Kiss the Villain (Villain, #1) by Rina Kent Review

This review contains spoilers - read with caution. Content warnings include: Consensual non-con, dub-con, self-harm, violence, and mild homophobia. It also contains non on-page mentions of suicide, rape, child sexual assault, and domestic abuse. Specific kinks featured in this book include degradation, mild consensual feminization, mild BDSM, and praise.

You can read my reviews of the entire Legacy of Gods series on my blog, now: God of Malice, God of Pain, God of Wrath, God of Ruin, God of Fury, and God of War.

This was juicy juicy right off the bat - I may have had a little distain for the constant run back to initiation night in Legacy of Gods, but by now I have honestly grown attached to it. It genuinely cracks me up seeing the other couples and characters run around basically terrorizing each other, and considering we have experienced the majority of relationships now, I will be sad to see it end. That being said, with Gareth being the one surprised on initiation night, we take a turn from our leading man being the aggressor to having the story flipped to him being the prey. After Gareth's attempt to humiliate Yulian does not go according to plan and he finds himself on the receiving end of some unexpected advances, his entire world gets flipped on its axis.

Gareth proceeds to go through the most insane bi-awakening I have ever scene on page - the boy is getting thrown around like no one's business while simultaneously claiming everything that he and Kayden get up to doesn't count. The boy was in denial while getting split in half. Kayden and Gareth's relationship definitely starts out as wild as the other relationships we see in Rina Kent's books, and this is certainly no exception with an age gap, professor-student dynamic with some stalking undertones and ulterior motives by our resident law professor. I really enjoyed how out of control and possessive both Kayden and Gareth acted - while Kayden was pretty much set on Gareth being his target and basically owning him, Gareth was slowly becoming more attached and going into his obsessive tendencies.

The smut was crazy style - definitely on the same level as Niko and Brandon in God of Fury, but the dynamic was much more intense with Gareth and Kayden. Maybe it was because of the "forbidden" aspect of a professor-student relationship or the fact that Kayden was basically out to ravage Gareth within an inch of his life, but the spark between them was unmatched. Gareth's internal struggle to figure out if he even liked men or not - or basically if he just liked Kayden - while trying to tackle giving up control made the deeper plot of this book really drawing to readers. We watch as this intense, psychotic-in-nature, law student suddenly lose the perception he had of himself and try to understand if there is more to himself under the surface and if he can open himself up to loving someone he never expected to fall for.

Guys. Are we serious?? Y'all did not prepare me for the last third of this book - I feel like I was shot in the chest. I was literally speechless and my jaw was hanging open reading all the scenes with Gareth basically being held hostage and tortured for hours on end. He did not deserve to be put through that, especially when he was not even directly involved in Cassandra's passing. Obviously we know that he was targeted in order to punish his family, but good grief the guy is twenty-one and had no idea of Kayden's past until literally moments before all of this went down. My heart was aching for him when we got to the chapters of Kayden finding him and Gareth basically being catatonic after banging his head on the wall for who knows how long. Out of everyone that I have seen suffer in the Legacy of Gods series and this first installment in Villains, I would have to say Brandon and Gareth take the cake for being the most tortured characters.

I had such a fun time reading this book - it really sucked me in as much as God of Fury, and while the relationships in those two books certainly have their similarities, the characters go through their own struggles that makes their stories their own. If you are looking to make your way into some more smutty dark romance, you will definitely get a kick out of this.

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Chokehold by Leigh Rivers & Harleigh Beck Review

This review contains minor spoilers - no major plot points are revealed. Please read trigger warnings - reader discretion is advised.

Blaise and Cole - two stepbrothers who cannot seem to stand one another - find themselves in a most peculiar scenario when a game of Chase at a party leads to a scandalous encounter between the two in the woods. This honestly reminded me a little bit of the initiation scenes from the Legacy of Gods series by Rina Kent - I would definitely say that it was much more elevated in this book, especially considering what happens between Blaise and Cole in that initial game of Chase. The authors waste no time introducing readers to our two leading men and make it abundantly clear they do not like each other one bit - or so they think. I was really in the mood for a juicy hate to love book and this certainly did not disappoint when it came to that element.

