Start a War by Elle Thorpe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Do you want some Goldfish crackers, Bliss?”

Those were the last words my brother said to me before he was shot execution style. A childhood code only he and I knew, and one that had a single, clear meaning behind it.

Run. 

I’m not going anywhere. Not when his murderer is still out there. 

To catch a killer, I put aside my life of money and luxury and take over the running of Psychos, a dive bar in the seedy underbelly of Saint View. 

But Psychos delivers more than I ever could have bargained for and three men I never saw coming. 

Nash, my brother’s best friend. Older and more experienced, he still remembers me as the neglected child he once saved. 

War, heir to a biker gang throne and searching for the man who left his mother in a coma. Bonded over a common goal, he introduces me to a world of after-hours clubs, danger, and violence. 

And Vincent, the quiet new guy nobody seems to see except me. He’s sweet and quirky, but there’s a darkness in him just waiting to be unleashed. 

With every lie we uncover, every secret we expose, the danger mounts.

Until there’s only one thing we know for sure.

The killer is still out there.

And we’re his next targets.

Start a War is an adult, #whychoose romance, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. This book contains enemies-to-lovers and romantic suspense / dark themes that may trigger some readers. It is the first book in an ongoing trilogy.

Start a War

Strange characters but good story!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙❤️💜💚💖
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌍
Character development: 😊😘😟😄🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Duet Narration

The heroine: Bethany Melissa (a.k.a. Bliss) – she grew up poor and hungry in a dingy trailer park with a neglectful mother and abusive stepfather. She loved her older brother Axel though. Axel and Bliss had a code phrase they said to each other when they needed to get away. Whenever he asked her if she wanted some Goldfish crackers (her favorite snack), it meant it was time to run. Axel and his friend Nash got her rich dad to take her and got her away from that life.

The Heroes: Nash, War & Vincent – the new men in Bethany’s life.
Nash – Axel’s best friend. He is the manager of Saint View Psychos, a bar in the ghetto. He had always been protective of Bliss.
War – he was the vice president of the Saint View Slayers motorcycle club. He is the son of the president of the club.
Vincent – he gets a job at the daycare center where Bliss works. He is a quiet man and an assassin who escaped from a psyche ward, he has a condition that affects his memory, it could be dissociative identity disorder.

The Story: Bliss spent the first part of her life in that old trailer park, but once she went to live with her dad, she lived in a world of wealth and privilege after her father helped to cover up her past. She knew that she would someday marry her boyfriend, Caleb. She was looking forward to being engaged to him. When her brother called her while she was at a charity auction, she was surprised, since she rarely heard from him. He asked her if she wanted some Goldfish crackers, before she heard a gunshot over the phone.

Axel had owned a bar in Saint View called Saint View Psychos, it was a dive bar and Saint View was a slum, though it was the only place Bliss knew she could find her brother. She goes to the bar to find her brother and finds his best friend Nash who, like her brother was fifteen years her senior and was much changed from what she remembered. The next day she meets Vincent who immediately becomes a bit obsessed with Bethany’s life, especially after seeing the bruise on her face which her boyfriend put there. She meets War not long after that.

I was less than impressed with the writing on this one, it seemed like the thoughts of both Bliss and Nash were a parody of reality. Both Bliss in her wealthy life and Nash in the gritty crime ridden Saint View seemed a bit too much like people acting wealthy or acting tough and overacting at that. About a half hour into the book, I wondered if I could listen to the whole thing and the rest of the trilogy. Though I did get more involved in the story as it went on and the character of Vincent was intriguing to me so I decided to see this through.

I hate it when the heroine has too many ‘curves’ and talks about it too much or with too much definition. When this one talked about her rolls on her tummy, wide hips and chubby thighs and how her ball gown accentuated her curves, I just didn’t like it. She later talked about the stretch marks on her boob and the cellulite on her thighs. Who wants that picture in their head? Why do some authors have to put so much emphasis on the heroine’s curves fat. I say just don’t mention it.

This audiobook was done in multiple points of view via duet narration. It was narrated by Michelle Price and Gregory Salinas. Michelle wasn’t my favorite narrator; her voice wasn’t very clear, and it sounded like she had a bit of a lisp. Gregory Salinas has a good voice and does a great job. He is good at doing different voices for different characters.

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