Moonstruck

Necessary Evils, Book 3

By: Onley James

Narrated by: Liam DiCosimo

Atticus Mulvaney is the eldest son of eccentric billionaire, Thomas Mulvaney - a role he takes very seriously. Atticus takes everything seriously. Like his brothers, Atticus is a psychopath, raised to right the wrongs of a broken justice system. Unlike his brothers, he’s not very good at it.

Jericho Navarro is no psychopath, but he is a vicious killer. Like Atticus, he also has a secret life. To most, he’s just a mechanic. But to a ragtag group of social misfits, he’s Peter Pan, teaching them to eliminate those who prey on the weak with extreme prejudice.

When Atticus and Jericho come face to face over a shared enemy, their accidental meeting ends in an explosively hot hookup neither can forget. But they have nothing in common. Atticus is a buttoned-up closeted scientist and Jericho is a man on a mission, determined to find and punish those responsible for the death of his sister. Still, Jericho can’t stay away. And, truthfully, Atticus doesn’t want him to.

As Jericho’s mission begins to bleed into Atticus’s life, two separate but equally brutal families will need to learn how to fight together to take out a common enemy. But no amount of brute force can show Jericho how to scale the walls of a psychopath’s heart. Can Jericho convince Atticus that, sometimes, the couple who kills together stays together?

Moonstruck is a high heat, intense psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a fumbling, sexually confused maniac and the dominating, unapologetic gang leader who can’t stop tormenting him. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, more killers than you can count, and enough explosive chemistry to level a city block. This is book three in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.

©2021 Onley James (P)2022 Onley James

Excellent audio!!

I love Liam and he was an excellent choice for these audio books.

I enjoyed this one a bit more than then last two…simply because Atticus was finally able to fully acknowledge his love for Jericho where as the other two weren’t able to. I love how Jericho questioned Thomas’s upbringing of Atticus because deep down I believe, like Jericho, that Atticus wasn’t truly a psychopath when he was first adopted. I love that J can give him the touchy feely love he needs. Great story and I loved that the “family” was extended with the addition of J’s boys and Felix. Can’t wait to see how they all play into the rest of the stories to come.

oh onley...

Onley you know how to write funny sarcastic swoony m/m romance. I love the dynamics in all your stories but I love that there are so many characters in this book. Atticus and Jericho are so perfect together. the narration is as always fantastic.

Favorite Onley James audio

I am completely addicted to James/DiCosimo combo. I own all 11 audiobooks now and I am bummed there's no more. uhh! That being said THIS is my favorite out of all them. Sweet, sexy, thrilling..bloody. I love A&J's love. Now I'm so impatient bc I wanna read Thomas's story so bad! Bravo.. Onley and Liam! Perfection.

Freckles

Omg, I think this one is my favorite so far. Jericho & Atticus are PERFECT for each other.

I love how Jericho calls him Freckles. I love that Atticus is a passenger princess & I relate to him HEAVILY on the not wanting to make decisions lmaooo. The way Jer is perfectly happy doing all the dirty work and pampering Atticus.

I also love that Jer is a handyman and is the total opposite of Atticus.

This is THE couple of the series!!!

3rd person/dual pov
Spice: 5/5 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Atticus and Jericho give me LIFE!!! My friend told me they might become my favorite and she absolutely wasn’t wrong! I didn’t think anyone could beat August and Lucas but that’s because I hadn’t met Jericho yet…

The sass between these two is unmatched - and that’s saying something so far for the Mulvaneys and their partners. I mean I wasn’t even like 5% into this book and I already knew a few things:
1) It was going to be absolute fire! Two killers walk into a cabin… I mean cmon… plot = gold
2) It was going to be funny AF! Jericho and his flirting, teasing, and witty comebacks killed me!
3) It was going to be hottttt as a MF! All I have to say is that the mouth on Jericho was sometimes hotter than the actual spice - which again is saying something because the spice was scorching! 🥵
4) That spice was going to be plentiful! When you’re getting action in the first 5% of the story you can almost guarantee there will be A LOT more to follow it!
5) The characters were going to own my heart a little more than the rest. The way they completed each other and made each other feel safe to be who they truly are just stole the show. Granted the other two couples up to this point had that too it’s just that Atticus and Jericho seem to have more of it. Or rather it’s more important to them and their story than the others. I think it’s possibly due to the way Atticus is treated by the rest of his family and how his personality has to be so opposite to the outside world from who he really is.

