Category: Dark Romance

Amo Jones-Wicked

We’re back with a new Amo Jones book. Amo’s books are all dark, and very twisty. Seriously twisty. I mean, think about the twistiest thing ever, and double it. Wicked is no different. This book is sometimes so twisty that it ends up going straight. This book does take place in the same world as Antichrist, which I reviewed here, and Sicko, which I did not.

Wicked is the story of Wicked (yes, that’s his name) and Ruby. She is a Mafia princess, he is a guy from the wrong side of the tracks who just killed his father after the man killed his mother. Wicked just wanted to make sure his beloved younger sister, Poppy, is safe.

Shortly after Wicked pulls the trigger on his father, an unknown man in a suit shows up with cops. He tells Wicked and Poppy to pack a bag and come with him. He ended up taking them to his house, where he introduces Ruby to Wicked and Poppy. Ruby and wicked are both 17, Poppy is 14. Papa leaves, after warning Wicked away from Ruby, which, how well do you think that’s going to work?

So, Papa takes Wicked away for a little while, so that he can get into La Famiglia. When Wicked comes back, Ruby notices that he is different. They had had an explosive interlude before he left, but he’s not the same guy now. And he’s put in charge of her security. Instead of a gala, Ruby ditches him and runs off to the family’s lake house for a party, where Poppy is too. But then, something happens, and Poppy disappears. Wicked shows up, and he takes Ruby with him to try to find Poppy.

I like Ruby. She has a lot going on. She might look and act like the perfect Mafia Princess, but she is a lot smarter than people give her credit for, I think. She’s also a bit more ruthless than other people think she is. She is strong and she owns herself and her power. She will also do whatever she needs to do to protect her family, and frankly, I wouldn’t want to get in her way.

Wicked. Hmmmm. Sometimes I hated him, sometimes I didn’t. He is a very interesting character, no matter how I feel about him. He is very cagy. He would be a great chess player, I think. He would probably know all the moves from all the games you might play with him at any point.

There was a lot happening in this book, and yeah, it was good and it did keep me interested, so that’s all good. Go check it out. Happy reading!

Alta Hensley-Ace of Diamonds

So, Alta has brought us the third book in her Wonderland series with Ace of Diamonds. We get the big finale of Lyriope and Nick’s story, and it is a doozy.

As a warning, there are likely to be spoilers from the previous one because the books take place one right after the other. As always, I will try to keep them down, but there are times it will be really hard to do, so continue at your own risk.

So, Lyriope has just left Nick in the company of her father. He won the auction, and now he’s taking her home so that she can be a real Morelli, or at least that’s what she thinks. What he’s really doing is taking her to his house so that he can sell her off as a bride to another family. Lyriope really has big hopes for this. She really just wants for her father to accept her, and she thinks that this is what happening right now, which, yeah, what do you really think? When they get to his house, he basically locks her in a room, and then proceeds to ignore her, unless he wants a command performance.

Nick, meanwhile, is basically breaking down, at least in his very Nick way. He might not be sitting in his room crying, but he is plotting. One night he sneaks into Lyriope’s room and, oh yeah, torches Old Man Morelli’s garage full of beautiful and expensive collector cars. Then, he decides that he’s going to have a Wonderland, and it’s going to be an orgyriffic time, and he wants an opinion invite to all the Morellis, just to show that they haven’t beat him. And of course, Lyriope shows up. And show up she does!

Lyriope really went through a lot in this book. Her dad is a right prick, and frankly, that’s being nice to him. He really is just ugh. I think that Lyriope really needed this time with her “father” because she really needed to see what he was like and to get past her fantasy about being a happy family. I mean, he could’ve gotten to know her at any time in her life, or hell, even give her family some support. Which really should’ve given her an idea, I think.

Nick is Nick, he has plans upon plans upon plans. I think that there are times that Lyriope surprises him, which had to be shocking to him. He definitely helped her grow into the queen she is, and he was there for her.

This was a great story and I really enjoyed watching their journey.

