My best friend in the whole world is Dante Swanson. No matter what, I will always love him.
Sometimes happy endings don't always happen the way you expect them to in your head. Fantasies don't dictate reality. But honestly, sometimes reality is better than fantasy. At least you know it's real, even if things don't ever work out the way you expect.
A WILD series I binged in 3 days. Did not expect to get so emotionally invested. Happy Jasmine and Dante got their happy ending but may this love never find me. Lorraine was the real hero of this story and Liz needs to meet me outside.
Angsty conclusion to a rocky friends to lovers romance. I despised Elizabeth and was hoping for more pain to come her way, but when the two friends finally came together, the book was mostly about them. Dante and Jazzy were so cute together.
This couple went through a lot to get where they are now. It started off with a turbulence beginning and the ending took us on a bumpy ride before it landed as well. Although I had my moments of frustration with the main characters, I did enjoy this story.
As I thought, I knew Elizabeth was going to pull out the pregnancy card to try to keep Dante (back fired) but their relationship was too toxic and volatile for it work. The abuse and jealousy Elizabeth displayed, Dante should have saw that earlier in their relationship. But his self esteem problems and the guilt he carried (work/family), convinced him, that he deserved it. Despite his physical appearance of being strong and handsome.
I grew to like Jasmine through all her naiveness. She was sweet and to trusting which allowed folks to take advantage of her. Jasmine definitely deserved better and in the end, she got what she wanted; although it wasn’t easy. Her parents, especially her mom was the voice of reasoning that this story needed.
For the finally book, it was a lot to take in but reinforced what we all gathered from the other books. Which was, everyone except the parents and background characters had self-esteem issues (some deeper than others). That if a person is suppose to be someone’s true mate, then nothing would stop them from being together.
Jasmine’s true mate is Dante. He’s domineering, jealous (saw lightly throughout the book) and possessive of Jasmine. We are reminded to what lengths Dante would go to protect Jasmine and his family. And to keep her undying for him.
This was one hell of a story and I swear rooting for this main character!!! This whole time !!!! I wanted to slap Dante !!! Like come on lol drop Elizabeth lol she crazy !!! But how she there support when he had PSTD dam I started crying to bad lol like omg she really is his world!!!!! 10/10 must read !!!! I feel been Jazz situation before but aye we all been so it was so easy to connect with
It all wraps up. About 75% of the book is DV. I wish the author would have spent more time on Dante and Jas getting together or being together instead of the drama between Dante and Liz. It was overkill and depressing. I’m glad they got a HEA.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY gOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOd
This series was the best. It started off a little crazy but the ending.
Gives me all the feels.
I stand by what I have been saying about Elizabeth. CRAZY She got what she deserved in the end. FINALLY! Her Aunt with all that bad advice also got what's coming to her. SMH
Dante poor baby. At times I wanted to kick him in the b*lls but he was going through alot of drama. PTSD and DV.
Jazzmine - she was simply too nice for my liking but Im glad she finally got her happy ending.
Over all the book was great I just wish it would have went a little deeper with the PTSD and DV. What really happened to Elizabeth after the divorce. Did she pay for the DV because there were many times she also killed Dante.
Jazzmine's parents are the absolute best.
I really got invested in all the characters even Elizabeth and her crazy self. The story was really relatable and the characters felt real. Which I really appreciate.
4.00 Stars. (BW/WM). Audible free audiobook narrated for 7 hours by virtual voice. 341 pages. SETTING: Dystopian USA with areas divided into nation states: Sri-Nora is the safest with the best governance and Southern Open Belt is the most dangerous with questionable governance. TROPE: Unrequited love. Obsessive love. Deception . Soul mates relegated to the friend zone. MAIN CHARACTERS: 1. Dante Swanson, the 37-year-old male lead secretly in love with his best friend, is a deadly government guard and enforcer known as the Grim-reaper. 2. Jasmine "Jazzy" Batiste, the 31-year-old female lead secretly in love with her best friend, is a freelance graphic designer. 3. Elizabeth "liz" Beaumont is the conniving pseudo friend and nagging bat shit crazy obsessive pick of Dante. 4. Lorraine and Calvin Batiste are Jasmine's parents and chosen parental figures to Dante. 5. TJ is the son of Lorraine's Asian friend who occasionally dates Jasmine. 6. Auntie Lucille is Elizabeth relative, confidant and advisor regarding how she should deal with Dante and his love for Jasmine. 7. Silas/ Gideon is shown to be alive and with family. Dante, The Grim-reaper, spared his life.
Hallelujah, the last installment of this saga. I am happy for Dante and Jasmine. I am glad that Dante finally woke up and put his detective skills to work and stop trying to appease Elizabeth. Dante and Jasmine's happy ever after was a long time coming through an unnecessarily dramatic, meandering, redundant quagmire of adolescent bullshit. Despite all that, the author's characterization of Dante and Jasmine and their tethered love connection succeeded in portraying memorable and likable characters for a reader to root for and to become invested in their happiness.