You can see that Cole and Blaise fall into a natural categorization of "older, more tortured" brother and "younger, more prioritized" brother when it came to how Blaise's father viewed them. Blaise's father simply sees Cole as a nuisance stepchild that he has to tolerate, whereas he somewhat pampers Blaise - at least to the extent where he thinks he is taking care of him - even when we see him as more of a neglectful father. Even when he is "taking care of" Blaise, you can tell he does not give it his all, especially when he uses all of his time blaming Cole for everything under the sun that goes wrong or disrupts their lives.

The dynamic between Blaise and Cole is definitely not for the weak or light of heart - we literally see them beat each other up multiple times and take things to the extreme when they want to get their way with each other. If you are a fan of The Ritual and The Sinner by Shantel Tessier, this book is well up your alley in terms of pushing the limits to the extreme. You have to be in the mindset to walk into books like these knowing that there is going to be some seriously triggering content. If you are prepared for that form of intensity, then you will not be able to put this book down. Just when you think things could not get any more wild, suddenly they are chasing each other around town and swinging bats like nobody's business.

Juicy, juicy, juicy spicy scenes that put a lot of books I have read to shame when it comes to making my eyes bug out of my skull. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it certainly kept me locked in and had my jaw on the floor for the vast majority of the book. The fact that it is a taboo romance makes it all the more enticing and while some of the plot points were all over the place, it kept me entertained enough that once I started, I could not stop.

The side characters added enough to the plot to continue to drive the story forward, but for the life of me I could not stand Allie and Mia - they were annoying and only provided more issues for both Cole and Blaise as the story went on. I understand what the authors were trying to do with their characters, but my god, every single time they popped up on the page I wanted to throw the book across the room. I guess their presence served their purpose considering the authors truly were able to make me despise them, along with a select few other characters that seemed to have it out for Blaise and Cole for one-sided reasons.

If you are looking for a raunchy, taboo romance to make your blood pressure rise, Chokehold may be calling your name. I know for certain that it has taken me out of my reading slump and thrown me right back into the dark romance scene.

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Conclave (Devil's Night, #3.5) by Penelope Douglas Review

This review contains spoilers - please read with discretion. You can read my reviews of Corrupt, Hideaway, and Kill Switch on my blog, now!

Like an addiction you cannot kick, I cannot seem to stop reading these books, no matter how many brain cells I continue to lose. I always expect a different outcome and yet I am continuously shown that these books are nowhere near the hype everyone gives them. I truly wish the case was different, because I can definitely see the potential in these characters and their stories, but unfortunately they do not hit the mark.

We see Damon and Winter mostly in Part 1 with Rika and Michael taking more center stage in Part 2 in this novella. Of the three installments that I had read, these two pairings are my least favorite, which only indicates how I was going to feel when reading these updates to their stories. I will never forgive Damon for the way he treated Rika and the extremes he took in terrorizing her in Corrupt and the relationship between him and Winter will never sit right with me. Michael is probably second worst to Damon and the fact that he spent so much of his time tormenting Rika in their book and now I am being tortured with their relationship drama.

Damon wants Winter to have eight hundred children and is dead serious when he asks the doctor how long until Winter can get pregnant again after literally pushing a child out of herself mere moments prior. I hate men. Meanwhile Rika is hiding the fact that she has a very high probability of never being able to conceive from Michael, and therefore putting off their wedding for as long as she can... a match made in heaven, apparently. The boys basically spend the entire novella crying over the fact that Will is not there with them instead of focusing on their own relationships. Might as well be dating Will and dumping their wives/girlfriends at this point.

The smut once again is as underwhelming as ever - which is a shame considering the smut in Credence was diabolically addictive if my memory serves true (Uncle Jake, I miss you...). Thankfully there are only two more installments to go and then I will be free from this prison that this series currently holds me captive in. I really do not like to yuck anyone's yum, but unless Douglas manages to truly do a 180 with the next book, I fear these remain lackluster in my eyes.

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Kill Switch (Devil's Night, #3) by Penelope Douglas Review

This review contains minor spoilers! Please read trigger warnings - reader discretion advised. You can read my reviews of Corrupt and Hideaway on my blog, now!

I kept putting this book off because I genuinely hated Damon with such a burning passion that I could not even imagine being able to sit through nearly 700 pages of him whining about situations he directly put himself into on his own. There were so many moments in the first two installments that had me wanting to pull my hair out when he would show up, and if you think he gets some sort of redemption in Kill Switch, you are surely mistaken. Things from his past are revealed which certainly changes his trajectory, but by no means excuses what he got up to in the first two books, and frankly, what he gets up to in this book as well.

