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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For the Fans by Nyla K Review

This is a spoiler-free review! From the publisher: This book contains sensitive subject matter that could make some readers uncomfortable. Please heed foreword warnings and proceed with caution.

I kept seeing this book all over TikTok and knew I had to make my way toward it eventually, and coming off the high that was God of Fury, I placed my hold on Libby immediately. The closest book I have read that dabbled in the world of sex work / online subscription was Eyes on Me by Sara Cate, and I absolutely devoured that step-sibling taboo romance just as much as I did this one. For the Fans is just as juicy and honestly rivals the insanity and explicitness of some of the taboo romances I have read in the past.

This is some of the most insane smut I have ever read in my life, and I have read my fair share of taboo romances. I feel like I should have been paying premium prices to be able to even read this book, so I can only imagine how much money Avi and Kyran were actually making on their account. I ate this thing up like nobody's business. Every single scene had my jaw on the floor and just when I did not think it could get wilder, it did. Watching Avi and Kyran become more comfortable with each other was like watching a very well-developed relationship take place, and bonus points for it basically being enemies to lovers with that stepbrother taboo touch. I literally could not believe what they were getting up to and honestly I am impressed.

Thank god this really escalated when Kyran and Avi went to college - I do not think I would have continued on if they were not aged up and stayed seventeen. Their personalities are polar opposite of each other and you could literally feel the tension oozing off of the page when they would be in the same room together or when they would have to spend some "quality family time together" with their parents. I love an enemies to lovers moment, and considering Kyran was immediately the brooding man with an instant hatred towards his new stepbrother, I knew it was going to be good. Avi's mother marries Kyran's father, and readers can immediately sense a shift in the way Kryan's father is presented - he is strict, cold, and heavily Catholic to a fault, whereas Avi's mother has more of a "go with the flow" mentality that makes their pairing a bit odd. It was clear to me that there was a story behind the emphasis on his heavy religious views and the way that Kyran reacted to particular scenarios.

Avi and Kyran's enemies moments had me cackling at times - it was so clear that Avi's "hatred" towards Kyran was a response to Kyrans displeasure at having Avi and his mother essentially waltz into his life without warning. Watching Kyran's responses to Avi and the way he lived his life gave readers a view into how Kyran's upbringing was so different than Avi's, and considering the horrors Kyran experienced in the past, it is no wonder he was weary of people coming into his life that may leave without a moment's notice.

I loved how Avi and Kyran's respective friend groups were relatively accepting of Kyran and Avi's respective presences throughout the book - you could tell that Avi's friends cared about him, and if that meant Kyran was suddenly around, they would only tease him as a friend. Kyran's friends more so welcomed Avi's presence as BC's mascot - considering Kyran was on the down low, there was no way he would reveal what Avi meant to him to his friends without truly thinking it through. Readers really get to see both of their perspectives of their unconventional relationship when it came to making videos and the development for both of them when it came to addressing their feelings.

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Stalked to the Altar (Caputo Crime Family, #1) by Selena Michaels Review

 

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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Playing with Fyre (Fyre & Ashes, #1) by Logan Fox Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Playing with Fyre is currently available on Kindle Unlimited. A list of trigger warnings is available on Goodreads and a more extensive list is available at the beginning of the novella.

Jumping back into my dark romance TBR pile after spending some attention on my fantasy shelf... it is good to be back. Clocking in at just above one hundred pages, this Stuff Your Kindle Day download was calling to me with its short page count and interesting premise. I have not dabbled too much in stalker romance books, with Haunting Adeline being the most notorious read in that genre.

I... literally do not even know where to begin with this novella. It only took me forty-five minutes to read it and yet I have sat with my thoughts for another two hours trying to comprehend what exactly I just subjected myself to reading. Charlotte is dealing with an intense trauma and her art therapy professor, Gideon Fyre, is stalking her for some unknown reason? Honestly I did not need the background for why he was obsessed with her, I just accepted it and moved on since he clearly has some other things to work on.

Charlotte is drawn to Fyre, and the author maintains most of her perspective throughout the novella on how she is dealing with the feelings she has towards him, as well as sprinkling in more information about the trauma she experienced. We as readers learn a lot about her past and her current state of mind, whereas we are left mostly in the dark when it comes to Fyre's own complicated past that has left him broken.

