The Blackmail of Denise Randall

A definite must read!!!💞💞💞 I don't pick favorite authors,books or BBF'S, but if I did this book would definitely be in the running!! Gail Haris has written another exceptional novel. It's sensual, arousing and amusing. It has a great plot and great character development. If I could give it 6⭐, I would

Denise Randall
First, I must tell you that I didn’t think much of her in the Sarah Randall book. She wasn’t overly friendly and seem kinda self centered. Second, in Trent’s book I felt bad for her. You could tell that she had a lot going on and it didn’t seem like she had any friends or support to lean on. Even if the main characters asked her if she was alright several times.
So starting this book, she’s whiny...poor beautiful me. (Her words). But the more I’ve read I really start to feel her. She’s has so much spot light on her family it’s too much pressure. And gain and losing a loved one in a short amount of time is rough. Let alone your friends brother being involved in things. She turns to drugs......prescription. And absorbing her feelings.
This book really has heavy issues, which much of the series has. Sexual encounters, drug use, blackmail, cheating and a multitude or other things which could be trigger issue depending on what is going on in your life. But I love Gail’s writing. She really get how crazy this world is and put that’s into her storylines. This is no let down. My only complaint is this is the end of the series. But the HEA shows a glimpse of the future you don’t want to miss.

The Blackmail of Denise Randall by Gail Haris is book 3 in the standalone in The Randall’s trilogy. (Though always best to read in order as to fully submerge in the world )

This book truly was a masterpiece to end this beautiful, and tragically amazing trilogy, I’m thrilled to have been able to read each of them.

Denise has always put on a show. She’s never quite been herself, as she always tried to be the family’s best, as to not cause any extra problems or issues for the already cursed family. However with life of the perfect princess, come mental wear and tear and soon Denise gets caught up in a world of numbing and anger and finds herself lost, and without knowing anyone to help her, not even really knowing her family anymore.

Keaton notices things, and he noticed Denise, young, immature and falling apart, and has been trying to help her, just not quite so traditionally.
Too many people have an ulterior motive in Denises life, and things get bumpy real quick for Denise.

Keaton is flawed in his execution of his wants, needs and feelings but Denise is shattered, glue back together and cracking in every aspect.

Beautifully written and well worth reading!

5*
Denise believes she is the forgotten Randall and nobody see's her.
Keaton works for Richard her father and is surprised how Denise is beginning to look.
A proposition to her has her facing more things than she realised before.
This book covers sensitive issues and I felt it was handled extremely well.
I absolutely loved this book.
Great series definitely recommend reading

Internal battles, long time crush, mystery and suspense all put together into an addictive story without feeling angsty. I struggled putting this down.

Denise gets caught making poor life choices and instead of being turned in, one man blackmails her to be “His” for a short time. What you think would be a simple, predictable story turns into such mystery with quite a few twists.

It was refreshing to see a character that I can relate to with their feelings and self evaluations. Denise is far from the perfect and flawless person that only can exist in a fictional world. This made it so real that I fell for the characters, I felt a close connection and kinship for them.
This does touch on many common issues many people face. Of course not into the extreme due to the bad luck this family continues to encounter but it still felt real.

You really don’t need to read the first two books prior in this series but I would recommend to get more out of it (plus they are amazing!). The author does a great job with recapping so you don’t feel completely lost but the Randall Family certainly has gone through a lot over the years.

Warning: ”This story deals with adult situations and drug abuse. Some scenes could be triggering. “

I loved every minute of this story and sad it had to end. I know that this series will for sure be on my re-read list to go back into the Randall world again.
The epilogue...I have never cried over a book before. I cried happy tears as it was just so perfect. A perfect ending to this captivating series. ❤️


*I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The opinion given is mine alone and not influenced by anyone else. *

ARC received from The Next Step PR. Voluntarily reviewing and all opinions are objective and my own.

The author put out a statement that readers would likely hate Denise at first. I would disagree, at least personally. I didn’t hate her or any other form of dislike. But I did get mad at her for one point. Discussed later in review.

The author covered very important topics through Denise and her addiction to drugs. As someone who works in the mental health field, I found this to be a tasteful read and very well portrayed. But there were actions she as a character did that bothered me.

This book has an underlining mystery. A group of dealers, yet she’s never met their leader, but now he/she is reaching out through her blog. Knows who she is, but she doesn’t know who they are. It’s all very interesting. I did guess who their leader was from the very *first* look the character gave her.

For a while we see two… “romances”....I’ll say for lack of a better word. One with R, and I am not giving his full name, and one with Keaton, Trent’s friend. Here’s where she made me mad. In the beginning, Keaton’s insistence to help her get off the drugs is understandably resisted by her, but at one point she does appear to appreciate it and is getting closer to him. One scene later, she’s running into R’s arms, right after feeling sketched out by him and does what I was dying for her to do with Keaton. Regardless of what he gave her, she flip flopped over her attraction and discomfort of him that it made me feel uncomfortable. I genuinely didn’t hate her though. I disliked the choices she made. I was mad at her for her treatment of Keaton, who is a sweetheart to her.

As much as it pains me to give this book and this author 4 stars, I really can’t give it 5. During Who is Sarah Randall, I was enamored by the emotion and situation of it all. Book two, The Night That Changed Rachel was even better. Angsty and heartbreaking and soooo emotional, I didn’t think there would be a book better, but since each book seemed to be getting better, I was a tad let down by this one. While it had sad moments, I wasn’t nearly as emotionally invested in this one, through the characters or the plot. It’s a great read, just doesn’t beat my love for book 2. I feel bad since I do consider the author a friend, but I review too honestly for my own good.

I'm still buying all three on paperback though!