"That little girl belongs to me" YUCKKKKKKK!!!! What was Damon's obsession with constantly referring to Winter as "little girl" and "kid"? It truly was making this book so much harder to get through because he was always commenting on how he was older than Winter - especially when we were in the chapters where she was sixteen. It got real old, real fast, and it made me want to stop reading on so many occasions. Suddenly Damon develops a moral compass halfway through the book?? He is such a dumb idiot... you literally set Rika up to get harassed and then decide that she does not deserve it?? Obviously she doesn't! Truly cannot stand him.

I have so many questions for Winter... starting with, why are you, as a blind girl, goes through a haunted house on your own??? She has the survival instincts of a fruit fly. The entire book is her literally walking into the most horrible situations on the planet and then getting into danger. She truly does not have a drop of common sense in her body - that being said, maybe if her parents got her a guide dog or a cane, she would be better equipped to be running around town with the world's most overhyped basketball players and their girlfriends. How do you not get your daughter the proper aid devices when she is blind??

Why would you let a blind girl drive your car!?! Damon's decision making skills continue to baffle me beyond belief. Every chapter he chooses to do the most unhinged things I have ever seen, and considering what he put everyone through in the other books, that speaks volumes. Looking at Damon and Winter's complicated history together, I was honestly surprised to see that everyone in town did not believe Winter and were backing up Damon when everything came out. How on Earth does an entire town back up someone who was convicted of statutory rape of a blind girl?? The politics in these books never ceases to amaze me on how stupid the people are.

There was no reason for this book to be nearly as long as it was... there simply is not enough interesting information or plot to dive into to make the author write a brick of a book on one of the worst characters to grace this series. I cannot believe my eyes were bearing witness to what was written on these pages - I could feel my brain cells fighting for their lives. There is not a single character that I was rooting for at any point, and even Winter was pushing it considering she was basically a prop to Damon's so-called character development. Once again, there is absolutely no reason for basketball players to have this much power in a town. They CANNOT be that good of players for them to be town celebrities.

The smut was basically nonexistent in this book - that actually surprised me, considering what we saw in the first two books. Honestly, chapters twenty-nine and thirty were the only points in the book where I actually enjoyed reading the book - everything else was subpar or not worth writing home about. And yet, here I am, continuing to read these books and act surprised when nothing gets better and the only thing holding me to keep reading is that I have to see the series through to the end. Honestly, as long as I do not have to read Damon's perspective any longer, I will consider it an improvement.

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Electric Idol (Dark Olympus, #2) by Katee Robert Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of Stone Heart and Neon Gods on my blog, now!

I feel like I am purposefully putting myself in situations where I expect to have my expectations changed and yet I am constantly disappointed again and again. The concept of these books are great, but the execution just simply is not there and often feels as though they are marketed as dark romances, there really is no "dark" aspect to them - they would be better marketed as erotic romances. Eros and Psyche's unintentional relationship spurs from necessity over anything else, and while I am truly a sucker for a marriage of convenience trope, this felt lackluster in both romance and in general plot development. There were a few moments where I thought it was going to turn around and be an improvement to Neon Gods, but unfortunately it never made it that far.

Psyche as a character is definitely endearing and you want to root for her as the reader - she is kind and just wants to move through life without thinking too much about what other people think about her. She has an aura surrounding her that makes those around her not harness any ill-will, but that soon changes once her mother sets her eyes on making an arrangement for Psyche that she wants no business with. Desperate to dodge a potential suitor, Psyche finds herself in the warpath of one of the Thirteen who does not hold back.

The spicy scenes were just mediocre at best - there was not anything in there that I have not seen before, and to be perfectly honest, I have read young adult romances that have been raunchier than what this book contains. Once again, I was looking for an improvement to the previous installment, and was let down more than I anticipated. Considering this book has "Unspeakably hot" as the tagline on the cover, you would have thought it was have blown me away. Honestly, the scenes were few and far in between with the plot taking the main focus over spice - in some scenarios, I would have welcomed that, but in this case, I wanted to be left speechless. Instead, I was left speechless at the fact that I wasted time reading this book.

