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Havoc's Playground #1

No Place to Hide

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Blair
All I wanted was one night .
A simple night of fun with my friends at the carnival.
I didn’t know I’d spend it learning things I never knew about myself.
Every twist and turn of our game brings us deeper into our desires.
But what’s a little pain if it’s mixed with unimaginable pleasure?

Jackson
All I wanted was one night .
A simple night of peace doing my job.
I didn’t know I’d spend it pushing the boundaries with a girl I just met.
The stakes get higher the longer the game goes on.
For the first time in my life, will only one night be enough?

No Place To Hide contains mature and graphic content that is not suitable for all audiences. Please check the content warnings at the front of the book before proceeding. 

99 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2023

1331 people are currently reading
16817 people want to read

About the author

Harper Ashley

9 books472 followers
Harper Ashley is a college student, mother, and romance author who has a unique ability to craft characters and relationships that resonate deeply with readers.

When Harper isn’t writing, she’s working hard towards her degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, along with a minor in Political Science.

Her storytelling displays her creativity, often illustrating character-driven narratives that focus on relatability and emotional connections that keep readers asking for more.

Check out my website! www.harperashley.com
https://linktr.ee/HarperAshley

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5 stars
5,815 (28%)
4 stars
6,598 (31%)
3 stars
5,540 (26%)
2 stars
1,939 (9%)
1 star
727 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,685 reviews
Profile Image for itsjessamess.
175 reviews9,791 followers
October 9, 2023
ngl I would‘ve cried too if he said those things to me
Profile Image for Polly Batchelor.
824 reviews96 followers
October 14, 2023
"Aren't pretty girls supposed to be scared of monsters?"

I didn't even read the synopsis. I saw a post on my 'Cliterature 18+' Facebook group, I screenshotted when I was half a sleep and I am so glad I did. I loved this novella so much, I would devour a 500+ page book to have more of Jackson and Blair together. Everything is just so good. A spicy book perfect for the spooky/autumn season.

"for all you dirty little sluts out there, who like your book boyfriends a little unhinged... ready to have some fun?"

Trigger warnings:
- Carnival Scene
- Insta-lust
- Good Girl
- Primal Chase
- Primal Play
- Degradation
- Edging
- Praise
- Blood Play
- Knife Play
- Bondage
- Claustrophobia
- Clowns
- Oral Sex
- Rough Sex
- Voyeurism
- Dark Romance

Jackson works at a carnival, after stopping Blair's ex-boyfriend, Blair goes to thank him, they both end up having a night neither of them will forget in a hurry. At the fun house Jackson warns Blairs to go, if she stays there would be no holding back. This is when Jackson decides they should play a game of hide and seek.

He then tells her to run...
Profile Image for aleksandra.
782 reviews3,732 followers
October 27, 2023
1/5

I was constantly checking when it will be over. It was ninety pages long. The cover is gorge tho.

"Admit it. Deep down inside that tight little body of yours is"


tight little body? *shudders*
Profile Image for ♥Milica♥.
1,919 reviews751 followers
November 3, 2023
Ehhh, I was expecting more from this based on the blurb, but what I got was very emotionless and flat, they had no chemistry, Jackson was just mean, and not the sexy kind.

I'm the most disappointed about him actually, because I was expecting to love him and obviously that didn't happen. Everything he said felt forced, unnatural, not sure if that's because one of the authors doesn't normally write dark romance or what but...he just annoyed me, period.

Blair was okay, but I didn't care much for her either. I do kind of feel bad about her new scar though, I think that was a bit too much.

There were some content warnings that didn't appear in the book, but it's possible I missed them? Who knows.

The epilogue hints at a sequel and I'm not sure if I'd read it or not. On one hand, the characters might get developed enough for me to care about them, on the other I have to remember to check back in when it's out and I don't think this story grabbed quite that much of my attention, but we'll see.
Profile Image for ChieraRose.
106 reviews10 followers
February 22, 2024
I DEVOURED THIS🥵 oh my god. 99 pages of pure smut and spice I couldn’t get enough.

Hide and seek seems fun when there’s a monster chasing you hehehehe 🤭 the way she went back to him I WOULD TOO 👏🏻🤪

Fingers crossed there’s a novel coming out bc of the lil hint - “𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓮𝓷𝓭… 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓷𝓸𝔀” BRING IT ON. I WANT MORE OF JACKSON AND BLAIR🤩
Profile Image for Shannon Mayhan.
Author 2 books161 followers
September 26, 2023
It’s dark, twisted, and great! First off, I wasn’t expecting it to be so well written. I read another Halloween novella that was horrible and I wasn’t expecting much from this because of my previous experience. I am happy to say that I was wrong. A fast and super spicy read!
Profile Image for ↬ Ⓛ.
382 reviews708 followers
October 24, 2023
aint a fan of short kinky novellas related to Halloween and still ain’t. unpopular opinion; the whole trope of hide and seek; run while i chase you consent noncon doesnt phase me and never will like pls its way funner without the consent and safe word involved.
Profile Image for hannah.
247 reviews31 followers
November 2, 2023
2.25??? Stars

It’s wild to think about what we will let pass in dark romance books. Personally in reality if a man admitted to being a criminal and then joked about kidnapping me .3 seconds later, I don’t see myself having unprotected public sex with him in a barn and/or letting him lock me up in a cage while wearing a clown mask. But if it’s in a book? I mean…

I feel like I would have rated this higher if the MMC would have actually been intimidating and “threatening.” I don’t know if that’s really the right word for it. I was under the impression that he was going to be a completely unhinged psycho who was into some really dark stuff, but honestly he was just really verbally abusive? Like there’s degrading and name calling, and then there’s coming for her absolute neck while she cries, and then gets him off. Speaking of Blair…well…she’s not the brightest.

