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simmyk91's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Three stars because I didn't love the ending
I was obsessed until about 95% then it lost me.
I was obsessed until about 95% then it lost me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
booknerdcoco's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I would give this book more than 5 stars if it was possible.
Not a typical dark romance, it has more of a do mastic thriller vibe. That being said, I think it definiterly appers to the dark romance read1er demographic.
The relationship between the MCs is toxic AF, butimo are still really endearing.
The plot twists in the story were AMAZING!!
And its so easy to see the good in the MMC despite his attitude and his terrible actions.
Also, seven though its a standalone the setup for book two, was seamless. I think it provided enough of a setup for the protagonist of book 2 without detracting from this story line.
Plot 5/5
Spice 3/5
Book boyfriend 3.5/5
Not a typical dark romance, it has more of a do mastic thriller vibe. That being said, I think it definiterly appers to the dark romance read1er demographic.
The relationship between the MCs is toxic AF, butimo are still really endearing.
The plot twists in the story were AMAZING!!
And its so easy to see the good in the MMC despite his attitude and his terrible actions.
Also, seven though its a standalone the setup for book two, was seamless. I think it provided enough of a setup for the protagonist of book 2 without detracting from this story line.
Plot 5/5
Spice 3/5
Book boyfriend 3.5/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy
koistyfishy's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 Bucketlist Stars ⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️/5
Once again, I find myself in a tug-of-war with my feelings about a book. On one end, I enjoyed the story, captivated and managed to read it in basically one sitting—I was that engrossed. However, on the other end, I can't shake the feeling of a slight emptiness in the story, as if it lacked a layer of something or a bit more depth.
This is a Great Gatsby-inspired story, and my knowledge about the tale is limited to the Leo D movie I watched years ago. All I know is that the man is obsessed with a woman he can't have, and boy, did this book portray that aspect very well.
Right from the start, there's a warning that this is NOT a Romance Novel and not to be a Karen and complain (yes, that part was about the triggers, but I'm extrapolating the sentiment)... However, the fact that it isn't a romance novel from the start doesn't detract from the missing aspect, and it might be exactly what I found lacking. I wanted something super smutty with a man of questionable morals and got something that's almost not smutty at all... but he did have the questioning morals down. It was almost a sad, dark, twisted drama with a psychopathic man obsessed with a woman and going to EXTREME measures to make sure she will be his.
We follow Piya and Axel in a Dual Timeline, Dual POV story (mostly told from Piya's POV). At 21, she was basically a spoiled rich Indian princess who was nothing but a disappointment to her family and friends for her bad romance choices. She gives herself one night, one night to flush that rebellion out of her system before conforming to the mould of the rich princess she should be. Years later, she is married to the man of her dreams, and she is taken to an extravagant party hosted by an elusive celebrity, only to discover the mysterious man is none other than Axel Trimanchio, and he has spent the last 14 years looking for her. Now that he has found her, he doesn't intend to let her go.
I did like the character of Piya. She was logical and full of love for her family, willing to sacrifice her happiness to please them. She is an amazing mother who just wants what is best for her daughter and is completely selfless but passionate and feisty when she needs to be.
Axel is obsessed (I might have mentioned this already), but he is also jealous, intense, extreme, and determined. He uses his determination as a driver to push to succeed in what he wants. But he is also incredibly passionate.
There were numerous twists and turns, some I saw coming a mile away and some I didn't. I read a couple of reviews after the book, and many recommend going in blind, and I COMPLETELY AGREE. I didn't know what to expect—picking this up based on the amazing review from Kursed Reads for book 2 and would urge you to do the same!
▶ Dual Timeline
▶ Great Gatsby Retelling
▶ Second Chance Romance
▶ Celebrity Romance
▶ Billionaire/Rich Romance
▶ Obsessive, Jealous and Possessive MMC - he is basically a psychopath...think MINE!
