Jackie Collins - Goddess of Vengeance

The eighth book in the Lucky Santangelo series, published September 13, 2011.
Genre: glamour romance
Cover: hot



Lucky runs a high-profile casino and hotel complex, The Keys, in Vegas. Lennie, her movie star husband, is still writing and directing successful independent movies, while Max, her stubborn and gorgeous teenage daughter, is about to celebrate her eighteenth birthday, and her son, Bobby, owns a string of hot clubs. Lucky has everything. Family. Love. Life.
And everything is exactly what billionaire businessman Armand Jordan is determined tot ake from her one way or the other.
Born a prince in the small but affluent Middle Eastern country of Akramshar, Armand comes to America with his American mother at an early age and rises to become a real-estate titan. Armand regards women as nothing more than breeding mares or sexual playthings, so when his people inform him that the one property he covets more than anything, The Keys, is not for sale, he is shocked. That a mere woman would turn down his offer to buy The Keys is unthinkable, and Armand vows to force Lucky's hand, whatever it takes. And so the battle for power begins…
Meanwhile, Bobby is dealing with shady Russian investors, while his girlfriend, smart and independent Denver Jones is becoming a Deputy DA in the L.A. drug unit. And Max is busy embarking on a forbidden love affair with a sexy young movie star. An affair they have to keep on the down-low lest Lucky finds out.
The word is "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas", and what happens in Goddess of Vengeance will blow your mind!


I am still sad to know this will be the very last Lucky Santangelo book. I would have loved to read more about headstrong Max and what she will make of her life. But Jackie Collins passed away a few weeks ago, so I can only dream about it.
Like Bertrice Small's Skye O'Malley, Jackie Collins' Lucky Santangelo is one of those heroines you will remember and admire for ever. They are resilient, they persevere and they fight for what they want and whom they love. They don't give up. Their lives are not always happy, and horrible things happen, but the joys and rewards are worth it in the end.

This book was not as exciting as promised on the cover. Armand is a depraved drug addict, and not capable of plotting against Lucky at all anymore. He gets what he so richly deserves, but he is no real threat to Lucky or her loved ones. So Goddess of Vengeance she might be, she didn't have to do much in this book.
It was Max who fell in love just before her 18th birthday, but he is in the middle of a nasty divorce with paparazzi hanging on his every move and word, so they have to be secretive. Her mother especially won't be happy with her, as he is married to her best friend!
Max' two best friends are not really worthy of that name in my opinion, as they don't do much for her, they are both too much into drugs and loose sex and Max doesn't do drugs and not too much booze either. But she does like to dance and to party.

Bobby is still head over heels for Dallas, but she is so insecure about their relationship. She is just an ordinary woman from a normal family, who loves her career in LA, while he is megarich and gorgeous and his work is in New York and Vegas. She doesn’t like to travel all that much, and his family intimidates her. So why should she stay with him, when she could go out with a screenplay writer, or a cop who is interested in her? Is it true love after all?

It was a good story, but more of catching up than real action and plot and suspense. And of course the depraved bad guy at work. He sure got off too easy.

7 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian