This is an intense emotionally chaotic roller coaster ride into darkness, fear, terror, brutality & love.
Of all the males in this series, I think Roman (anti-H) is the most intense & frightening. Why? Because up until now the others were cold, emotionally controlled (most of the time~~ especially Xander), but Roman is most definitely NOT. He is huge, muscular, daunting; is almost always on edge, almost always ready to burst into some type of violence: verbal or physical,he is always filled with barely controlled rage. The only satisfying outlet he has are the illegal bare knuckle fights to the death he is the Champion of & the drug he takes to 'calm & intensify' his personality & focus. A drug he refuses to quit despite the repearted requests/demands of Ivan, his brother & Mac & Devin, his friends/assistants/guards.
And this raging hulk is the only one able to penetrate Sopie's (h) near catatonic state when she is rescued by Ivan's men & Roman. The tiny, horrorifically traumatized & pysically abused woman responds only when she hears & sees Roman, her knight in tarnished armor who carries her away from Hell into his protection & safety. And Roman is completely nonplussed & shocked when Ivan places the pyschologically fragile woman in his care until a safe house may be set up for her.
Safety she refuses to go to; only with Roman does Sophie feel safe, only Roman calms her torment & terror. Only Roman is strong enough to protect her & she won't leave him.
And despite his better judgement, against his will & intent, Roman finds Sophie's trusting, sweet nature & delicate beauty calm his mind & the violence in his soul, her voice & gentle touch call to his shattered & rage infused heart & soothe it. But Roman knows he cannot, must not, give in to his ever increasing lust & desire for Sophie.
This one is filled with brutal death fights, with a rage filled anti-Hero that has limited control of his anger, has chaotic emotions & yet the very intensity of these boiling emotions is what sucks the reader into the swirling plot & lives of these characters. I couldn'thelp but care abput Sophie & an ever increasingly tormented Roman who begins the fight of his life, against himself in order to be the man he believes Sophie needs & deserves.
And Sophie, despite her history, has a depth of total love, loyalty & gentle unselfishness for Roman that he has never before experienced in his life.
But Roman has formidable demons to battle that only he may conquer & Sophie has foes from her past whose goals would destroy her present & any possible positive future she may have.
I greatly enjoyed this entire story, the only quibble I had with any of this book came in the epilog. The epilog plot resolution was RUSHED & simplistic beyond belief, to the point of seeming silly to me. BUT, it was nothing that tainted my enjoyment of everything else about this book which I wholeheartedly enjoyed.