Eros' characterization would be the highlight of this book - he is a "bad boy player" that is now thrust into a marriage of convenience of his own doing. He suddenly cannot do the one thing he has always done - killing - and thinks that a marriage to Psyche will shield her from Aphrodite's wrath. I wish he was more of a mystery in the beginning of the book - it felt too obvious that he would fall for Psyche in a matter of weeks which ruined the illusion that he would become this reformed bad boy killer to a lover man.

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Sick Bargain (Vile House, #1) by Nordika Night Review

This review contains minor spoilers! Please read trigger warnings - reader discretion is advised.

WHY IS REMI WEARING CROCS AND SOCKS??? I would be able to look past this if it was a one time situation, but I kid you not this man was mentioned wearing crocs multiple times throughout the book. This was more shocking to me than some of the dark scenes Krypt was pulling on a regular basis and that says a lot. Maybe it is because I am a croc hater for life, but it was such an ick while reading and I could not help but think of Remi running around town in crocs. He is a grown adult and should not be within three hundred feet of a pair of crocs, especially after he is basically shackled to Krypt of all people.

Krypt reminds me of Killian Carson from God of Malice - this is an insult. It is like I am back at chapters one and two of that book all over again, and I wish I could scrub my brain of both of those instances. I did not like Krypt for approximately 85% of this book - I felt like his character was all over the place, and sure, that is definitely a component of why he is so uncontrollable, but I thought at some point it would be toned down a bit. I would argue that he gets more aggressive as the book goes on, and while he does eventually get a sliver of emotion in him, there were points where I truly thought he was going to hurt Remi.

This book does not beat around the bush when it comes to more darker themes like assault and graphic depictions of violence, but I was surprised to feel as though it could have been much darker. There are a number of scenes between Krypt and Remi that are straight up assault and while they both acknowledge it, they also are into it and yet still seem to fight how much they like it. It was definitely interesting seeing it impacted both of them in their own ways, since Remi was an outsider in the beginning and did not understand what he was getting into, while Krypt was discovering something new about himself and this seemed to be the only way his mind was able to make him express it. That being said, it certainly is not for everyone and I would definitely reiterate that readers show go into this with caution if it is not their typical genre.

Remi's brother, Soren, was so mysterious and protective and Remi - I found myself wanting him to show up more often because I was so intrigued by his characterization. He is stoic and controlled, yet his shell definitely cracks when it comes to his brother, even though he does not want anyone to know it. He is constantly hooting and hollering at Krypt during this whole book - whether it was truly in Remi's best interest or not, that man was up face to face with Krypt at every chance he got. All of the little Vile House boys were intriguing and added an interesting dynamic to the story - I have not come across a group of unhinged boys truly testing the limits - the closest I can think of is the group in the Legacy of Gods series by Rina Kent.

I high-key wish this book was crazier and I know that sounds insane but from everything that I heard about it, I thought I was going to reach Butcher & Blackbird meeting Haunting Adeline and The Ritual levels of insanity happening, but I was simply just left more surprised by the amount of non-con that anything else. I was really looking forward to a truly dark romance, one that approached pitch black levels, and while Sick Bargain was definitely going in that direction, it did fall a little short. The writing was not the best, and at times it was going on and on more like a quickly published Wattpad fanfic without any proofreading rather than an actual published book. I will be intrigued to see how the second installment pans out in regards to upping the craziness.

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Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1) by Katee Robert Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of Stone Heart on my blog, now!

In an attempt to continue on with series that I have not seen through, Neon Gods finally had me intrigued enough to crack it open. I honestly do not know what I was expecting, especially since I was well aware these are interconnected stand alones, but good lord why does it feel like this series literally makes no sense. The world-building should be much more concise, considering you do not need to read the prequel novella in order to read the series. I just cannot seem to be fine with hearing Greek gods talk about trust funds, jobs, and the mortal world. I still find it odd that people can "become" one of the Thirteen and that they are just not set in stone like the original mythology calls for.

Persephone, girl... I need you to LOCK IN and fight back against your mother. The woman set you up with a known wife killer and you do not seem to be nearly as angry as any rational person would be. Totally understandable response to high tail it out of that situation because your life definitely depended on it, but perhaps you should be more vocal about your displeasure towards her. I am glad that her sisters sided with her and did not try to make her see that marriage through. She spends nearly the entire book just going on and on regarding how she just needs to make it to her next birthday so she can get her trust fund and leave... like girl I think you have much bigger problems than just leaving home to deal with.

