#GEM Series 3

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Onyx by Freya Barker

GEM #3

This series could go on and on forever and I would read every one of the books BUT I have a feeling this could be the last book in the series, and I will have to think about the characters instead of reading about them in the future. I will miss them.

What I liked:

* Rajani “Raj” Agarwal: AKA Onyx, GEM operative-employee, difficult backstory that motivates her in her current job, young love lost impacted her greatly as did the trauma s he experienced at the hands of predators and abusers, strong, smart, survivor, lead on this case, closed off but intrigued by Jacob and Hamish

* Jacob Branch: owner and head of GEM, invested in saving missing and exploited youth, suffered more than one trauma in the past – physical and mental, strong, resilient, wealthy, intelligent, has many assets to work with, drawn to a woman and has loved her a long time, intriguing man

* Hamish Adrian: scars from burns suffered in a stable fire at a horse training facility, horse trainer, ex-military, brother-in-arms to Jacob, more to him than meets the eye

* The development of the relationship between Raj and the man she ends up with and how it unfolds – they so deserve to be together

* Bernie: a woman who has had Jacob’s back for many years

* Getting to see how Kate & Mitch and Janey & Fisher are doing

* The plot, pacing, and writing

* Being able to hate the evil characters

* Knowing that GEM and CARD managed to bring to justice some very evil predators and hopefully save some young people, too

* All of it except for…

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like – and there were quite a few to dislike

* Knowing that there are evil people in the world willing to harm others in the pursuit of their own horrific lusts and desires

Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more by this author? Definitely

Thank you to the author and Buoni Amici PR for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

GEM: a privately-funded organization operating independently in the search for—and the rescue and recovery of—missing and exploited children. Although, at times working in conjunction with law enforcement, GEM aims to ensure the victims receive justice…by whatever means necessary. ____ Onyx; balanced, strong, a guardian She’s the voice of reason, advocates, and strategizes. Supporting the team from the background, Onyx rarely goes out in the field. However, when a widespread child exploitation ring is discovered, her particular skill set is needed to get close. Unfortunately, her boss—a man she’s never laid eyes on before—is dead set against her taking the lead. Outvoted, he finds a way to keep her in his sights, risking his own exposure. It’s only a matter of time before the final truth is revealed, and they’re forced to face the past and secure their future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hey all!

Just a few words from me!

First of all, thank you so much for your interest in my books.

I started writing January of 2014 without any idea what was going to come of it. That first book, Slim To None, released in August of that year.

It was only supposed to be a one-time thing, but I discovered I had more to say and my passion was born.

Writing is therapy for me, and through my stories I hope to share a little of what it has given me: HOPE.

My dream is for my readers to find that same ‘hope’ in my words. Not just for love and romance, but for a good, happy, satisfying life, regardless of current circumstances. To show through my characters that despite roadblocks thrown in our path—with an open mind—we can learn to see and move beyond our limitations. That we can stand strong in the face of adversity, and sometimes as a result of it.

Believe in yourself—in your worth.

I hope you enjoy my stories, and I hope you’re able to take something away from them.

Happy reading!

xox Freya

USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories. 

With forty-plus books already published, she continues to create characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy. 

Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!

[faer1efire]

gem doodle !!!!!

[oneluckygoose]

So I’ve spent the past few days literally watching almost everyone’s POV for this episode and…

I’ve never heard the lifers CHANT for the end of the session. Like every single player is just begging to be done with the snails, literally begging. Even the ones that didn’t die (also side note to highlight Joel just cracking by the end of it. This season is breaking him)

GRIAN WHAT DID YOU TO DO THEM?!?!?

[stellocchia]

Wild Life session 3 was a bloodbath for real.

I didn't watch everyone's POV but I'm pretty sure that there were only 4 people who didn't die. Like, Joel, Gem, Scott, and maybe Cleo (I don't remember her dying but I also didn't watch her pov) are the only ones who didn't lose a life for whatever reason that session, right?

Did this session beat the Boogeyman Apocalypse episode from Secret Life in number of deaths? I think maybe some episode in Limited Life beat it since there were a lot more deaths that season.

Also, not surprised that Joel, Gem, and Scott are the only ones still on 6 lives, those three are doing incredibly good this season. We may actually get either a Joel or a Gem win this time around! (I'm excluding Scott only because he has a tendency to sacrifice himself for others, and I'm pretty sure he will this time around too, especially since you can apparently steal lives).

