Book Review: Buttons & Lies

Title: Buttons & Lies
Author: Penelope Sky
Genre: Romance, Dark Romance, Fiction

What It’s About: As soon as Crow gets off the phone call from Bones, which he was pissed about at the beginning until he heard Bones’ message, he calls Cane to tell him the news. The two men and some of their hired men make it to the banquet where Conway is supposed to be, and it’s absolutely quiet, making it clear that things are going to go down, and the police is staying out of the way. Cane tells Crow that their men made it to the house but that Sapphire was taken, which upsets Crow. Cane also made the decision to not include Carter because if something goes wrong, he will be the only man left to take care of all the women in the Barsetti family–Cane doesn’t have a good feeling about this.

Bones arrives with his men to chaos, and he sees Conway being dragged into a car. Crow follows his son to save him, but a fights ensues, where Crow loses his gun, and comes up to face the barrel of a gun. Bones jumps in and takes the shot meant for Crow into his chest. He kills the man, before handing Crow a gun that he has. Bones then goes on to kill everyone else so easily, saving Cane before starting to pass out. Cane tells Crow to leave him for dead, but Crow cannot, and he drags Bones into the car. Max jumps in, yelling at Crow about how Bones is better than them but that they treated him like complete shit. When Conway asks about Sapphire–barely holding onto his own consciousness–Crow is unable to say anything because he doesn’t want to break Conway’s heart that his wife an unborn child were kidnapped with no clue where they could be, or how much time they have left to be alive. Max turns around and tells them that they have Sapphire–having to give her an injection to get her out of the house–along with the butler, who also gave them a fight. He promises that the injection is safe for the baby, and tells them that it was all Bones’ idea.

At the hospital, Bones goes into surgery and is critical as he lost a lot of blood, while Conway is okay but has broken ribs. Crow calls Pearl to tell her that Conway is okay, and Pearl breaks down sobbing in the car–she had called Vanessa and the two women are on their way to Milan. Vanessa tells her father that they’re okay, and they’re looking forward to see them soon. Bones wakes up from his surgery, and sees Crow sitting in the chair nearby. Crow has a hard time getting words out, but then he thanks Bones for saving everyone he loves, and tells him that Vanessa is lucky to have him. Bones tells him that he’s welcome, and that he only wants Vanessa, when Crow asks if there’s anything else that he could do for him or get him. Crow then goes out, and takes Vanessa to the side, where he tells her the whole truth about what went down in saving Conway. He tells her that he understands now that Bones is the best person for her, and blesses their relationship. For a moment Vanessa hovers on the threshold to Bones’ room, until Bones calls her, and she goes to him. They stay in bed together, even when Max visits and talks to him. Conway also visits him and thanks him for saving his wife, his unborn child and him, asking him what he could give Bones in exchange. Bones only asks for a handshake. When it’s time to leave the hospital, the whole family is there and thanks Bones for what he did for them.

Bones and Vanessa go to his apartment in Milan, where they spend time together, while Conway and Sapphire go to Verona with Crow and Pearl so that they can be taken care of since Conway has broken ribs that need healing and Sapphire is several months pregnant at this time. Three weeks go by, and Crow can’t help but want to reach out to Vanessa though Pearl tells him no. When he does finally reach out to Vanessa, she and Bones are on their way to Florence. They had packed up his house with the plan to sell it and while Bones was deciding which guns to take with them, Max tells Vanessa the truth about the three months that they were apart–how dark they were for Bones, and how he saw her with a different man, but still came for her. Vanessa tells Max to leave and she goes to Bones to be with him.

At the apartment, Bones sees the painting crated by Antonio one night, and flies into a rage the following day, leaving Vanessa alone for five hours. She gets rid of the painting by giving it back to Antonio, and when Bones comes back, he demands to know what the story was, which Vanessa tells him–Antonio purchased a painting from her, and a week later she purchased one from him. Bones flies off the handle realizing that it’s like out of a fairytale that they’re both painters and bought each other’s paintings. He drives to Crow’s house where he lays into Crow, blaming him for Vanessa having a connection with a different guy. Crow doesn’t know what to do, but says nothing. When Bones finally comes home again, Vanessa tells him that even if she married Antonio and had kids with him, she would have left him for Bones anyway, because she just loves him that much. This seems to calm Bones, and they have make-up sex.

Crow talks to Pearl about the whole argument with Bones, and she tells him that maybe it’s because Bones doesn’t have a family. She gives him her perspective as someone without a family and how important it was to her that Crow and Cane became that family for her. She tells him that Vanessa was the only family for Bones, and Crow not only treated him badly, but he also took away the only family Bones had for a long time. Pearl adds that he needs to treat Bones well going forward, get to know him, and make him a part of the family by making him feel like it. She does caution that it has to be something that he does willingly, because it all starts with him–it’s his work to do, not hers.

Bones opens up the door the next day to find Crow at the door, and is surprised when Crow asks him to go to the bar with him. Bones goes, and they talk with Crow telling him that he wants to get to know Bones as a son. He also tells Bones how Pearl and he fell in love; how he stole her from Bones Sr, and made her work for her freedom through Buttons in a jar. Bones calls him a hypocrite, but they also talk about Vanessa as a child, and Bones loves her spunk from the stories that Crow tells him. Despite the talk, Bones continues to be ambivalent about Crow and there’s still a long way before their relationship gets repaired.

Mia doesn’t know what Carter wants, but she pushes back against him, and that makes Carter want her more. She felt his dick against her backside and it aroused her–something that she hasn’t felt in ages since she was forced to be a sex slave to Egor. She knows she needs to escape and back to her life, so she wants to run away and starts making plans to do that. Carter receives a call from Conway and they talk about Mia, as Carter wants to have sex with her but doesn’t want to get emotionally involved with her since he has to return her. He had set two rules up–if she doesn’t attempt to kill him or runs away, he won’t touch her. Conway gives him the idea that he should make it easier for Mia to try to escape but not actually escape, so that Carter can punish her, which is what Carter wants to do.

My Thoughts: Really? It took Bones nearly dying for Crow to come around and see what he’s made of. Wow, I can’t believe Crow can keep grudges for that long, but I’m happy that finally Bones and Vanessa get the freedom to be together with each other. I’m hoping that Crow will become Bones’ surrogate father since Bones grew up without one, and Pearl will become his mom in a way. I think they would actually be a perfect antidote to his anger around losing his mom, and the loneliness that comes from being the only member of his family alive. But it doesn’t seem like it’ll be easy for Crow to make a dent in Bones’ armor and become that, so I’m curious to see how that happens and how the two men come to terms with each other. There’s nothing more that I would love than that. Can’t wait for the next book in the series.