Mackenzie Valentine is wilful, fiery, and determined to prove she doesn’t need anyone. Desperate to break free from the over-protective parents and three older brothers who dictate her every move, she runs away at the age of seventeen to hunt down the only boy who makes her feel alive.

Jake Romero has no choice but to leave the best thing that ever happened to him, taking him down a path that leads to notorious gang, the King Street Boys. When fate throws Mackenzie back in his life, he turns her away in her time of need, knowing he now lives a life in which she doesn’t belong. Except his decision has shattering consequences, leading to secrets, lies, and the ultimate betrayal.

Years later, their lives continue to entwine, and when his past returns demanding retribution, Mackenzie intervenes and gets caught in the crossfire, leaving behind a devastation that no one sees coming. Can their relationship withstand the hell it’s endured, or is it too late for love?

I am not gonna lie...after waiting so long and knowing how hard Kate worked on this book, I was actually scared to start it. It is a longer book, and I was actually afraid maybe it would not live up to my expectations or something.

But thankfully, I had nothing to worry about. I was captivated, and the whole time I both never wanted it to end, but also desperately wanted to find out the ending. Jake grabbed my heart from the beginning and it just kept breaking for him. From past to present his pain was palpable. He had a rough life. He made mistakes. And throughout it all he just wanted one thing ...Mackenzie Valentine.

It was always her from the time they first met. But Jake's life and subsequent choices make it impossible for him to keep her. 

Mac is always trying to live life to the fullest. She is fiery, independent, high-strung, and stubborn. But she feels smothered by her parents and three older brothers. She just wants to be herself, for the people in her life to have faith in her, and be a bad-a** like her brothers.

Years spin by, but they are never far from each other's minds. Glimpses of chances end in pain. Fate is fickle and keeps bringing them back into each other's worlds.  Their present lives become wrapped up together in various ways as they share a network of friends and that we have come to know and love throughout this series. But their history is something they do not share with their crew. There are chances not taken and missed opportunities. They never seem to be able to stay on the same page for long. They challenge each other and rile each other up. Their unresolved feelings are strong and volatile. They can't seem to hold on or really let go. 

History ties them together, but also holds them apart. There are secrets, lies, betrayals, and misunderstandings fueling the fire. They are both stubborn and opinionated. It is hard to forgive or forget. They are enemies, friends, lovers all at various times. They can be good and bad for each other. Sometimes they fight each other and sometimes they fight for each other. Only the strongest and most loyal could handle feisty, strong-willed, bad a** Mac. And Mac is not aware of all that Jake has had to deal with. They are not afraid to stand up to the other. They demand everything of each other and mean everything.

Mac has been through hell and is always trying to prove herself and is never fully satisfied. But Jake wants all or nothing, and he never seems to be able to truly get her all. There is a long cycle of ups and downs with  lust, love, fighting, heartbreak, and so many emotions. She thrives on adrenaline and Jake wants her to be safe. She struggles with giving him all of her no matter how hard he tries.

I had the same reaction to Mac that her family and friends had, I wanted to shake sense into her sometimes. I was completely Team Jake. He was a great combo of bad boy with a soft, sweet center and he sometimes deserved a medal for dealing with the headstrong Mac.

It will all come down to Mac finally deciding once and for all what she can and can't live without. She does have a heart, but has a hard time bouncing back once hurt and being truly vulnerable. And she is unpredictable at best.

Like others in this series, this book also has some drama, danger, and suspense. When past and present collide along with the various bad a** entities involved there is bound to be some big action and harrowing scenes. And Holy Moly this one built up to a big one. This is full of surprises, twists, heartbreaking moments, angst, humor, banter, and so many freakin' feels. I was totally invested. I got mad and frustrated. I wanted to knock heads together. My heart was battered and stomped on, but then life would be breathed back into it again.

I knew Mac's book would be dramatic and frustrating just like she is. But WOW it really was an emotional roller coaster. I abso-freakin-lutely adored Jake. His strength, devotion, tenderness, and ability to tangle with Mac won me over. And Mac had an inner strength, resilience, intelligence, and a sense of control that made her formidable, but also had a big, caring and even sensitive heart. They were volatile, and they challenged each other like no one else. But they truly made each other's lives worth living whether fighting, loving or laughing, Mac and Jake were soul mates put through hell and back. But I don't think anyone else would have had the tenacity to withstand the ride. 

