This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I thought that this was a really enjoyable listen. I have enjoyed Meghan March's books in the past so I was pretty confident that this would be a good fit for me especially when I realized that Andi Arndt and Sebastian York were handling the narration. This book is the first book in a duet and it does end in a bit of a cliffhanger but that isn't a big problem since the second book is due out soon.

The book opens with Drew trying to get a job at the club that Cannon runs. This isn't a normal club. It is a club connected to the mob. Cannon is the illegitimate son of the famous mob boss, Dominic Casso. Cannon isn't the only one with something to hide. Drew has an agenda when she tries for a job at the club. She is looking for some dirt to expose the family that has caused her pain.

I liked Drew and Cannon together. They were both hiding things but I thought that they seemed to be real with each other when it mattered the most. They were both put into their positions by events that were outside of their control and had great chemistry throughout the story. I loved the way that Cannon felt protective of Drew almost from the start. I thought that they made a really great pair and fit together in almost every way.

Andi Arndt and Sebastian York did a fabulous job with this audiobook. I think that their voices really compliment each other with this kind of story. I thought that they both were able to capture the personality of the characters and added a lot of emotion to the story. I am pretty sure that I liked this book just a bit more because of the incredible narration.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a well-done romance with just the right mix of chemistry, steamy scenes, and suspense. I can't wait to see how Drew and Cannon's story ends!

I received a copy of this audiobook from Audible Studios.

Initial Thoughts
This was enjoyable. I liked the characters well enough and thought that they had some great chemistry. The book ended right when it was getting really exciting. I can't wait to see what happens next!

From beginning to end, walking away was never an option. Love him, hate him, it's so hard to forget him. Cannon is a renegade. Caught between duty to family and the emotions filling his heart. This black sheep lives life on his own terms. He may have a black soul, but does he have the strength to follow his heart? March never ceases to be bold. Her characters are not always likeable, but what they lack in charm, they make up for in heart. Arndt and York bring heartache to life with an edginess that is both compelling and breathtaking. Cannon and Drew are destined to make Romeo and Juliet look like child's play.

Back before JR Ward wrote about vampires, she wrote under a different name...

Heroine - head of the family and managing the family pile (which at this point seems to be literally a pile). She has spent the past 10 years taking care of her sister and grandma following the death of the parents. She has control issues, and has pretty much resigned herself to spinsterhood due to the transient nature of most of the men she meets. The family pile is of course, a bed and breakfast, and it's falling down about her ears - literally as it were - in the opening chapter, the ceiling caved on her, dumping water from a leaky pipe and lord knows what else.

Hero - fairly well-known chef. His life goal, along with that of his friend, is to have his own place. He's currently unemployed while looking for the perfect place. He hires himself after a car breakdown, a hike for several miles, and coming in on the h and company trying to figure out how to feed guests after attempting to cremate the chicken. His issues are the result of an ex who assumed he was due an inheritance and when she found out otherwise, had an abortion and dumped him - in that order.

While I really don't have any quibbles about the characters themselves, some of the obstacles seem off.

There's a mortgage on the family pile. Unknown how much but it must not have been for a remodel. And it's a large one - h has to come up with $150k by the end of the summer. The state of the house - how long has it been since any repairs were actually done? The H's car - it's towed to a barn, he works on it briefly, and nothing else is said about it. The feeling I get that to the h, her sister is still a teenager. The brother who abandoned his family and only a nasty boat wreck brings him home...

Some of the scenes were really funny though - the H's decision to repair the gutter and remembering halfway up the ladder that he's afraid of heights.

In the end, he decides he's found the perfect place to ply his trade - in her b&b - so all is well. And apparently the plumber is a justice of the peace...

Let me start by saying I'm totally a fan of K. A. Merikan this writing duo is amazing. In general they are one of my go to for stories that have a darker, edgier undertone to them. Their 'Guns 'n Boys' series is just so much book crack for me and this one sounded like it was a guaranteed win. Sure it was historical which isn't my favorite time frame but it's not a deal breaker by any means either and I mean...really, who doesn't like a sexy highwayman?

I know it wasn't too dark for my taste. Hell I loved ICoS (In the Company of Shadows), willingly sobbed my way through 'A Little Life', 'When All the World Sleeps', 'Into This River I Drown', Avril Ashton's 'Run This Town' series and on and on...so not too dark, in fact compared to some of those it was practically fluff and no that wasn't the problem either because I like fluff too (I won't bother with a list for that).  

I can't even fault the writing because I was impressed by the writing. The attention to detail was for me just right not so much that it bored me and definitely enough to keep my in the historical setting. So just right from my perspective.

I actually finished reading this one a couple of days ago and have been pondering things and trying to see if in hindsight it would become clear as to why I didn't love this book the way I had thought I would and so far I have to say "I got nothin'."

I think at the end of the day what it came down to for me is that just like we sometimes love a book and can't really explain why...we just know we do. The opposite can also happen we read a book it's good and we feel like we should really love it, we should have devoured it and been over the moon with the story, we aren't. Something just didn't fall into place...maybe the stars weren't in alignment. Who knows...I don't.

What I do know is I'm still a fan of K. A. Merikan. There is no chance that I won't be making grabby hands for the next 'Guns 'n Boys'...oh, wait I've already done that and I look forward to the day that I can dive into some of the other books that I have diligently hoarded on my TBR list waiting for the time when I can just curl up in a corner and fall into a dark, edgy marathon of Merikan goodness with their 'Sex 'n Mayhem' series or 'The Werewolves of Chernobyl' or maybe some 'Zombie Gentlemen' as a rule I don't do zombie books but I'm totally willing to make an exception with this author.

So this one was good just not great for me and I don't know why, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, however, if you like historical and don't mind your stories a little on the darker side from time to time. You need to give this one a good look because it may just be the next read that you're looking for.

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An ARC of 'The Black Sheep and The Rotten Apple' was graciously provided by the authors in exchange for an honest review.