Alta Hensley-Queen of Hearts

We’re back with the second book in Alta’s Wonderland series, Queen of Hearts. There is one more book to come in the series, so if you are one of the people who like to read a whole series when it is all finished, you are just about able to do that. There are likely to be spoilers in this one for King of Spades, so if you haven’t read that one yet, be wary of reading my review. I try to keep them down, but it does happen.

So, when we last saw Lyriope and Nick, there was fire and chaos. Lyriope took advantage of the chaos, and now she’s in Italy. Which of course Nick doesn’t like at all. He’s going to go out and find her, no matter what. Even if his own people are telling him that he’s distracted by her.

Off Nick goes to Italy, grabs Lyriope, and spirits her away to a small town that he owns. He’s going to keep her there, and they will just stay hidden away under the radar. And he’ll show her around to his favorite places.

I think that Lyriope is really starting to come into her own in this one. She isn’t just reacting to what is happening all the time. She is actually doing something about it. It may not always be the right thing, but it is something. And I think that is a good thing for her. Everyone has pushed her around, so her making some of her own decisions about her life is going to be a good thing, IMO.

Nick. Hmmm. Well. I didn’t like Nick all the time in the last book, but it’s better now. Mostly. I think that Lyriope is good for him, and she is changing him for the better. I think that he is learning some things too, and I think that he needs to see Lyriope making her own choices.

I can’t wait to read the next one. It’s going to be explosive, I think.

Amo Jones-Antichrist

OK, if you’ve read the blog for a bit, you know that I like dark and mindfucks. So when I say that this book fucked my mind over but good, trust me. And, boy howdy, is my brain still all in a tizzy over Antichrist. I often joke that I curse the name of the author when I get to the end of a book that just left me wow, but I really did say “WTF, Amo Jones, just fucking fuck you” when I read the last words in this book. My husband just looked at me with his eyebrows raised, since it seemed to come out of nowhere. But yeah.

This book does jump around in time a bit. It starts out 2 years in the future, then jumps back a few years in the past, then we get to the present time. We get flashbacks to the past throughout.

I’m going to start in the past. We start out with Meraki. She is hanging out with the guy she’s kind of dating, Luca, and her best friends, Niko, Cece, who is dating Niko, Ari, Niko’s twin brother, Jer, and Mira. They are all tight, but Meraki and Niko have a special connection. They can’t seem to stay away from each other, even as they are tied to other people. But something terrible happens, and Niko leaves.

Meraki ends up in an open relationship with Luca. We get the idea that it isn’t a perfect relationship, but she says she loves him and he says that he loves her. Meraki has no idea where Niko is. Jer moved away years ago. Ari is gone. She still has her good friends Cece and Mira. She also has her dream dance academy, and she uses it to help underprivileged kids to dance and to go somewhere with their life. Everything seems to be going OK, until all of a sudden it stops. She hears the roar of a motorcycle, and it’s Niko.

Niko, AKA Antichrist, has patched into the Seven Knights MC. He’s been in a different chapter for the last several years, but things have happened that means he has to come, and it’s an open secret that he is going to be the pres of the home chapter. He sees Meraki, and he’s as drawn to her as ever.

There is a lot that happens in this book. And there is a lot that is dark, and some that is very dark. There are some very not nice people in this, and Meraki and Niko both find themselves wrapped up in all kinds of things.

I like Meraki, overall. I think that she is very strong. She has had to be. She is also devious and secretive. I don’t think that she’s a good person or a bad person. She is just a person who is filled with flaws and foibles. It is hard to like or dislike her all the time, especially as the story unfolds and we learn more about her, her past, and her future.

You remember how I said Meraki is devious and secretive? Well, she looks like a neophyte when it comes to Niko. He holds all the secrets in the world and he will weaponize them, if necessary. He is tough to like, but I think that he likes it that way, and purposely makes himself unlikable. He is really interesting though. There is a lot going on in his head most of the time, and you can just see his brain working all the time.

Like I said. I cursed Amo’s name at the end, and if you read it, you will likely curse her too. The book is still in my head, and that ending was just… I still can’t completely define it.

OK, that’s all for this one. If you like dark and twisty, definitely go check this one out. Happy reading!