All of the friends and family from this series are back as this book crosses timelines and story lines with the other three books I loved getting more insider details of their stories through Mac's point of view. The author did a great job refreshing the details and making it all relevant. Mac's overprotective brothers Mitch, Travis, and Jared are her biggest foils and protectors. The band: Evie, Henry, Frog, Cooper, and of course Jake are her project and support system. Grace and Quinn love to get in trouble with Mac and Evie when they can. This group is everything! I love them! They make me laugh, want to smack them, and sometimes hurt my heart. But they are like real people with complex personalities, histories, and strong ties. 

This book is EPIC! It is Mac. It is Jake. It is friendship, love, passion, laughter, heartbreak, pain, fear, guilt, hope, joy, and everything in between. It is one of the most intense and unpredictable couplings I can think of. And the outside drama just adds a layer of danger and suspense. It's the good, the bad, and the ugly. I loved it all. I lived it all. I cannot wait for more with some of the remaining unmatched men. Bring them on! 

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Mac and Jake’s story is one that has been hinted at in the background of the Give Me series since the beginning, and Give Me Hell does not disappoint. This story covers everything from their very first meeting to the multiple run-ins they have throughout their interconnected past, right up to present. It follows these two through the background of Mac’s brothers’ stories, moving Mac and Jake to center-stage, while refreshing major points in the earlier plot points. 

Because they have so much history together, their story actually begins long before we meet each of them in Give Me Love. Mac has always been a fiery, driven individual, set on doing everything her way or not at all. In the shadow of so many brothers, Mac chafes at the delicate princess mold her family wants her to fit into as the only girl. Jake falls into the mix at a low point in his life. Though his time in the Valentine household is short, Mackenzie leaves a mark. As his choices lead him down a darker path, throwing his lot in with the notorious King Street Boys, Jake knows he can’t drag Mac down with him.

Even as Jake was making poor choices that could lead to major negative consequences, I couldn’t help but love everything about him. He is a protective, caring soul. At their heart, his actions are always about keeping his loved ones safe, including the moment he realized he could not keep Mac safe. 

Mac is feisty and stubborn, but her hard shell hides how vulnerable she is. Her impulsive, dangerous decisions often had me frustrated with her, but even as she was flying off the handle, her heart was in the right place. She just wants to be taken seriously by her more levelheaded family. 

The entire Valentine family is present for this story, as is Jake’s band. I loved seeing some of my favorite interactions from the side characters through Mac and Jake’s eyes, and remembering the banter and camaraderie this whole extended family group has developed over time. 

There were only a few brief moments where I noticed the length of this book. It is long. But the timeline is such that it needs to length to cover the depth of the history Mac and Jake have shared. As the secrets each have kept over the years begin to surface, the story pulled me in more than the tiny snippets we’ve seen previously could have anticipated. This story was every bit the emotional rollercoaster I expected from these two, and the wait was absolutely worth it for the story within these pages. 

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I know you've been waiting years for the Queen Bee’s story, and it's finally here, in all of its heartache and glory! Did you expect anything less? Were you hoping for a quick, easy cruise? Uh yeah, not going to happen. You're about to take one, wild ride and it will be a fast, bumpy, intense spin. Upon embarking, find those "oh shit" handles and hold on. Seriously, the heartache—don’t skimp on the tissue. If you are familiar with Kate's writing, then you know she's pure evil. This woman is absolutely sadistic when it comes to her characters and her readers. She loves to toy with them before tit punching them.

Give Me Hell was no exception; hence the title. Jake and Mac were a hot mess, taking 10 steps back for every 3 steps forward. And although we've followed these characters through several books, there was a lot of back story between these two we had no flippin' clue about. Due to that, I wasn’t sure what to expect from them. We knew next to nothing about Jake, other than he liked to bump uglies, quite frequently, with Mac. And Mac, we knew she was always in the mix of it all and she’s fiercely loyal. Not to mention, the pressure was on to give this righteous rebel her due. We also knew when these two were around each other, the tension could be cut with a fuckin’ sword. All adding up to the perfect ingredients for a kick ass novel, filled to the brim with depth, action, chemistry, angst, and chaos .

