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Cartel Kings #1
Obsessed: His Cartel King
There's no way out. I can't escape him. But do I even want to?
Kidnapped by a Colombian crime lord and held hostage for my father's betrayal, I'm completely at the mercy of a man who acts like he despises me.
But I see the way he looks at me—like he can't help himself. Like he's fighting against his nature. Like he's losing that fight.
And I'm losing mine. I can't resist him. He's a dark flame, and I'm a moth, ready to burn for him.
Whatever he wants, I know I'll give it to him. I'm already his. It's just a matter of time.
OBSESSED brings together a submissive boy needing a firm hand and a straight-to-gay crime boss in a high heat, dark MM crime romance with a HEA and no cliffhanger. This novel is #1 in the Cartel Kings Series, but can be read as a standalone.
Kidnapped by a Colombian crime lord and held hostage for my father's betrayal, I'm completely at the mercy of a man who acts like he despises me.
But I see the way he looks at me—like he can't help himself. Like he's fighting against his nature. Like he's losing that fight.
And I'm losing mine. I can't resist him. He's a dark flame, and I'm a moth, ready to burn for him.
Whatever he wants, I know I'll give it to him. I'm already his. It's just a matter of time.
OBSESSED brings together a submissive boy needing a firm hand and a straight-to-gay crime boss in a high heat, dark MM crime romance with a HEA and no cliffhanger. This novel is #1 in the Cartel Kings Series, but can be read as a standalone.
213 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 9, 2024
434 people are currently reading
445 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
July 12, 2024
This book is truly awful. Hot garbage. Don't waste your time, even if you get it for free. Just trash it.
First off, I'm 95% sure it was mostly written by AI. There aren't any noticeable spelling or grammar mistakes, yet there are various inconsistencies like the name of the cartel changing in different parts of the story, or a character magically knowing the name of another character before they are introduced. A lot of the detail to interpersonal reactions is missing, like how Bautista's "apology" for telling Rylan he never mattered isn't really an apology and wouldn't go over like that in the real world.
AI models are good at easy things (like spelling, grammar, general coherence). But they lose small details such as keeping names and locations/scenes straight, or knowing when exactly in the story's timeline an event happened to a character. In other words, the problems with this story largely match those I'd expect if an AI model was used to write the majority of it without significant author critique and review. Authors shouldn't earn much revenue for such low effort, in my opinion.
Also damning is the fact this entire series was published in like a month's time. It's 1000 pages+... in 4-5 weeks. Either the author had it all pre-written, or there was some heavy AI usage involved. I'm pretty sure it's the latter.
Anyway, setting aside the likely AI-ness of the story, it sucks on its own and would earn the same rating from me even if it was written by the author directly. The major problem is that this is not a romance. I've read literally hundreds of dark romances. Extremely dark ones, even. This is not any of that. Bautista is an abuser. He straight up abuses Rylan physically and emotionally, and he NEVER apologizes. Let me say that again for the people in the back... BAUTISTA NEVER APOLOGIZES FOR CAUSING RYLAN ANY PAIN OR SUFFERING AT ANY POINT IN THE BOOK. He never even comes close. I don't believe for one second that Bautista loves Rylan.
Not even when Bautista literally beats him on the errant assumption that he betrayed Bautista. In fact, Rylan was trying (at cost to his own safety and freedom) to save Bautista's daughter from being kidnapped and likely raped and/or killed. But does Bautista apologize for beating Rylan after he finds that out? Nope, he doesn't say anything at all about it. Just a happy lil' beating, to the point of Rylan crying uncontrollably and begging for him to stop. But Bautista just "feels responsible" to "comfort" Rylan. (Side note real quick to explain one of those inconsistencies I mentioned above... Bautista "comforts" Rylan by rubbing his back... the back that Bautista just beat full strength with a belt to the point of numerous welps that are bruising. Lol sounds "comforting" right?) Um, no, you need to "feel responsible" enough to get on your fucking knees and grovel for forgiveness, asshole. But, of course, Rylan is just... okay NBD, brush it (and everything else) under the rug! 🤷♂️
There are so many problems with this book, and I just KNOW they will persist the whole series. No thanks, I'm out. And this is a strict DNR author for me now. The low-quality AI story is too evident for me to waste my time with anything else they try to publish.
