A review by _isabel_
Out of the Wild Night by Marina Vivancos

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Well, excuse me while I go cry my eyes out.
Marina Vivancos does it again, my fellow book lovers: every single one of her books has been majestic and "Out of The Wild Night" is no exception.
This dream of a book, oh my god. It's emotional and moving and delicate and sexy and sweet and lovely. I loved it to absolute bits: Mason and Charlie's romance was precisely what I expected from Marina Vivancos' pen, but at the same time, it still surprised me, how subtly gut-wrenching and heart-stopping it was. I don't know how she does it, but seriously, there's no one who can do hurt/comfort quite like Marina does: every single one of her books has been an emotional ride like no other, and I feel like I need a week or two to recover.

"Oh, Sacred Dark" was slightly tougher to get through, because of the relentless trauma Roman went through, but "Out of The Wild Night" was still pretty heavy, especially the first few chapters. Even though Mason's traumatic experiences are less recent than Roman's were, they still come through, loud and clear, through his prickly and constant self-preservation. His heart is still pretty bruised, but seeing him slowly come back to life was wonderful: Mason, thanks to the Meliora coven, learns that he is as worthy of love and respect and joy as every single living being and I thought that, as usual, Marina handled this, and everything that came before his time in the coven, with astounding thoughtfulness.

Another thing I loved about this book (and I noticed this when reading book one too!) was the fact that although Mason's the only POV, his love interest, Charlie, is given room to be vulnerable and needy, despite him being a Dom. Marina challenges the usual, and unrealistic (if fun), D/s dynamics where the Dom is only there as the possessive protector. Instead, Charlie is an absolute joy of a man: he's cheerful and cheesy and flirtatious, but also so damn charming and soft and sweet. I loved him so damn much: I literally spent half of the book swooning.

Mason, on the other hand, comes across as a little prickly and judgemental, but like his co-workers and his soon-to-be-friends at the coven, the reader learns to love him: he has the right to be jaded and sharp and complicated. And oh god, his character arc! It's the thing of beauty.
Obviously, his relationship with Charlie literally gave me life: their dynamic is fun and loving and affectionate, and a whole lot of steamy. This second book is definitely more explicit than the previous book! *fans herself*

“I could eat you up,” Charlie whispered close to him, words round and thick, syllables slipping into each other.
Mason’s knees shook. There was nothing he’d like more than to disappear into Charlie’s mouth, bite by bite.


I also completely adored Mason's friendship with Roman (THE CUTEST BFFS EVER!!!) and, surprisingly, Cross. Now, that man is a complete mystery and he broke my heart: I can't wait to see what kind of book his will be, and what kind of sub will finally give him his so well-deserved happiness.

Anyway, read this book and this series.
Scratch that, read Marina's entire backlist. I still have a few more of her books to devour myself, so I'll probably do that while I wait for her next masterpiece.

Thank you GRR for the ARC. I received it in exchange for an honest review. 

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