon crafts a satisfying HEA in the end which totally suited me. Finn has a great personality! He is the polar opposite to Justin and brings a lightness to the story that it needs.
The secondary characters all support the main storyline nicely, especially Justin’s right-hand-man, Oliver. As a secondary character, Oliver Jacobsen is well written and the perfect foil for Justin. If he were a real man, he would be in line for a medal of honor for how much he puts up with from the man all while supporting Justin’s work and smoothing the way for him. When things start to go badly between our main characters, something that happens frequently, it is Oliver who brings them back together.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It goes just deep enough into the suspense to keep your interest, and the MCs were multifaceted and real. The settings and the descriptions of Africa and Morocco were fascinating as was the ins and outs of the charitable organizations who work there. I absolutely recommend this book. Was it my favorite of HelenKay Dimon’s writing? No, but it was still enjoyable. It’s an easy read and keeps you guessing as to who the bad guy will end up being. I am looking forward to book three and Griff’s story, rounding out the Drummond brothers.
Reviewed by Carrie for The Novel Approach
Dirty Games is the second book in the Dirty series and follows the younger brother of Alec Drummond, one of the MCs from book one. The Drummond family is an intimidating one, and while you do not need to have read Dirty Deeds to understand this one, that first novel gives you background information on this powerful family of brothers that you will only get a smattering of in this second novel. This is also a spin-off of HelenKay Dimon’s Tough Love series, so if you are familiar with those books, this series will follow that same M/M suspense format.
The oldest brother Alec found love in book one, in book two we skip to the baby of the family, Finn, and I am really intrigued and waiting on book three which will feature the middle, elusive and most mysterious Drummond brother, Griff—hopefully! For a suspense novel to work you have to have a plausible storyline, and I think the author has one with this book. The settings seem well thought out and researched, and I didn’t think once that the sequence of events was unbelievable. It’s a slow burn for this novel, and we get a great deal of extraneous information and plot along with the romance happening on the page. This one is almost, not quite, but almost more suspense/mystery than romance.
Justin Miller is a man honed by his ten years in the army. His seven years working for the Drummond Corporation hasn’t mellowed him much. As head of the firm’s charitable arm, he keeps field operations running from his base in Morocco. He’s harsh, he’s gruff, but if he drops a ball then people could die and that is just not acceptable for Justin. When things start happening to his shipments, the aid as well as the funds to buy the aid then Justin knows he has to call in his boss, Alec, and tell him what is going on. Only Alec isn’t the one to show up, it’s Finn, the Drummond brother who has been the main star of all Justin’s fantasies for seven years. Knowing he cannot have Finn doesn’t stop Justin from dreaming about what it would be like if he could. Justin ends up gobsmacked when Finn goes after him, but Justin has spent so much time believing he could never have a relationship with the man that when it happens, it is hard for him to believe it could be real. Justin’s unicorn walks into his life and, frankly, the man has a hard time trusting that it’s real. I will say, this attitude perpetuated just a teeny bit too long in the story, and it may have gotten on my alright-already nerve. Justin also lashes out a bit as he learns to trust, so take a patience pill in regard to him. Justin has been hurt before, and trusting that Finn won’t hurt him is hard for him.
Finn is the last brother in a powerful family of complete overachievers. He learned early in his life to stake his place on the food chain. He has lusted for Justin for a long time, so when the corporation needs someone to check out missing shipments in Morocco, he jumps at the chance to prove his worth to his brothers as well as Justin. What he finds when he gets there is danger, to him personally as well as to the charity and the people they help. Untangling the web of deceit isn’t easy, especially while falling in love with a man who has more prickles than a porcupine. Finn is a big-picture guy, which is what helps him to look past the small hurts Justin inflicts on him and keep the prize in sight. Honestly, there were a few times I was like, “run away,” but Finn doesn’t and Dimon crafts a satisfying HEA in the end which totally suited me. Finn has a great personality! He is the polar opposite to Justin and brings a lightness to the story that it needs.
The secondary characters all support the main storyline nicely, especially Justin’s right-hand-man, Oliver. As a secondary character, Oliver Jacobsen is well written and the perfect foil for Justin. If he were a real man, he would be in line for a medal of honor for how much he puts up with from the man all while supporting Justin’s work and smoothing the way for him. When things start to go badly between our main characters, something that happens frequently, it is Oliver who brings them back together.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It goes just deep enough into the suspense to keep your interest, and the MCs were multifaceted and real. The settings and the descriptions of Africa and Morocco were fascinating as was the ins and outs of the charitable organizations who work there. I absolutely recommend this book. Was it my favorite of HelenKay Dimon’s writing? No, but it was still enjoyable. It’s an easy read and keeps you guessing as to who the bad guy will end up being. I am looking forward to book three and Griff’s story, rounding out the Drummond brothers.
Reviewed by Carrie for The Novel Approach
mlvalard's review
3.0
I give this a solid three stars. I liked it. I haven't read the first book in the series and in fact have only read one other by this author: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31869244-guarding-mr-fine . I recognized a few names from that other book, but even without a more thorough knowledge it stood alone well enough. It was a good book, and I enjoyed reading it, but can't quite go as far as great.
The Pros: I liked both of the main characters. Both Finn and Justin had a lot of baggage and issues to work through and boy did it complicate things. The attraction between them shows up very early in the book but the groundwork of a history for it was set in well enough that it felt believable.
