The Relative

by Sophia Snowe

When Ronan Flanagan arrives at Ashford Estate, he has one Revenge. His plan?

Destroy a woman and her two daughters. And above all, seduce the innocent Cressida, corrupt her, and break her. But Cressida awakens something dangerous in him—something beyond desire.

When a twisted "hunt" goes horrifically wrong and a rival family brings chaos, Ronan's rage knows no bounds. He'll burn the world to the ground to reclaim what's his.

Trapped between a mother who would sell her to the highest bidder and a darkly possessive man with a chip on his shoulder, Cressida must Can she trust the monster who saved her? Or will loving Ronan Flanagan be her ultimate downfall?

A scorching tale of obsession, betrayal, and redemption where love blooms in the most savage of hearts.

Genres: Dark Romance

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 18, 2025

Reviews

[Hannah H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book after seeing it all over TikTok! However, if it wasn’t for the character development of the MMC and *some* of the spice, the grammar (in a greater number of parts than I was personally able to ignore) would have led to a lower rating. I read it on KU so I am also mindful that the grammar I’m referring to may have partly been due to the e-book format…
I wish we could award .5 stars!

[Ellie Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love a dark romance, I gobble them up but this isn’t a dark romance at all. It’s just random words on a page, two authors and they still produced this pile of shit? 2 authors and they still both forgot about any form of plot until the last 50 or so pages? 2 FEMALE authors and they still wrote in a way that sets women back 50 years? Love isn’t the same as obsession, love isn’t sleeping with the ‘love of your lifes’ mum and sister, love isn’t setting up a game where she gets sexually, physically and emotionally assaulted.
What a wank stain of a book… if I were the authors I’d quit writing all together

⭐️- would be 0 if you could do that on goodreads

[Gabriela Luczak · Rating 1 out of 5]

read about 58% of it on my kindle and decided that I didnt want to finish it the writing was all over the place like your author forgot what they wrote in the previous chapter so I looked up the author just to find out it was written by 2 authors that are sisters and have decided to write books together which explains the inconsistent writing For example in one of the chapters the MMC was have s*x with the FMC's sister and the next chapter he was suddenly doing it with her sister and her sisters friend... so which is it? also I disliked how the were Multiple POVs in the book (there were already 4 different people's POVs the MMC pov, The FMC pov, The mothers pov and the sisters pov some people may like that I personally would prefer to have one or two povs) also the book pretty much started with s*x scenes which again some people may like i did not as it feel like it was rushed and honestly most of them weren't enjoyable they just sounded like they were written by somone who is addicted to waching p*rn and not in the good way... I was pretty disappointed after so many people praised it on TikTok Some people may enjoy this book some people like me will not to each their own..

[Tanya Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

One line review - Confusing, icky, and unnecessarily chaotic

The Relative is a dark romance, but not in a way that felt compelling or emotionally resonant. I’ve read plenty of dark romance and understand the genre, but this one crossed into territory that felt uncomfortable. The MMC wasn't morally grey, they were just… off. No one was portrayed in a redeemable light, and the story lacked the nuance needed to make those darker themes work.

The storytelling itself was jarring. Scenes would jump from one place to another with no transition, leaving me disoriented and disconnected. The multi-POV structure was overwhelming, there were simply too many, and rereading the same scene from different perspectives didn’t add anything meaningful. It felt like filler rather than depth.

Overall, this book was a frustrating experience. The premise had potential, but the execution was messy, uncomfortable, and ultimately a waste of time.

Tropes
➼ Dark Romance
➼ Taboo Themes - Check those triggers
➼ Multi-POV

[Jordan Horner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had really high hopes for this book after seeing it all over my TikTok, however it was shockingly bad! It’s almost as if the author thought yep I’m going to write a dark romance book but had no clue on how to do it. The spelling was awful, words were repeated next to each other when they didn’t belong and the use of the word “too” when it wasn’t placed correctly was annoying as hell.
Now onto other mistakes, a scene where MMC takes all his clothes off then randomly he has a knife from somewhere that he puts into his pocket (he’s naked, what pocket?) another scene where MMC is talking to someone called Max in person yet Max then calls his phone? Then another one where MMC is talking with someone called Connor but someone else called Patrick enters the conversation, but Patrick isn’t even there?

There was no real plot, the spice wasn’t spicing and zero character development…
All in all this book was a hot mess!

[Megan Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deliciously dark with just the right amount of tension. The spice was 😍👌 and added so much to the story without overpowering it. What stood out most for me was the character development of the MMC—I really enjoyed watching his growth unfold.

While it wasn’t quite as gripping as some of this author’s other books for me personally, it was still a solid, addictive read that fans of dark, forbidden romance will definitely enjoy.

[Caroline M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot . I will
just say check your triggers as
this book is DARK.

I did find a few little bits confusing
regarding continuity but it
didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book.

I did chuckle at the frequent
use of the words “bum hole” but
that’s just my inner child . There are
other words i would prefer though.

[Andrea Blackbourn · Rating 4 out of 5]

hooked

This book had me hooked from the beginning. A really fantastic read and I loved the characters. I can’t wait for the next one

[Fay Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me gripped a real page turner. Problem was there was a major mistake in the book where the story got mixed up and then corrected later on. Otherwise i loved how dark it was

[Summer Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would rate this a 8/10
It was good in the sense of the plot but a lot of the chapters were repeated a lot, I guess to make the book longer idk?

[Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Dark In Some Chapters But Still A Good Read And Enjoyed It Myself. Definitely Not One For The Faint Hearted.

[Paris Dunkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a lot of misprints in the book I for the limited edition hard back from TikTok. Overall I did enjoy the book but not as much as others I’ve read