Hades is broody and moody and honestly a more refreshing take on him than what I have seen in other retellings. He is honestly the most rational of everyone in this book and actually thinks about his actions before doing anything, which is more than what I can say for the rest of the characters. However, it still feels as though the author was holding back on expanding on who he was as a character. Sure, we get his background in bits and pieces throughout the book, but there was never a point where I felt as though I knew his character in its entirety. I would have loved to see some more fleshed out chapters focusing on him rather than reading about Persephone begging him for a thousand sexual favors at every waking moment.

This is some of the worst dialogue I have ever read. I literally wish I could wash my eyes out after reading the nonsense that Persephone would say to Hades. You are an adult, please, for the love of god, speak like one!! The writing honestly feels juvenile, which is strange considering the subject matter is anything but so. Do not even get me started on the smut... it was below average and read like a bad nightmare. The author attempts to dive into a BDSM aspect but falls so incredibly flat it becomes unbearable at times. I totally understand that this series is just "dark romance with Greek mythology" but I fear it does not even resemble the structure of a dark romance novel.

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Soul to Possess (The Artmaker Trilogy, #1) by E.M. Adams Review

This reviews contains very minor spoilers - no major plot points are revealed.

A Stuff Your Kindle Day hates to see me coming, and this dark romance was one of many more recent downloads. Considering the first two installments of this trilogy were available for free, I knew I had to at least explore what this author had in store for their readers. When Gennie sees an ad in the newspaper of a man who is looking for a wife, she decides she has nothing to lose and sends him a letter. She did not expect to receive one in return, and thus Gennie and Marvin's letter conversation is born as they reveal more about one another. With Marvin sending her means to come to him, Gennie embarks on a journey to meet the man she may very well marry, but fate has other plans as she ends up hundreds of miles away from Marvin and in the hands of a murderous stranger who is intrigued by her innocence.

Atticus is no stranger to commanding control and getting what he wants - when Gennie stumbles upon his door in the middle of horrendous weather after being dropped off at the wrong stop, he knows exactly what he needs to do to keep her there forever. He basically spoon feeds her little bits of information screaming that he is dangerous, yet Gennie does not take the bait. Sure, she is definitely on edge and is not viewing him as trustworthy right from the start, but she certainly does not have the best survival instincts. That being said, if I was trapped in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a hot guy sending off major red flags, I would probably do anything I could to make sure I make it out of there alive. The man is a murderer for crying out loud and he certainly is not trying hard at all to hide it.

While this first installment is short, the author really gets straight to the point and does not waste time once Atticus and Gennie's paths cross. We are able to see the "relationship" between Marvin and Gennie grow and expand as they converse through their letters, then see the drastic change in tone once Gennie passes through into Atticus' door. I enjoyed the change in writing style choice as well - showing readers the letters between Marvin and Gennie definitely gives a much more impactful experience to the reader as they are able to get to know Marvin without ever meeting him or seeing his internal dialogue like what we get with Gennie.

I will admit that this book has me intrigued and I will at minimum continue on to the second installment, which is already downloaded on my Kindle and calling to me. The plot definitely has my attention and I am interested to see how the author takes this story and in what capacity - the initial build up took a little too much page space for me so hopefully that will not be a problem in the second book. If you are on the hunt for a short and more psychological approach on a dark romance, this may be your next read.

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Blackthorn by J.T. Geissinger ARC Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Please read trigger warnings - reader discretion is advised. Blackthorn was published by Bramble on November 4, 2025 and is now available at select retailers.

I would first like to thank NetGalley and Bramble for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review. Maven returns to her hometown with the impression she and her daughter, Bea, will only be there to lay part of the past to rest - literally. Life has an unexpected turn when her grandmother's body disappears into thin air and a past love is determined to reenter her life without taking no for an answer. With immediate guilt being placed on the Croft family - the Blackthorn's rival for generations - we see Maven dive deeper to find out the truth as Ronan, her past mistake, continues to insert himself into her life. I really enjoyed the gothic feel to this dark romance, as it was eerie and haunted the plot as we follow Maven and Ronan deeper into their lives. You could sense the uneasiness coming off the page, and considering the contents of this book, it certainly was not the only thing to cause readers to be put out of place.

