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A review by weelasswithabook
Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
CW: Ritual sacrifice, desecration of a corpse, horror elements, gore, violence, unaliving, drugging, needles, kidnapping, religious/cult fanaticism, claustrophobia
⭐ Demon romance
⭐ Horror erotic romance
⭐ Dark romance
🌈 Queer MCs
🌶️ Primal
🌶️ Humiliation/degradation
🌶️ Breath play
🌶️ Blood play
🌶️ Body modification (piercing)
🌶️ Toys
I was scared to read this book, I'm not going to lie. I thought it was gonna be too dark, I thought I wasn't going to vibe with the romance, so it took a lot for me to push myself to start.
I've never been more glad to have took the plunge. What I had envisioned as a twisted, dark, and brutal horror story of a romance, actually turned out to be somewhat the opposite.
The horror and gore elements of this book was pretty much what you should expect from modern horror. A mixture of psychological, violent and paranormal elements really gave the sense of fear and anxiety that was needed to fully encompass the subgenre of erotic horror, while maintaining the plotline so not to veer into eroticA.
The writing in the book was wonderful, from the atmospheric description of setting, to the more grotesque descriptions of the paranormal, combined with a dual POV which had two very clearly defined narrations, it just all meshed together so well.
As for our MCs, I'm not gonna lie, Rae started to grate on me a little about 1/3 of the way through. I felt she was selfish and just kept putting herself in danger without any regard for Leon. But when we see her development throughout, that really allowed for us to see just how far she'd come in the opposite direction, with her willingness to suffer for HIS safety.
I do love seeing a morally bankrupt hero struggle with his feelings though!! Oh how he wanted desperately not to feel for her. Again, with his backstory, he has valid reasons to avoid catching feelings so I loved that we had that there as a frame of reference instead of the standard "uh I just don't like feelings" that we often get from morally questionable heroes. It added further layer to his character, and I loved watching him develop a softness for Rae, particularly at a certain point in the book where he performs a rescue (IYKYK) on her behalf. And the chemistry between the two was 🔥
I will say, if you're someone who's not comfortable with kink or edgeplay, this is probably not going to be for you as there is some intense situations going down in that respect, so proceed with caution.
Overall, I think (especially for a subgenre I've never explored) this was masterfully done. I was so scared going into this that I had no idea there was actually going to be quite a tender love story woven through the horror and the kink. And the kink and eroticism wasn't there just for titillation or for shock value. It was clear, regardless of his moral standing, Leon was an absolute stickler for consent at each and every interaction. There was also a level of development for Rae's character through these interactions, especially as insight was provided as to how her exploration of kink was freeing, knowing there was safety while she was experiencing fear. There's a particular line where she describes her fear but acknowledges how Leon was her safety, and it was 😘👌
A demon looking for freedom, a woman looking for safety, both managed to find that in each other 😭 Also, yes I did cry a few times through this. I wasn't expecting the emotional reactions and responses I had from reading this. 100% would recommend this if you're not sensitive to the aforementioned triggers.
⭐ Demon romance
⭐ Horror erotic romance
⭐ Dark romance
🌈 Queer MCs
🌶️ Primal
🌶️ Humiliation/degradation
🌶️ Breath play
🌶️ Blood play
🌶️ Body modification (piercing)
🌶️ Toys
I was scared to read this book, I'm not going to lie. I thought it was gonna be too dark, I thought I wasn't going to vibe with the romance, so it took a lot for me to push myself to start.
I've never been more glad to have took the plunge. What I had envisioned as a twisted, dark, and brutal horror story of a romance, actually turned out to be somewhat the opposite.
The horror and gore elements of this book was pretty much what you should expect from modern horror. A mixture of psychological, violent and paranormal elements really gave the sense of fear and anxiety that was needed to fully encompass the subgenre of erotic horror, while maintaining the plotline so not to veer into eroticA.
The writing in the book was wonderful, from the atmospheric description of setting, to the more grotesque descriptions of the paranormal, combined with a dual POV which had two very clearly defined narrations, it just all meshed together so well.
As for our MCs, I'm not gonna lie, Rae started to grate on me a little about 1/3 of the way through. I felt she was selfish and just kept putting herself in danger without any regard for Leon. But when we see her development throughout, that really allowed for us to see just how far she'd come in the opposite direction, with her willingness to suffer for HIS safety.
I do love seeing a morally bankrupt hero struggle with his feelings though!! Oh how he wanted desperately not to feel for her. Again, with his backstory, he has valid reasons to avoid catching feelings so I loved that we had that there as a frame of reference instead of the standard "uh I just don't like feelings" that we often get from morally questionable heroes. It added further layer to his character, and I loved watching him develop a softness for Rae, particularly at a certain point in the book where he performs a rescue (IYKYK) on her behalf. And the chemistry between the two was 🔥
I will say, if you're someone who's not comfortable with kink or edgeplay, this is probably not going to be for you as there is some intense situations going down in that respect, so proceed with caution.
Overall, I think (especially for a subgenre I've never explored) this was masterfully done. I was so scared going into this that I had no idea there was actually going to be quite a tender love story woven through the horror and the kink. And the kink and eroticism wasn't there just for titillation or for shock value. It was clear, regardless of his moral standing, Leon was an absolute stickler for consent at each and every interaction. There was also a level of development for Rae's character through these interactions, especially as insight was provided as to how her exploration of kink was freeing, knowing there was safety while she was experiencing fear. There's a particular line where she describes her fear but acknowledges how Leon was her safety, and it was 😘👌
A demon looking for freedom, a woman looking for safety, both managed to find that in each other 😭 Also, yes I did cry a few times through this. I wasn't expecting the emotional reactions and responses I had from reading this. 100% would recommend this if you're not sensitive to the aforementioned triggers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism
Minor: Vomit