✌️👋
First off, I'm 95% sure it was mostly written by AI. There aren't any noticeable spelling or grammar mistakes, yet there are various inconsistencies like the name of the cartel changing in different parts of the story, or a character magically knowing the name of another character before they are introduced. A lot of the detail to interpersonal reactions is missing, like how Bautista's "apology" for telling Rylan he never mattered isn't really an apology and wouldn't go over like that in the real world.
AI models are good at easy things (like spelling, grammar, general coherence). But they lose small details such as keeping names and locations/scenes straight, or knowing when exactly in the story's timeline an event happened to a character. In other words, the problems with this story largely match those I'd expect if an AI model was used to write the majority of it without significant author critique and review. Authors shouldn't earn much revenue for such low effort, in my opinion.
Also damning is the fact this entire series was published in like a month's time. It's 1000 pages+... in 4-5 weeks. Either the author had it all pre-written, or there was some heavy AI usage involved. I'm pretty sure it's the latter.
Anyway, setting aside the likely AI-ness of the story, it sucks on its own and would earn the same rating from me even if it was written by the author directly. The major problem is that this is not a romance. I've read literally hundreds of dark romances. Extremely dark ones, even. This is not any of that. Bautista is an abuser. He straight up abuses Rylan physically and emotionally, and he NEVER apologizes. Let me say that again for the people in the back... BAUTISTA NEVER APOLOGIZES FOR CAUSING RYLAN ANY PAIN OR SUFFERING AT ANY POINT IN THE BOOK. He never even comes close. I don't believe for one second that Bautista loves Rylan.
Not even when Bautista literally beats him on the errant assumption that he betrayed Bautista. In fact, Rylan was trying (at cost to his own safety and freedom) to save Bautista's daughter from being kidnapped and likely raped and/or killed. But does Bautista apologize for beating Rylan after he finds that out? Nope, he doesn't say anything at all about it. Just a happy lil' beating, to the point of Rylan crying uncontrollably and begging for him to stop. But Bautista just "feels responsible" to "comfort" Rylan. (Side note real quick to explain one of those inconsistencies I mentioned above... Bautista "comforts" Rylan by rubbing his back... the back that Bautista just beat full strength with a belt to the point of numerous welps that are bruising. Lol sounds "comforting" right?) Um, no, you need to "feel responsible" enough to get on your fucking knees and grovel for forgiveness, asshole. But, of course, Rylan is just... okay NBD, brush it (and everything else) under the rug! 🤷♂️
There are so many problems with this book, and I just KNOW they will persist the whole series. No thanks, I'm out. And this is a strict DNR author for me now. The low-quality AI story is too evident for me to waste my time with anything else they try to publish.
✌️👋
October 5, 2024
Oh mama. Somebody fan me. Im sweating.
TW: humiliation, dubcon, kidnapping, dom/sub dynamic, physical hitting (2x), definitely darker
TW: humiliation, dubcon, kidnapping, dom/sub dynamic, physical hitting (2x), definitely darker
May 9, 2024
My initial thought was that this book and their romance would be sweet and romantic. I was so wrong!
I think the cover itself was a dead giveaway that this book was a dark mafia romance, but I'm blindsided by the blurb.
If you liked Dom and his sub, this book was for you. I just can't stand the way Bautista humiliated Rylan over and over again, but the part I hate the most is that, in fact, there were actually two parts. One was when Bautista almost couldn't help with Rylan's temptation. He asked his second-in-command, Carlos, to bring him one of his usual "women" to have sex so he could forget about Rylan's existence. And the second part, and it was the worst, was that Rylan was summoned to Bautista's room to stand in the corner, just to be humiliated by him when he was having sex with another "woman."
Even though Bautista threw his women away and finally got together with Rylan, it didn't help me enjoy reading their story at all.
I think the cover itself was a dead giveaway that this book was a dark mafia romance, but I'm blindsided by the blurb.
If you liked Dom and his sub, this book was for you. I just can't stand the way Bautista humiliated Rylan over and over again, but the part I hate the most is that, in fact, there were actually two parts. One was when Bautista almost couldn't help with Rylan's temptation. He asked his second-in-command, Carlos, to bring him one of his usual "women" to have sex so he could forget about Rylan's existence. And the second part, and it was the worst, was that Rylan was summoned to Bautista's room to stand in the corner, just to be humiliated by him when he was having sex with another "woman."