Fyre certainly trends towards the psychotic side, which he openly admits, especially when it comes to watching Charlotte at every chance he gets. He is always there in the background and knows just where to find her. Considering what she has been through, you would think even her stalker would be a little more considerate if he wants her to fall for him and be with her forever. He literally has access to her file and knows everything that she has suffered through, like man use your head for two seconds before you go breaking into her apartment.

There are a lot of complex emotions that Charlotte and Fyre are experiencing throughout the novella -- with Charlotte, she is confronting the attraction she feels towards Fyre, and with Fyre, he is literally suppressing his urge to be violent. One of these things is not like the other!! Fyre is blinded by his lust and obsession towards Charlotte, and essentially becomes her worst fear and most terrifying attraction in one swoop.

Understanding that this is a novella, if it was about fifty to seventy-five pages longer, I think I would have enjoyed the story more. A lot of the details felt rushed, and when the perspectives changed between Charlotte and Fyre, I had a bit of whiplash going from Charlotte's emotional state to Fyre's stalking. The premise and vision are there, the execution could have used some work. If you are looking for a quick dark read, this novella may be your next read.

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Cruel Beginnings: A Blackmore University Prequel by Cora Kent Review

This review contains spoilers fro Cruel Beginnings.

A super quick read clocking in at under forty pages, this novella sets up for the first installment of the Blackmore University series, Cruel Intentions, with Kaye and Xavier's story. I downloaded this on Stuff Your Kindle day and did not even realize the page count was that of a short story, but I have been in a reading slump for nearly two weeks and needed something to get me back into the groove of things.

When Xavier returns home from France, he finds his parents fighting over the fact that his father is leaving her for another woman, a client nonetheless, that he helped get a divorce from an abusive man. His father gives him the choice to move in with his new girlfriend and her daughter, but Xavier is anything but excited by the prospect. After showing up to this woman's house, he causes a scene and his father quite literally knocks some sense into him, really adopting the "these hands are rated E for everyone" lifestyle by punching his own son. Ridiculous.

You can tell that tensions are going to be high for the rest of the series, especially between Xavier and his father, but most importantly between Kaye and Xavier. He really has set his eyes on this new person in his life, essentially just collateral damage in his wave of destruction to retaliate against his father. I do wish that this novella was a touch longer and covered a little more on Kaye -- we learn a lot about Xavier in this short installment, but barely get to know anything about Kaye except for her age and a little backstory on her mother.

Xavier is about to start college and well, Kaye... is fifteen. Nothing happens between them in this novella that is more than a kiss, but this series is definitely leaning on the more taboo side of romance. Right off the bat, Xavier wants nothing to do with Kaye and her mother -- after all, her mother is the reason that his parents are divorcing. He essentially makes it his mission in this prequel to tell Kaye that he is going to make her life as complicated as possible because of what her mother has done.

This prequel definitely has me intrigued on what happens next in Cruel Intentions, and I may find myself revisiting this series in the future. If you are a fan of bully romances, I would recommend the Saint View High series by Elle Thorpe and The Dare by Harley LaRoux.

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Playing by Their Rules by Calista Jayne Review

This is a spoiler-free review! The version I am reading is an ARC -- any changes made for the final publication are not reflected in this review. Thank you to the author for providing me with an advanced copy for review! Playing by Their Rules will be available on September 12, 2023. You can also read my review of Falling for Them (Cinderella's Daddies, #1) on my blog, here.

Calista Jayne does not disappoint in this fun new standalone -- when Maisie gets a second chance to win Chance and Ethan over for a very special relationship, she goes in with a clear mindset and a plan that would put war battles to shame. Maisie is such a great character when it comes to understanding her own feelings as well as when it comes to experiencing so many new things as once. I really enjoyed her characterization, and it reminded me a lot of Ella from Jayne's Cinderella's Daddies series.

I loved that we had perspectives from Maisie, Chance, and Ethan -- it made the story become cohesive and the reader does not feel as though they are missing out on certain characters and their thoughts. Jayne really allows readers to understand exactly what is going through everyone's minds as the relationship begins to develop, which makes it all the more entertaining to read. 

