Chained

Bonded Hearts #1

by R. Collins

Seven days ago, I witnessed the unimaginable—an act that took my best friend’s life and left his widow vulnerable to my disgusting desires.

I’m a loner. A monster. A menace. What’s my plan for her? To consume every part of her and decimate her in my hell.

Will she yield to my whims, earning her freedom and her rightful place by my side? Or will she fight back and remain in my chains until her last breath?

215 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 5, 2025

About the author

R. Collins is a dark romance author with a passion for storytelling that began at a young age. A lifelong admirer of romance in all its forms, she is particularly drawn to the darker, more complex aspects of love—where desire, obsession, and vulnerability intertwine. Her writing journey started with poetry, where she honed her ability to capture raw emotions and complex feelings in every word. Now, she channels that same emotional depth into crafting interracial dark romance novels that explore intense, often forbidden connections between characters from different walks of life. Each story she tells delves into the depths of passion, the shadows of longing, and the unexpected twists that love can bring.

Reviews

[Darkreads]

DNF.

[A P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chained is a fast paced book that is able to take you on one of the most crazy thrill rides and still somehow stick the landing to leave you satisfied with a sweet conclusion.

In the beginning (and most of the book) the MMC, Michael is absolutely unhinged and completely out of control. Michelle is a newly widowed woman and her former husband was Michael’s best friend. At his funeral, Michael makes his move to go after the woman he’s lusted after for years.

She is a very uptight, real estate agent who is business minded and seemingly never puts herself first and is a very relatable modern woman.

He’s an evil brooding cowboy that drives her up the wall but still has something that magnetizes her to him.

After the funeral, he kidnaps her so any fans of captor / captive are going to love this. You’ll definitely need to check your content warnings for this one but those willing to take the leap will be extremely rewarded. I don’t want to say too much because this book has one of the most shocking flashback sequences I’ve ever read that recontextualizes their entire relationship giving you a better understanding of everyone involved.

I also love the stripped down, bare bones style of having the focus stay solely on our two characters with very little outside influence. It is different than R. Collins typical ensemble casts but was just as effective.

This book is one of the best dark romances I’ve ever read and anyone who wants to take a trip through a primal, masked cowboy’s twisted fantasies will be sinfully satisfied.

[Tanaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not dark romance it’s a crime