It has been an emotional rollercoaster. Honestly, it didn’t need to be this long, but I’m okay with it. I started the book at 3 a.m. on Thursday, 18th September, and finished it at 1 a.m. on the 20th. Basically, it took me less than two days to read seven books. Did I have a life while reading? Absolutely not. Do I regret it? Still undecided.
Now… Elizabeth. Dante. Jasmine. Elizabeth, hated her. Jasmine, girl, you could’ve stood up for yourself. You really didn’t have to go through half of this, but you just stayed put.
And the decision-making? Highly questionable. 1. Why didn’t she change the locks after she found out about the video? 2. Why did he marry her? 3. Saying “he’s always been in love with her” felt like such a cop-out—it didn’t even match his character. 4. Honestly, if she had just admitted it earlier, none of this would’ve spiralled like it did. 5. Why did he keep sleeping with Elizabeth while claiming he loved Jasmine? The author made him look like he couldn’t survive without sex. Like… stand up, please. 6. And the length—way too long. So much of it was repetitive misery. Dante was just endlessly suffering when, realistically, he could’ve just walked away. Nothing was actually stopping him.
Elizabeth literally made me want to rip my hair out. The things she said, the way she acted—it was pure delirium. It made no sense. And Dante… low-key, he kept enabling her. I get it, at the end he was using her for “evidence” or whatever, but for most of the book it really felt like he was just letting her run wild.
The whole delusion she had—Jasmine and Dante had been friends for years, and Elizabeth wormed her way in, claiming Jasmine was trying to steal him? Bitch… you stole him from her. And newsflash: he’s not a prize.
She was constantly interrogating him: • Did you have sex? • Did you talk to Jasmine?
No wonder he was losing it. She was abusive—emotionally and physically—day and night, and she kept insisting “I love him, I love him”. Honey, let’s be real here.
Now Dante. I get him. He’s supposed to be this tough-but-sweet guy, carrying demons, emotional depth—fine. But wishy-washy AF? Absolutely. For someone who called the Grim Reaper his moniker, the only time he truly showed it was when saving Jasmine from the kidnapping. Other than that? He was basically getting battered by his wife. I’m not saying he needed to go full fight mode, but seriously, pick a spine somewhere.
And Jasmine… girl, why were you sleeping with a married man?
I feel like I’ve been through it. But I’m here. Surviving
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
FINALLY! That was THE longest slow burn I’ve ever read!!! I tell ya, this wasn’t my normal read, I haven’t read a book this style in years…so I thought! Turns out, that in the end, this was exactly one of my current styles. I just don’t normally have patience for a slow burn but this one really made it worthwhile. I don’t even know how to begin to sum up this series. A LOT happened and such a rich and in depth storyline and information in my head! I want to stay living in Dante’s world. Jasmine is the sweetest strongest most positive thing there is & her mom? Lorraine? She definitely stole the show in this book! I had the nerve to actually feel a little bad for Liz, yes she was cray cray but she just wanted Dante so badly. I also felt the most for Dante this book, wasn’t sure he was going to make it. It dragged a bit at times, like we kept going over and over ground already covered but it all worked out in the end. All in all, this turned out to be a VERY emotional series that I’m pretty sure will stick with me for a longtime. Going to grab the physical copies, if there are any, now. Can’t wait to read more by Alexandria Da Great!! Thanks for sharing your amazing talent with us!!
This has been a long time coming. I’m just gonna say that if not for the cover art, and my determination to see Jasmine have a HEA. I would’ve stop reading this series a long time ago.
This series could’ve been completed in one book, instead of being drag out as it was. Each book was about 86ish- 100 pages, and a lot of it was over descriptive scenes, or prolong inner dialog. Which wasn’t need all that much.
As well as the overly long pages on pages of the characters saying in a round about way of how they want something, someone & etc. Rather them just being straight to the point and moving onto something else.
This has been a long haul of repeating on top of repeating the same scene but written slightly different.
But I believe this series has the potential to be excellent. I believe that there needs to be a revision of all these books, so it can become a single book. The author should also rethink the prolong of what the characters are saying, and their inner dialogs. I think that doing this and among other things, would make this series & books become even better.
As for this book itself, it was frustrating to read. The fact that Dante was fiddling with the idea of leaving Olivia, and then finally cheating on her annoyed me to no end. And even worse when he says he actually had feelings for Jasmine. It was annoying this all could’ve been resolved if both of these two would’ve used their voice and ACTUALLY talked to one another. Doing this wouldn’t have had so many people involve.
But I get it I really do they did not want to mess up their friendship. But its so confusing as to how is it Dante always had feeling for her, when not too long ago, after watching her pleasure Silas, then watching that video of her, that he “realize” his feeling for her. BUT now all of a sudden we are to believe that he ALWAYS had feeling for her from the beginning, and he always knew he did. That makes so sense at all. If following the story, it implied that he only saw her as a best friend and nothing but that, and it was only Jasmine who thought of him this way. To later on imply that he actually share the same feelings is ridiculous!