I have not read a book for a very long time in which the main character had a child - it is honestly kind of jarring to see, as I am used to them having children in the epilogue or towards the very end of the book. That being said, the age of this child is clearly integral to the plot of the book, and Bea's presence was necessary for a number of plot devices. While she did not take on much of a "leading" role, she was still supplying a decent amount of drive when it came to Maven's story. Even though her presence was more so in compliment of Maven's plot, Bea was still important to moving the plot along in order to showcase Maven's determination, along with her ability to keep things hidden.

When I first looked at the trigger warnings, my first thought was how in the world are these going to come up in this story - I quickly discovered that the author was willing to go down taboo roads in this gothic dark romance. At first, readers would think that the "freak factor" would need to be upped tenfold after only reading the first third of the book, but let me tell you - it gets sent into the stratosphere towards the halfway mark and just continues to have the reader's jaw drop. As someone who feels as though they have read everything that falls under taboo, this book certainly had some firsts for me. It definitely takes a minute to dive into the freakiness, but Geissinger does not hold back once that portion is uncovered.

This was honestly a pretty decent combination of genres - you have the dark romance, enemies-to-lovers aspect at the forefront, accompanied by this supernatural and gothic aura that enhances the romance while creating this haunting nature over the story. Maven and Ronan's relationship is much more complicated than anyone could have imagined and as readers see their story unfold, they are presented with conflicting realizations and are left on the edge of their seat.

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What I Would Do For You (This Love Hurts, #1-3) by Willow Winters Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of Do You Want Me? on my blog, now! What I Would Do For You consists of the novella, Do You Want Me?, This Love Hurts, But I Need You, and And I Love You the Most.

It has been nearly two years since I read the prequel novella, so my memory was a little hazy when it came to the exact plot point this series compilation encompassed - however, memory was quickly restored after diving right back in. With Delilah and Cody's relationship seemingly at a rocky standing, Delilah's personal life seems to be in a downward spiral as she battles between her own life, her mother and her sister, and juggling Cody -- and Marcus -- in order to make it through the day. There is a much better balance of Delilah and Cody's perspectives overall throughout the series compared to Do You Want Me?, and honestly I enjoyed the increased frequency of Marcus perspective chapters.

Sure, Marcus is a serial killer. But I truly felt he had more chemistry with Delilah than Cody did - Cody's overall character development just was not doing it for me, and I wish you could feel the tension come off the page like you could with Marcus and Delilah. That being said, there was obviously some good chemistry with Cody, but it just was not doing it for me the same way. The suspense and thriller aspect of the series was definitely bumped up a ton, which made the plot actually interesting and have real stakes for the characters. There is always a chance with romantic thrillers that the "thriller" side gets abandoned for smut, and thankfully that was not the case here. However, the smut was a little lacking and made the series feel more like a crime thriller than a true romantic thriller.

Delilah's stressors in her life are just as present as they were in the prequel, and I would even go as far as to say they increase tenfold. She seems to never be able to catch a break, and even when she does, it is short-lived and stripped away from her. Considering this love triangle of lawyer, detective, and serial killer, I could tell from a mile away that her life would not be easy, but boy did this girl get put through more than I could imagine. She is constantly conflicted about her feelings, justifiably so, and that just makes her life even harder as she grabbles with being pulled in different directions by men who stand on opposing sides.

As this is a compilation of the entire series, I would definitely recommend reading it as a set rather than going one-by-one, mostly due to the fact that reading them individually is super quick in theory, but causes abrupt stops in the flow of the plot. I really wanted to see a big improvement from the prequel novella to the rest of the series, and unfortunately only a small job in quality was noted. If you are looking for a quick read that will hold your attention for a couple of hours, this series could be the perfect thing to tide you over.

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Hideaway (Devil's Night, #2) by Penelope Douglas Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Please read trigger warnings - reader discretion advised. You can read my review of Corrupt on my blog, here.

I kicked myself in the shin the second I requested this on Libby - considering how much I wanted to pull my hair out while reading Corrupt, I do not even know why I did this to myself again. I had much lower expectations going into this second installment, and yet somehow it disappointed me even more than Corrupt. The "twist" was so obvious I could see it coming from the beginning, and the constant going back and forth between six years ago and present day felt redundant - there was only so much we could learn from the past before there was no more content. I will say the last 15% of this book finally had me locked in - it finally felt as though some major plot moves were happening and it was not riddled with constant recalls to the past.

