Review: The Bargain (Vargas Cartel #1) by Lisa Cardiff

Print Length: 186 pages

Publisher: Limitless Publishing LLC (March 17, 2015)

From Goodreads.com: Three weeks, twenty-one days, or five hundred and four hours…

That’s all it took to derail my life and twist it into something unrecognizable. One moment I had Evan, the man I thought I’d marry. The next moment shattered the illusion.

Now I have no one.

Except him. 

Ryker Vargas, and I don’t really have him. He’d never belong to any one but himself. He sucked me into a web of lies and now it’s too late. I took the bait. I’m a prisoner of the Vargas Cartel.

I never thought I’d be another statistic, another girl abducted in a foreign country, my entire future washed away by an impulsive, split second in time.

But it’s true. 

My name is Hattie Covington and I’m a statistic, but statistics never tell the whole story.

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

This is one of those stories that I am 100% certain will get a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews. It started off strong, the premise and setting were both unique, and the ending came with a twist I did not expect. However - the entire "romance" aspect of this story is so pathetically unbelievable that in my opinion, it cost the story an entire star. 

I understand that Stockholm Syndrome is a real thing, and that could very well have been what was going on here. However the fact that Hattie fancies herself in love with him after everything he put her through? There were a lot of other ways that he could have gone about this kidnapping that would not have landed her in the middle of a war between cartels. This stunt could have very easily ended Hattie's life, but did anyone care? Also, I don't believe that Ryker had any sort of feelings for this girl. He avoids her for days to "protect her" when in reality he wants to keep her for himself? I found myself shaking my head more often than once when trying to bring back the "reality" of this story.

The strong writing style of this author just could not save the weak romance. She would have been better off keeping it out of the picture until the next installment. Then perhaps it would have seemed more realistic than it did. 

Overall - I probably will continue on with this series at a later date if just to see if my assumption of the author's ability to make a strong story is true.

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The Bargain (Vargas Cartel #1) is available from Amazon.com