The Bitterness of Venom

by M.T. Morgan

Blaise
He was once my hero, but that was a long time ago… before I left him.
I never expected him to show up in my life again. Especially as my new roommate.
The boy I once loved is now a brutal hockey player with a taste for revenge and reckless abandon.
I’m indebted to him, and he expects me to pay in the form of blood, tears and humiliation.
But once the games begin, I find myself falling into old habits I thought were buried.
Out of all the bad ideas I've had in my life, Desmond Rickman has always been my favorite.
Desmond
I had a heart once… until she smashed it, leaving nothing but a hollow spot in my chest.
I never expected to see her again. Especially not in my turf, in my apartment, as my new roommate.
She may have held my heart once upon a time, but now I hold all the cards.
She’s indebted to me, and I’ll make her pay for ruining my life.
Old emotions are like scars, slowly fading and never disappearing. And she’s bringing them all to the surface.
If there is a God, he designed Blaise Sheffield to bring me to my knees.

Genres: Dark, Hockey, College, Dark Romance, Sports, Enemies To Lovers, Sports Romance

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2024

About the author

M.T. Morgan lives in Texas with her husband and two children. She enjoys reading a good fantasy/PNR romance as well as a good cup of coffee. She has old lady tendencies even though she's in her mid-twenties. And writing her own bio is very cringe worthy to her.

M.T. Morgan tends to bounce around the romance genre. She may make you laugh, cry and cringe. It just depends on her mood.

Reviews

[Kursed Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the blurb for The Bitterness of Venom, I HAD to read it! Enemies-to-lovers is by far one of my most favorite tropes and Blaise and Desmond are textbook E2L! Throw in that he’s a hockey player with a dark side. Take my money. M.T. was new to me with Bitterness, but she’s been on my TBR for a long time. I can’t wait to go bank and catch up because I’m hooked!!

As reminder, I’m in the middle of a move to another state with my family. My reviews are not as detailed as they usually are, but I’m struggling to keep my head above water right now. I’m sorry to anyone this disappoints. I look forward to my life returning to normal when my free time is spent reading, not packing!!

[Amanda Bohlman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got tricked into reading this today. They were like “he’s such a red flag, you’ve been warned”… yeah he does red flag shit… his red flag behavior makes no sense. This is bad boy for bad boy sake but the character development was garbage. Don’t do it!

And the smut wasn’t even interesting… basic

[Kayla | Kayla Reads Smut · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely love dark romances, make is a dark hockey romance and I am sold! I was really looking forward to this book but unfortunately it fell flat for me.

I want to start off by saying I loved the concept of this book but I felt like it was extremely rushed. With a dark romance that veers of the side of a bully romance, because let's face it, Desmond is a bully, it's important that these books are done right. And I felt like it was not executed right for me to love the MMC. Because let's face it, with a bully romance, the MMC is hard to love with the things they do but if written write, you will love him for all of his morally black ways. But I did not find Desmond loveable at all and I think a lot of that had to do with the lack of description of this past and what happened to him to make him who is. It's obvious that he was extremely hurt by Blaise leaving him, as well as the things we went through in him home life, like his father being physically abusive. But those things were only briefly touched on and those things should have played a bigger role because at the end of that day it was a part of who Desmond is. So to truly understand him and the things he does, you need to understand his back story.

Now let's touch base on Blaise. Blaise also has a very traumatic past. Both of her parents die at a young age and she was shuffled from foster home to foster home. Significant events like that play a huge role into how she acts. It was eluded to many dark things happening to her while growing up but I never got the full story. Which I also feel like is important to truly understanding her character. And then you have this Clint character who is holding something over her head, which makes him randomly pop up and make he do some questionable things. And you only get a VERY small part of how he is involved in her past at the end of the book. And then to find out her is actually Desmond's uncle?!? Like I am sorry but that should have been a bigger part of the book than a little blurb because at the end of the day, Clint popped up on several occasions in the book.

I have a hard time rating this book. Because the plot is there. The concept would have made for an amazing book but I feel like it just fell short and I feel like it may be due to the fact that it was simple too short of a story. For all of the storylines in this book, this book could have easily been over 400 pages. Which I think it needed to be to truly understand each character and the scenarios that were happening. It just felt really rushed and choppy. The book skipped around a lot and I felt like a scene would be cut short. And I was like wait what? How did we go from her still bartending at work to now Desmond rubbing one out on her while she was sleeping?

