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Recluse
Sometimes when you’re running away, you find yourself backed into a corner. All it takes is one wrong turn and whatever you’re running from closes the distance . To avoid this, I ran harder than ever before without looking back. I left everything behind to start anew in Nox Hill, a sleepy little town where it’s fall all year round and kindness comes with an asterisk.
This town has secrets... and so do I.
But we’re not the only ones.
Malakai Stark might have more secrets than anyone. With his impossible height, mismatched eyes, and mysterious demeanor, I can’t blame myself for dreaming about the recluse who lives on the other side of the cemetery. He speaks to ghosts, they say. He also plays piano in the middle of the night, drawing me into the maze of gravestones that separates us. But when those dreams I’m having start to feel a little too real, I’m forced to admit that maybe not everything is as it seems.
Real or fake, true or false, dreams or reality, the world around me twists around itself until I’m not quite sure who I am anymore. I ran to escape the darkness of my past only to find a black void in front of me, but now that I’m here, I’m done scrambling around in the dark.
I think it’s time I stop running.
This town has secrets... and so do I.
But we’re not the only ones.
Malakai Stark might have more secrets than anyone. With his impossible height, mismatched eyes, and mysterious demeanor, I can’t blame myself for dreaming about the recluse who lives on the other side of the cemetery. He speaks to ghosts, they say. He also plays piano in the middle of the night, drawing me into the maze of gravestones that separates us. But when those dreams I’m having start to feel a little too real, I’m forced to admit that maybe not everything is as it seems.
Real or fake, true or false, dreams or reality, the world around me twists around itself until I’m not quite sure who I am anymore. I ran to escape the darkness of my past only to find a black void in front of me, but now that I’m here, I’m done scrambling around in the dark.
I think it’s time I stop running.
- GenresDark Romance
286 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2025
5 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 24, 2025
Beta Read
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶🌶🌶/5
TW - heavy religious/cult themes, mild horror, gaslighting, manipulation, miscommunication, breaking and entering, alcohol consumption, underage drinking (sc), child abuse (loosely recounted), mentions of child (teen) abandonment, implied past domestic violence including mentally and emotionally abusive ex, attempted murder, murder (past, side characters), attempted human sacrifice, drugging, possession by a ghost, off screen deaths (briefly mentioned including drowning, influenza, fire, heart attack and tuberculosis), mentions of a serial killer (FMC’s ex, subsequent imprisonment), parental death (past, mentioned), birth control tampering, spying via hidden cameras, unsafe sex, use of sleeping pills, disownment, drugging of the FMC (by a side character), vomit, panic attack (brief), broken ankle, grief, nightmares, violence
CW - DubCon, breath play / choking, hand necklace, light somnophilia, overstimulation, cockwarming, public play, restraints, exhibitionism, breeding, hyperspermia, spitting, slapping, spanking, spitting, biting, D/s, primal play, CNC
Tropes - cult, found family, paranormal, dark, obsessed, possessive
Representation - MMC with heterochromia
This was so fun! I was 1% into this beta reading and saw the mention of ghosts and was IMMEDIATELY locked in!!! I enjoyed this book and the characters, being immersed in a world where it is forever autumn and the locals are on some big bullshit made for a really good setting.
Mor (FMC) and Kai (MMC) have an instant connection to the point where Mor doesn’t know whether she’s dreaming or not when she encounters him. Shunned from his own family, Kai introduces her to his found one and I found the interactions to be so sweet.
The conflict in this story (from outside forced) had me allllll the way fucked up alongside out MCs because what the fuck??? And ofc, because this was written by Kady, the smut was smutting 😉
Scale:
⭐️ - would've DNF'ed / continued out of spite
⭐️⭐️ - shit, but whatever
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - meh, could've been better
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - lit 👅
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - loved it, inject this shit into my veins 🤪
🫑 - no smut
🌶 - no point
🌶🌶 - mediocre at best
🌶🌶🌶 - standard smut, hot
🌶🌶🌶🌶 - 🥵 okay, some CW
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 - fuck me 🥵🥵 CWs / filthy with a side of filth - see Poison / Room Twenty-Two: Hide and Seek/ The Naughty List / The Naughtier List
TW/CW not to be repurposed by authors / publishers for website / book / content use without permission
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶🌶🌶/5
TW - heavy religious/cult themes, mild horror, gaslighting, manipulation, miscommunication, breaking and entering, alcohol consumption, underage drinking (sc), child abuse (loosely recounted), mentions of child (teen) abandonment, implied past domestic violence including mentally and emotionally abusive ex, attempted murder, murder (past, side characters), attempted human sacrifice, drugging, possession by a ghost, off screen deaths (briefly mentioned including drowning, influenza, fire, heart attack and tuberculosis), mentions of a serial killer (FMC’s ex, subsequent imprisonment), parental death (past, mentioned), birth control tampering, spying via hidden cameras, unsafe sex, use of sleeping pills, disownment, drugging of the FMC (by a side character), vomit, panic attack (brief), broken ankle, grief, nightmares, violence
CW - DubCon, breath play / choking, hand necklace, light somnophilia, overstimulation, cockwarming, public play, restraints, exhibitionism, breeding, hyperspermia, spitting, slapping, spanking, spitting, biting, D/s, primal play, CNC
Tropes - cult, found family, paranormal, dark, obsessed, possessive
Representation - MMC with heterochromia
This was so fun! I was 1% into this beta reading and saw the mention of ghosts and was IMMEDIATELY locked in!!! I enjoyed this book and the characters, being immersed in a world where it is forever autumn and the locals are on some big bullshit made for a really good setting.
Mor (FMC) and Kai (MMC) have an instant connection to the point where Mor doesn’t know whether she’s dreaming or not when she encounters him. Shunned from his own family, Kai introduces her to his found one and I found the interactions to be so sweet.
The conflict in this story (from outside forced) had me allllll the way fucked up alongside out MCs because what the fuck??? And ofc, because this was written by Kady, the smut was smutting 😉
Scale:
⭐️ - would've DNF'ed / continued out of spite
⭐️⭐️ - shit, but whatever
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - meh, could've been better
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - lit 👅
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - loved it, inject this shit into my veins 🤪
🫑 - no smut
🌶 - no point
🌶🌶 - mediocre at best
🌶🌶🌶 - standard smut, hot
🌶🌶🌶🌶 - 🥵 okay, some CW
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 - fuck me 🥵🥵 CWs / filthy with a side of filth - see Poison / Room Twenty-Two: Hide and Seek/ The Naughty List / The Naughtier List
TW/CW not to be repurposed by authors / publishers for website / book / content use without permission
Displaying 1 of 1 review