Bratva's Secret Girl (Obsessed Bratva Bosses, #1) by Evie Rose Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

I have been in a reading slump for far too long and despite me saying I would read more literary fiction this month, I once again find myself in the throws of mafia romances. I am such a sucker for an age gap romance, and when presented with one that includes some more-than-toxic tendencies, I simply cannot resist the temptation. However, the excitement was short-lived with this novella, and I found myself less-than entertained as I flew through Hayley and Maxim's story. While my expectations were not through the roof, I was hoping this novella would be more captivating, but instead it fell flat and while I was able to speed right through it, I was left unsatisfied.

The writing felt juvenile - sentences were not well-structured and the entire thing read like an early Wattpad publication. If you are looking for a novella with plot, abandon ship now - the author chose smut over plot lines in this novella, and even calling it smut is overstepping in my opinion. The "erotic" scenes were nothing short of the bare basics when it comes to what should be included in dark romance, and none of them read well enough to have my jaw on the floor. The scenes felt as though they were somehow supposed to push Hayley and Maxim's story forward, but instead made it feel like Hayley was this naive little girl when she is an adult.

Maxim's characterization, at first, seemed like everything that I wanted in a male lead - that was quickly shattered when any of the anticipation of him wanting Hayley was bypassed by the author in favor in going straight into the story with Maxim and Hayley having a more formal working relationship. I was hoping for some raw tension, and instead I was presented with Maxim, the rough and tough mafia man, counting cash in a money laundering front in order to spend time with Hayley. It would have read much better if he had honestly was stalking her to at least give some darker undertones to their relationship rather than basically make them friends from the beginning.

If you are looking for a quick little tale to make you move from one book to the next, this novella provides enough pages to get you back into the flow of things. If you are looking for something with a little more meat on its bones, you can pass on this story.

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Friends Like These by Meg Rosoff Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

I bought this book over the summer last year, but with an ever-growing TBR pile, it soon got lost in the long, long list of books that I needed to tackle and recommendations from my deceiving For You page on TikTok. But alas, I finally grabbed it off the shelf and parked myself on the skydeck of my apartment building to catch some sun and check list off the list. The summary on the back of the book drew me in, but unfortunately, it was the only interesting about this book. I was expecting some devious, toxic friendships in Rosoff's novel, but was met with lackluster characterization and a plot that could not get a grasp of what it wanted to be. The writing felt mediocre and often times unfinished - the only upside was the styling allowed reading to be quick paced and after two hours of reading, I only had about 30 pages left.

Beth, eighteen, is riding the high of being selected for a summer internship in New York, is met with a number of challenges raging from the heat of the city to wavering relationships with her co-interns. When luck seems to find her way and she befriends Edie, they have an instant connection and soon become attached to the hip. But with attachment comes consequences, and Beth finds herself riding in the passenger seat of Edie's never-ending drama, theatrics, and mood swings. The more time Beth spends with Edie, the more she succumbs to manipulative tactics and the constant stress of always following her lead. Keeping that in mind, I wish Edie was as diabolical as Beth made her out to be, and while I agree that Edie's actions were frustrating and thoughtless, she just seemed like an annoying, self-centered girl at the end of the day who Beth never stood up to until the very end.

Dan and Oliver's characterization were surface-level and unappealing in the sense that they held no true value to me throughout the entire book. They provided some minor support in showcasing Edie's true character, but ultimately I could not form an attachment or interest in their little side quests - they were simply uninteresting. I wish this read more as a core four toxic friend group rather than two girl best friends accompanied by their male coworkers - it would have made much more sense for all of them to be conniving towards one another than only having one "true" villain of the group.

If you're looking for a quick read that you can fly through, this definitely checks that box. To be frank, I read it so quickly in hopes that there would be some form of climax to the plot that would be explosive or really make Beth and Edie "enemies" but was let down by the end. While this classifies as historical fiction by being set in 1983, the author was only able to set the scene by mentioning the AIDS epidemic and World War II scattered throughout the book - I never felt like I was transported back in time other than when they would mention that bagels would cost twelve cents instead of the typical two to three dollars in today's world. I may give another one of Rosoff's works a chance in the future as I have heard good things, but for now I will move on to my next read.

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So Happy Together by Olivia Worley Review

This review contains minor spoilers - no major plot points are revealed!

The summary for this novel really caught my eye, and since my thriller to, well, everything else ratio has been seriously lacking, I figured now was the time to finally move this from TBR to read. The summary really drew me in, and you can honestly fly through this book no problem - more than likely a same-day start and finish can be in your future. The pacing is well-managed and keeps the reader engaged while adding in elements of surprise and twists that allows the plot to move forward without falling stagnant. The more you learn about Jane, the more you realize that she is not at all what she appears to be - the same goes for Zoe and Collin, and as readers watch their twisted dynamic escalate to unimaginable means, we are thrown into a whirlwind tale of disastrous means.

We see Jane's obsession with Collin right from the beginning, and sure, thinking you had something special with a guy only to have him end things with you and start something serious with someone else almost immediately after can be shocking, but Jane was taking her plan to get him back to another level. And by another level, I mean straight-up stalking. Girl, whatever gets the job done! But her plan to get him back goes array in the most unexpected way possible and she suddenly finds herself embroiled in Collin and his girlfriend, Zoe, lives as Zoe's latest friend. With this friendship comes the unraveling of everyone's perceptions of one another as dark truths are revealed and moralities are put to the test.

I love how complex our big three in this book were - Collin, Jane, and Zoe all have such interesting character developments throughout the book. There are times where you think you know exactly where each of them will end up, only to be thrown off your trail in the very next chapter when something truly unruly is discovered. Whether it is the death of a side character, a secret past revealed, or further entanglement into each other's lives, the author is able to create a sense of unease for the reader as they grow more concerned for how everything will play out. Especially when things go array and plans are set in motion to take down Collin, we see these characters go to new levels of unhinged.