Once I started reading, I could barely put it down and nearly flew threw the book in one sitting. The pacing of the plot works in the reader's favor, as it makes you feel as if you are going through these new and exciting decisions and moments with Maisie at the same rate as her thought process.

Bradley and Mina made interesting supporting characters, and I loved the relationship that Maisie had with Bradley -- it is a rare find in romance books to have a female lead with a male best friend that does not try to get into a relationship with her, and I found it very refreshing to see such a great dynamic between the two of them. Mina is an entire beast on her own, and low-key felt like a bit of a stage five clinger when it came to doing anything with Maisie -- she really was basically trying to become another version of Maisie and her character definitely added some tension to Maisie's life.

Ethan and Chance were overall great characters that really had maturity behind them when it came to doing anything with Maisie, which once again was refreshing to see in a more taboo romance novel. I love a good age gap romance, and their age difference with Maisie was just the right amount where it was an age difference and not a power difference in the sense that everyone was in control of what was going on in their relationship.

I absolutely loved the thriller element to this book -- much like Falling for Them, Jayne is able to expertly incorporate thrilling, interesting plot twists that compliment the story's relationship without overshadowing the main theme. This was such a fun read, and easily one of my new favorite erotic thrillers. I really enjoyed the pacing of the story and plot development, and the relationship between Ethan, Chance, and Maisie was well-established and overall a great pairing.

This was a super fun read and I will definitely be reading more by the author. If you are a fan of Praise by Sara Cate or Credence by Penelope Douglas, this book will certainly become one of your new favorites. I would definitely recommend Forever Only Once by Carrie Ann Ryan once you read this book, especially if you are looking for a romance book with a touch of thriller to it.

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The Sinner (L.O.R.D.S., #2) by Shantel Tessier Review

This review contains spoilers for The Sinner. A list of trigger warnings is available at the beginning of the book. You can read my review of The Ritual on my blog, here.

I won't even lie, reading the list of trigger warnings in the beginning of the book made me even more excited to read it -- I loved the ritual and when I found out The Sinner was set in the same world, I knew I had to read it. We get to see glimpses of Ryat mentioned throughout the book, since The Sinner takes place at the same time as The Ritual. You can read these as stand alones or consider them a series, whichever you prefer.

It always makes me laugh realizing that Sin -- and Ryat -- are literally seniors in college during their books -- imagine a twenty-one-year-old guy just casually being a part of a secret society where they murder people over twice their age because some rules were broken. Sin is definitely high up on the wild scale -- even before he gets to his senior year, he is doing unthinkable things to Elli while she has no idea who the man behind the mask is.

I used to think that Ryat was literally off the walls wild, but not even one third into The Sinner had showed me that Sin is on another level. He definitely crosses the very blurry line between what is okay and what is not way earlier with Elli compared to how Ryat was with Blakely, but Sin takes it to a whole new level. I really liked that this book took place at the same time as The Ritual, because if you read it already, it provided these extra little details from someone else's perspective without spoiling the book for you. And if you did not read The Ritual, then you get a little taste of Ryat before diving into his story with Blakely.

Sin is literally going feral over Elli at every chance he gets, and my god does this boy have some pent up rage that he needs to release. He is the moodiest twenty-something I have ever seen, and when it comes to Elli and her stubbornness, it really pushes him over the edge. For crying out loud, he threw the girl overboard and then told her there were sharks in the water, and she retaliated by fake drowning only to head butt him as soon as he got her out of the water. There is not enough holy water on this planet to cleanse my mind from what I have read in this book, and as an avid dark and taboo romance reader, that says a lot. If I even tried to step into a church now, I would burst into flames.

The way that Elli was so casual about realizing that Sin was the masked man and the one who killed her stepfather James actually had me laughing out loud because this girl really does not give anything a second thought. James was an awful person and the things that he did to Elli when she was so young made me wish that Sin did more to him than a single gun shot -- he definitely deserved a worse fate that what he was dealt.

Sin is so much worse that Ryat was -- and when I was reading The Ritual, I did not even think Ryat was that bad, definitely a little bit off his rocker, but really cared about Blakely from the beginning. Meanwhile, Sin is committing every crime under the sun and lying to Elli every chance he gets, while also doing and saying some pretty awful stuff to her in the process. Yes, he did a majority of it to protect her and try to keep her safe, but I would say that the tattoo on her back was something I did not love him doing to her.

