Six of Hearts is narrated by Matilda, a lovely but socially awkward girl who works with her dad as his legal secretary. Her mother was killed by burglars when she was eight (boo), and she and her dad live a quiet, unspectacular life in Dublin, dealing with the immense sadness of their past. Then, just as she’s checking her online dating status, Jay Fields walks into her office. Jay convinces Matilda’s dad to take on a defamation case he wants to bring against one of Ireland’s top newspapers and everything in Matilda’s quiet world kind of gets turned upside down.
Now, I’m not sure why, but I went into this thinking it would be a YA book. It became apparent fairly early on that it’s not a young adult book. The reason for this is there’s some pretty serious action. And not the car-chase sort of action, either. ‘Rude,’ I found myself tutting, as I bookmarked the pages on my Kindle for future reference. Having said this, even though the sex is quite graphic, it’s nice sex. You know, with feelings and shit.
And the story is good too. Probably should have mentioned that first. The plot is good and pacey with never a dull moment (especially when you know that things are going to break out into spontaneous sex at any moment). It’s part romance, part mystery/suspense, part revenge story.
The characters are lovely, too. Matilda is just such a great protagonist; so sweet, but with a nice sarky side as well.
And Jay. Sigh. I know that the whole ‘socially awkward girl and desperately attractive man with a shady past’ has been done like a billion times, but I don’t care. It was fun and it was escapism. And I may have found myself having impure thoughts about Jay as I made the breakfast this morning.
Now excuse me, I just have some passages to go back and re-read.
8/10