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.

You can add Kiss of the Basilisk on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

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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.

You can add Wicked Heir on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

You can catch up with me and my current reads by friending me on Goodreads and following this blog, my Twitter (X), and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!