▶ Touch her you die
▶ Somnophilia
▶ One Night Stand
▶ Spanking
▶ don't read unless you want to know the twist -_-Accidental Pregnancy
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️/5
Once again, I find myself in a tug-of-war with my feelings about a book. On one end, I enjoyed the story, captivated and managed to read it in basically one sitting—I was that engrossed. However, on the other end, I can't shake the feeling of a slight emptiness in the story, as if it lacked a layer of something or a bit more depth.
This is a Great Gatsby-inspired story, and my knowledge about the tale is limited to the Leo D movie I watched years ago. All I know is that the man is obsessed with a woman he can't have, and boy, did this book portray that aspect very well.
Right from the start, there's a warning that this is NOT a Romance Novel and not to be a Karen and complain (yes, that part was about the triggers, but I'm extrapolating the sentiment)... However, the fact that it isn't a romance novel from the start doesn't detract from the missing aspect, and it might be exactly what I found lacking. I wanted something super smutty with a man of questionable morals and got something that's almost not smutty at all... but he did have the questioning morals down. It was almost a sad, dark, twisted drama with a psychopathic man obsessed with a woman and going to EXTREME measures to make sure she will be his.
We follow Piya and Axel in a Dual Timeline, Dual POV story (mostly told from Piya's POV). At 21, she was basically a spoiled rich Indian princess who was nothing but a disappointment to her family and friends for her bad romance choices. She gives herself one night, one night to flush that rebellion out of her system before conforming to the mould of the rich princess she should be. Years later, she is married to the man of her dreams, and she is taken to an extravagant party hosted by an elusive celebrity, only to discover the mysterious man is none other than Axel Trimanchio, and he has spent the last 14 years looking for her. Now that he has found her, he doesn't intend to let her go.
I did like the character of Piya. She was logical and full of love for her family, willing to sacrifice her happiness to please them. She is an amazing mother who just wants what is best for her daughter and is completely selfless but passionate and feisty when she needs to be.
Axel is obsessed (I might have mentioned this already), but he is also jealous, intense, extreme, and determined. He uses his determination as a driver to push to succeed in what he wants. But he is also incredibly passionate.
There were numerous twists and turns, some I saw coming a mile away and some I didn't. I read a couple of reviews after the book, and many recommend going in blind, and I COMPLETELY AGREE. I didn't know what to expect—picking this up based on the amazing review from Kursed Reads for book 2 and would urge you to do the same!
▶ Dual Timeline
▶ Great Gatsby Retelling
▶ Second Chance Romance
▶ Celebrity Romance
▶ Billionaire/Rich Romance
▶ Obsessive, Jealous and Possessive MMC - he is basically a psychopath...think MINE!
▶ Touch her you die
▶ Somnophilia
▶ One Night Stand
▶ Spanking
▶ don't read unless you want to know the twist -_-
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Terminal illness
bookswith_vivi's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Gaslighting
readingwithfefe's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
1st person/dual pov
Spice: 4.5/5
This is the most romantic non-romance I’ve ever read! 😂
But I’m a sucker for grand gestures, especially from unhinged men so of course to ME it’s romantic. 🙈
Now the author does not classify this as a romance due to the nature of the story and I guess depending on how you look at it the ending. While I saw a happy ending others may not and that’s ok. I’m here to give you my personal opinion and thoughts so you can do with that what you will.
Let me start by pointing out this is a story involving relations outside of a marriage. Things are complicated and messy so it’s not strictly black and white when it comes to their situation. The time frames jump around a lot which I normally do not care for so much back and forth but with the way this story is written, it seems to work and didn’t bother me. In fact, it kept building this feeling of suspense because you know there’s more to this predicament they’ve wound up in from the start. If you got all the answers in the beginning it would have made the majority of the story boring in my opinion. On top of that, I feel like it was necessary to understand how they were feeling in both the past and present in order to fully understand why these things are happening now as well as their reactions to it all.