Alta Hensley-King of Spades

So, once upon a time, there was an author who came up with a shared world around the Morellis and the Constantines. And all the stories are based around interpretations of fairy tales. We’ve seen K Webster’s Cinderella story on the blog, and now we have Alta’s Alice in Wonderland themed tale, King of Spades. I will warn you that this is the first book in a trilogy, so plan accordingly.

Lyriope is the bastard daughter of Bryant Morelli, who is the head of the Morelli crime family. He fucked her mom, and Lyriope and her brother were the results of that affair. She has spent her life hidden away like a dirty little secret, and not claiming her Morelli blood at all. She hasn’t contacted the family at all and wouldn’t be in contact with them at all if it weren’t for her cousin finding her. She didn’t contact them even when it would’ve helped her out, like when she needed money to bail her mom and stepdad out of trouble, again. Instead, she went to a Russian mob family and borrowed from them. She doesn’t have the money to pay them back, and that is bad, very bad.

Now, she’s at a party surrounded by the rich and corrupt. Her cousin snuck her into a Morelli party, and Lyriope is busy hiding when Nick walks in and their eyes meet. Nick isn’t the only one to walk in who could change Lyriope’s life. A Russian mobster is there, and she’s pretty sure that she isn’t going to survive the night.

Lyriope ducks into a room to not be found, and it turns out that Nick is there. Nick is powerful himself. He is an information broker and he has a popup VIP club called Wonderland. That’s where he gets all his information and he brokers agreements there. They are invite only, and very, very, very exclusive. Nick is also hot as fuck, and he intrigues Lyriope. They talk for a minute, and he tells her that he knows that she’s supposed to die tonight and why. He also tells her that he made a deal, and she’ll be safe for tonight, because he wants to fuck her before she dies.

That is an absolutely ballsy introduction, right? But it really fits Lyriope and Nick. He knows what he wants, and he’s going to do everything he can to get it. She will fight him when she can and fake it until she can make it. Lyriope may not be as strong physically as Nick, or as powerful, but she can damned well do everything she can to appear as strong as he is. Or at least as strong as possible. And she really is strong. She has spent her life having to be the one in charge and having to be strong. Her mother is a complete waste of genetic material, I don’t know that her father actually knows she’s alive, but he wouldn’t acknowledge her if he does, and her step-father is a conman who keeps expecting Lyriope to bail him and her mother out, and then dumps her like a hot turd when he does. And I do mean dumps her. After Lyriope borrows from the Russian mob to pay off his debts, he and her mother decide to just leave her high and dry and run off to somewhere warm and safe. She’s homeless and looking over her shoulder so that she doesn’t buy the farm.

I really was involved in this book so much. And it’s hot as fuck, especially when Nick and Lyriope sign the contract. Whee doggies, that was smokin.

Like I said, this is the start of a trilogy, so I cussed Alta when I got to the end. At least the next one is coming soon.

That’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

K Webster-Death Wish

Honestly, I do not know why I ever even doubt K. Every time I think that she can’t redeem a character or make me like someone, she pulls it out, and I end up liking them. Or, at least, liking them most of the time. I won’t say that I constantly adore Sparrow, Scout, and Sully, but I do like them and understand them a lot more. Death Wish was a good story, and one that I thought worked really well with the first book and Ash’s story. So, let’s talk about this one. There are likely to be spoilers for the first one, mostly because this one picks up where the last one left off, but I will try to keep them down.

So, Landry has managed to run away from her evil father with her younger sister, Della. She thought that she was getting help from a friend and was going to end up with Ford, which whom she had been creating some kind of relationship. The problem is, when she shows up at Ford’s house, she finds out that he isn’t really who he says he is. He is actually a set of triplets named Sully, Sparrow, and Scout. And they have been acting like her friend on the order of their uncle, who has ulterior motives.

Landry ends up locked in a bedroom with one of the triplets, separated from her sister, and being told that she is now all theirs, and she shouldn’t cause a fuss, because that will upset her sister. Eventually, there is a meeting in between the triplets and Landry, and they try to figure out what to do. Landry is terrified that her father will find her and Della, and what will happen when he does. So, she plots and plans about how to get away from Sparrow, Scout, and Sully. Meanwhile, they are all fixated on her, and they want to make sure that she is theirs.