I liked the setting. It was a rather unique one in my reading experience and I appreciated it as a place and also as an added complication into an already complicated relationship.
I liked the concept of the issue that brought the characters together and fueled the plot. There was a lot of action and the tension stayed pretty ratcheted up throughout.
The sex scenes were pretty steamy and enjoyable.
The Cons: While I like the concept of the plot, for me... bits of it didn't quite hit where they needed to. It wasn't bad, just there was a -lot- going on in the book and I feel I could have stood to see parts of it drawn out or elaborated on a bit more.
Over all this was a solid and enjoyable read. I feel I might possibly have enjoyed it even more if I'd read more of the series and had the resulting extra knowledge of some of the side characters, but even as a standalone it was well worth reading.
(I received a free eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)
The Pros: I liked both of the main characters. Both Finn and Justin had a lot of baggage and issues to work through and boy did it complicate things. The attraction between them shows up very early in the book but the groundwork of a history for it was set in well enough that it felt believable.
I liked the setting. It was a rather unique one in my reading experience and I appreciated it as a place and also as an added complication into an already complicated relationship.
I liked the concept of the issue that brought the characters together and fueled the plot. There was a lot of action and the tension stayed pretty ratcheted up throughout.
The sex scenes were pretty steamy and enjoyable.
The Cons: While I like the concept of the plot, for me... bits of it didn't quite hit where they needed to. It wasn't bad, just there was a -lot- going on in the book and I feel I could have stood to see parts of it drawn out or elaborated on a bit more.
Over all this was a solid and enjoyable read. I feel I might possibly have enjoyed it even more if I'd read more of the series and had the resulting extra knowledge of some of the side characters, but even as a standalone it was well worth reading.
(I received a free eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)
mslizalou's review
4.0
Dirty Games is the second book in the Dirty series from HelenKay Dimon. I loved getting Alec Drummond's book with Dirty Deeds and really enjoyed reading Finn Drummond's book with Dirty Games.
I loved there was chemistry between Justin and Finn pretty much from the moment they met, even if Justin didn't deal with it very well. Seriously when they met years ago, Justin was so attracted to Finn, he slept with his brother Alec as a substitute. Of course, Justin is gay and in his defense, Finn, who is bi, did have a girlfriend at the time. I had to laugh at how hard it was for Justin to be around Finn and not be a jerk, as he kept trying to hide his feelings. Seriously, if something could be said wrong or bitchy, it came out of Justin's month when talking to Finn. I really expected Justin to have better game around a man he was attracted to honestly.
Finn and Justin came from completely different backgrounds, yet both had some really bad experiences with family in their past. I loved that Finn really wanted to not only help the people the Drummond Charities were already helping, but wanted to step up and do even more. I will say I was stumped by who was after Finn and trying to make him leave through much of the book. He was there to investigate missing shipments and discovered there were some weapons runners in the area. I thought I had it figured out pretty early on, but was actually pretty happy to be wrong. I love when an author writing romantic suspense keeps me guessing, and Ms. Dimon did an amazing job in Dirty Games.
I loved watching Finn and Justin figure out both their working relationship and their personal relationship and if the two could be one. Seriously these two had some of the most amazing chemistry and smoking hot sex scenes between them. I loved the steaminess of them together every bit as much as I loved the moments of tenderness between them.
Dirty Games is another winner from HelenKay Dimon. Fans who love romantic suspense books will love this book and series. I've been reading Ms. Dimon's books for years and highly recommend each and every book she writes, but have to say I have special love for her romantic suspense books.
Rating: 4 Stars B
Review copy provided by publisher
I loved there was chemistry between Justin and Finn pretty much from the moment they met, even if Justin didn't deal with it very well. Seriously when they met years ago, Justin was so attracted to Finn, he slept with his brother Alec as a substitute. Of course, Justin is gay and in his defense, Finn, who is bi, did have a girlfriend at the time. I had to laugh at how hard it was for Justin to be around Finn and not be a jerk, as he kept trying to hide his feelings. Seriously, if something could be said wrong or bitchy, it came out of Justin's month when talking to Finn. I really expected Justin to have better game around a man he was attracted to honestly.
Finn and Justin came from completely different backgrounds, yet both had some really bad experiences with family in their past. I loved that Finn really wanted to not only help the people the Drummond Charities were already helping, but wanted to step up and do even more. I will say I was stumped by who was after Finn and trying to make him leave through much of the book. He was there to investigate missing shipments and discovered there were some weapons runners in the area. I thought I had it figured out pretty early on, but was actually pretty happy to be wrong. I love when an author writing romantic suspense keeps me guessing, and Ms. Dimon did an amazing job in Dirty Games.
I loved watching Finn and Justin figure out both their working relationship and their personal relationship and if the two could be one. Seriously these two had some of the most amazing chemistry and smoking hot sex scenes between them. I loved the steaminess of them together every bit as much as I loved the moments of tenderness between them.
Dirty Games is another winner from HelenKay Dimon. Fans who love romantic suspense books will love this book and series. I've been reading Ms. Dimon's books for years and highly recommend each and every book she writes, but have to say I have special love for her romantic suspense books.
Rating: 4 Stars B
Review copy provided by publisher