Welcome to Carnage

by Selena Winters

He is the night's reckoning, the shadow that haunts my dreams. This year, he wants more than just my fear.

Halloween is a celebration of the bizarre, the unexpected, the dark. And I've always had a twisted enjoyment that dances with the macabre.

Things turn sinister when every guy I date ends up six feet under, courtesy of an obsessed stalker. Like a ravenous beast, the murderer hides in plain sight. His identity? None other than Nyx, my brother's best friend and my secret admirer. A familiar face is now my enigmatic predator. His presence is inescapable, his desire for me insatiable. A force that would cut down any who dared cross our path.

Like any monster, he's ready to kill for what he desires. His hunger for me is an intoxicating blend of fear and excitement, an adrenaline rush I've never known. The night of the Carnival is looming, and with it comes his promise. I will be his. I should run, escape... but the dark allure of being his prey is an addiction I'm not ready to shake off just yet.

Welcome to Carnage, where love is a twisted game, and survival is the only victory.

Genres: Dark Romance, Halloween, Novella, Dark, Romance, Smut, Erotica

118 pages, Paperback

Published October 25, 2023

Reviews

[Анастасія ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Троп 'найкращий друг брата' не входить в топ моїх тропів, але іноді там адекватні брати, тут не такий брат. Одразу як він дізнався, що Авіна та Нікс зустрічаються, то він на нього нападає, і каже, що тепер вони не друзі🗿 далі наче вони знову стали друзями...

Висока оцінка стоїть тільки через те, що Авіна та Нікс сприймають саме так свої стосунки, і їм обом комфортно в них, правда отой напис імені Нікса ножем на спині Авіни викликає деяке збентеження 😀

Найбільше мені не подобається те, що в карнавальних книжках, або де Хеллоуїн, здебільшого, якщо не всі, чоловіки вбивають хлопців з якими зустрічається головна героїня, і нє блять натякнути чи сказати про тих, з ким вони зустрічаються , одразу вони вбивають😀 Головне що чгг не каже про стосунки з жгг, але забороняє їй зустрічатися з іншими, виглядає 'якщо не зі мною, то не з ким'.

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting this to be good based on the cover and blurb and have been looking forward to reading it since it dropped, but sadly it was too cheesy for me, and not in a good way.

It almost read like a copy paste of some other Halloween novellas, except some of them did it better. My main problem here was the writing (didn't work for me at all) and how rushed everything was near the end.

Like Nyx waiting 2 years and then immediately jumping into an engagement and moving in together and in the span of a few days, what was that about? He went too far off the rails, and not just in regards to what I mentioned either, but for example carving his initials into her during their proper first time together??? I would've checked out then, to be honest, but it's not a long book so I figured I might as well finish to see where it would go.

It tried to be dark and sweet at the same time and it just didn't work. I will however be checking out the author's Christmas novella which will hopefully be better.

[Cassandra Martinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love it

The premise is really good. Boy she’s loved since high school has been in love with her and stalking her since they met. He’s a violent psycho to anyone but her. K, cool. It was just so… unrealistic. It didn’t seem to flow well and it’s like this author wanted to throw as many different kinks in as possible without it making sense. Knife play, blood play, breath, primal, breeding, mask play, etc. Also it’s cool she’s a little twisted too, but for her to be totally ok with all these things being a V has me rolling my eyes.

He was so obsessed with her being a virgin, but if he was or not was never stated. It implied he was considering how creepy and intense he came off, obsessed with her since high school, but how skilled he was smexually, knowing just the right thing, was what made it less believable, especially if he was in fact a 21 yo virgin. The smexy scenes were also so so just with the believability factor.

Grammatical errors and back and forth on little things that have already been stated- like his height- drove me crazy, as if two people were writing this book and just pushed chapters together.

Is it worth the read? Why not? It’s only 150 pages.

[Jace · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 17%
This book needs some heavy editing.

[shyra ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

welcome to carnage 🎃🔪🖤

attending a halloween carnival then getting chased & claimed in a house of mirrors never gets old

this is not a sweet cotton candy, candy apple, carousel carnival.
no, this carnival is built on chaos & thrill.
i’ll like to see more of nyxavina in the future, i would also like a pierceluna book please

although this was a pretty generic story with touch her and you die vibes it still scratched a tiny itch since i’m only reading short halloween stories this month

“there’s beauty in his darkness, a kind of symmetry to our chaos. the masked murderer, my twisted soulmate, has become my sanctuary, and i, in turn, have become his salvation. our love story may not be conventional, but it’s unexpectedly perfect.”

[Olli_stay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25⭐️ for the audiobook.

[Ashley Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love it

[Melissa Flanagin]

Listen!!!! I was in between books, couldn’t decide on my next read, it was free and short. MFC literally so stupid and MMC absolute piece of dog dung. So many red flags and not in a sexy dark way more like a MFC is going to end up being the victim of domestic violence someday. The writing is so repetitive every chapter MMC says “You’ll scared of me? You should be.” SHUT UP! Not only does it piss me off that he was happy she was a virgin but he kept saying he wanted to breed her and says at the end quote “You’ll be well and truly bred” ok white bred freak🤢🤮 Mrs Selena Winter I’m gonna need you to put the pencil down and think about that right now. Then I want to you slap your hand really REALLY hard and NEVER EVER write that shit again

[Karen "The nice one" Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, I love a good chase with obsessed hot men who will do anything to get the girl even kill for her.