I don't want to make it seem like I am being over critical on this book because I did like several things about this book. Like I have mentioned before I liked idea of the plot. I loved how they were childhood best friends who were ripped about due to circumstances beyond their control as children. Desmond was Blaise's true protector and he continue to be that for her after he got over his bully ways as young adults.

At the end of the day, we all look for different things in books. I love dark romances. It's one of my favorite genres. Unfortunately this one just wasn't for me. The plot outline was there. The execution for me is where it fell flat…

*Thank you to MT Morgan and Literally Yours PR for sending me the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts, opinions and review.

[NiCoLeTa E. {Addicted To Books} · Rating 3 out of 5]

***3,5 "Little doll!!!" stars***



"Out of all the bad ideas I've had in my life, Desmond Rickman has always been my favorite."

I love dark romances!!! Add to the mix a hockey player with red flags all over the place and I am drooling over it!!!
This was a childhood friends who became enemies that turn out lovers, but with a bully mix in it!!! My absolute favorite!!!
Desmond was a very intense and demanding character and Blaise was his match in every way...
I didn't particularly like him in the beginning, but he grew out on me at the end...
Their relationship was toxic as hell and their journey a very chaotic one, but I can not say that I didn't enjoy it, even though there were some things that were kicking for me...

"Are you my good girl?"
"I'm your nothing."
"I wish that were true."

Blaise and Desmond are meeting again after years that they have to see each other...
They are not the same kids that they used to be back then, when Blaise was running away from her brutal reality and she was landing in the arms of her protector...
Blaise vanished into thin air one day and that fact broke Desmond...
And now, she is coming back into his life and inside his home and his only goal is to break her like she broke him back then...

"Old wounds need to heal. And by heal, I mean she needs to pay. Pay for breaking my fucking heart."

Both Blaise and Desmond were tragic figures...
Especially Blaise and everything that she had to go through in her life... But Desmond wasn't the exception... He had his own demons that were chasing him...
In the beginning, Desmond was such a bully to Blaise, but soon, we saw a different side of him that I liked more...
As for Blaise??? She was a badass to everyone but Damon... and that was kind of frustrating...
But these two together they were a beautiful chaos!!!

"Desmond is not my Desmond anymore. No, that broody boy has turned into an angry man. And it seems he has it out for me."

I really liked the idea of this book!!!
The storyline was very good and complicated, but I felt that there were some holes in it...
I would have preferred more depth and more pages in the book...
I needed more explanation about both their pasts cause they had so much to say that we needed to understand...
At some points, the story felt rushed and abrupt...
But overall, it was a very intriguing story that needed a better execution!!!

"The lethality of his voice is bitter like the taste of venom, fine in small doses but would kill you over time."

**I received an ARC for the exchange of an honest review**

[ablondieslibrary (Keirstyn’s Version) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC for this book and had high hopes for it, but sadly I DNF at 56%. The flow felt completely chaotic to me, the spelling and grammar mistakes were excessive, one characters name flip-flopped between Elisha and Elijah throughout, the MMC was an outright abusive immature bully for no real reason, and the FMC - I just cannot. And don’t get me started on, “once upon a time my doll…….” Super cringe.

I truly hope this went through a thorough round of further editing before being released.

[Nic_key_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

M.T. Morgan brings to us a new dark sport romance. She had me at dark so the fact this is also a sport romance….has me addicted.

I’m going to keep this review short but so sweet. The Bitterness of Venom is tie for first with Fractured Wings in my all time favorite books by M.T. Morgan.

I tend to go in blind when reading some of my favorite authors books and I would totally recommend you go into this blind. I was hooked after reading the prologue. These characters sunk their nails so far in my skin they wouldn’t let go without finishing.

5 stars and so much more!!!! This is a book you’ll remember and want to reread over and over!!!

[Lori Kays · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is one of those weird books where I want to give it 2 separate ratings.
As far as the style and aesthetic of the book; the writing, the characters, the tropes 5 stars
As far as the execution, suspension of disbelief, pacing and plot structure 1 star. So I split it down the middle and call it a 3.

