A sweet and steamy New Adult Romance from Amazon bestselling author of the Ruthless People series, J.J. McAvoy…
After an erotic one-week fling with a musician she meets in a bar, Thea Cunning never expects to see Levi Black again. Then Monday morning comes around, and she discovers that her former lover is not only her professor, but he’s also one of the top criminal lawyers in the state of Massachusetts.
With everyone in class vying to be one of the twelve disciples—a group of twelve students that Professor Black takes under his wing—tensions run high. Thea considers dropping his class, given their passionate week together and their undeniable chemistry. After all, there are other (less infuriatingly sexy) law professors on campus.
But to accomplish her goal and get her father out of prison, Thea knows she needs to learn under the best of the best—and that’s Levi Black.
But can she learn under the best, without being under the best?
See J.J. McAvoy's Black Rainbow in:
This isn't my first J.J. McAvoy book and the first book I read from this author didn't make very nice impressions on me too. I still ended up requesting an ARC of this because heck, who wouldn't with that blurb? It was practically crooking its finger in a come-hither way, luring me to read it. A hero who was a musician, a lawyer and a professor?? I thought I freaking hit the mother lode! What could go wrong?
Apparently a lot of things.
Before I proceed, I'll let you know that there might be a few a lot spoilers that might slip that I wouldn't be able to tag at all. Life's too short to tag spoilers. Loljk. I'm gonna try tagging as much as I could. I made this review immediately after I woke up so I'm not gonna hold back.
The characters. I had a hard time sympathizing with them.
Levi Black. This guy was so mushy around Thea from the very moment he met her. He had a badass reputation in the law industry with the names El Diablo and The Cleaner. But around Thea? Oh heck no. He got cheesy like this:
What was this? Why did I want to kiss her again so badly? I didn’t even know her last name, and yet it was like every part of me was crying out for her.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love it when a guy gets like that for a heroine, showing a side that he doesn't show to the world save her, but there are proper timings for it and the morning after the night you just met her sure as fuck isn't one of them.
His professor alter-ego felt so…off. Like it was forced. You know that moment when a teacher suddenly tries his best to impress when he realizes that there were other people other than his students observing his class? Yeah, it felt like that to me.
Oh, oh, and if you're a little sensitive when it comes to infidelity like me, then you'll find yourself disliking this guy. You see, there was this time when Levi was at a party, his mom introduced him to a girl and this girl was trying to get involved with Levi but he refused because he said that he was seeing someone but it was complicated (Thea). A few moments later, he called Thea and asked if she wanted in in their relationship, she said she couldn't and Levi hung up, went back to that girl his mother introduced to him and made a move on her which ended up with them spending the night together.
Thea Cunning. She reminded me so much of Melody from J.J. McAvoy's Ruthless People that I started to worry if perhaps she'd end up shooting Levi or something. She got shot instead. I didn't hate her, but I also wasn't able to connect with her because of her contradictory actions. She kept on saying that she couldn't have a relationship with Levi but ended up kissing him or having sex with him anyway. I admired her determination though. She just dropped off everything to free her dad.
Dual POVs.
For quite some time already, I've noticed this sudden influx of novels that uses dual or multiple POVs. There are a lot of pros but so are the cons. While it is good that the reader can know what's going on in both MC's minds, the author also has to be able to create to separate entities inside the book. It's not enough for me that you write things while in a character's perspective without creating his own train of thought. It's not enough that you use the same writing style, apply a few differences, then slap their name on top then declare that it's his/her POV.
Thea and Levi almost had no differences at all. I wouldn't be able to differentiate their thoughts unless I see the pronouns and the name on top. They both did this italicized sentence thingy at the end of a chapter. That is a nice touch for dramatic effect, but if both characters are doing it? That's another story.
Things were thrown, left hanging and a lot were happening at once.
There were some things that were in Black Rainbow that could've affected the plot but weren't elaborated or mentioned again.
Like that part when Levi ranted to Thea about how his ex-wife and his ex-business partner liked to make his life hell because they somehow made the authorities audit him every year, making his ex-wife sound like she was still involved in his life by making things hard for him. But after that, the ex-wife wasn't mentioned anymore until in last quarter and it was for a whole different reason. I expected Levi to have some more issues (not a lot) when it came to being in a relationship but all I got was that one jealousy scene from him.
There was also this time when Thea suddenly turned into this cold and calculating person, suddenly so determined to become number one. I knew what the catalyst for that change was but I didn't exactly understand why she had to do it. Also, this cold Thea just sort of faded out as time passed. I didn't even realize it until I re-read some parts.
The flashbacks of their one-week fling, cases solved in the sidelines, Levi and Thea having a relationship in secret, Thea trying so hard to free her father, their classes. These things simultaneously occurring made the book seem so long and confusing at times because I didn't know where book was headed to.
You can get away with anything as long as you say it in media. Because what is court hearing.
I don't know much about the laws in Connecticut much more in United States but in this book, for some reason, you can get away with anything as long as you tell the truth in a press conference. This happened with that teenager who was accused with double manslaughter and Thea's dad.
The last time I checked, these guys were prominent lawyers so I was expecting some court hearing action not about lawyers solely relying on trial by media.
(I wanted to point out one last thing, considering the usage of the media in this book but decided against it. It has something to do with the fraternization policy. Yeah, I'm letting it slip this time.)
I liked a few things though. Their one-week fling was cute although Levi felt out of character and screamed insta-love to me. It's great to read a heroine who's African-American too. So I give this book a half-star for that! (Since two stars is usually the lowest rating I give.)
Like I said above, the book had great potential but there were plot holes that I minded. I liked McAvoy's take on a situation (student/teacher relationship) that's very cliché nowadays but Black Rainbow would've been refreshing for me if it didn't feel like the author was trying to cram a lot of things in this book and focused more on character development.
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