In all honesty, I didn’t know if this book could even come close to Give Me Grace. It’s no secret, I’m a HUGE Casey girl, and in my mind, there was no way Jake would or could compare. I'm not ashamed to admit, I almost had to eat those thoughts. Kate didn’t pull any punches with these two. She gave them her all and it showed in every single scene, every single word. Jake had me swaying. Big time. This bad boy had me questioning my loyalty. I'd catch myself thinking, "holy hell Casey, he’s giving you a run for your money!"

I have to bow down to Jake and Mac. This couple's love story was quite addictive and something beyond special. There was just so much to them, I felt everything all the way down to my toes.

With a low chuckle I roll over on my bed to eyeball the stolen file that I’d slapped on my bedside table last night before crashing. I’m feeling rather pleased with myself until my gaze encounters Jake. My gleeful chortle dies a quick death.

He’s leaning against my bedroom wall, bare-chested, arms folded, and wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer-briefs and a furious glare.

My gaze drops to the bed where Jake has laid out the black beanie used to cover my pale hair, and the black leather gloves that kept my fingerprints from any surface I came in contact with.

Fuck. The sun is streaming in through the blinds and I know it must be late morning already. Clearly I’d forgotten to set the morning alarm. A rookie mistake. And now I need to get past the gauntlet that is Jake and somehow get the file to Casey before he enacts his own plan to retrieve it.

My eyes flick up, meeting his. “Morning,” I say coolly.

His jaw ticks. “Care to explain?”

Jake’s car keys rest on top of the report file and I know he’s seen them. Not only had I performed a break and enter last night, I had also added car theft to my criminal repertoire. Explaining that will likely cause my untimely death. I pretend to consider his question for a moment. “Not really.”

Jake pushes off from the wall and moves toward the bed, bringing him closer. “Well you’re going to.”

“No,” I say, casually sliding across the mattress and away from Jake. “Not today. I have things to—”

Putting one knee on the bed, Jake leans across and grabs the back of my long-sleeved shirt in his fist. He yanks and the distinct sound of a riiipppppp renders the air.

“My shirt,” I gasp as I fly through the air, landing on my back on the mattress with a hard bounce.

“I don’t give a rat’s fucking ass about your shirt,” he growls, straddling my body.

His hard thighs trap me in place and his hands pin mine to the bed. Moving will likely end with a cracked rib.

Jake leans his face down until I can’t look anywhere but in his eyes. “You can start with why you’re dressed like a thieving little bandit.”

“Because I stole your car.”

“Why did you steal my car?”

“Because I couldn’t get a cab.”

I actually considered calling for a taxi but then my movements would be on public record, easily placing me at the scene. I’d had to rule it out.

“Stop leading me in circles, Princess, and spit it the fuck out. What did you do?”

I huff deeply, letting my frustration out. Jake isn’t going to just let this go. It leaves me with two choices. Lie or be honest. I chose door number two, because while I sometimes keep things from Jake, he doesn’t deserve outright deceit.

I spill out my early hours adventure, rethinking my choice of honesty as he sits back on the bed, his fury a slow-building thunderstorm.

There’s silence for a tense moment when I finish speaking.

“You committed a felony,” he says in a soft voice. I’m not fooled by the tone. His anger is a barely leashed lion. “And you used my car to do it.”

My lips press in a thin line. I hadn’t thought that particular implication through, and now I’m angry at myself. “I’m sorry.”

His expression narrows to one of vengeful retribution. “Oh you’ll be sorry.”

“I will?”

“When I paddle your fucking ass.”

“Jake—”

“Shut it,” he growls, his voice rising. “You broke into a detective’s house. You stole her property. You—”

“Casey’s property,” I mutter.

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m explaining your stupidity to you.”

Kate McCarthy is an Australian, living in the pretty sunshine state of Queensland with her two kids and two dogs, Rufus and Pete.

She loves to bake sweet stuff and eat it too. With an exciting degree in business, she works as an accountant by day, and an author by night. In between family life, she is most often found in bed reading, or at the beach, still reading.