Even though Bautista threw his women away and finally got together with Rylan, it didn't help me enjoy reading their story at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2024
Well hi.
I just powered through the whole series in 2 days and just wanted to give some perspective (or i would like to think i do?) About the whole series.
Before you read this, be aware that i spoiled some details. But i didn't put the whole review under spoiler cause it wasn't that significant, so with that in mind, hope you enjoy my rant here.
So the first book here "Obsessed: His Cartel King"
Also there was no TW page/pages in the book, just so you know.
The story starts with Marcus Bautista Aguilar, basically in the middle of throwing a prospect of thieving (from his cartel business) off the balcony and his cute little daughter (who's 8 years old) saves his ass (like literally). Which was a promising opening tbh.
Then we learn the other MCs father (who i believe was the governor of california) owes him (our dcary mafia mmc1) money so he decides to kidnap his son.
Then we get to meet our other mc rylan (who btw is a fashion designer, a famous one at that) who just randomly decides to go home from a night club, alone, in the night, in a dark and empty path and is SHOCKED when he gets abducted.
So fast forward all the stuff and the point of my review here.
The first half of the book, sucks.
Look, i get it, it's dark romance, so toxic relationships are quite like the norm, but this one wasn't toxic, it was straight up abuse, both mentally and emotionally.
Like mr marcus was just there, being dominant and powerful tormenting poor rylan (who had a backbone made of jelly fish btw) and humiliate him left and right just for rylan to get aroused by it.
Like sure, he has some extreme case of degradation kink but it was just... pathetic. Like i wanted to just yell "stand tf up you degenerate twink" left and right. (Btw we learn there's patern in dynamics for all of the books, we have the toxic dom/pathetic sub to the core for all of the books so before you read, keep that in mind).
Anyways there was one scene that almost made me drop the book, cause it was too much, and it comes from someone who has read some nasty stuff, i'm talking about the scene where marcus punished rylan by beating him with his belt just because he thought he was leaving him or idk, was betraying him. Which was quite fucked up if you ask me but hey, tik tok said in dark romance it's ok so I'm trusting them.
Other than that, the second half of the book was the saving grace, their relationship developed from abuser/abusee (if that's a real word idk) to slightly abusive/pathetically touch starved and i think that was sweet, yet marcus had to go and punish the poor rylan and ruin it.
So in conclusion the book is basically an abusive relationship (in the nicest way cause well, it's dark romance)
These two had mad chemistry i give them that
Their dynamic was quite unusual
The transition from captive/captor to dom/sub to boyfriends was sudden but believable (at least to me)
The whole thing is straight forward
You get what you're promised
It's just a matter of perspective
Frankly i don't enjoy violence between my MCs (specially when one of them is pathetically weaker) but once again, it's drak romance so you have to expect the toxicity.
P.S. 1 : marcus sleeps with women prior to his relationship with rylan turning physical, and he once does it with rylan present as a torture/taunting tactic.
P.S. 2: there isn't any grovelling for how marcus treated rylan in the first half, so if you expect it, you would be disappointed.
P.S 3: there might be some grammatical and typos here and there in my review, and I'm too lazy to check the whole thing so if you saw any, ignore them or idk, remind me.
I just powered through the whole series in 2 days and just wanted to give some perspective (or i would like to think i do?) About the whole series.
Before you read this, be aware that i spoiled some details. But i didn't put the whole review under spoiler cause it wasn't that significant, so with that in mind, hope you enjoy my rant here.
So the first book here "Obsessed: His Cartel King"
Also there was no TW page/pages in the book, just so you know.
The story starts with Marcus Bautista Aguilar, basically in the middle of throwing a prospect of thieving (from his cartel business) off the balcony and his cute little daughter (who's 8 years old) saves his ass (like literally). Which was a promising opening tbh.
Then we learn the other MCs father (who i believe was the governor of california) owes him (our dcary mafia mmc1) money so he decides to kidnap his son.
Then we get to meet our other mc rylan (who btw is a fashion designer, a famous one at that) who just randomly decides to go home from a night club, alone, in the night, in a dark and empty path and is SHOCKED when he gets abducted.