Maybe novellas just aren’t for me. The stars are mainly because I was fully expecting this to be poorly written but it flowed decently, and also Jackson is probably super hot—but there’s only so much degrading I can tolerate.
Profile Image for Jade.
19 reviews
February 22, 2024
“𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝… 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧?”👀

A pretty average novella packed with smut - just wish it went into a little more detail.

Feel like it’s attempting to give The cat and mouse duet vibes but it just didn’t quite get there… at all🤷🏼‍♀️

Good for a quick and easy read!
Profile Image for Sarah.
401 reviews4 followers
October 17, 2023
There is so little emotional depth in these characters. Jackson is awful, and not in the sexy kind of way, he's just a straight up awful person.

TW for the complete lack of kink negotiations and after care (see above comment).
Profile Image for Rayne.
500 reviews148 followers
November 1, 2023
I was hoping for a fun, quick story but this somehow felt too long even though it was less than 100 pages. I was bored quickly and wanted it so be over.
Profile Image for Lori R..
1,411 reviews71 followers
November 3, 2023
Wowza

This was dark and twisted and exactly what I was expecting. And how about that cover?? It definitely caught my attention, then the blurb pulled me right in.

Not many content/trigger warnings scare me away from a book, but two of the ones listed for this book almost had me deciding to not read it - degradation and humiliation. It’s not something I like, nor understand, so it’s very off-putting when I read it. That being said, I still enjoyed this book and I’m glad I decided to read it.

The things I did like about this book? I thought it was well-written. I’d never read either of these authors before, but they are now definitely on my radar. Also, the naughtiness and wickedness of this book was fantastic. It was raw and gritty and indecent and obscene, yet I enjoyed quite a bit of it. *evil grin*

Be warned…lots of CW and TW, so read responsibly.
Profile Image for kaden⋆.𐙚 ̊⋆˙⟡.
179 reviews183 followers
December 29, 2023
1/5⭐ just because the playlist was okay.
thank god, this horrible book is over 🙏🏼
two words to describe this weird ass mc: red flag.
the amount of times the fmc got hurt in this book is concerning, girly needs a whole ass checkup fr.
~ things our lovely mc jackson said 🤗:
"She scammed me, I want to kill that kid" yup a kid 😀
"You can fuck anywhere if you want it bad enough,” awww 😍
this mf shouldn't have been released from jail and homegirl should've ran when she had the chance.
Profile Image for Melis.
107 reviews13 followers
October 4, 2024
Well I was expecting much more after all those good reviews I saw 🤷‍♀️
Profile Image for Evoli.
344 reviews112 followers
March 8, 2024
2.5 ☆
I guess I was just the wrong target audience because I'm not into certain things that happened in this story. The only thing that spoke to me was the setting: carnival on halloween with a spooky vibe. Okay, to be fair, I also like everything that happened up to the Ferris wheel... His monologue completely threw me off and I couldn't get into the story after that anymore. He wasn't really a hot protagonist for me buttt just an overly mean person for no substantial reason.
However, I think that the novella is incredibly well written for those people who are into such stuff (specific kinks). Every scene is really easy to imagine and kinda "dive into", just be sure to read the content warnings and see if it's really your cup of tea in spice! <33

P.S.: If a man ever said around 3% of what the male protagonist said to our girl in this novel to me in real life, my slavic origin side would make me unleash all my inner demons and make him question his entire existence.
Profile Image for Inés  Molina.
519 reviews75 followers
September 16, 2023
Carnival spice

“It’s dark and quiet back here. I could snatch you up and take you. I doubt anyone would hear your screams over the rides.”

The settings being in a carnival were well written, I could just picture it. The story was fast and spicy, super dry mouthing spice here. I loved how she discovered a part of herself with him. It was a great story that I wished was longer because I wanted more.
Profile Image for Ari.
946 reviews217 followers
October 13, 2023
It was alright. Fun setting.
Profile Image for RavenOfTheSea.
130 reviews144 followers
November 15, 2023
Say you’re mine. Tell me I can keep you.

5/5 4.5/5 🌶️

When I say I loved this! I had the time of my life and it was in a creepy, dirty circus! I freaking loved this so much!!! This novella was pretty much … perfect. This was dark, smutty and depraved, with crazy chemistry between the two mcs. I really wish for a full book because this wasn't enough of Jackson and Blair!

The energy between these two characters, the banter and the chase between them had me glued to my kindle. I devoured this novella and left no crumbs. This was mostly spice. Dark, addictive spice but that's because Jackson is an addiction on his own. Gloomy, morally gray and leaning a bit towards insanity. And Blair didn't back down. She wasn’t the most original fmc but her povs were fun and her chemistry with Jackson was amazing.

Fingers crossed we get a full book of them!

Did I like it? Yeaaaap.
Would I reread it? I sure will😉.
Profile Image for Natasha Allen.
617 reviews15 followers
December 15, 2023
This was a great Halloween spicy novella!! It had all the kinks, all the spice, all the fear!! I really really good, quick and easy read!!
Profile Image for sunny ≽^• ˕ • ྀི≼.
109 reviews17 followers
October 9, 2023
5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“My filthy little slut. Stop being scared of yourself. Say you’re mine. Tell me I can keep you.”

“Breathe through it, princess. You got it. You’re so fucking gorgeous right now. Keep coming for me like a good girl.”

THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ I NEED MORE MORE MORE MOREEEE

I AM SO FERAL 🎃🖤✨
Profile Image for Alannah.
48 reviews44 followers
September 18, 2023
An amazing dark and spicy novella!
I love that this was such a quick read and yet still had character build up and the spice… off the charts! 🥵
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,685 reviews

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