I was hired to steal something, not someone. But that changes when I see her, asleep in her cushy marital bed. We live in the same town but our worlds couldn’t be more different. So I insert myself in hers by getting a job working directly under her. Seeing her every day isn’t enough. I want her nights, too. I want her everything, including the secrets she refuses to share. I don’t care what I have to do or who I have to take on, she will be mine. Just when I think I have her, I find out she’s not who she pretends to be. Not at all. And those secrets I said I wanted… They’re bigger than the ones I’ve been keeping from her.
This book is a 145k-word dark romance standalone intended for mature audiences. It contains content that may be upsetting to some readers. Please see inside of book or author’s website for full list of CWs.
A. Marie's work can only be described as immaculate. Known for her mafia romance, and her ability to capture the heart of her readers, she has finally decided to bring you a taste of her tantalizing writing which you will not be able to resist!
If I could give this more stars I would. I really enjoyed this book, it was a perfect mix of banter, spice, and romance. I was invested in the story and it kept me hooked with the twists, some I saw coming and some I did not.
I don’t say this often, but this is as close to a perfect book as you can get. The powers that be must re-examine their criterion for the Great American Novel because to me, this is better than Vonnegut. This book takes some incredibly serious and scary things and spreads them out in front of you. It’s absolutely a “dark” romance but the darkness comes from the environment in which the love between our main characters is born. Their love is actually so full of light, it makes me crave something I’ve never had. Also, it cannot be overstated how important it was to me to see a woman take her power back from every man who’d ever harmed her and make sure that the other women in her life could do the same. I feel like I learned more about myself (and flowers) than I have in a very long time. Nearly 500 pages and I knew it wasn’t going to be enough.
My minor criticism is that the pacing is a little odd. It took me two days to get through the first 2/3 of the book and as a speed reader that really messed with me. However, I think I rather enjoyed spending more time with these characters. I just wish that the subplot regarding our FMC’s first husband and his bs were more clear closer to the beginning. I rather like a mystery and would have loved to be a part of figuring it all out. 10/10 book though!
I liked how much of a badass Lex is but I hated that she continued to push Reese away over and over and over again. In reality there’s no way a guy would have stuck around after all of that. I mean hell, in the end I kinda wanted to hit her. But damn I do love how much of a sassy spitfire she is. I just hate how she seems to view him as beneath her. I loved the tie in to flowers and how he kept telling her how he felt with each new flower he gave her. Oh and I’m OBSESSED with how he read the books before giving them to her to make sure the love was consensual and that she’d like the story. No matter how weak she made him out to be, his love for her never faltered. His love for her was always so strong. Ughh and Primrose?!?!? Ugh my heart, I’m dead.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Thoughts: This read was an absolute rollercoaster. I honestly did not like it at all for about the first 50% of the book, I found it a bit all over the place and a bit confusing to follow. However, after things fell a bit more into place and there was a bit of character development I actually really started to enjoy the rest! The love story in this is not for the weak, there's a lot of lies and deception but if you look really hard and wait for the good stuff you see it's truly about two people who found each other in their own personal hells and fought and did whatever they had to in order to find their happily ever after together. The ending is really sweet and made me tear up. I am so happy Lex was able to finally see what real freedom, happiness and love looked like.
Oh the ride this book takes you on is a crazy but fun one. It takes you a minute to figure out the world and what it all means but it doesn't take away from the story. I loved both the fmc and the mmc and how both characters were strong in their own way. I just loved this one as it was different in many ways to what I usually read.