What I loved:

-The characters. For once I liked the FMC better than the MMC. She was kind of a black cat/cinnamon roll hybrid. Chick had layers, literally and metaphorically and I like how they emphasized this by people commenting how sweet she looked without her makeup.
-The starting plot: Childhood friends get seperated, then find themselves as roommates in college. I just love that particular set-up!
-The characters musings- While the way this story was put together was kind of sloppy and lazy, the characters random musings and perspective on things were actually insightful and somewhat profound without being melodramatic.
-The Sex 🥵 True non-con my friends! It's so hard to find these days! I would have enjoyed longer, more detailed sex scenes, but like everything in this book, it was bite-sized

What didn't work

-The main issue was the overall size and structure of this story and the way it was stitched together, it was a Franken-story! It needed another 150 pages or so to really explain and flesh everything out. You get bite size glimpses, but not enough to fill you up. You have people jumping from one emotion to another without any real understanding of how they got there, gigantic plot holes, and loose threads that are just left hanging all over the place.
-Desmond's reasons for going from Blaise's protector to her enemy make less than zero sense, especially since they weren't kids when she was taken away, they were 15. Perfectly capable of comprehending child services and what happens to kids who no longer have their parents, so I can't seem to figure out how that turned out to her abandoning him no matter how irrational the thinking behind it.
-The climax and ending were incredibly lazy and unrealistic. First of all, she survived a point blank gun shot to the head. I'm not saying it NEVER happens, but in order for Clint to actually believe her dead, it would have had to be one heck of a shot. So let's say by some miracle that part happens, there is no way this criminal mastermind is going to just immediately be like "Eh, she looks dead, fuck it I'm out!" and leaves HIS NEPHEW, who knows fully who he is, tied up with a "dead" body! 😂 So beyond all that, she survives, he wiggles himself out of chains 🤦🏼‍♀️she's rushed to the hospital, she's managed to be saved and through all this, Clint doesn't do anything? Are we sure it wasn't his mind that was blown out because it doesn't seem like he has a single semi-rational thought after that point. Then Des doesn't tell ANYONE who it was? Not even his father? Does he even know if the father is involved or not? Also, somehow spoiled college student hockey player Desmond who's been recently cut off from his parents who are presumably his money source, manages to hunt down this crime lord of an Uncle and capture him? How? Dude was not weakened in any way by what happened and if it was that easy to do, why didn't little miss assassin legacy heir do that long before? OMG, this is just the tip of the ice berg for all these particular plot holes and flaws. I see so many potential pieces there that could have easily been formed into a decent plot with a little bit of effort, but it felt like the author just got tired at the end and said fuck it. Kinda like I'm about to do with this review cause it's gone on far longer than I meant it to 😂

Bottom line is, if you've been wanting a true DARK hockey romance and you've read all the CR Jane and S Mastery hockey books, I think this is a worthwhile read! It's got the dark part down, it's got non-con and college level hockey, though not a ton of hockey imo, it's an easy, fun read, you just have to be prepared to Elsa that shit up and say "Let it go, Let it go, nothing makes sense any more! Let it go, let it go, don't worry she likes to be called his whore!"

[Karina Serrano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cow!!
I finished this in one freaking day, that’s how good this book was!!
Wow I loved the two main characters Blaise & Desmond were🤌🏻🤌🏻

I felt bad for Blaise’s story, but she’s such a freaking bad a**, I freaking loved how she was feisty 😈

Then Desmond .. wow Desmond, Desmond, Desmond.
What can I say!! His actions towards Blaise after finally having her in front of him like idk I questioned some of it, but then it was kinda 🔥🔥
But also messed up in many ways! Idk hahaha I had mixed feelings but I FREAKING LOVED IT!🖤🖤

Then when I discover his mom took part in her being taken away & that Clint was Desmond’s uncle I was like 🤯🤯

& then the ending with the uncle wow 👀👀

I was happy they stayed together and created “little demons” 😅💀💀🖤🖤

[Ashley M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was beyond thrilled to learn that I was selected to receive an ARC of this book. I had high hopes for this. It started out SO strong but continued to fall short the further I got into it. This book had the potential to be so much longer than the 200 pages it was and it only being that long felt like a disservice to the story. It was poorly developed. Everything felt rushed and skipped around way too much. The character development was non existent. The FMC was cringey with how hard we were sold the emo chick with combat boots. I needed more of the Clint story. Why did Desmond’s mom sell Blaise off? What debt was she repaying? There were so many unanswered questions and then suddenly she kills Clint in a warehouse (where were his goons?) and then they get married and have babies? And wtf was the random chapter in Clint’s perspective?? This was a huge let down for me.
Also- ALL THE SPELLING ERRORS, GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, AND INCONSISTENCIES IN ELIJAHS NAME?? I would work on this book a little longer before releasing it.