The guys may all look alike and sound alike, but each of them has a very specific personality. And each personality fits a part of Landry and gives her something that she needs. I don’t think that one person with all those personality traits would’ve worked for her. I think that’s because one person couldn’t have those traits as developed as each of the triplets have them, if that makes sense. All I know is that they are good for her. And they take good care of Della too, even if she is a brat at times. And I think that Della likes to be a brat.

Landry really comes into her own in this one. She really doesn’t take a lot of stuff laying down. It took her a minute to figure things out, but as she did, she started changing herself and becoming more who she was than she had been before. I really like her. I think that she is really smart and very brave. I think that there are times that she is a little too good for the world, because of how loving her heart is. I think that’s a weird thing to say, considering everything that she has gone through in her past, but there is still that bright shine of goodness about her.

I really, really, really hate Landry’s dad. I mean, totally despise him.

OK, that’s all for this one. I still love any and everything K Webster writes. Go check this one out. Happy reading!

Dani Rene-A Death to Seek

It’s been a minute since I’ve had a Dani Rene book on my blog, so I think it’s time to fix that. A Death to Seek is the 3rd book in the Thornes & Roses series, and it’s the last one in this series. You could probably read this as a standalone, if you wanted. There are mentions of Finn’s brothers and their wives, which are the subjects of the first two books, but nothing that is really going to make it hard for you to get caught up in this book. Mostly any mentions of the prior couples have a small explanation around it for people who haven’t read the other two. You will, of course, enjoy this story more if you have read the other two.

I’m going to do something that I very rarely do. I’m going to give you a trigger warning about this series. Each book deals with a difficult subject, and they can be hard for people to read. The first book deals with self-injury, the second with addiction, and this one deals with suicide. Dani doesn’t glorify the subjects, but they are talked about, and they can be triggering for some people. Please be careful of yourself and read responsibly.

Finn is the youngest of the 3 Thorne brothers, but he is as broken as his other two brothers. The fact that his mother walked away from the family when he was young, which really hurt him since they were close. Then, he lost his first love in a terrible way. He was almost frozen until he met Jarred. Meeting Jarred was an amazing thing for him, because Finn woke up and realized that Jarred was everything for him.

Jarred had run away from home years before, and drifted around the country until he ended up in Thorne Haven, and was hired as a gardener by Finn’s dad. He saw all the very attractive Thorne boys, but it was Finn that caught his attention, and that was all she wrote.

Several years after Jarred and Finn started their relationship, it’s still going, but in secret. They are relatively happy in their relationship, but things are about to change. Finn’s dad has just told him that he’s about to get married. It’s an arranged marriage to a young woman named Zaria.

Zaria is just 18. Her father has just committed suicide, her mother isn’t emotionally available, and Zaria is expected to portray the perfect princess. She’s an influencer on social media, but she gets all kinds of horrible comments, and they are so hard on her. But, she just puts that all inside a little box, and tries to repress it, but it never works.

Jarred, Finn, and Zaria are all broken in different ways. They have each been abandoned in one way or another, and they are all afraid of that happening again. They all have walls, although Jarred and Finn have been together long enough that they have broken down some of those walls. Zaria is willing to work on breaking down her walls as long as they are going to work on breaking down their walls too.

There is some drama, because there is always some drama. But, there is also a lot of love, some really hot sexy times, and a lot of people growing up and figuring out who they are.

This was a great book, and it is was the perfect end to the series. It is a good series, and I do recommend it, just be careful of yourself if you might be triggered by the things that I mentioned. I’m not too proud to admit that while I read some dark, dark, dark stuff, there are things that trigger me, and I have to be careful sometimes.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Sophie Kisker-Freedom

Several years ago, Sophie wrote the first three books of the Finding Home series, Odyssey, Sanctuary, and Refining Fire. (Check out my review of the series) Well, now she’s decided to bless us with Freedom, the sequel to the Finding Home series. This book takes place in between the last chapter and the epilogue of Refining Fire, so we get coverage of that gap in time. Sophie does really well at putting a timeline at the head of each chapter, so you know where in time you are. Basically, it’s all about Liz’s pregnancy and how Ryan freaks out. But really, that’s just the surface of the story. There’s a lot more to it than just that.

