Sinners' Playground: A Dark Gang Romance (The Harlequin Crew, Book 1)

Sinners Playground is set ten years after the prequel Devil's Pass and Rogue is back in Sunset Cove. I loved Rogue so much in this as even though she loved these guys and definitely lusts after them she still keeps fighting and standing up for herself. She's so sassy and found myself laughing at her antics. Think its important too that she wants to stand on her own two feet even if that's not what the men of the Harlequin Crew want.All the boys have changed and grown and the differences in them were amazing to see. In my own way I want them all but think only one really liked with any consistency is JJ. I knew the ending was going to be cliffhanger but this has sent me through the ringer. It has put me in a book slump as well as taking me time to write this review as all I want is book 2. Can't wait for the next one to come out and have been recommending to all that will listen. Its a long one but so worth the rollercoaster ride it takes you on.

Like their other series, this book is a complete emotional rollercoaster. And it's only the beginning. Just as well written as their others. If you haven't read anything by these authors yet, then do it! They build worlds you can see in your mind, they build characters that u either love or hate or hate then learn to love. Just be prepared to be so invested that you can't put the book down. Can't wait to read the next book.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5Spice Level: 🌶/5Darkness Level: 💀💀/5⚠️: Murder, mention of 🍇, hostage, kidnapping, betrayalAfter enjoying the KoQ series, I wanted to try a second one by these authors. (No, haven't read the Zodiac books...gasp!)Overall, I enjoyed reading this, and I will be reading the rest of the series. I liked how Rogue stayed by her convictions (too often we see, "oh, look! 🍆🍆🍆 I forgive them.") And I liked each of the guys...until the end. Chase, Chase, Chase. Such a bad boy.So why 3.5 stars? Well...the start of the book was fantastic. I was hooked immediately, and was excited to read it. Felt the same toward the end. Lots of action, betrayal, heartache, and a nice cliffy. BUT...the book was over 600 pages, and really could have been half that. Not much happens between the beginning and the end, and really could have done with tightening up. There were also a lot of editing mistakes. This may not bother many people, but the sheer number of missing capitalisation, hyphens, commas, and punctuation consistently pulled me out of the story.These complaints are relatively minor though, and I wouldn't not recommend reading due to them. The beginning and end make it worth it, and I will be going straight into book 2.

It's weird when you click with a character and just understand how they feel, love rogue 🤣 can't wait to start book two..

I love these 2 girls, I have been working my way through everything they’ve written and loved every book (even reading a couple of series 2-3 times!). This one however...has been a little tough! Rogue and Fox are difficult characters to get on board with, she’s pretty obnoxious (typically written angry female!) and he is a bully boy character on steroids who’s been given very little to endear him to you. The whole 16 years olds group madly in love, reuniting 10 years later to ALL still be in love and tortured over the past is sooo hard to relate to even in the slightest. It had the makings to be great but it’s just failed to live up to any of the other books. I’ll still read the rest of the series and hope it gets there and I’m not so annoyed by how the main characters are written!

Sinners' Playground is the first instalment in the Harlequin Crew series, a dark friends-to-enemies-to-lovers reverse harem romance. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend reading Devil's Pass, the prequel novella set 10 years before this book. You will get a much better understanding of the characters’ background and you will enjoy so much more seeing the changes in them.Caroline and Susanne are one-click authors for me, not many authors make me feel so much with their characters and stories so I always not-so-patiently wait for their next release. And this book...The feelings oooohh the feelings!!!It might be the darkest and most controversial book they have written but I absolutely loved it! There is violence, gangs, lies, hurt, betrayal and drama-drama. You won’t like all the characters, you will want to punch some of them but I was so fascinated while reading all the bad decisions they were making and waiting to see what was coming next.I loved Rogue, the main female character, her strengths and her weaknesses, she is a broken dead girl trying to survive. I loved seeing her relationship growing with the girls she met and also with her dog, not focusing only on the guys. I think that is a part that many stories lack where we only see the main character with the love interest and we don’t learn many things about them as individuals. The boys are gang members and they all have completely different personalities, some way more likeable than others. You have the sweet JJ (my fav so far), the jealous/possessive Fox, the hateful Chase and the mysterious/psycho Maverick (I need more of him like right now). Apart from being part of a gang, JJ is an escort and I can’t wait to see how this plays out, it is not a conventional job in romance books so I am excited to read about it. The romance side is a slow/medium-burn with so much sexual tension.Plot wise, this book is an introduction setting all characters on the board and I can’t wait for the big players to show, a gang war is definitely coming and I am going to start getting the popcorn ready to watch hell to come down!I highly recommend it if you love reading about flawed characters and all the drama. The book ends with a promise of the best is to come and the next book cannot come out soon enough!!

Well worth the read !!! had me hooked from the start, rouge is a great character love her and hate her all the way through it

It started off with a bang and ended on a fantastic cliffhanger. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. I can't say enough how much I love Rogue and the boys. The drama, the history, the angst and buildup between them all is so good! It's been a while since I've read a book in this vein that's had me siding with each of the characters so fully even knowing the other POVs. Jumping into the next book now so I can't find out what happens!

I was loving this book, so much, but then it got to a point where Rogue became seriously annoying and Fox… I can’t, I just can’t with his obsession and possessiveness.Also, if u like slow-burn this is the perfect book, way too slow for me and like WHERE IS THE SPICE? WHERE IS THE WHY CHOOSE ROMANCE? They just hate each other way too much and they just talk about her choosing, like… what?I don’t think this is the way to build a why choose romance and it make me hate them all. I expected a little more maturity or something, they talk a lot about having grown up and they didn't

I love the 5 main characters. Enemies-to-lovers trope is very well written. All the angst, the sexiness and the darkness makes this book too interesting to keep continuing the series. I loved reading this book.

I cannot emphasize how good this is! If you like dark romance, a kick ass female and some hot guys...this is everything. Rogue is simply amazing. JJ is fun and sweet. Fox is so annoying but maybe redeemable. Chase is a pathetic bitch boy. Maverick...psycho and can't wait to learn more about him.

I‘m hooked!I‘m so sooo hooked.The story about Rouge, the Halerquin Boys and Maverick, I am dying to know how this will end.I love it that Rouge is a badass woman and that she's not the one to give in, it's Fox and JJ trying to show her how important she is to them.Chase, oh Chase.I love the little moments between the two of them when he opens up to Rouge.I know he will come around.Least of all I expected Maverick's behavior. Although it currently makes perfect sense.I'm so excited to see how the relationship between the two will develop.As the saying goes, it usually only gets worse before it gets better.And I believe that Rouge is going to have a hard time with Rick but she's the only one who'll get to him and has a chance to let his walls down.Even though I love Rouges personality and I absolutely understand why she is the way she is, I have to say that I found her behavior a little childish and inappropriate in some places and therefore sometimes found it a little annoying while reading.Nevertheless, absolute reading recommendation and can hardly wait for the next part.