Rika this, Rika that... enough is enough!! I literally do not care about that girl a single bit. Yet she seems to be the apple of everyone's eye - I thought we were completely over her after the first book. Yet she continues to be the driving force of the narrative, even when she is no longer the female lead. That being said, Banks as a lead was interesting only for her relationship to Damon - she was certainly an improvement compared to Rika, but she still just did not have that factor that i was looking for in a dark romance. And of course, where there is Rika, there is Michael. While his appearances were few and scattered, I still rolled my eyes every single time he manifested on page and ran around saying how Rika will always come before his "best friends," even though up until how many months ago was he actively ruining her life???

Kai as the male lead in this installment was an improvement to Michael, but only marginally so. I still felt some distrust towards him considering the way he acted in Corrupt, but he definitely improved now that he was not chasing down Rika and trying to ruin her life at every chance he got. That being said... we get it, he went to jail. Yes, he beat up someone, but it was an abusive cop, so I say we let it go and move on. It felt like every single chapter in Kai's perspective, he was either moping about the fact that him going to jail was the biggest shame his family experienced, or him trying to stalk around town following Banks. Honestly, I was starting to wish that Kai acted more unhinged at some points because at least the plot would have felt like it was moving or had some excitement.

Banks felt like her whole characterization was meant to make readers start to feel sympathetic towards Damon... obviously I hate what he went through as a child, but good grief the man is running around actively trying to kill his "friends" and go way too far with Rika. Banks providing all of this lore on him as he grew up and honestly how he was in the present could have been much more played up if Banks had an actual personality other than being held hostage and crying that she loves Damon. She had more guts than Rika, I will give her that. The fact that she actually was actively aware of her surroundings was an improvement beyond comprehension compared to... whatever Rika was doing in Corrupt.

This needed to be juicier, crazier, and frankly, freakier. I needed the wildness that Corrupt gave us with Michael and Rika but cranked up hundred times, and instead we got a few little smutty chapters that cut much shorter than they should have. If Douglas did not spend so much time having the characters not use their braincells, then things would have wrapped up much quicker and maybe we would have been treated to some debauchery instead of lackluster problem-solving.

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Rook & Rebel (The Mavericks, #1) by Kate Crew ARC Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Rook & Rebel will be published by Avon and Harper Voyager on January 13, 2026.

I would first like to thank NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review. I had seen rumbling about this book for a little while, and it appears that it has found a new home with Avon and Harper Voyager - I was thrilled to see it available for request on NetGalley. I have not dived too deep into the world of motorcycle dark romance before, but this one caught my attention.

This was a lot tamer for something falling under the erotica category, but I will say the plot was actually developing, unlike other books where the plot is thrown out the window after four chapters to make room for more smut. The plot was certainly intriguing and I do love a wronged-man falls for the "sunshine" girl, but for some reason, this book was just not doing it for me. I thought this book was going to be a lot more insane and freakier than it actually was, and unfortunately, I was really hoping it was going to go in that direction. I felt as though there was so much build up with the way that Rook and Regan met, and yet their chemistry was subtle at best in my eyes. Yes, the tension was there and they were clearly drawn to one another, but I did not think their relationship was well-developed.

Rook's perspective chapters mainly focused on dealing with his little motorcycle gang family and their personal issues as a group, or stalking around watching Regan. I love a stalker romance, but my word this man cannot even call himself a stalker because he makes it blatantly obvious that he is watching her every move, which is ironic considering her father runs a security system empire. The little text message conversations between Rook and Regan were amusable at first, but they lost their novelty very quickly and I found myself wishing they just spoke on the phone or literally in person. I would have loved to see Regan have more a relationship or more interactions with Rook's gang family because they felt very far removed from Regan's life and felt out of place when we would get her perspective chapters.

Regan's relationship with her father is clearly strained and while she is an adult, he still has this large hold over her as she attempts to get his attention and try to make him understand that she wants to be involved in the company. He is clearly a misogynist at heart, but also just simply does not seem to care about her at all for some reason? Their dynamic was honestly confusing and felt like it was being pulled in different directions. I honestly did not even care that her and her dad were basically at odds with one another even though it became somewhat of a main plot point as the story went on.

I really, truly wanted to love this book - all of the preview snippets I had seen had really drawn me to the story, but unfortunately it seems that those were the only highlights worth mentioning about this first installment. If you are looking for a more crime and plot-heavy book with a romance sub-plot, then this may be the book for you.

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