So, the war has ended, Jenny is the chairman of her province, Ryan is acting as her assistant, and Liz is working at the POW camp with the Edwal prisoners. She has the most in-person knowledge when it comes to being kept in a prison camp, so putting her in charge is a smart idea. But that’s not all that’s going on. We find out that Liz is pregnant right at the beginning of the book. She’s thrilled, Ryan’s thrilled, everyone is thrilled. And you’d think that the story would be great from here on out, but the story would be really boring if that was the case, wouldn’t it?

From the beginning, Ryan wants to wrap Liz up in cotton wool, lock her in a padded room, and make sure nothing ever happens to her at all. That includes doing things like, oh, breathing too hard in the outdoors. Ryan wants to make Liz quit her job, which is really important to her. He wants her to basically sit, eat all the healthy food ever, and do nothing but gestate, but that doesn’t work all that well for Liz.

Now, I get wanting to take care of your pregnant wife and sub, but Ryan goes overboard. He gives her an extraordinarily early bedtime, he makes her eat healthy food, and a lot of it, and he totally coddles her. In fact, with that coddling, their D/s relationship takes a backseat. In fact, it takes such a backseat that Ryan only tries to punish her a couple of times, and stops almost immediately when it happens. So much of a backseat, that she stops calling him Master, and all of their protocols go out the window. And everything starts to crack and splinter.

Now, like I said, this is basically about Liz’s pregnancy and Ryan freaking out about that, but it’s actually about a lot more. Liz and Ryan both spend a lot of time thinking about who they are in their relationship and out of it. You have to remember that they have literally never known each other outside of the M/s dynamic. Ryan was one of the slave trainers when Liz was brought onto the estate as a slave. He has always been in a position of authority over her. Liz is trying to figure out if she is actually submissive or if it is something that has been conditioned into her and to figure out her identity.

Ryan is basically doing the same thing, but on the Domly side. His biggest issue is that as the Dom, he’s supposed to appear like he always knows what is going on and that he has everything under control, and right now, almost nothing is under his control, which can be a huge issue.

I didn’t realize that Freedom was the book I needed until I read it and discovered it was. I was pretty happy with the series the way that it was, and Freedom really just deepens my enjoyment of the series, because it just gives us more about Liz and Ryan. Most of the conflict in the book is about their relationship, but there is enough stuff going on outside of their relationship that we were able to get a break, catch our breath, and then go back into Liz and Ryan’s story.

If you like kinky, dark, capture sagas, check out all the Finding Home books. Sophie did a fanfuckingtastic job on the series, and I really can’t go enough into the books in just one blog post. So, check ’em out, and happy reading!

K. Webster-Triple Threat

K is back with the start of an interesting duet. Triple Threat features the identical triplets from the Cinderella books. You remember, the assholes who terrorized Ash? Yeah, that’s them. And I’m not gonna say that they aren’t still assholes.

So, after the events of last books, Scout, Sparrow, and Sully are living with their uncle and are now part of the Morelli crime family. They have to do whatever their uncle tells them to do, and some of them like that and some of them hate it. The latest thing that they have to do is to try and seduce a young woman named Landry. The catch is that the S boys have to do it as the same person. Scout, Sparrow, and Sully will all pretend to be Ford Mann, and see Landry at different places. Their goal is to make her fall in love with Ford.

Landry is the isolated princess in the tower. Her father has kept her isolated from everything. Even now, as a young adult, she doesn’t have the ability to do anything. Landry has no friends, doesn’t date, doesn’t go to college, doesn’t work, does nothing. All she really does is stay home and be perfect for her father, and try to stand in between him and her younger sister. Landry is counting down the days until Della is old enough that they can get away from their father, but she still has 12 years to wait. Their father hates Della because his wife died in childbirth with her. Della is Deaf and uses ASL to communicate, but daddy dearest isn’t happy about that.

Anyway, the books starts with dear old dad coming home from Tokyo. His company has just made a huge merger with a company in Tokyo. Now he wants to make some connections in town. He’s going to use Landry and marry her off to a scion of the family he wants to connect to. That’s what the S’s uncle hopes to derail.

