BLOG TOUR: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAYS: Backfire by Keri Lake

No matter how unbreakable he may seem, every man has a weakness.

A year ago, my home became a bloodstained crime scene. That night marked the beginning of my hell—the same night I was tortured by my enemies and tossed into an underground prison to die.

They failed. I survived.

Now that I’m free, only one motive burns in my soul: revenge.

Lucky for me, they think Jase Hawkins is dead. Maybe I am. I’ve got nothing but a cold, merciless rage, and Black Betty, the sharp steel blade that never leaves my side.

Then she drifts into my life.

Lucia wants answers—so much so, she’s willing to fall into the darkness where my enemies lie in wait, to kill her for what she knows.

Or to take her for the depraved fantasies her body alone can rouse in a man’s mind.

Me? I want her for the fire in her touch that feeds my addiction, forces me to feel what has become numb, but my appetite for bloodshed runs deeper than flesh.

For my own sanity, I’ve vowed to stay away from her. Because she’s my only weakness, an obsession that leaves me craving more—one that could make even the most steadfast plan backfire.

“Backfire is dark, gritty, and unapologetic. You’ll be reading it with your heart in your throat and your stomach twisted up in knots. It’s violent, a touch depraved, darkly erotic, action packed and absolutely, positively unputdownable.” –

Dirty Girl Romance Blog

“It’s brilliant. It’s rewarding and it is a mind screw done perfectly. You will hear your heart break for what Jase and Lucy go through. You will love, hate and shatter.”

-Kathy Coopmans, USA Today Bestselling Author
“So dark and disturbing you read with one eye open, unable to look away -riveted by what’s playing out before your very eyes as Keri Lake takes you on a twisted rollercoaster flying in different directions at great speed.”

-Totally Booked Blog
“Once again Keri Lake has given us a wonderfully engaging story which sucks you into a whole other world, making you feel everything and revel in the brutal underworld that she has created. It’s a book you experience,not just read, and if you’re in the mood for this sort of story, it’s going to blow you away with its dark intensity.”

Backfire is my first read by Keri Lake, and I can unequivocally say that she delivers in a genre that’s primary characteristics are the grotesque, the insane, and the irrational. Dark romance takes subversive and shocking subject matter and delves deep into an atmosphere that is raw, gritty, and as evil as it comes, and Jase and Lucy’s journey into the darknet as well as the underbelly of Detroit, a city in ruins, showcases Lake’s prowess at creating complicated characters and plotlines that thrive in torturous settings and feed the darkness within by seeking retribution of all that has been taken from them.

Jase Hawkins has lived and breathed pain since his childhood, forcing him to be swallowed by the darkness and punished for his mistakes; regardless of his bad choices, though, the resulted bloodshed has ripped him open and left him thirsting for vengeance, and Jase’s form of justice can only be delivered through death and destruction.

Jase is pure darkness, but Lucy finds beauty in destruction, understanding that as long as the foundation remains intact, there’s always a possibility to mold and shape things in a way that allows for redemption…allows for the light to be let in and find strength behind all of the ugliness, and that is exactly what Lucy attempts to do with Jase even after their initial encounter.

One aspect of dark romance that I adore is the fact that the setting itself becomes a character in the story, and Lake picked the perfect city for her story because Detroit houses several entities of destruction and darkness and the atmosphere created by them is intricate to the gritty and chaotic situations that occur in Backfire.

Backfire brings to the forefront the inhumane practices of treacherous bastards who get off on other people’s pain and corrupt innocent people simply because they feel they wield the power to do so. It was difficult to read some parts of the story because it illustrates how despicable human beings can be when they have no value for human life except for how they can use and abuse it for their own personal pleasure and gain.

“When life left us in ruins, love allowed us to see the beauty through the destruction and the strength behind our ugliest scars.”

It seems impossible that beauty and strength can be found when people are at their lowest, but that is exactly what Jase and Lucy set out to do even after they’re beaten, torn down, and wounded beyond repair because there’s a point when day and night come together and create a bright light in the darkness, guiding people back together despite the time apart and the ugliness of what they’ve been through without one another.

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Poison Apples