[Gabby (La Romantica) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“𝙄𝙛 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙙𝙤.”

Do you love hockey, dark romance, and walking talking 🚩 flags.

If you answered yes well you need to meet my Husband Desmond( yes I claimed him 🤭) from The Bitterness of Venom by @authormtmorgan He is everything your mother warned you about and your feminism will leave your body & soul.

You’ll definitely try to run away, but guess what you won’t be getting far 😂

[Sarah Guzak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever sit down to write a review and think "what in the ever loving heck did I just read, and why did I like it?" also, "what does devouring and liking this book say about me as a person"?😂 Because this was me reading The Bitterness of Venom.

Completely unhinged on so many levels. A fast paced, wild ride that I quite literally could not put down. I finished this in just a couple hours. It had my attention from start to finish with jaw dropping moments, me audibly gasping, and yes, my flabbers were ghasted.

If you want a toxic book bf, and I do mean toxic in the ultimate sense of the word, Desmond, our MMC, is the one for you. Absolutely feral, man obsessed, touch her and die vibes. And make no mistake, he's not one of those sweet and doting men obsessed. No this man is DANGEROUS. And I loved every second of it.

Add in our resilient, strong as F*CK pink haired and feisty FMC, Blaise, and we have ourselves quite the dynamic duo.

Last but certainly not least, without spoiling anything, all I'm going to say is - just wait until you read the train track scene.😮

Please be very mindful of your TWs. Your mental health matters.

Highly recommend The Bitterness of Venom for lovers of:
- dark romance
- forced proximity
- tattooed MMC
- black cat x doberman
- angst
- childhood friends to enemies to lovers



***The reason this wasn't 5 stars for me personally is it needed a bit more editing. A lot of grammatical mistakes, a few minor plot points that didn't feel tied up towards the end, and some of the dialogue felt too formal (needed more contractions). Again, these are just my opinions.

[Pana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Truly Yours PR and M.T. Morgan for providing this ARC!

The Bitterness of Venom by M.T. Morgan

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

𝙏𝙬𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙠𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙞𝙩.

What a sad childhood Blaise had, honestly, maybe one of the worst I’ve read. She’s been fighting to survive her entire existence and it continues even after she loses both her parents. She was put in the place of her dead parent’s debt. After running away from this unfortunate life, she chooses to come back to her hometown, and is forced to face him.

Desmond, the hottest hockey goalie there ever was, with the worst attitude known to man he sees Blaise again, it brings back dark dark memories, it even outshines the good times they had at the sweet age of 15.

The Bully trope, Humiliation, and Degradation kinks came out to play HARD with this one. I cannot believe some of the scenes I read that Blaise was so okay being treated this way 😟😟

"𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤, 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙚𝙨?" 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨. "𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢."

That sweet nickname, too bad that’s the only thing sweet about Desmond 😏😏 the branding scene 😳😳😳😳
The way he slowly changes and shapes his demeanor to begin the pining stage in this one, is bittersweet. These triggers and tropes are pretty intense, so as always, please read TW before reading!

Tropes:
-humiliation kink
-blood play
-burn play
-possessive/obsessive MMC
-touch her and die
-hockey romance
-enemies to lovers
-light BDSM
-bullying
-SOMNOPHILIA (so many scenes 🤤)

[Just A Girl And Her Smut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Spice 🌶️🌶️

I love a good dark romance, especially a bully romance so I was really excited for this ARC. However this one didn’t hit the mark for me.

This book could have been 5 stars but for me it felt like it was missing a few things. The storyline was great but did feel pretty rushed. I would have liked more backstory and character development on Desmond. When it comes a great bully romance you have to have more backstory on the MMC, this is what makes the reader fall for the “bad boy”. I know we got glimpses into Desmond’s relationship with his father but I wanted more than a glimpse, I wanted an entire story.

Blaise’s character was well written however I didn’t get a connection with her like I do most FMC’s. Again there was missing parts to her story that were touched on but never fully explored causing a disconnect for me. In the end when everything comes to light about what’s really going on, why she left, and who Clint is it felt anticlimactic.

I truly believe that this book should have been longer and more in depth with the character development to fully enjoy it and get that draw to fully immerse myself into their lives. Again this is my opinion on the book and how I felt. Also despite these issues I did enjoy the book.