So fast forward all the stuff and the point of my review here.
The first half of the book, sucks.
Look, i get it, it's dark romance, so toxic relationships are quite like the norm, but this one wasn't toxic, it was straight up abuse, both mentally and emotionally.
Like mr marcus was just there, being dominant and powerful tormenting poor rylan (who had a backbone made of jelly fish btw) and humiliate him left and right just for rylan to get aroused by it.
Like sure, he has some extreme case of degradation kink but it was just... pathetic. Like i wanted to just yell "stand tf up you degenerate twink" left and right. (Btw we learn there's patern in dynamics for all of the books, we have the toxic dom/pathetic sub to the core for all of the books so before you read, keep that in mind).
Anyways there was one scene that almost made me drop the book, cause it was too much, and it comes from someone who has read some nasty stuff, i'm talking about the scene where marcus punished rylan by beating him with his belt just because he thought he was leaving him or idk, was betraying him. Which was quite fucked up if you ask me but hey, tik tok said in dark romance it's ok so I'm trusting them.
Other than that, the second half of the book was the saving grace, their relationship developed from abuser/abusee (if that's a real word idk) to slightly abusive/pathetically touch starved and i think that was sweet, yet marcus had to go and punish the poor rylan and ruin it.
So in conclusion the book is basically an abusive relationship (in the nicest way cause well, it's dark romance)
These two had mad chemistry i give them that
Their dynamic was quite unusual
The transition from captive/captor to dom/sub to boyfriends was sudden but believable (at least to me)
The whole thing is straight forward
You get what you're promised
It's just a matter of perspective
Frankly i don't enjoy violence between my MCs (specially when one of them is pathetically weaker) but once again, it's drak romance so you have to expect the toxicity.
P.S. 1 : marcus sleeps with women prior to his relationship with rylan turning physical, and he once does it with rylan present as a torture/taunting tactic.
P.S. 2: there isn't any grovelling for how marcus treated rylan in the first half, so if you expect it, you would be disappointed.
P.S 3: there might be some grammatical and typos here and there in my review, and I'm too lazy to check the whole thing so if you saw any, ignore them or idk, remind me.
August 7, 2024
I enjoyed this . At first, I was not comfortable with the writing style. It seemed too flowery and like the author was trying to impress with her vast vocabulary. But, shortly into the story I didn’t notice that being a problem. The story just flowed easily.
My biggest complaint (and it’s not really a complaint) is that I wouldn’t really describe this book as dark. It’s certainly about a mafia boss and his captive gay prisoner. I just thought it was more of a love story. It was a quick fun read for me, and I will definitely check out more books in this series.
My biggest complaint (and it’s not really a complaint) is that I wouldn’t really describe this book as dark. It’s certainly about a mafia boss and his captive gay prisoner. I just thought it was more of a love story. It was a quick fun read for me, and I will definitely check out more books in this series.
December 5, 2024
pure lust and stockholm syndrome.
they literally had one conversation where they tried to get to know each other and it was just them trauma bonding basically LOL
they literally had one conversation where they tried to get to know each other and it was just them trauma bonding basically LOL
avoid
September 3, 2024Self note:
Avoid
The H1- Rylan has to watch the Zero- Bautista with one of his women
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Avoid
The H1- Rylan has to watch the Zero- Bautista with one of his women
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
October 11, 2024
This reader is still very happy.
June 4, 2024
DNF @ 29%.
Eh… you know, this dark romance could potentially be dark, but there’s just not a lot happemig almost 1/3 in, and I’m a bit bored, frankly. Bautista just needs to slap Rylan around and make him choke on his cock, use him as a footstool and stop worrying if that would be gay.
And a small editing issue that is a big pet peeve… Rylan refers to Carmelita by her name multiple times before actually being told her name (Carlos only said he was Bautista’s daughter, so Rylan shouldn’t know her name until she introduced herself).
Eh… you know, this dark romance could potentially be dark, but there’s just not a lot happemig almost 1/3 in, and I’m a bit bored, frankly. Bautista just needs to slap Rylan around and make him choke on his cock, use him as a footstool and stop worrying if that would be gay.
And a small editing issue that is a big pet peeve… Rylan refers to Carmelita by her name multiple times before actually being told her name (Carlos only said he was Bautista’s daughter, so Rylan shouldn’t know her name until she introduced herself).
August 29, 2024
I hesitated reading this one and started with the second book in the series.
I loved this. Loved it. First of all it’s FICTION, it’s suppose to be over the top. I liked that Bautista was kind of a jerk. He struggled coming to terms with his desire for Rylan, rather than it be insta love.
The story itself is edgy and endearing. A great series overall.
I loved this. Loved it. First of all it’s FICTION, it’s suppose to be over the top. I liked that Bautista was kind of a jerk. He struggled coming to terms with his desire for Rylan, rather than it be insta love.
The story itself is edgy and endearing. A great series overall.
June 11, 2024
Well, this was more fun than I expected!
dnf
August 12, 2024DNF @ 51%. Not into it. Like another review mentioned There’s a lot of random name changes for certain things. And the progression of their relationship isn’t really explained too too much.
October 10, 2024
This book is different from what I usually read. It’s well written and an intense story. I love their sweet happy ending in the end❤️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
June 10, 2024
This book didn't feel dark to me at all. Maybe I'm jaded and have probably read some unhinged sh*t in my life, but this wasn't dark or terribly entertaining. The storyline was okay. There was very little cartel activity happening 'on screen', and besides being attacked or when they went to save Rylan, it's all pretty tame with minimal criminal activity. 🤷🏼♀️
June 18, 2024
Hmmmm
I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this one. Bautista was awful. Like, super awful. And I know this is a dark book and he’s a drug lord, but pffftt. He can be soft for one person And he gets there…eventually.
Rylan was okay. A little too easily swayed for my liking. He didn’t have a whole lot of fire in him. I wish he had faught back a little bit to Bautista doing all that stuff to him.
Alas, the book was okay for the most part. I might read the second, but I have to let this one settle first.
I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this one. Bautista was awful. Like, super awful. And I know this is a dark book and he’s a drug lord, but pffftt. He can be soft for one person And he gets there…eventually.
Rylan was okay. A little too easily swayed for my liking. He didn’t have a whole lot of fire in him. I wish he had faught back a little bit to Bautista doing all that stuff to him.
Alas, the book was okay for the most part. I might read the second, but I have to let this one settle first.
May 14, 2024
it’s ok
The book is ok a little dark but nothing too overwhelming. As a dark book you can definitely expect toxic a toxic relationship and even Stockholm syndrome.
How Bautista treats Ryland in the beginning is twisted but it is a dark book in a way so it makes sense. My only problem is I wish there was more background story at the end where everything is brought back up so there’s no loose ends. Other than that it was an ok book.
The book is ok a little dark but nothing too overwhelming. As a dark book you can definitely expect toxic a toxic relationship and even Stockholm syndrome.
How Bautista treats Ryland in the beginning is twisted but it is a dark book in a way so it makes sense. My only problem is I wish there was more background story at the end where everything is brought back up so there’s no loose ends. Other than that it was an ok book.
April 26, 2025
This doesn’t feel like a human being wrote this book. But sue me I want to read Carlos’s story
July 1, 2025
This was an okay read. I’m used to reading dark MM romance, so I decided to give this one a try. The cartel concept was a first for me, so I was very interested to see how everything works, and I was surprised at how things were handled about the business.
Bautista is head of a cartel, and he abducts Rylan because his father has debts he hasn’t paid, resulting in Rylan becoming a hostage of the cartel. How things start is rough because Bautista finds himself interested in Rylan but denies that attraction. So far, it makes sense since being with a man in that type of business is not well received, so his harsh treatment doesn’t surprise me. They develop a Dom/Sub dynamic that wasn’t very easy to read; it was mostly very violent and didn’t feel right with me. I know it’s fiction, but it wasn’t handled properly. There was not a real connection most of the time until the end, where they actually start to somehow communicate.
Overall, entertaining at times but very inconsistent in some other aspects that made it hard to continue.
Bautista is head of a cartel, and he abducts Rylan because his father has debts he hasn’t paid, resulting in Rylan becoming a hostage of the cartel. How things start is rough because Bautista finds himself interested in Rylan but denies that attraction. So far, it makes sense since being with a man in that type of business is not well received, so his harsh treatment doesn’t surprise me. They develop a Dom/Sub dynamic that wasn’t very easy to read; it was mostly very violent and didn’t feel right with me. I know it’s fiction, but it wasn’t handled properly. There was not a real connection most of the time until the end, where they actually start to somehow communicate.