The smut scenes were significantly crazier compared to The Ritual, and definitely rival scenes in Haunting Adeline. Not even a quarter of the way into the book, I thought I was going to have to wash my eyes out with holy water and by the time I was just over three fourths of the way through, I considered going back to church. Tessier knows her stuff and does not hold back when it comes to pushing the boundaries of dark romance.

You can really see Elli go through it during this book, especially with her dealing with her drug habits and coping with the grooming and years of abuse she went through with so many authority figures in her life. She does not know where else to turn to or understand why she feels and thinks the things that she does, which ultimately leads to her being put in the most insane situations I have ever read. She really cannot catch a break -- it felt like every fifty pages we were finding out that she was assaulted by yet another Lord, and for some reason Sin seemed to think this was somehow partially on her? His logic was all over the place and honestly made me so annoyed with after a couple hundred pages, I wanted him out of Elli's life.

However, the last one hundred and fifty pages or so definitely had my mind changed about him, especially seeing the lengths that he went to in order to try to keep Elli safe and well, alive. He was killing people left and right and striking up deals with anyone who had a pulse at one point, so props to him for the determination on his end. I do wish we got to see just a little bit more of Sin and Elli in the end actually talking about what they both had been through and get on the same page, because it always seemed that Elli was the one drawing the short end of the stick when trouble came about.

If you are looking for a lengthy taboo dark romance, The Sinner is for you -- filled with some of the wildest scenes I have come across, the reader does not know what is in store for them.

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Satan's Affair by H.D. Carlton Review

This review contains spoilers for Satan's Affair. Please read reviews or go to the author's website for more details on trigger warnings. It is recommended that you read the prequel novella, Satan's Affair, prior to reading the Cat and Mouse Duet, but is not required. You can read my review of Haunting Adeline on my blog, here.

I genuinely did not know what to expect or had an idea about what I would think of this book since I was not jumping up and down after reading Haunting Adeline, but I wanted to go back and read the prequel just in case it gave more a little background before I go diving into Hunting Adeline. Compared to Haunting Adeline, I would say that Satan's Affair definitely prioritizes gore and violence in the first half of the book, while the smut takes a secondary priority.

Through the use of her own haunted house and a handful of very attentive henchmen, Sibby is able to take down the demons she finds one at a time in a very particular way. You can tell that while she does let her emotions come through from time to time, she is typically very particular about how she goes about these killings. She certainly is creative, and with the haunted house on her side, she is able to basically do whatever she wants and have her henchmen clean up the pieces.

When Sibby was doing her thing to Gary, I was literally so surprised that he was still conscious and aware of what was happening -- if someone was getting their limbs cut off and bones broken, you would think the pain would have taken them out pretty quickly. She really has a bone to pick with him, especially after overhearing what he did to his girlfriend, Jennifer. There is definitely an up on the gore and violence factor in this prequel, and while I did not find it unbearable, some may find the content a touch too disturbing.

This novella will definitely prepare readers for what is to come in the Cat and Mouse Duet when it comes to both smut scenes and graphic depictions of violence and assault. While the content in Satan's Affair certainly heads towards a blurry line, I would say that it is just getting readers ready for what is to come.

I love that we got to see Sibby watching Zade follow Adeline and Daya through the haunted house -- not really a spoiler for Haunting Adeline, but just one scene that we see in the book that I actually appreciated really after reading Haunting Adeline. To be quite honest, the scenes between Sibby and Zade from her perspective somehow made me like Zade more, and made me even more excited to continue the duology. Looking back, I do wish I read this novella before starting the duology, and I would recommend reading Satan's Affair first just to get a touch of background information on Sibby, but it is entirely up to the reader's preference.

It was such an interesting choice to see that the henchmen were not actually real -- I knew people always referenced a twist with Sibby at the end, but I did not expect it to apply by extension to the henchmen. There were some definite negative connotations made towards Sibby's mental struggles, especially towards the end of the novella when she is in the institution.

Overall, this is a decent introduction to the Cat and Mouse Duet, and provides a quick and interesting read for those looking to get into the taboo genre while still being a little cautious of where exactly they may draw the line when it comes to dark romance.