[Tyler | bookishwithty · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Bitterness of Venom" is a dark hockey romance, and a fantastic read! I devoured it in less than a day— it was so good! (P.S. Why are hockey men so dark and delicious!?)

The transition from the backstory to the present storyline was perfect and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire plot. I discovered that many questions that I had were answered towards the end. This book is filled with excitement and plot twists! Even though the focus is more on Blaise and Desmond rather than hockey, I couldn't put this book down!

Desmond is definitely one of my favorite (red flag) book boyfriends… and Blaise is everything… especially in her black and pink grunge; here’s your crown (👑), Queen.

This was my first time reading from M.T. Morgan and I truly loved this story! It's a 5-star read for me!

[WinkingReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Jealousy is beautiful on you.” I release the lighter, positioning the pen. “But it’s straight fucking scary on me.”

It has been a while since i read a college dark romance book and this book didn't disappoint i devoured it.The whole time I was reading the book had me on toes from chapter one I had to keep up.
Damn the book is so well written, and the spice in it is chef kiss🤌. There are some jaw-dropping scenes that I don't think I will ever get over them, and I was obsessed the whole time.
Desmond is so unhinged 🤌 on top of that he's an absolute asshole but very hot for that too at the same time 😩. I love groveling men, and he was so good at it, In fact, that's my favourite part of the book. And fuccckk HE Takes and DOES NOT Ask🤭. He'll be the death of me🫠.
The END is 💯 satisfying considering it is also a childhood friends trope, I loved the happy ending ♥️. I would recommend this book to everyone who loves dark romance, especially college dark romance.

⭐️Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶Rating:🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 100000/10🤭

[Katelynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for forced proximity books and this one knocked that trope out of the park. Blaise and Desmond have a long history so when they become roommates in their coed apartment the sparks fly. Desmond is absolutely a toxic and over the top hero. I enjoyed his obsessed nature especially for the girl he once cared for. Blaise has had nothing but hurt and she is definitely a black cat personality. I loved her softness hidden under that gruff exterior. She absolutely matched his ferocity with her own. One of the most surprising parts was the third act in a couple of ways, but the main thing I loved was seeing Desmond fight his own instincts to be the man Blaise needed and wanted. He definitely earned some redemption for early actions.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bitterness of Venom is a dark college romance that stands alone. Former best friends, rich and poor looking for revenge with hockey and lots of witty banter. The MMC is not likeable and the FMC never seems to catch a break. There are editing errors and I liked the HEA with 2 bonus epilogues.
TW: Dub-con, Non-con, Violence, Murder, Light BDSM, Mention of drugs, Bullying, Humiliation kink, Degradation, Burn play, Somnophilia, Blood play, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Death of a parent, OW drama, Child Neglect and Child Abuse.


Desmond Rickman and Blaise Sheffield were each others lifeline and best friends since Kindergarten. At 15, Blaise's mama died and she was taken away.

Years later they are both attending the same college and become roommates. Once Desmond recognizes her he sets out for revenge for her leaving him and breaking his heart.

Both are different people but it's soon apparent that they still have a connection. Will love win out when one is forced to leave the other?

[Michelle Krystel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given an advanced readers copy of this book and have decided to write a voluntary. I got blown away by this book. I love reading bully romance it's actually my favorite trope, and I haven't really read a good one in long time till now. The Bitterness Of Venom it pushes your comfort zones which I love one book does that. Desmond is completely unhinged, he has no morals. And Blaise she's actually a, great herione. She's fiesty, sassy, and can push back. But truly she's no match to Des when it comes to what he wants. I want of these two chatters and other characters as well. Destiny, Jasper etc. Best bully book I've read in long time by far. And my first my Mt. Morgan

[Hana De Meo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Bitterness of Venom is a “dark” hockey romance that follows Blaise and Desmond. They go from friends to enemies to lovers in this very fast paced book. The transitions during the different stages were a bit messy and didn’t flow the greatest. There was a really interesting plot which ended up having massive holes in and wasn’t fully completed in the end but the author tried to wrap it up quickly and just didn’t. I was extremely excited and thought this book would be a solid 4/5 when I read the prologue and first chapter because Blaise sounded like a broken child turned badass but it went down him very quickly and both the FMC and MMC were all talk and no substance and ended up feeling very flat. Dark romance is one of my favourite genres and I also love hockey so was excited to see them together but it seemed the characters were trying to hard to act like dark and morally grey when really it just came across as a really bad act. Maybe I’ve read too many dark romance that I’m particular. There are small things that don’t make a lot of sense that caused the book to be all over the places with things not adding up for example it’s meant to be the off season so the MMC is drinking and then next chapter it’s hockey season so MMC can’t be drinking and then next chapter it’s the off season so MMC and so on. This should’ve been tracked better so there would be no confusion and it would make more sense. Another small error is the name Elisha or Elijah not sure which it’s meant to be but this Elijah popped up and then vanished but they seemed to be the same person. Overall I thought it was an amazing concept but didn’t hit the mark for me.

[Kolleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Hockey Romance with all the tropes. I loved it so much I read in 1 day! It is friends to lovers to enemies to lovers, degradation, spice, unaliving, toxic love, and more!

Blaise is a bad a$$ FMC who is action-packed with issues. She is constantly fighting for freedom.

Desmond is morally black....not grey! After not seeing Blaise since they were 15, he is ready for revenge. He's also completely obsessed with Blaise.

[Seems · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were too many things that didn't make sense to me, and it felt like things were thrown in the book that didn't feel organic.

[Billie Pariseau · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really really wanted to love this. I love bully romance, but his reason for hating her just didn’t do it for me. It left me so confused. He knew what she was going through and had to have known someone would get involved one day. But I trudged on. And it did start to get good, but then it felt rushed and it lost me. I think if it was longer and didn’t jump around it would be a killer story. But unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me.

[Colbygirl13reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a crazy ride The Bitterness of Venom takes you on. Blaise and Desmond were childhood best friends that helped each other more than the other knew until Blaise is whisked away. Reacquainting during college is not what either expected. The chemistry, banter and feistiness between the two kept me engaged and wanting more. The character development and plot were engaging and that plot twist ending!!!
Definitely read your trigger warnings, but if you like dark romance this one’s for you. Thank you literally Yours PR for the ARC

[Sc · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Just NO. 😣

[romancelover]

Read up until 9% and DNF’d lol
Writing was choppy, disconjointed, characters didn’t connect and felt 2 dimensional. Pass.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This hooked me really quickly but about 45% in just didn’t pick up enough for me. There was a a lot that got skipped over and recapped in the next chapter and it was all things I would’ve liked to see and not just recapped. It moved so quickly that it felt like I was skimming the book and unfortunately that took me out of the story and sadly I DNF’d at 60%

[Lorena Garcia -- Brittany's Book Blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Desmond and Blaise, childhood friends with feelings for each other- from opposite sides of the tracks. Desmond comes from money and Blaise is ... well she's poor but that never seemed to put a damper in their relationship -- until it did. Somehow one day Blaise found herself fleeing away and left Desmond heartbroken. He was so hurt that he vowed that the day he ran into her again he was going to get revenge from her.

Years later, they run into each other and to Blaise's surprise, she finds out that she is going to be rooming with three guys and hold and behold -- Desmond is one of them. It doesn't take long for Desmond to give Blaise the little chat that she is to do whatever he pleases if she wants to keep her scholarship and the arrangements starts NOW!

But Blaise also has a secret that no one must know about, she is working on the side for a man who she has a debt with and when she disobeys, her debt keeps increasing and she doesn't know how to get rid of him or this debt. How can she find a way to get rid of it?

She also has to get away from Desmond before her heart gets broken or she doesn't know what will her life will become. Desmond, on the other hand, thought he was hurting her by using her and degrading and humiliating her, but if anything, he's finding out that he's just finding himself falling more in love with her every single day.

What will end up happening with these two and her dilemma?

I was engrossed in this story and I loved Desmond and how domineering he was with Blaise. Blaise was soft when she needed to be but was a tough cookie when you pushed her buttons. A quick read that will have you hooked for a few hours of your time!

[Pamela Deveze (winesandbooks_) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did someone say Dark and also Hockey?

Oh, dear! This was quite a ride!

Desmond is left heartbroken after Blaise disappears from his life. He doesn’t expect to see Blaise ever again, especially years later in the apartment he shares with 2 of his teammates. Blaise doesn’t know but Desmond will make her pay for her leaving and they will start playing a game with serious consequences.

WOW. This was WOW. It’s been time since I was so hooked and so invested in a story and its characters. The spice, the darkness, the drama was perfection!