Overall, entertaining at times but very inconsistent in some other aspects that made it hard to continue.
June 19, 2024
Fantastic balance of dark & sexy
Whew! This is a new to me author in a genre I love. It can be hard to balance the dark and the sexy - along with feelings. This author has done this perfectly.
In a world where being bi is as much of a death sentence as being gay - Bautista struggles to reconcile what he craves with his deeply ingrained beliefs of what is right and ‘manly’. At first he doesn’t realize his urge to dominate his prisoner, Rylan, is even sexual. He just knows it makes him feel good. Watching him come to terms with what he feels is both painful and fulfilling.
For Rylan - being wanted - even as a slave and then a sex toy - sparks his submissive side. He wants to belong to somebody. That shouldn’t be the man who’s kidnapped him and regularly humiliates him. But Rylan can’t control his heart’s reaction to Bautista’s dominance.
Whew! This is a new to me author in a genre I love. It can be hard to balance the dark and the sexy - along with feelings. This author has done this perfectly.
In a world where being bi is as much of a death sentence as being gay - Bautista struggles to reconcile what he craves with his deeply ingrained beliefs of what is right and ‘manly’. At first he doesn’t realize his urge to dominate his prisoner, Rylan, is even sexual. He just knows it makes him feel good. Watching him come to terms with what he feels is both painful and fulfilling.
For Rylan - being wanted - even as a slave and then a sex toy - sparks his submissive side. He wants to belong to somebody. That shouldn’t be the man who’s kidnapped him and regularly humiliates him. But Rylan can’t control his heart’s reaction to Bautista’s dominance.
June 21, 2024
Bautista and Rylan
Bautista- Cartel leader who is ruthless in organization, yet is looking for something that he can't quite put his finger on...
Rylan- An aspiring fashion designer (kinda), who has a shady father who seems to be unable to be happy single, as well as cons cartel leaders...
These two end up in the same room after Bautista has Rylan kidnapped due to Rylan's Father's unpaid "loan"... With forces proximity... Dark desires lurking in both men's minds... Rylan sparks a wicked need for submission that only he can give Bautista... While, Bautista triggers a need to be owned inside of Rylan...
Can Bautista have respect/loyalty
MM
HEA
STRICT TOP/BOTTOM
CARTEL/INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIP/HURT-COMFORT/KIDNAPPING/SINGLE DAD/GFY
HIGH ANGST
3 OUTTA 5 IN THE 🔥🔥🔥 DEPARTMENT
Bautista- Cartel leader who is ruthless in organization, yet is looking for something that he can't quite put his finger on...
Rylan- An aspiring fashion designer (kinda), who has a shady father who seems to be unable to be happy single, as well as cons cartel leaders...
These two end up in the same room after Bautista has Rylan kidnapped due to Rylan's Father's unpaid "loan"... With forces proximity... Dark desires lurking in both men's minds... Rylan sparks a wicked need for submission that only he can give Bautista... While, Bautista triggers a need to be owned inside of Rylan...
Can Bautista have respect/loyalty
MM
HEA
STRICT TOP/BOTTOM
CARTEL/INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIP/HURT-COMFORT/KIDNAPPING/SINGLE DAD/GFY
HIGH ANGST
3 OUTTA 5 IN THE 🔥🔥🔥 DEPARTMENT
January 15, 2025
2.5 rounded up.
Classic rich, young guy with a shady father gets kidnapped by the mob. Mob boss is hot. Toxic relationship commence!
I’ve read quite a few books with a similar premise. This kind of ridiculous dark romance setting is something that I normally eat UP! However, this book was really just fine for me. I’ve read at least 4 other books in the past year that have a similar/almost the same premise, but are just executed better.
If you love the tropes in this book, then you’ll probably still have fun. However, the book wasn’t for me.
The characters are flat, and there’s absolutely no complexity to them. The side characters are there for convenience/plot devices. The plot is simple, and the chemistry between the main characters falls flat, especially the transition between the beginning when Bautista hates Ryland, and the end where they’re madly in love.