She's being targeted. All the guys she's dated have ended up dead.
She has no idea why or who it even is. Little does she know the killer is closer than she thinks. He made her a promise a year ago and intends on keeping it.

This book for me was really good, but be warned it is pretty dark.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spicy and easy to read. I actually liked the cover, that's the reason I read the book. The story was nice - If you like your books a darker - overall good but on the short side.

[Jacki]

DNF at 28%

[Bekki's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark Roamnce

A good dark Halloween romance. I love masked stalker romance. The thrill of the chase and the mystery figuring out who the stakes is!!

[Sara Maria Qvistgaard · Rating 1 out of 5]

Noooooo, nope. Im all for some stalking and a bit of murder (in books) but i couldnt finish this. Hate is a strong word, but it may explain my experience. Im sorry Selena, but maybe work on your writing? This is not at ALL realistic and definetly dosnt make any sense. Everything happend so fast, and still, i feel like nothing hapend at all... read the first 68 pages, so take this with a grain of salt, but oh man, was this a hard read.

[Anatasia McCoy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely rate books that I don't like. But the clear rip offed storyline and dedication and even the cover was enough for me to write the review. Do better in the future.

[Nicole St. John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know. I’m judging myself!

The smut-aholic in me wants to give this 5 stars. I mean 🤤🥵🤤🥵🤤🥵🤤. But, the story itself is DARK! And off the rails unhinged. Definitely needed some editing. Characters were mostly certifiable. Regardless, it was a quick, hotttttt read.

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I enjoy this quick read? Sure. Nyx was hot in all the unconventional villainous ways. However the insta marriage was something I didn’t like. It would have been better as a more developed story but it was a fun quick read for Halloween.

[Leonteenka · Rating 1 out of 5]

Když tě naláká tiktok video a on je to shit.

[Flannery Simchuk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was longer based on the TikTok review…was literally only 100 pages and just smut and very dark who ch isn’t bad but he literally killed men that asked her on dates…was weird

[Amber-Rose 🥀 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it! Nothing like a moody, possessive psychopath in mask 😍 brothers best friend is always a trope that tugs at me. Quick and easy read and also enough spice to keep you reading.

[Dyana Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

spicy rating: 3/5🌶️
overall rating: 2/5⭐️
~
this book was all smut with literally no plot and everything was fast paced. Not that it’s a bad thing but everything was all over the place.

it could’ve been better but i still enjoyed it in some parts of the book

[Angie.andbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok

It was short and good read. Maybe a little rushed at the end but still had a good Halloween vibe.

[Tori Mcpherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the idea but it felt like a rushed pg-13 version of haunting Adeline

[WambamItzSAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

He kinda gave me creep vibes but it’s was like a sexy creep.. so I guess that makes it okay?

[n ʚĭɞ · Rating 1 out of 5]

booktok let me down with this one

[Iliea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Good Read

My kind of read! Didn't want to put it down. You can really say this book has obsession and possessiveness in it!

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garbage.

Now I love a morally grey/morally black MMC as much as the next gal, but Nyx was just plain creepy. Nothing worked about him and Avina was a dumb as shit doormat.

Eww.

[Stephanies.books_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was interesting. It was entertaining to read, especially for being a Novella.

Avina definitely matched Nyxs freak in some ways. Nyx is a hundred percent psycho. There's not Grey area with him. He's pure black.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m just a litttleeee scared 😅

[fullyb00ked👻📚 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow! Absolutely loved this book!

Before I get into how obsessed I am with the mmc I have to say the writing style is great and it’s a really well done story overall. It’s a novella and even with the short length I was left very satisfied.

Now onto who we all read these books for, the psycho mmc. Nyx is the super quiet, over the top, jealous, possessive type. So much so that he unalives anyone the fmc, Avina, dates. Oh and he’s also her brothers best friend and she’s had a crush on him forever AND he rides a motorbike 🫠. So many boxes ticked already!

Two years ago Nyx corners Avina in a hall of mirrors on Halloween and gives her the best O of her life, he makes it very clear that she belongs to him. He wears a ghostface mask (✅) and a voice distorter so she doesn’t realise it’s actually Nyx until she confronts him during the present time. Avina ends up having a moral dilemma as she knows he’s a psycho that unalived her last two dates but she’s actually kinda into how much he wants her. Honestly me too babe.

On Halloween Nyx shows up at the carnival wearing the ghostface mask and he takes her to his cabin on his motorbike, chases her through the forest and this is where the spice picks up because of course our guy has a breeding kink 🥵

(There is a HEA and no cheating or ow drama)

Honestly so many red flag boxes ticked for me with this book! Great writing, nice level of spice and a super hot mmc. I think this is the authors debut book? Can’t wait to see what else they write!

[Utena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gurl, I don't know how to say this but let me say it anyway, "It's not me, it's you." Sorry, not sorry.

.5/5

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