What to expect:
🖤 Dark Hockey Romance
🖤 University Setting
🖤 Friends to Sworn Enemies to Lovers
🖤 Humiliation, all the spice
🖤 Amazing twists

The Bitterness Of Venom:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟+ (gimme all the stars)

[Leslie || original book nerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

💞🏒𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖊𝖓𝖔𝖒 𝕽𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖜🏒💞

Author: MT Morgan

Couple: Blaise Sheffield & Desmond Rickmond

Tropes: dark romance, hockey romance, college romance, praise k!nk, taboo, bully romance, enemy to lover, roommates x forced proximity, childhood crush, orally grey MMC

Review: MT Morgan took me on an angst filled, hate to love you, second chance romance in The Bitterness of Venom and nothing is the same afterwards! Blaise and Desmond are the definition of toxic soul mates who can’t resist the draw to each other or the hurt they like to cause. MT was able to create an intricate web of deceit, twisted and taboo while also giving us the steam, chemistry and love as these two work out where their childhood bond went wrong.

Blaise and Desmond are similar to what would happen if two dark titans clashed. Each one had different scars and emotional baggage that fueled their inner fire. The way Desmond and Blaise pushed and pulled at the other’s sanity left me in states of chaos, anger and lust as they both evolved and devolved together. MT was able to toe the line with dubious consent and twisted lust perfectly and I enjoyed seeing Desmond become almost feral for Blaise after their meet-hate.

Blaise’s POV tore me to shred multiple times since her past, present and dreams were so full of tragedy. The way MT was able to unravel the twists and turns in her POV were shocking and surprising to me since I thought it was going one way only to see the end results completely different than what I thought! I also wanted to both hug her and shake her since she was incapable of staying out of trouble!

Desmond was also a MC that shredded me. His anger led me on a road full of ironic twists and dark humor only the morally grey can live up to and I loved every minute! From the degradation and humiliation he inflicts to the absolute obsession and possessiveness he develops (or rather never lost) for Blaise, he was everything I wanted in a toxic MMC! The intensity of the heat between the two of them also added to his allure since his mouth was DIRTY and fanned the flames between them every time!

While this book was full of spice and heat, the center piece was the way the two healed each other. MT was able to grow their bond from toxic to slightly less toxic by the end. MT’s twists surrounding the tragedy of their childhood bond tied up the loose ends and allowed for just enough closure for them both so they could get their HEA and what an HEA it was!

Rating: 5/5, Desmond Rickman…give me more of that deliciously dark man!


Thank you to MT Morgan for sending me this ARC!

[T🩵 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure what this was. There were a lot of plot holes that could have used to be fleshed out a bit more. For the length of this book, I feel the author should have chosen a select few plot points and stuck to them. There were just too many to navigate in such a short time.

The entire book was sporadic and really all over the place in terms of character development and plot progression. I was just.. extremely confused for the majority of the book. There were quite a few “shock factor” moments that I felt were just purely… that. Along with how poorly Desmond treated Blaise. He didn’t grovel a bit.

I mean, we’re just going to let it slide that he zip tied, blind folded and threw her on the train tracks to run for her life from a moving train before ripping her off the tracks last minute, just to shove her down the hill and RAPE her. There was no “dub-con”. At this point; they’re still enemies. She outwardly says “no” and he asks again and she confirms that she doesn’t want him to fuck her. Then he does so- Aggressively as all get out. Even after her realizes that she was a virgin. And we just… never touch on that again? No. I’m sorry. I just can’t. There was just no redemption. Honestly, no reason at all for him to even hate her. She was removed from her home by CPS, he took that as her abandoning him. Therefore he committed HEINOUS acts against her for THAT. I love dark romance but this was just unjustifiably horrendous. Can we also talk about how he hangs her by chains, fucks her within an inch of her life (he even admits this) and then causally calls his teammate over to give her an IV and he JUST LEAVES? Like she’s unresponsive and very obviously abused and this guy just… up and leaves? Like ah, if you’re gonna play games make sure she’s hydrated. HOMIE. WHAT?


Non Con/ Rape Scene:
“No,” I blurt, digging my fingernails into his palms. He cocks his head, looking like a predator. “No? You’re telling me,” he moves his fingers inside me, and I die a thousand deaths of embarrassment at the wet noises I make, “you don’t want me to fuck you?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” The smile that graces his full lips is that of a villain as he parts my legs, moving my panties to the side and thrusting all the way in.