Piya at 21 is a free spirit with a huge heart who chooses to see the best in people. Unfortunately, people tend to let her down and it makes seem as if she’s making mistake after mistake. Fearing that she will alienate her entire family she makes some changes and ends up living a life they approve of. Piya in her mid-30s has everything she could have hoped for. The perfect husband, financial stability, a successful albeit private career, a brilliant daughter… for the most part she’s happy. Upon attending a lavish social gathering with her husband to help him further his business connections she catches the attention of the mysterious host, Axel Trimalchio. A man who is swimming in wealth and power with darkness pouring off every inch of him. Regardless of the pull she feels and how drawn he is to her she quickly shuts down any advances. It quickly becomes clear however that there is more to this man than fame and fortune and he has his sights set on her. However, when a man like him becomes obsessed there is nothing and no one he will let stand in his way.
When I say my jaw was practically dislodged from my face for most of the book I wish I almost wish I was kidding. The lengths this man is willing to go to are limitless. He is determined to get what he wants and nothing is going to stop him from achieving his goal. The author was not lying when stating this man is morally irredeemable and once you read some of the things he does you will understand why. But the more I learned about who he is and his past the more I understood why he is the way he is. The more I understood his reasoning in his own head for his actions. And lastly, I understood the reason for his obsession. Setting aside the fact that he’s done unspeakable things to get what he wants once I understood where he was coming from I could see past the horror of it all. And in the end, at its core, I could feel the romance. I can’t sit here and say that I agree with all of his methods but at the same time, I can’t say that I didn’t melt at how romantic his grand gestures could be even if they weren’t intended that way. But as I mentioned before I am a complete sucker for a bad man doing wherever it takes for the woman in his life no matter the consequences or how unhinged it may seem to others.
I also really enjoyed the whole concept of the story and the little twists that played out over the course of it. This felt like it had a unique twist on the whole stalker/obsessive MMC narrative and I found myself analyzing every single encounter or word said. Now because of this, I was able to pick apart some of the details and piece together the direction parts of the story were headed in but figuring it out and then seeing what parts I got right was half the fun and never felt like it spoiled the rest of the book. If anything it just made getting to the ending and seeing how it all played out even more satisfying.
The last thing I’ll mention is the spice. Good lord wrong or not this was spicy! Sometimes the fact it was so wrong just made it that much hotter. But for me, that’s how it works. I don’t normally point out specific potential triggers in reviews because I feel like they spoil the story for those of us who don’t need them but I feel like it’s necessary to point out one in particular. This story does contain dub-con/non-con more than once. If that’s not something you’re comfortable reading then this would not be the book for you. But if you’re like me and enjoy it then you should absolutely grab this book next because it’s a dub-con/non-con lover’s field day. 😂😂
In fact, I won’t even pretend like it didn’t make Axel more delectable at some points because his need for control and taking what he wants had me fanning myself more than once. 🙈
So please don’t skip the TW unless you know you won’t need them. And if you don’t or if you do and can handle them then you will enjoy the hell out of this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
ladylaurenexplorer's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
^Arc review ^
While this was a crazy and amazing rollercoaster of emotions.
There was so many twist that I didn’t think of and were expecting this kind of dark romance.
I also wasn’t expecting to ball my eyes out an ugly cry. To the point that my roommate asked me, “Are you okay?”
This was so good, I can’t wait for the bonus seem and yes, I did hate that there wasn’t a epilogue. But I’m not mad at the ending.
I would definitely recommend Zane isn’t for the faint of heart when it comes to obsessive alphas.
He definitely lacks empathy and only cares, and his way loves our h.
Will definitely be buying. A physical copy of a copy is made in the future and will definitely be re-reading.
While this was a crazy and amazing rollercoaster of emotions.
There was so many twist that I didn’t think of and were expecting this kind of dark romance.
I also wasn’t expecting to ball my eyes out an ugly cry. To the point that my roommate asked me, “Are you okay?”
This was so good, I can’t wait for the bonus seem and yes, I did hate that there wasn’t a epilogue. But I’m not mad at the ending.
I would definitely recommend Zane isn’t for the faint of heart when it comes to obsessive alphas.
He definitely lacks empathy and only cares, and his way loves our h.
Will definitely be buying. A physical copy of a copy is made in the future and will definitely be re-reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Stalking