A review by mardell
Vicious Devotion by Aveda Vice

5.0

As ever, Aveda delivers one of my favourite tropes, Scent of Pining Hero, but now in a kind of polyam technicolour. There is sooooo much wanting and waiting in a book where there is also lots of explicit sex. No mean feat. But Vice does it every time. The novel feels both like a natural progression of their monsterf*cker brand and a new departure. When they published Yours, Insatiably just a couple of years ago, the author wrote how daunting they found the idea of producing a full-length novel (a wonderful one, btw). From that perspective, what they've attempted with this book is not only incredibly impressive but also part of a wonderful writing arc. Four difference POVs? Time slip for all four POVs (and not just dual timeline)? Setting up two other polyam romances? It's a lot. In a good way. A really good way. It goes without saying this is one for fans of Enemies to Lovers (the captivity situation gave me all sorts of classic medieval romance vibes) but that trope doesn't encompass all the types of relationships going on here. My favourite dynamic was the stoic leadership of Len and Aren versus the damaged chaos agents that are Caius and Pheir. This is definitely one I can imagine rereading to fully appreciate its complexity.

**The author always compiles comprehensive trigger warning and I really encourage people to check them out. Not only do we have abusive romantic and familiar relationship backgrounds here, but also a very disturbing cult situation.