Blog Tour: Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy

Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy

First in the Ruthless People trilogy

4 stars

Liam Callahan and Melody Giovanni are from two very different families. Liam is Irish and Melody is Italian. This doesn’t seem like much of a difference but when it comes to the mafia and the rivalry between these two groups it’s a border. Liam thinks he’s in for getting a wife who shops and does charity, but he gets a woman who is known as the Boss. I wasn’t expecting to like this one. I thought I would loathe it with every fiber of my being. I actually enjoyed it though. I’m conflicted with it, though. I hate these characters. They are scum. They are disgusting and foul, but they are ruthless. Just like the title promises. They show no one mercy and at the first sign of you crossing them you can be sure to be set on fire (it did actually happen at one point).
"It is just business. Every last person we kill is for family. If we do not kill them, they kill us. It is the way of the world. It is self defense. It is survival.”
#ruthlessasfuck


The main female character is Melody. I HATE her. I can’t stand her. She’s callous and cold. Everybody always talks about wanting a badass heroine, but what happens when your heroine is such a badass that she is a ruthless murderer for it. She’s pretty scary, but towards the end she became a little broken when a turn of events occurred. It didn’t last long though. She also says the worst things that make me want to kill her.
"Does it make me a hypocrite if I still consider myself pro-life?"
She says this after shooting a pregnant woman!

It comes back to bit her in the ass though. Melody may be a bitch, but Karma is the BITCH.

Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 7 (she can kick butt, but she’s too scary for me)

The main male character is Liam. Liam is a dick. He slut shames everyone who isn’t Melody. Of course, Melody isn’t any better. Basically I don’t like him and even if he was charming I still wouldn’t like him. I think he’s just as bad as Melody if not worse.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 5

The Villain- I know that they face a villain in this story, but everyone seems to be the villain. No one is innocent.

Villain Scale: 9

I do like the characters well enough. The only characters I liked were Adriana, Olivia, and Caroline. Liam’s brother, Neal, and his cousin, Declan, didn’t seem all that good. I actually hate Declan because of his treatment towards Olivia. I do like Liam’s parents though. They seem to be the only actual sensible people in this novel.

Character Scale: 7.5

You know what I’m beginning to hate about New Adult sex scenes. They use the most awkward descriptions. The last book I read used the description of a kitty when talking about female parts. Can’t we just say vagina? It’s not a big deal. In this book, though Liam’s thoughts go a little extreme. Prepare to laugh your ass off.
"The moment my eyes saw the spring of honey begging for my tongue, I latched on, sucking and lapping up all the juices she had provided for me.”

This is just so awkward and it’s totally unnecessary. Also USE A CONDOM! You two were saying a baby wouldn’t be good and look what happened.


"The other half knew that we, as humans, sometimes learned the best lessons from pain.”
The book does have good points. I think of Ruthless People as something like Bates Motel. You hate Norman Bates because you know what he becomes, but you love him and can’t stop watching him. Ruthless People is very much like that. It’s good brain candy. Is it fluffy? If you consider skinning people alive fluffy then, yes. It is a good book though. It has a lot of problems, but it’s also very enjoyable. I suggest this if you enjoy novels about serial killers or even watching Mob Wives.


Cover Thoughts: I don’t like the words around the cover, but I do like the faces and the overall aspect of it. If it didn’t have words all over it, I would probably love it.

Thank you, Netgalley and The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.