Blurb:
He was my foster brother.
He swore to protect me.
He failed.
They all failed.
I’m an open box of passé photographs, snapped in chaste daylight, but filtered in sepia. I’m the past that he tried to forget, and he was the future I needed. When he left four years ago, I screamed for him every night. But then it all stopped. My screams were suddenly muffled by cruelty, and further coaxed by pain.
But he has come back. He’s not the cute big brother I had a furtive crush on, or the bad boy, rich brat that I hated to love.
He’s the ruthless vice president of Wolf Pack MC, and he doesn’t answer to Royce Kane anymore.
He answers to Sicko.
Why we are here:
Normally, I don't touch this subject but I saw the impact it had on another reader and felt if I didn't add this to my site I would be doing an injustice to those of you who come to me for recommendations.
I don't want to let you all down, so here it goes, 'Sicko' by Amo Jones.
This is the Author's Note: (AKA: The whole reason I am writing this. As well as my review.)
"This book is different. This is “my level” of Dark Romance. It is dark. It will have you squirm in some places, but not in the way you’re probably used to or expect. There are scenes within these pages that will be uncomfort‐ able for you to read. I didn’t water anything down. I wrote these characters as authentically as possible, because you, the reader, deserve that. I didn’t sugar coat something to make it easier to digest, I drowned every scene in tequila, and just like a shot of Patron, it needs to be swallowed before you feel its effects. Please don’t take this warning lightly. These characters are like nothing I have written before, and this story is not one I’ve ever experienced. This book is DARK, but every single word and scene that is in here is there for a reason. I’m not here for shock value. This is just a story that needed to be told in the art it has been displayed in. If you’re still here, I guess you’re still wanting to read… so by all means…"
This book was a slew of What the fuck is going on? Why was it put in the book aside from the shock factor?
The book picks back up four years later when Jade inexplicably transfers from Stanford to UCLA medical school (even though Jones never mentioned her completing her bachelor's prior to turning 19. I guess Jones thinks that you can just casually transfer universities straight into a prestigious medical program with no BS, no MCAT, and no extracurriculars). There she meets up with Royce, now Sicko, who is now practically the second in command of the motorcycle club he belongs to (again, no explanation of how he rose in ranks so quickly or why he joined other than a quick scene of a woman at a gas station telling him to go into their bar one day then mysteriously disappearing as he pumped said gasoline). Roy is very hot and cold with Jade. He tells her wants to sleep with her and then to get away from him the next minute.
While this is happening, Jade keeps getting texted by her dad to meet up, and he eventually takes her to a super secret, super exclusive sex club that brands the women who enter (this branding is never brought up again). Also, as an aside, her father's name is Kyle, and at the end of the novel during the big reveal, she discloses that she renamed him James in her mind to dissociate from the abuse (which is fine, but she said it so nonchalantly and chose a name only two letters off from her own which is never explained).
The dad is both working with his son as what appears to be a drug mule underling and has his own business as a prolific human trafficker that apparently no one knows about. He pulls dumb shenanigans like killing a cartel member to get them angry at the MC and killing the MC President's wife to make them angry at the cartel, all while sending his son creepy torture sex tapes of Jade and him to Royce.
Anyway, Royce and Jade finally hook up after he has a threesome with his roommate and her and a partial fivesome with her, his roommate, and his two childhood best friends (remember them? The author kept trying to sneak info about them in as if she expected us to already possess the knowledge of their lives even though she never mentioned it at all), and himself.
Later on, the four guys rescue Jade from a sex slave auction and finally capture the dad. At this point, the whole plot goes to shit. Prior to this, the book wasn't well written, since the author couldn't decide what time period she wanted to write about and seemed incapable of informing the readers of when she switched between the past and the present.
Here's what she managed to fit in what felt like less than two chapters:
-Jade helped the dad, her rapist escape, to enact a dramatic showdown, but in the process let him blow up the MC clubhouse
-Royce apparently left home because, after the hospitalization, his dad (who was so disguised as his own son and his son's childhood friends who were always at his house didn't recognize him) forced the four guys to sleep with each other for some reason. Was it filmed? Was it blackmail? Was it a fetish? We don't know, Jones didn't say
-Royce's roommate (one of the four) raped Jade when she was 15 repeatedly on the orders of the dad, but apparently, it's okay, because she looked older than 15. And he did it to altruistically save his sister (who I guess the dad kidnapped to make a sex slave, too, but Jones never expands on this so why should we care)
-Jade's real parents are the MC president and one of the dad's first sex slaves.
-The dad and the president were friends in high school, but after a car accident where the dad's girlfriend died, the dad chose to take up a life of crime and spin a bunch of crazy webs to enact revenge (in the form of raping the president's daughter, whose conception he manipulated)
-Jade, despite mentioning frequently how much she dissociated when she was raped by her dad, managed to free Roy's roommate's sister when she was 15
-the sister then found Jade's mom (who by the way faked her own death and went on the run, but somehow had a bat signal that helped her locate another freed sex slave) and the two started a vigilante group of ~•~powerful~•~ women
-that group? Anonymous (like okay, V for Vendetta, calm down). Does Jones ever explain how a homeless woman and a teenage girl managed to start such a powerful organization that in just 4 years would be able to do crazy things like infiltrating a US military base willy-nilly?
-that same group is also able to plot with Jade, even though she's closely monitored by the dad.
-the cops arrest the dad and joke about how long they'll need him before they turn him over to Royce to be killed
The author kept mentioning how small the FMC is. I get it, you’re describing your character's looks, but it was mentioned SEVERAL times within a few pages, & throughout the chapters, I read.
-“𝘈𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳, 𝘪 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺,”
-“𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨—𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘮.”
-“𝘐 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘫𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦.”
Like I get it she’s petite, don’t have to continuously describe her body type. Ohh, & she has fake boobs that are big! I don’t mind, do u boo. Get that body & face. It gave me the ick personally when on top of that, it was said multiple times she’s thin.
-“𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘷𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘴. 𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘴.”
Omg, Jade eats carbs & we can relate to her bc we too eat as she does! She also has a figure to help out with that! please, the unrealism with the body image!!! 😭
Again, the author points out the body/weight of the girls.
-“𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘦𝘳.”
Maybe I’m just being weird. I dislike the constant description of female characters' body types in books. It can be triggering for some. It sometimes is for me if it’s pointed out. I just despise the unrealistic image of women in books.
The novel's premise is a dark romance involving sort of step-siblings Jade and Royce Kane. When Royce was a toddler, the Kane family adopts baby Jade. The two are very close growing up, and together with Royce's two best friends are a tight-knit friend group. When Royce is 18 and Jade is 15, they go to a house party where Royce is stabbed and hospitalized after a fight. Nothing comes from this, and after an undisclosed amount of time, he leaves home and tells no one why or where he's going. Jade is heartbroken, and soon afterward, her (step)father starts raping and abusing her.
All around, I found this book to be not so good, it seems like it is another TikTok famous book that get a ton of hype for the wrong reasons.