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Debt Inheritance (Indebted, #1) by Pepper Winters Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Debt Inheritance is currently available for free on iBooks and Kindle.

Once again, the free romance section on iBooks has me in its clutches, and that is how I ended up here. I was trying to get into another book, but I kept looking back for a quick romance before diving back into a fantasy novel. I honestly did not know what to expect from this book, and I have to say that every turn of the page had me surprised. Twenty-four-year-old Nila Weaver is given to Jethro Hawk as an inheritance gift for his twenty-ninth birthday, ensuring her almost certain death as she is taken to serve him, as all first-born daughters of the Weaver family are.

I will be the first to admit that this book had me going crazy the second that Nila and Jethro became acquainted with one another. You could literally feel the tension and uneasiness coming off the page as she is handed off to Jethro, and the story immediately picks up into her unknown future. As an erotic dark romance, this book definitely delivers on that front -- Jethro is not playing around for one second, and Nila is thrust into this insane situation that will only end horribly for her, as the Hawk family embraces family tradition.

Just to mention because I absolutely could not ignore what I was reading -- but Nila and her brother are way too close. A set of twins who basically flirt every time they speak, had me literally rooting for Jethro to take her away, because anything is better than incest. The way they speak to each other and the way that Nila thinks about him after she leaves with Jethro had me more disturbed than what was going on in the Hawk family home. Even Jethro notices how eerily close they are, and I could not shake it from my mind the entire time I was reading this book.

So many of the men in this book are slimy and downright disgusting, and yet we are set up to believe that somehow Jethro is the best choice for her survival at her new home. Nila is basically being thrown around like a rag doll throughout the book, and has to take whatever this family deals her in order to live another day and avoid any treatment worse than she is already getting from them. Jethro has a number of brothers that are arguably worse than him, and a father that is his match when it comes to the way he treats Nila.

I could not put this book down -- any time that I even attempted to stop reading, I was picking it back up not even five minutes later to keep on going. The plot moves very well and is paced to the point where you just want to read it in one sitting. The themes in this book are not for everyone, and I encourage readers to look at trigger warnings if you are concerned about the content. I would have loved to see a little more character building for Nila and Jethro, and a little less text messages between Nila and Kite007 -- I felt that the text messages were beginning to take away from the story that was currently happening.

Fans of Savage Royals by Ana West and Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton will definitely enjoy this first installment of the Indebted series. A very quick read that will leave the reader wanting the second book immediately after reaching the end -- Winters gives readers a suspenseful dark romance that is only the beginning for Nila and Jethro.

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Falling for Them (Cinderella's Daddies, #1) by Calista Jayne Review

This is a spoiler-free review! Falling for Them is currently available for free on iBooks and Kindle.

I honestly did not know what to expect from this book -- the taboo age gap definitely peaked my interest, since I have not read too many books with that trope before, unless we are counting Credence by Penelope Douglas. If you did not have the chance to look at the name of the series like I did before I started reading, you will be pleasantly surprised to find out that this is a Cinderella-inspired erotic MFM romance. I have to say that it exceeded my expectations and had me so entertained that I nearly finished it in one sitting. It is a great taboo romance that just skims the surface of Ella, Kingston, and Sebastian’s story.

The author does a great job at developing the characters and their background as the story moves forward, and you find that you know a lot about each individual character before you see them start to really interact with one another. We see Ella, our female lead, start off in this rocky situationship that she thinks is much bigger than it actually is -- being involved with one of the company's higher ups, you can only imagine the difficulties it will bring. But when he breaks off their barely-there relationship, she falls into the lap of his father -- and his father's best friend.

We get POVs from everyone, which was absolutely fantastic. I loved getting into Ella's mind, but even more so with Kingston and Sebastian. It is not too often that we get male leads in romance novels that are given both in depth character develop and well-versed POVs that show how much they care for the female lead. Yes, there are 100% books out there that have it, but I would say that it is hard to come by in taboo romance, only because we are exposed to a ton of insta-love relationships that tend to skip development and go straight into the relationship.

There are definitely a lot of obstacles that Ella, Kingston, and Sebastian have to overcome in order to get to the point in their relationship where they feel comfortable around each other and are comfortable with the prospect of having multiple people in a relationship. Ella certainly struggles a lot as she tries to come to terms with how she exactly ended up in this kinkier-than-expected relationship, when Kingston's son could only screw her in a broom closet and leave her without any real pleasure.

