Reviews with content warning for Death - Den of Vipers

Enjoyed it, might re-read in the future, but not something that consumed me. RH, dark, many kinks explored - definitely a good level of spice.
Diesel was hilarious; Roxy was a staunch MF - but sometimes her internal monologue got repetitive....

Spoiler

How many times does she need to announce that she's a Viper?!

Content Warnings

geesusbeesus's review against another edition

Go to review page

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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Genuinely gave this book a shot because I saw so much hype about it on TikTok. I feel like it was overhyped a little, but there were also some really good parts worth reading. I really loved how they touched on a lot of sensitive subjects, and I'll give it credit for having some laughable moments. Some of the smut scenes were decent. I'll never judge anyone for how dark they like their books, I love dark romance, so that's not why I gave it such a low rating.

The cringe level just made it really difficult to read, I almost DNFd half way throught and part of me regrets reading the rest. It was giving 2015 Wattpad vibes and not in a good way. Roxanne is very "im not like the other girls, im a badass, just one of the guys lol" and the guys' personalities were overexaggerated. It felt like it was dragged out way too long and I found myself skimming the last 200 or so pages of the book. Definitely couldve been shorter. Not to mention the ultra-unrealistic feel to it. I get it, it's fiction, but majority of this book is simply not realistic or on par with "mafia/gang". Fair warning, there's a lot - and I mean a lot - of violence and smut in this. Every other scene is either torture/maiming/murder, or smut. It's a bit over the top.

Also, finding out how quickly this all progresses was a shocker. I was surprised at such a fast pace, I thought this took place over the span of maybe a few months.

Going into specifics-

Spoiler

The funeral for Sam was a good idea, but it also didn't make sense because they didn't really show her developing a friendship with him like that. I loved Roxy in the beginning, but she kinda turned into a power hungry and rude person towards the end, specifically noting when they were in the casino towards the end and she treats a security guard like crap... for what reason? This one is more of a personal pet peeve but the whole play on words with Vipers thing was kinda overplayed - using venom, coiled, like a snake, the snake pit, ect. - and the overuse of the petnames gets to me too - using "love" at the beginning and end of every sentance. And the sheer amount that they maimed/killed people.. theres a club scene where, in the span of probably about 15 minutes, Roxanne runs into a guy who calls her a whore and she beats him up, then a security guard mistakes her for a dancer and Garrett beats him half to death, and then the first guys brother confronts them and Diesel kills him. Its a little overkill, pun intended.

Content Warnings