Classic rich, young guy with a shady father gets kidnapped by the mob. Mob boss is hot. Toxic relationship commence!
I’ve read quite a few books with a similar premise. This kind of ridiculous dark romance setting is something that I normally eat UP! However, this book was really just fine for me. I’ve read at least 4 other books in the past year that have a similar/almost the same premise, but are just executed better.
If you love the tropes in this book, then you’ll probably still have fun. However, the book wasn’t for me.
The characters are flat, and there’s absolutely no complexity to them. The side characters are there for convenience/plot devices. The plot is simple, and the chemistry between the main characters falls flat, especially the transition between the beginning when Bautista hates Ryland, and the end where they’re madly in love.
July 6, 2024
So this was like…a lot for me. I wish this book had some trigger warnings (though not a requirement) because I don’t like reading books with humiliation and that played HEAVILY in this story. If I had known that when the author said the MC had a “heavy hand” she meant someone who literally beat the shit out of his lover with a belt because he was angry, I would have passed.
This was not a romance. This was a story of a toxic, unhealthy relationship that relied on forced proximity and a non-negotiated power exchange. As far as story telling goes, the plot was all over the place and weirdly enough, a little too cookie cutter for a mafia romance if that makes sense. With this in mind, I do not have plans to continue the rest of the series.
This was not a romance. This was a story of a toxic, unhealthy relationship that relied on forced proximity and a non-negotiated power exchange. As far as story telling goes, the plot was all over the place and weirdly enough, a little too cookie cutter for a mafia romance if that makes sense. With this in mind, I do not have plans to continue the rest of the series.
November 10, 2024
I didn't like Rylan, I understood the power dynamic but you mean Even when he was thinking of how to save Bautista's daughter, he was more worried about how he will never get his Cock again and that’s crazy. He couldn't even stand up a little for himself and at least let that man grovel even after he stood there and that man called in a woman just to humiliate him by fucking her. Crazy. Plus Carlos never told Rylan Bautista's daughter's name but he knew that. Bautista deserves to be single but Rylan said no because how do you make love to someone and break up with them immediately? That’s some crazy shit.. aside that I enjoyed the book but Rylan needs therapy bcs that’s not love and His so called man never said it back 😂😂
February 10, 2025
Hmm... interesting I can't lie, but the beginning wasn't really to my taste... nor the characters... or more precisely Rylan. Too whiny for my taste and it seems to me that he was dominated too easily. Yes, maybe he wouldn't survive if he annoyed his captor too much, but in my opinion he gave in too easily. As for Bautista, he's sexy, but a little strange, in the end Rylan didn't do anything... and yet he treated him like he was the only gay on earth...At least it ended okay. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't particularly like it either. I wanted to abandon the book many times, but somehow I'm glad I didn't.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2025
A good story, good bedroom scenes, but I didn't feel their attraction to each other as well as I could have.
What I missed in this book was the richness of the English language. There was a distinct lack of synonyms in this book. Too often the same word/term was used to describe the something in two or three sentences running. The term "kingpin" as overused and Rylan appeared to only ever have the word "Please".
I feel that the author needs to enrich their vocabulary and make good use of synonyms to have their stories come alive more. Otherwise a good book. And I may well read more books by this author.
What I missed in this book was the richness of the English language. There was a distinct lack of synonyms in this book. Too often the same word/term was used to describe the something in two or three sentences running. The term "kingpin" as overused and Rylan appeared to only ever have the word "Please".
I feel that the author needs to enrich their vocabulary and make good use of synonyms to have their stories come alive more. Otherwise a good book. And I may well read more books by this author.
November 17, 2025
Leer este libro no me tomo mucho.
Antes leía mucho romance-mafia pero este libro tuvo muy pocos puntos buenos para mi.
Los Pros.
-Se lee rápido.
-Carmelita la relación que desarrolla con Rylan.
-Carlos.
Los Contras.
-Bautista y su actitud.
-Hamilton West, el padre de Rylan.
Bautista y Hamilton (más Bautista) le hicieron mucho daño a Rylan y nunca se disculparon de forma abierta, si Bautista salvo a Rylan pero eso no basta.
Si continuó con la serie es porque se lee rápido, por curiosidad y por el personaje de Carlos, nada más.