Every character had a dark side that was just waiting to be revealed - whether it was already on the surface or waiting to be revealed, the author maintains reader attention and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I am not a frequent thriller reader, so when I do dive into the genre, I like to make it count - and So Happy Together has certainly made the cut. I look forward to reading more of Worley's work and explore her realm of mystery.

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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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Kiss of the Basilisk (Split or Swallow, #1) by Lindsay Straube Review

This is a spoiler-free review! A list of trigger warnings is available here - reader discretion is advised.

I first heard of this book was it was originally the standalone Split or Swallow and was immediately intrigued - now as a series, I was even more drawn into what the author had in store for readers. Learning the powers of seduction from a basilisk in order to have the prince choose you as his wife? It's like The Selection but R-rated - right up my alley. As Tem navigates her teachings with her basilisk, who just so happens to be Caspen, the Serpent King, she is faced with her connection with Caspen and with the prince. The author wastes literally no times and dives right into a steamy adventure as Tem embarks on her journey to compete and train for the prince's choosing - my jaw literally dropped at how quickly we were being thrown into it.

There are a few reviews out there noting that this book is basically just five hundred pages of serpent smut, and to that I say - thank god!! I was having the time of my life. Going into this book I knew it was leaning heavily on the smut side, but I was pleasantly surprised on how balanced I found the smut and plot as I got deeper into the story. It was compelling, juicy, and just flat out fun to read. God forbid a girl wants to get our of her head and enjoy some wild and crazy storytelling. All the characters played such interesting roles to me, and even with smaller side characters, you could see that their presence was not there simply to fill the page, but to eventually support the plot.

I ate this book UPPPPP. Literally gobbled it up like my life depended on it. Literally every single page had me questioning if my eyes were truly reading what was written. Just when you think the author could not go any further, Tem is pushed even deeper into acts of seduction and secrecy. I have never been a big fan of "why not both?" / why choose books, but this is probably the first time that I have ever found myself actively rooting for Tem to be with Caspen and Leo. Her relationships with Caspen and Leo each have their own intriguing and alluring draw - it is like she is two different people. The power they could have together as a little throuple could be unmatched. And what's better than two boyfriends? Two husbands!! Girl, go get your men!!

Regarding the actual plot of the book, the author did a great job setting the scene right off the bat on the contestants training to win the prince's heart. This was the plot with the "least" amount of stakes in hindsight - so much more comes into play and it honestly feels like a little side plot compared to the issues at hand for Tem. That being said, it is never sidelined to the extent where it no longer remains prevalent to the story at hand - it is always playing a part in the overall journey. As relationships are tested and feelings arise, Tem is forced to confront her complicated feelings while learning more about herself than she ever thought possible. On top of being in uncharted territory when it comes to the power of seduction, Tem must learn to explore the history between the basilisks and the royals before their so-called peace comes to an end.

I absolutely cannot wait to dive into the second installment and already placed my hold on Libby. For fans of more intense smut, you will definitely be fed - and for those looking to dive a touch deeper into world of dark fantasy romance, this is the perfect gateway.

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Wicked Heir (Chernov Bratva, #1) by Mila Kane Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

As I sit down to write this review I kid you not, I cannot remember the male lead's name for the life of me - that is how unmemorable this book was to me. Kiril, my man, you are incredibly forgetful and low-key a horrible little mafia leader. The entire book I was begging him to get hit on the head in the hopes that he would suddenly gain knowledge and wisdom in order to actually do one thing that would make him worthy of being in the mafia. When the man takes roughly seven years to put a plan in motion, I am not cowering in fear of his capabilities - any woman would be able to accomplish what he planned in two days flat. Boring!! Lazy!!

Mallory has the survival instincts of a squirrel with no brain matter. She literally just lets everything happen to her and then whines about it for the entire book, in addition to being incredibly naive and not being able to put two and two together. She is just SO thrilled to see Kiril after all these years and does not do a DROP of investigating or asking around on why he is at the club that all these nasty guys go to... like girl... use your brain! Genuinely one of the most infuriating female leads I have come across in my time as a reader, and as an avid fan of mafia romance, she just gets added to a long list of female leads that are as useful as a bag of rocks.

Boring, boring, boring "friends" to "enemies" to "lovers" that was drier than the desert. There was potential from the summary for this book to amount to something more exciting and lean heavily into the mafia romance genre, but it continued to fall flat and instead felt like a poorly written stalker romance. Kiril basically had to make a choice and ends up in the bratva, and if the author had leaned into him being more "scary" than he was in the book, maybe I would have rated this higher and enjoyed his character more. If you have the time to spare and do not care to waste your minutes of life on reading this, I would still recommend to look the other way and find something else to read.

Mallory literally does not care what Kiril does to her because she literally always forgives him in two seconds flat and continues to run around saying "you didn't hurt me!" as a justification. Girl, he is walking all over you and you are not even putting up a fight! It was mortifying as a woman reading this to see her not even successfully attempt a way to get her into a better situation. There were so many times where I was wishing they would be put in more dangerous situations just so she could get some sense knocked into her and realize that this is not just a game. Kiril's methods to keeping Mallory to himself were so low-effort that I was surprised he even managed to keep her in one place for longer than five minutes.

If you are looking for a mafia romance, go ahead and pass on this one. Sure, it could be a filler book in between your true TBR, but I honestly would not go back and read this again. Since this is a duet, I may find myself in the very far future seeing it to its end, but for now, this story and its characters are closed to me.

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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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