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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