Recomiendo el libro si se busca algo rápido, si quieren algo de calidad o mejor desarrollado, por favor, elijan otro libro.
Antes leía mucho romance-mafia pero este libro tuvo muy pocos puntos buenos para mi.
Los Pros.
-Se lee rápido.
-Carmelita la relación que desarrolla con Rylan.
-Carlos.
Los Contras.
-Bautista y su actitud.
-Hamilton West, el padre de Rylan.
Bautista y Hamilton (más Bautista) le hicieron mucho daño a Rylan y nunca se disculparon de forma abierta, si Bautista salvo a Rylan pero eso no basta.
Si continuó con la serie es porque se lee rápido, por curiosidad y por el personaje de Carlos, nada más.
Recomiendo el libro si se busca algo rápido, si quieren algo de calidad o mejor desarrollado, por favor, elijan otro libro.
May 29, 2024
I liked it. It had a nice pace, HEA, possessive MMC, dom/sub, humiliation kink. Maybe a bit too much homophobia reference, but it didn’t ruin the story. I am not horribly into humiliation kink, but if done right, I don’t mind. The only real negative, for me, was the emphasis on how weak and frail the other MMC was. I wouldn’t have minded if it came up once, but I was like the whole plot of the first act.
October 1, 2024
I really, really, enjoyed this.
I hoped I would enjoy it and I wasn’t disappointed, one bit.
Now, I know this might not be for everyone. Personally, I wouldn’t consider this a dark romance. It was more or less a love story between a Cartel boss and the gay guy he kidnapped. Now, I do understand that some of the things Bautista did to humiliate Rylan in the book might seem extreme to some, but as someone who has read worse, and revels in reading dark romance and basically inhale dark romance like oxygen those things were pretty mild to me.
Going into the book, I would say, I wasn’t really a fan of Bautista’s homophobic slurs and words. Yeah, I know it’s a cartel world, they’re pretty homophobic and all, but reading each words made me really uncomfortable. However, I loved how we could see Bautista change progressively and how his thinking also became better. The character development was great. Also impressed with the way he handled being a gay Cartel Kingpin and his declaration of offing anyone who spoke against it.
The scene where Bautista whipped Rylan, I had expected an apology and more grovelling TBH.
Overall this was a good read. It was straight to the point and it read smoothly. I enjoyed every bit of it.
🥰❤️🔥❤️🔥⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I hoped I would enjoy it and I wasn’t disappointed, one bit.
Now, I know this might not be for everyone. Personally, I wouldn’t consider this a dark romance. It was more or less a love story between a Cartel boss and the gay guy he kidnapped. Now, I do understand that some of the things Bautista did to humiliate Rylan in the book might seem extreme to some, but as someone who has read worse, and revels in reading dark romance and basically inhale dark romance like oxygen those things were pretty mild to me.
Going into the book, I would say, I wasn’t really a fan of Bautista’s homophobic slurs and words. Yeah, I know it’s a cartel world, they’re pretty homophobic and all, but reading each words made me really uncomfortable. However, I loved how we could see Bautista change progressively and how his thinking also became better. The character development was great. Also impressed with the way he handled being a gay Cartel Kingpin and his declaration of offing anyone who spoke against it.
The scene where Bautista whipped Rylan, I had expected an apology and more grovelling TBH.
Overall this was a good read. It was straight to the point and it read smoothly. I enjoyed every bit of it.
🥰❤️🔥❤️🔥⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 18, 2024
DNF
I don't like leaving bad reviews but I just couldn't get into this book at all I didn't like rylan I just the story just didn't work for me.. I'm really not into the humiliation kink And I think the homophobia bother me as well And it just didn't flow properly for me the story didn't flow …Of course I won't be finishing the series.. by the way I gave it two stars even though I did not finish it I got to 50% and by the time I got to this point, I didn’t care how the book ended so I stopped reading it..
I don't like leaving bad reviews but I just couldn't get into this book at all I didn't like rylan I just the story just didn't work for me.. I'm really not into the humiliation kink And I think the homophobia bother me as well And it just didn't flow properly for me the story didn't flow …Of course I won't be finishing the series.. by the way I gave it two stars even though I did not finish it I got to 50% and by the time I got to this point, I didn’t care how the book ended so I stopped reading it..
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