Scum

Wrong Side of the Tracks, Book 1

By: K.A. Merikan

Narrated by: Nathan Kelly

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

“10 years ago, he ruined my life. Now, I will ruin his son.”

Shane. Ex-con. No-good bastard. Scum.

Rosen. Trust fund boy. Virgin. Sucker.

Shane is straight out of prison, and has one goal only - to wreck everything dear to the man who put him behind bars. And number one on that list is Rosen, Ed Beck’s son. Shane’s plan is to incriminate the boy, but when the dreamy blue eyes meet his, Shane can think of a hundred other ways to ruin Rosen right under his father’s nose.

If Rosen’s dad is to pay for his art degree, Ros has to stay on the straight and narrow. Join a fraternity, avoid scandal, and keep his sexuality under wraps. Seems easy enough until he meets Shane, a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. All sanity goes out the window, and the slippery slope leads Rosen down a path of violence, blackmail, and passion too sizzling to be denied.

Shane thinks he’s in control, that Rosen is just a means to an end, a tool to be manipulated. But as a love he’d never even dreamed of becomes real, he’s starting to realize he doesn’t have to be the "scum" society’s been telling him he is.

Shane now stands at a crossroads, between Rosen and revenge.

Possible spoilers:

Themes: Blackmail, revenge, manipulation, ex-con, secrets, rich/poor, class differences, age gap

Genre: Scorching-hot M/M dark romance

WARNING: This story contains scenes of violence, attempted sexual assault, and morally ambiguous characters.

©2021 Acerbi&Villani Ltd (P)2024 Acerbi&Villani Ltd

Slightly Creepy

Minor spoilers ahead ⚠️

Firstly, I do not like the pedophile vibes that I am getting from Shane at all, constantly calling Ros "boy". And it doesn't help that Shane said something along the lines of: "If I had known you when you hit age 18 (legal age) I would have had sex with you on the spot." Which goes to show that Shane would have had sex with Ros no matter how young he was, as long as it was legal. Let's not forget that Shane is roughly 30 years old. For him to say something like that is very creepy and makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Secondly some of the vocabulary cringes me out a lot, such as "prick", "tool" or "juices". I prefer not to think of certain things as juicy or a tool. Just sounds a bit odd. This is my preference.

Thirdly, I'm not to fond of the constant sex. It bores me when there is so much sex that the plot becomes less important. I found myself thinking "OK, get on with it", which is sad because I really think the story had potential.

Lastly, I very much loved Wyatt's Naration. His voice is gorgeous and honestly saved the book just a bit but unfortunately I did end up returning the book and getting my credit back.

I guess this book just wasn't for me. If you like smut with a bit of plot, and don't mind the name callinv then this is for you.

With Problems

It was a bit challenging for me to get through this. I was intrigued by the premise when I decided to purchase this book. There were many aspects of it that made it interesting. While I was not overly fond of the narrator, I don’t think my problem with the book was entirely his fault. There were some character flaws that I believe came from the writer’s choices.

K.A. Merikan and Wyatt Baker ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If K.A. Merikan wrote it and Wyatt Baker narrated it, you know its dark and Awesome. This duo is always an instant buy for me. Good story that keeps you interested. well worth the credit and your time to listen.

Great Start to a Series!

I really enjoyed this story a lot. KA Merikan and Wyatt Baker is one of my favorite trios for audible stories and this one did not disappoint. Shane and Ros were messy perfection together and I loved the connection they shared from the start, and how they each made it through their own challenges whether from the outside or self inflicted to find their way to choose eachother. It was honestly a bit less gritty than I thought it would be and had a lot of sweet moments which I enjoyed just as much as I did some of the darker moments, especially when Shane put Ros’ roommates in their place in his own unique way. All of the secondary characters in this were great as well, especially Shane’s makeshift family and I really enjoyed their interaction with him and Ros. I definitely will be checking out the rest of this series.

Shane and Rosen

This was a intriguing story. I enjoyed reading it but listening to it was a pleasure. The narration was so good. There is so much happening from revenge to blackmail with violence and a passion so hot it can’t be denied. This was a wonderful story and a pleasure to the sense’s to hear.

Oh Wyatt, don't quit your job...

Wyatt Baker is a f@$king Rockstar! I love his voice, his acting...perfection! Instant one click for me, especially if it is an MM listen. He is SPOT ON. 💥 🔥 K.A of course is brilliant with the dark and gritt. This is not as dark as most of their work, but it's definitely spicy 😉 Bravo you 3! Credit well spent.

Swoony

I really enjoyed this story - I love this genre for the escapism- I did escape into this Love story—Ros was truly endearing- now I’d like to continue on to Tarzan’s story!!!!!!

Way over performed

Tries to achieve cleverness, while utterly failing. Over performed. Buy this and suffer your decision to purchase!