[ollyolyoxenfree]

horse 3: horse fast horse furious part two || part four

[moomoorare]

click for better quality? tumblr loves to compress images worse than dudes repressing gay urges

Art I made for my second work in the Scales of Fate au (Blood In The Wine) featuring The Ocean Queen and her new knights Dame Gem, Lady Pearl and Earl Cleo 🌊💗

[ender1821]

gempearl has been so insane in the past two sessions like what the heck. the divorce arc is not even that angsty anymore this is like watching a romcom where the two leads so OBVIOUSLY still want each other but they are just so ?? dumb ??????

gem has way more confidence in pearl's skills to kill and survive than pearl herself ?? pearl calling gem beautiful and awesome ??? "you've got ants on your pants" "yeah, they are called pearl" ???? THEM BOTH COMING BACK WITH A CAMEL ?????

and there's way more crazy things. they are insane for each other. they are never leaving the sunflower field nor the murder camel. they need to kiss each other so bad

p.d; imagine etho and impulse looking at each other awkwardly while gem and pearl are arguing (fighting to not jump from their camels) thinking "why are we even here". this camel shit is too serious i love it

godddd theyre insufferable i want them both dead <3

they never left that sunflower field. it’s always been about the 2v1. its about how in Gem’s eyes Pearl betrayed her in such a dishonourable way but in Pearl’s eyes it’s just the logical choice. they’re actively clinging to the very thing that symbolised their connection in the past season, now with the knowledge of how it will end if they were to try again, Gem now knowing that Pearl won’t choose her— why? why can’t she just give her this one small mercy? if she’s going to kill her anyway why can’t she at least make it honourable? why can’t you do it yourself, Pearl?

but of course. in Pearl’s eyes she can’t just do that. why risk her life here? they’re just in the middle of the season, there’s no need to have an all-out duel, she’s on her yellow life and all that…

and so that just leads to. whatever this mess is!!! yeah no im just spitballing sorry anon i agree this whole arc is so dumb and funny because on one hand you’ve got an actual conflict but on the other you get “you’ve got ants in your pants” “yeah they’re called Pearl”

oh yeah on Pearl’s end it has been made so very obvious that Pearl got Impulse/Tango on the camel just because Gem doesn’t want to. and she’s trying to make her jealous or whatever. poor minecraft men being subjected to yuri divorce

[teapot-of-tyrahn]

from "how much do you love me today?"

to, instead, "how much do you hate me today?"

its not about love anymore. it's about hate.

[galedekarios]

🐱👑🧙‍♂️

[scheelesgreem]

FIRE! I've got a damn good reason for some mutiny FIRE! And you're a bright red circled opportunity FIRE! So you can sit back, contemplate a eulogy FIRE! And I'll be sure to hit the mark! FIRE!

[did-sm1-say-catfish]

ethogirls have a counterpart.

gemboys.

[ratective]

pearl with a pearl earring: a possibly grotesque adaptation

[raindropren]

I just realized that my last post was gonna talk about how Gem is displaying actual bad behavior(i feel like a daycare teacher everytime I type out "bad behavior"...) by trying to turn everyone against Pearl and Impulse. but I totally forgot that! in my rant and ramble about Scott's stupid little silly allyship(???) with the person that wants two(aka more then half) of his teammates dead,,,, that man,,, intrigues me so...

Anyways! By Scott saying that he's trying not to enable bad behavior he's basically letting Gem's actual bad behavior fall unnoticed. He's trying to clean up Pearl's, at this point, very small mess while actively ignoring that there's a way bigger mess that's also sentient AND TRYING TO KILL HIS TEAMMATES(AKA PEARL!?!?!?).

anyways. Gem is showing some real mean girls type shit <3

[joculatrixster]

the thing that will always make cleo and bigb doomed to fail is they r PERFECT foils for one another. cleo is high loyalty low forgiveness, she is all about family, all about direct communication and acts of service. bigb on the other hand is low loyalty high forgiveness, hes a fairweather friend, he is all honeyed words and means to ends. She feels everything passionately and fiercely, he lets everything slide over him and goes with the flow. they're fire and ice, born opposites and when they clash it will never end well but they will always inevitably clash. jesus fucking crist they are probably my favorite foils in the entire series because it only works because they WANT to try again they WANTED to be friends, he searched for her flowers in hand but when he found her she was burning down the forest that offered him sanctuary, she ran away to tell the others while fuming he chased after her saying anything he could to get her to believe in him again expect the accountability she wanted to hear. GOD i love them.

[zellie-x]

Sketch dump of doodles that I’ll probably never finish

Featuring: The Life Ladies

Also noticed how much I love giving cute little earrings to funny charaters

[entityredacted]

So I got inspired by a comic I read to make a robotics au for the life series

The thought is that the whole life series is essentially a game show/tournament started by the Watchers Corporation. It has the same rules as the regular series, except that people can submit robots with sentient/semi-sentient engines and capable of fighting, talking, emoting etc without remote controls

There's lore for each member of the series but I'll talk about that another time