Daddy dear has decided that Landry can go to college, and loosens up his control just enough to send her to college, which gives the first opening for Ford to contact her. The next Ford comes to the house to teach Della how to speech read. The 3rd Ford is actually working directly for daddy darling, and is going to try to derail things that way.

OK, remember how I said that Sparrow, Sully, and Scout were assholes before and I wasn’t going to say that they weren’t? Well, they both are and aren’t. Scout is a huge asshole, most of the time. Sparrow and Sully can kind of be assholes sometimes. They are all still tight, and they support their brothers no matter what, but they bicker and poke at each other. They are possessive and competitive with each other. But, you also get the real sense that is the 3 of them against the world, even if their uncle is right there.

Each of the guys has his own way of interacting with Landry. Even Scout, who isn’t ever supposed to really see her, does see her and interacts with her. It’s confusing to Landry, and I’m not surprised, because the silly boys don’t really talk to each other and tell each other everything about their interactions with Landry.

Landry is in a helluva spot. There is so much more going on with her dad than we know. We get some hints of stuff that is happening or that has happened. And really, I just want to do horrible things to the man. Landry has a really loving heart, especially towards her sister. She is really protective. She’s also a consummate actress, which she has had to become, and that really sucks. She walks on tiptoes around just so that she can be seen as perfect all the time. I really like her, and I’m really pulling for her.

I like all the boys too, even Scout. There is a lot going on behind his eyes, and I can’t wait to find out more about him.

I really am dying for the next part of this duet, because the way that this one ended left me screaming.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!

Cari Silverwood-His Keepsake

Cari is back with a very edgy book. His Keepsake is all about consensual non-consent. Now, Cari’s books often walk the edge, but this one comes up to the line, jumps up and down over it, delicately crosses it, and then turns around to snort it. There are times when this book could be upsetting for people who have issues with nonconsensual sex scenes, so do be aware of it.

We start with Emme, who is kinky AF, but for whom most D/s and kink just doesn’t work. She is really into CNC, with it leaning a little more into the NC aspect than the C aspect. She wants to feel forced, to have that decision taken from her, and to have her power taken from her. So, she talks to her friend Charity and arranges for a Dom that Charity knows to abduct her for the week. Emme doesn’t know who the man is, but they have been texting back and forth so that they can set things up, including a code word he is supposed to give her when he first grabs her, so that she knows it’s him. The book opens on the night it’s supposed to happen. Charity and Emme are talking about it in a restaurant, but they don’t realize that Mr. Scott is behind them, listening to every word out of their mouth.

You see, Mr. Scott and Emme have something in common. They are both kinky AF and they both like CNC, with the emphasis on nonconsensual. He decided that he was going to follow Emme, just to make sure that some weirdo doesn’t grab her. Not because he’s interested in her, because no, that would be illegal. And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in the Atacama Desert.

So, Mr. Scott decides that he’s going to grab Emme. She doesn’t know if it’s the guy who is supposed to grab her or not. He tells her he isn’t, but the mindfuck is part of what Emme wants, so surely he’s just playing into that, and he’s the guy Charity arranged. At least, that’s what Emme keeps telling herself. She’s not 100% sure that she believes it though. She really wants to, because that means that she’s going to be safe, but she just can’t be sure. And if she isn’t safe, that means that this is real and not some kind of super edgy role play.

I love that good mindfuck. A good mindfuck always makes for a good read for me. It is edgy, it is dark, and while we might know what is happening because Cari is telling us, it’s easy to put ourselves into Emme’s head and see everything through her eyes and see why she feels the way that she feels. I love her struggle to understand and to try and make things fit with the facts that she may or may not have.

There are places in this book that really skirt the edges and are very twisted. I’m not kinkshaming our characters or anyone, since CNC fantasies are really prevalent, especially among women, but there are a couple of places where it feels less fantasy and more real, if you can get the difference.

This was a really great story, and there really is a lot in there to dig into. Sadly for you, I won’t go any further into any of it because I don’t want to ruin anything. And I’ve already deleted a couple of paragraphs because I think they went a little close to the line. But, if you want a kinky good time, then go check this one out. Happy reading!

%d bloggers like this: