This is a spoiler-free review! Content warnings include graphic depictions of violence, sexual assault, childhood sexual assault, kidnapping, nonconsensual drug use, and murder.
The hate side of my love-hate relationship with my Stuff Your Kindle Day selection has come out in full force with this book. I truly do not even know where to begin - there was a lot of potential with the premise, and as a lover of dark and taboo romance, I was intrigued to see how this would play out in conjunction with the mafia aspect. Unfortunately, the plot is incredibly rushed and crammed into essentially less than two hundred pages that are full of assault. There was never a clear explanation until the very end of what the mafia component was in this book, and the book leaves you unsatisfied.
Eden is straight up being stalked by one of her professors, Silas, and yet she appears to be completed unfazed by his crazy self running around campus and watching her most intimate moments. Both Eden and Silas have the most insane personalities that constantly are doing 180 degree flips as if they are Olympic hopefuls. Every page felt like I was getting jostled around in an airplane - I could not tell if Eden hated Silas or loved him. It was obviously clear that he loved her, but the things he did to her were actually atrocious and well beyond what a dark romance typically includes. And this is coming from a fan of The Ritual by Shantel Tessier - I have seen it all and so much more.
We learn approximately three pieces of information about Eden and maybe two about Silas - their development is completely abandoned in favor of voyeuristic activities and a number of drugging and kidnappings over the course of what feels like twenty-four hours. She is basically ripped from the life that she knows - even though it does not seem like she is having a good time - and thrown into this random mafia situation that never truly gets explained by Silas. The author needed to dedicate more time to fleshing out her characters and provide supporting plot in order to make the story cohesive, instead it reads as a continuous thought that was thrown onto paper without an editor or revision.
It is rare that I do not have a positive to relay about a book, but there is not a single good thing that can come to mind. The "spicy" scenes all had this sinister aura surrounding them, and the multiple sexual assaults were not handled with care at all - the repercussions are abandoned and horrible actions are somehow rewarded. As an avid dark romance reader, I cannot get behind this book as falling into the genre.
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