Like I said before, if not for my stubbornness and the cover art, I would’ve stop reading a long time ago. This book does have potential and I really do hope the author revise this series, and do a lot of it. Or grow from this series and create something that won’t drag on forever.
I just loved, loved all 7 books, each one better than the last! Alexandria has a way of writing a story that keeps you wanting more. I found this book when I was looking for something to read as I love interracial romance novels and boy was I glad! When I saw the cover I thought this was a teen book but nothing could be further from the truth! Even though at times all 3 of them acted like teenagers at times this is definitely an adult book with adult themes. Great story and great writing! I wish they were more books because I’d like to hear what happened to Liz and did Silas ever come face to face with Jasmine? I highly recommend this series!
Dante and Jasmine went through hell and back, it's a great reminder that communication and expressing thoughts, feelings and telling the truth are important. I wasn't shocked at all at the reveal by Elizabeth, it was only a matter of time and her last card to play. Elizabeth had difficulty in letting go but she ultimately go outplayed and that reveal by her cousin to Dante was monumental which I honestly didn't see that coming.
Finally, the end to a rocky journey to love and it was worth the wait! Recommended: Read This Series!
This entire story got me in my feelings. The rollercoaster ride, up and down, all around. Lots of twists and turns. Great to see the different POVs, you really get to understand and appreciate each character more. Seeing the same scenes from their different angles. A bit frustrated that most of the story was around the other relationship, it would've been good to have had Dante and Jasmine's happiness from earlier in this final book. But we got there finally and it was glorious. An amazing read.
I read the first 6 books back to back, I loved the characters, Dante especially! I loved the contrast of him being a tough guy and a complete wimp with the women he cared about. Liz was a of the wall crazy. The series was so well written, with enough happening to keep you reading with anticipation of what’s going to happen next!! Lots of lol parts in the book - some time in the future I will definitely be reading this series again - Great read -thank you.
Wow, what a way to end this series! I’m so glad Jasmine and Dante got their HEA! This by far was the longest slow burn ever, but oh so well worth it. There were times I was starting to get a little bogged down by the DV coming from Elizabeth, but I’m glad Dante ended up breaking through to the other side in the end. I wish men in real life were more like this fictional one….BRAVA!!!
This series was actually so insane!?!?!?! Omg ELIZABETH was pissing me off so bad! It’s like I can get with certain areas where she’d be coming from, but she went too far. They all went too far, but ofc I was always rooting for Dante and Jazz. I also love how it was a slow burn!!! For a second I genuinely thought Dante only viewed her as a friend!!! The angst and the yearning!?!??? On point!!!! It was so messy, but in the best way!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
It took me a few books to get here, but I wanted to kick Dante, smack Jasmine and straight up beat Liz down. I guess we wouldn’t have a a story if the had just said I love you to start. Liz knew she wasn’t the one, but that girl fought tooth and nails to hold onto her man. Sometimes you have to learn to let go. It’s nothing you can do to break up soul mates, if they’re meant to be they will be.
Trying to find a good BWWM series you can sink your teeth into is difficult to find on kindle but every once in awhile, you find a diamond in the rough. So many of the same old tired tropes pop up where you know exactly what's going to happen within the first two chapters. I didn't feel that way reading these. I do wish there was a little more action but all in all, this was a pleasure.
Ok, this series had me HOOKED!!!! Liz is messy and hateful and I’m just so happy Dante and Jasmine got their happy ever after. I wish would have gotten more details on Jasmine and Dante’s get together and the lead up to marriage and them having kids. But still great series. Will probably again.
I hated Elizabeth the most!!!! Dante got on my damn nerves and Jasmine was a complete idiot!!! I loved this story omg I read all 7 parts in three days and now I have no clue what to do with myself. I have a new favorite author and if I could give a billion stars I would uhhhhh this story will stay with me forever.
I loved these books so much. I do admit I was a little annoyed at jasmine for her obsession with Dante but I kept reading and was so excited to read every twist and turn and not knowing what was coming was the best part. So glad I read them all. I cried and laughed and smiled so much.
I’ve never in my life hated everyone in a series. The erotica was I guess good and steamy. But jasmine is a weak dumb bitch. And Dante is slow. She had no self respect and is absolutely a home wrecker. Barf!
I don't know how I stumbled on this series but I'm so glad I did. It had me hooked from the beginning. I couldn't stop reading. I consumed every book and I wish there were more.
This isn't first read by this author. Definitely was upset most of the time, but the story came together. Boy when people think they own someone, they absolutely lose their minds. Good read!
This E-series had me by the throat. Not so much for the quality of the story, more so because it was so OTT drama that I found myself yelling at everyone. and often hate reading.
TBH it really could've used a good editing, I found myself shaking my head and the text. Time well spent.
What a satisfying end to a great series. I loved every moment of Jasmine and Dante's ride; I'm sad I now have to get off!! I'm going straight to the next series. I really love love love this author.
This was a roller coaster for sure, but FINALLY, they got their HEA! Dante is a clever one, will not spoil, but when you get to the part, you'll get it.