The author definitely incorporates the main aspects of Cinderella's story into Falling for Them, and you can certainly try to guess what twists and turns that their story will take. The smut scenes are really well done and the plot moves at a pace that leaves you turning the page until you are at the very end. I would definitely recommend this to fans of modern retellings with just enough spice for a quick read that will leave you wanting more.

You can add Falling for Them and the rest of the series 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, and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!

The Ritual (L.O.R.D.S., #1) by Shantel Tessier Review

This review contains spoilers for The Ritual. A list of trigger warnings can be found here.

TikTok made me do it. I thought that I would hold out a little longer before reading this, but nearly every other video on my page was a blurb from this book. Since reading Haunting Adeline, my definition of dark romance has certainly taken a turn, and obviously I do not condone the vast majority of anything that happens in this book, but boy does this book hook you in. Ryat and Zade need to start a little club for people who stalk the girls that they are into and also murder people.

For a society filled with secrets and straight up murder, they sure do love to throw a party and have people talk about them on campus. The Lords feel like a bunch of college students roleplaying that they are in the mafia or in some type of cult, which is not entirely incorrect. Ryat walks around talking in cryptic messages and basically gives off the vibe of a sexually frustrated twenty-something. Definitely on brand for him since being in the Lords means they cannot have sex for three years, but he is making it everyone's problem.

Blakely is just trying to actually hook up with her boyfriend of many years but he's not having it because -- surprise, surprise -- he is also in the Lords, but for some reason won't just tell her that they can't have sex. Matt continues to literally annoy me every time he pops up on my page, and I simply pretend that he does not exist as such an immense pain in my side and acting like such a little freak all of the time. It is beyond me on why he is so mad that she broke up with him after putting up with his BS for so long. He's also a kink-shamer, which was the most surprising thing about him considering he is in an organization that literally claims women as property. But I digress.

This vow can't be legally binding... I'm actually laughing at the way that everyone treats the Ritual vow ceremony and how Ryat is always running around saying he owns Blakely but this boy is so blindsided by the fact that he can finally screw someone that he sets his own sort of rules up for him and Blakely, apart from the rules the Lords have for their chosen. I am genuinely surprised that with the amount of sedatives Blakely was given that she was not just knocked out for the entirety of the book. She's got to have some lasting effects after getting roofied every other chapter.

I am not even going to lie when I say that Ryat offering $500,00 to marry Blakely had me giggling and kicking my feet in the air. Honestly, anything to get her away from Matt and whatever the heck he had planned to do to her once they were married. Do I think Ryat is downright insane? Absolutely. Do I cheer every time he pops up on the page? Sure thing. There were probably at least ten moments while reading this book that I straight up thought that Ryat was going to kill Blakely just because he could, because boy oh boy was that man on a mission.

Probably about 98% of this book is not for the faint of heart. Blakely and Ryat literally have sex in front of the corpse of a girl that Ryat strangled in a basement for crying out loud. There is so much murder and so so much sex that pushes the limits of what society deems as acceptable. I mean, people are torturing and kidnapping and drugging people left and right and the most of the characters will react as if it is just another Tuesday as a college student. The smut is top tier and basically dominates the book over plot, but is balanced enough that it does not feel like the same scene over and over again.

Sarah and Gunner are basically there so that Blakely has other people to talk to when Ryat is not around, and it was nice to see that she has something resembling a support system while she went through everything. We really did not get to see many other faces besides some Lords and Ryat and Blakely's parents throughout the book, but I did not mind that since I was so focused on their relationship. I have so much distaste for Valerie, especially because she definitely knew what Matt would have done to her if they ended up getting married. So glad they both kicked the can by the end of the book.

You know what... I had such a blast reading this entire book because just when I thought it could not get crazier, it did. I was thoroughly entertained every page, and I actually really enjoyed the dynamic between Blakely and Ryat -- it was so extremely complicated yet had great development as they both discovered what they wanted, and it was not for a lack of effort or mishaps along the way. Fans of Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton and The Dare by Harley LaRoux will certainly enjoy this standalone taboo romance.

You can add The Ritual 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, and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!