Tag: dark romance

Book Review: Daggermouth (The Heart #1) by H.M. Wolfe

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Rating: ★★★.75
Audience: Dystopian Romance
Length: 564 pages
Author: H.M. Wolfe
Publisher: Scarlett Press
Release Date: March 3rd, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Set in a corrupt surveillance state ruled by the masked elite, this true enemies-to-lovers dystopian romance that’s Conform meets V For Vendetta follows a mercenary who botches the assassination of the president’s son and ends up forced to marry him.

The first thing you’ll learn in New Found Haven is that mercy doesn’t exist. The second thing is that, from the highest glass atrium in the Heart to the windowless slums of the Boundary, the Veyra are always watching.

The last lesson is the hardest, but you must remember it: Love outside of your ring is a death sentence.

The city is carved into rings of privilege and poverty, ruled by the masked elite who will do whatever it takes to hold onto power. Obedience is demanded. Rebellion is crushed.

Greyson Serel has spent his life caught between two worlds. Publicly, he’s the flawless heir to the presidency. Privately, he’s entangled in secrets that could topple the regime. But when he’s forced into a political marriage meant to bind him tighter to the government’s brutal laws, he finds himself shackled to a bride as lethal as she is unwilling.

Shadera Kael is a mercenary raised to kill, not to wed. Yet when her bullet misses its mark, survival leaves her tied to the very man she was sent to eliminate. Trapped inside the corrupt heart of the city, she becomes both prisoner and wife, her every step watched, her every move tested.

Their union is no love story—it’s a battlefield. As secrets come to light and betrayals fester within the walls of power, Greyson and Shadera must decide between annihilating each other or burning the city to the ground together.

In a world where passion has consequences and loyalty is paid for in blood, their forced bond may be the spark that ignites a revolution. Or the fire that consumes them both.

NOT QUITE IT.

There’s been a lot of hype surrounding this book so of course I had to try it?? But it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.

I liked the idea of the masks and thought it could work well in the confines of the world building. As it was laid out though, I still have questions and still wonder why the masks are that important? And why everything is dictated by them when Maximus is so evil he could have just changed the situation? Some of the darkness in the book seemed somewhat shock value based and not as woven into the world building as I hoped.

This was multiple POV which surprised me, yet kind of worked. I liked seeing the different angles and dynamics between characters. Turns out there were multiple romances too. Shadera and Greyson diiiiid come off more insta love than I would have expected in an enemies to lovers romance. I really need books to burn longer, PLEASE.

While there were many twists I don’t know if I’m just grumpy with fantasy books at this moment or if they were just too easy to predict. There was ONE, one moment where I was shocked (and angry) at that one??!

Do I want to read book two? I *think* so. I will probably wait for the audiobook though.

Overall audience notes:

  • Dark Dystopian Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 4ish open door
  • Violence: very high
  • Content warnings: war themes, blood/gore, loss of a parent, weapons and physical violence, torture, genocide, child deaths, abuse (domestic, emotional), sexual assault (off page, recounted)

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ARC Book Review: Daybreak (Sorrowsong University #2) by Autumn Woods

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Rating: ★★★.25
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Autumn Woods
Publisher: Slowburn
Release Date: July 28th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Alex’s Corbeau-Green’s world is burning down around him, and Ophelia Winters is desperate to prove she didn’t light the fire.

When Ophelia first accepted a scholarship from Sorrowsong, an elite university in the Scottish Highlands, she wanted nothing more than to destroy Alex and his family at any cost. But that was before she knew him, before they became each other’s everything. Now, after an unthinkable betrayal and the disappearance of his father, Alex is forced to return to New York, desperate to forget what they had, and salvage the damage done to his family. In Scotland, Ophelia is left reeling, alone . . . and watched.

With a new anonymous tormentor threatening to release evidence that Ophelia and Alex committed a murder on campus, it’s clear that they’re going to need each other once again. But can they find a way to trust each other, and repair the love that they had? And even if they can—will it be enough this time to keep them alive?

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC.

BUT.

I’ll tell y’all the good things first. i think the writing is perfectly fine. it’s an easy story to consume and not bogged down by too much prose OR dialogue. Loved that. Even when the cast was frustrating, I still did like them. Alex’s family is high on that list. I think the yearning was good. The love between Alex and Ophelia is very present and that’s all fine too. It just didn’t outweigh the plot issues.

Alright, so.

I feel like nothing happened. Two of the big plot points from book one were both taken care of in two chapters (one in the middle and one towards the end). Other than that…it was a round and round discussion of if Ophelia and Alex would have a happy ever after. Ophelia kept being wishy washy and Alex kept saying, girl I love you, and that was the book.

I really wish that the plot was more developed. I would have loved more suspense, honestly even more drama between Alex and Ophelia. It almost gave me the vibes that book one could have been a standalone with very few modifications.