And let me also say that I love how we get a prologue at the beginning of each book with the characters' back story and how/where/when Thomas first meets them. I feel like it gives you so much to think about as you see their character unfold over the course of the book. Whether that’s why they act a certain way or have a certain trait about themselves that differs from the others or a glimpse at what their relationship with their father is like.

So yea another fantastic addition to this series and I have zero doubts this will be the most reread book from the bunch.

It’s fairly dark and has even more dark humor running through it so don’t forget to check the TW if you need to before starting.

Series Gets Better and Better

Series gets better and better with each book. Dark, intense, and surprisingly romantic. Narration is excellent. Highly recommend!

5 stars

It would have been so easy for this series to get repetitive quickly, but James continues to amaze me with her ability to create striking, unique characters of all types. As with all other personality aspects, psychopathy is a spectrum; just because Atticus happens to fall on that spectrum doesn’t mean he particularly enjoys the tasks set to him by his father’s “experiment.” On the other hand, Jericho belongs 100% on Team Emotion with Noah and Lucas, other Mulvaney brother partners. However, just because Jericho can feel empathy doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to “take out the trash” and then experience no emotional trauma over it.

Instead, Jericho’s emotional trauma expresses itself in how he defines his relationship with Atticus, which is simultaneously romantic and incredibly sexy. Atticus might not know how to interpret all of his emotions, but he does know that he can’t help but respond to Jericho in a way that supports him better than the other relationships in his life, past and present. The way the other Mulvaney brothers treat Atticus has always made me slightly uncomfortable in the previous installments of this series, so I appreciate that this story point is explored here from both Jericho and Atticus’ perspectives.

This particular story point, in which Thomas Mulvaney (adopted father/principal investigator if this crazy experiment) might not have gotten everything “right,” is also explored in the continuing saga of least-known brother Aidan. On the surface, each of these novels does stand alone, but I love that this bit of family drama evolves across books. This story also teases a future relationship for another Mulvaney brother, and I predict it will be absolutely delightful while also tying Jericho’s family of misfits closer to Atticus’ family of psychopaths.

As usual, James teases the reality of the external conflict before submerging the reader into an even darker world. My original assumption of the antagonist would have made for an excellent plot, but James builds on that assumption to create a story even more exciting. Her ability to intertwine thrilling storylines with nontraditional romance arcs has hit the perfect mark for every book in this series so far.

Interesting plot and characters

The premise is great, the mystery of who killed Jericho’s sister was excellent. Jericho is a great character- full of mischief and gently teasing his love interest Atticus. I think adding in Jericho’s crew was a great addition. I’m not as fond of how Atticus is written…like is he or isn’t he a true psychopath? Jericho and Thomas have words, but that part of the story isn’t as clearly written as it could have been. Overall it’s a great addition to the series, just not my very favorite.

The show is on the other foot

Atticus is the oldest and most different of the siblings. He puts up with his family because that’s what he knows. Jericho on the other hand fits in perfectly with the Mulvaney clan. He has his family to look after but hopefully they will all work together in the future. I like how every book has its own bad guy and these troubled men find happiness. They are so suited and the update of previous couples is a bonus!

Fantastic in audio!

l love this series!! Moonstruck is the latest audio addition and is really good! Story reviewed on Amazon.
Liam DiCosimo has a good range of voices for characters, especially Jericho, (upbeat), Atticus, (staid, little inflection - well, he is a psychopath). But I especially loved his voice for Felix - he sounded just as judgdy as described in the book, lol!
The story is brilliant (as is the whole series) and the audio only adds to making this a 'must listen to' series.