REVIEW: Sins & Needles by Karina Halle

Sins & Needles by Karina Halle (The Artists Trilogy #1)
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Rating: 5/5 stars
Get it: Amazon | B&N

Ellie Watt is used to starting over. The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents' latest scam. Now she's much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for - Camden McQueen.

Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie's counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she's not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie's plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn't dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it's one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road. 

My Review

I already knew Sins & Needles by Karina Halle was going to be absolutely blow my mind worthy, but I never knew just how much it was going to rock my freaking world and more. Sins & Needles had everything I wanted: danger, sex, tattoos, illegal activities, criminals, redeemable yet flawed characters, and a crazy ass ex-boyfriend on the hunt. This book was 5 stars worth of badass. 

I loved main character, narrator, totally fantabulous, Ellie Watt. She was one amazing character because I got to see the good and bad sides of her. She was a character who had all kinds of faults, she wasn’t a typical heroine, but one in gray area of black and white, right and wrong. Ellie Watt was more human that any character I have every encountered in my time of reading. She was fatally flawed, not able to resist temptation, can do bad things, but still feel guilt and remorse. She was a survivor of a tough life and did things that were illegal and deceiving, but it was who she became to be and I liked that she admitted it and sometimes embraced it even though she wanted to change it. She sometimes had an attitude of consequences be damned that I really liked about her. 

The romance in this book wasn’t butterflies and happy endings full of true love. I’m not even sure you could really call what Ellie and Camden have as romance because of how complicated everything was for them. It was sometimes hurtful, brutal, and intense. There was betrayal and understanding and sometimes cruelty. Though it was not perfect for Ellie and Camden, they were passionate nonetheless. They got where they wanted to be or at least tried to make it work and build the trust they have lost. Camden was one scary sexy beast. He was intoxicating right off the very bat. He was charming and endearing but he was also dangerous and wicked all at once and I loved all sides of him. I loved that he could be gentle and soft and then be cold and unforgiving in one flip of a switch. Camden’s impending darkness and the way he saw beauty in broken things made him much more desirable than he already was. Even in his clever, conniving and intense manner, Camden McQueen was simply breath-taking. 


I completely enjoyed the heck out of Sins & Needles. Halle gave me one dirty, gritty, deliciously dark and one completely engrossing novel. I just loved how easily placed I felt in this book because of how she appealed to all of my senses. I envisioned everything with so much ease. I especially appreciated the flashbacks that were very well placed in the book. I loved being able to see a glimpse of Ellie and Camden’s past, of who they were before and how they got to where they were now. The flashbacks never get in the way of the present storyline. In fact, the third person flashbacks enhanced it to really give you the full experience of seeing that the Ellie you’re meeting now was not the same Ellie back then. I thought Halle really brought in an exciting and thrilling ride. Sins & Needles was dangerous, scandalous and oh so sexy. It had a certain edginess to give the book its originality. It’s crazy and chaotic and sometimes a little wild too. I loved that book messed with the laws, with morals, and meaning of love, trust, betrayal and sacrifice. Some of the characters are bat shit crazy and sometimes the things they do were brutal, but it was because of that Sins & Needles was fucking amazing through and through.