I’m quite confident I WOULD pick up another book by this author. I’m curious about new stories (maybe from the same universe??). I do enjoy the vibes of this book if anything.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: moderate – high
  • Romance: explicit fade to black
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: murder, gun violence, mentions of past abuse, grief, depression, loss of loved ones

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Book Review: Nightshade (Sorrowsong University #1) by Autumn Woods

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: New Adult Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Autumn Woods
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: June 24th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Ophelia Winters accepts a scholarship at a prestigious Scottish university to prove that her parents’ death was the fault of Cain Green, an American aviation tycoon, her plan is simple; keep her grades up and her head down. The last thing she wants is to wind up in a mafia war or step on the toes of royalty.

Her plan gets off to a rocky start when the mysterious man that almost kills her on her first day turns out to be Cain’s eldest son. As far as she’s concerned, Alex Corbeau-Green is a younger version of his billionaire father. A monster hiding beneath a beautiful facade.

Loneliness has been Ophelia’s only dependable companion for years, but when anonymous threats and mysterious occurrences start to haunt her time at Sorrowsong, she wonders if she really can survive there on her own.

Between being paired together for a project and ending up as each other’s alibi for a murder, avoiding Alex becomes increasingly impossible. She begins to fall for the soft heart that hides beneath his hard exterior.

Tormented by a malicious stalker and growing closer to Alex, Ophelia’s desperation for revenge wavers for the first time. Can she really bring herself to pull the trigger on Cain now that she knows the family it’ll split into two?
__________

Dark Academic Romance – Enemies to Lovers – Slow Burn – University Setting

This work is dark in places and contains several triggers throughout. Please heed the warnings before reading.

I THINK I LIKED THIS?

I’ve decided that I will continue with this duet. It’s got the dark vibe I love and things started to grow on me in the second half. It kind of has Maxton Hall vibes? But with a much darker angle. Did anyone watch My Fault: London? Kind of on that wavelength.

This had a dark academia mood that I thought was balanced well with the characters. I loved the brewing found family and getting the backgrounds on many of the students.

Ophelia and Alex had a good connection and I thought the banter worked well between them. I wish there would have been more of them in the first half. I loved how many interactions they had in the second half of the story. THOUGH, the ending made me a bit cranky, but I can’t explain it without spoilers so it is what it is.

I feel like reading the next book? It was different than the usual rom-coms I read so it was nice to mix it up. I have many questions and want to see the fallout from the ending.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: open door, low explicit; innuendo
  • Violence: moderate – high
  • Content Warnings: murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, loss of parents (recounted), declining mental health of a parent, anxiety, drowning

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ARC Book Review: What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 357 pages
Author: Tricia Levenseller
Publisher: Feiwel
Release Date: September 23rd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

#1 New York Times-bestselling author Tricia Levenseller makes her adult debut in What Fury Brings, a sexy, empowering romantasy featuring a warrior general who must kidnap and train a husband in order to take her rightful place as queen.

Let’s get something clear, Prince. I have claimed you. That means you belong to me now.

There’s a shortage of men in the kingdom of Amarra. After a failed rebellion against the matriarchy, most noblemen in the country are dead. Now the women of Amarra must obtain their husbands (should they want one) by kidnapping them from other kingdoms.

Olerra, a warrior princess vying for the throne, is determined to prove her worth by kidnapping a husband. And not just any husband. To outmaneuver her treacherous cousin, she needs the best. Fortunately, the second-born prince of their greatest enemy is widely known for both his looks and his sweet, docile temperament. He’s the perfect choice to secure her claim to the throne.

Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father’s overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother’s place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra. Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.

Thank you to Feiwel for the gifted ARC.

OH WHERE DO I BEGIN.

I am a HUGE fan of Tricia Levenseller’s young adult romance. They are all gems and I highly recommend going to go pick those up first.

But if YA isn’t you’re thing, here are some of my thoughts on why this book was a miss for me.

I understood where TL was trying to take this story and what the book was trying to do. It really alllllll boiled down to execution. What the Fury Brings is only 350 pages and that was not enough time to feel satisfied by the end.

I feel like both of these societies had too many unredeemable qualities. There were luckily a few good characters that felt differently which kept this from becoming a hate read (one of those being the FMC, Olerra).

The romance had a Stockholm syndrome vibe that might have worked better spread out over more books. It seemingly grew too fast and was headed by physicality rather than emotion. Don’t even get me started on the spice and innuendo, it was not for me on any level.

While there were some thought provoking moments and the ending brought together some idea of peace and resolution I wish this had more going for it.

I would be very curious to see another adult romance from TL before deciding if those just aren’t for me anymore.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 3+ open door; innuendo throughout
  • Violence: high
  • Content warnings: mentions of sexual assault, physical/emotional abuse, dubious consent, kidnapping & bondage, mentions of grooming, animal deaths, war themes

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