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Rent Girl
He was the one thing she couldn't run from.
Beatrice Arsenault has spent the last ten years running. She's changed her looks and changed her name and lives her life off the books or under the table, constantly looking over her shoulder for the one person she knows is looking back.
She's the one thing he could never leave.
Dominic Xiang is a name that strikes fear into the hearts of hardened criminals. He runs an empire of vice and blood, which he rules with an iron fist. But when he met Beatrice ten years ago, he had just enough of a heart left to break.
If they don't bury the past, they'll bury each other.
Now he's found her again, and she's dancing on the edge of his knife. Whether it cuts her ties or ends her life is all up to him . . .
Beatrice Arsenault has spent the last ten years running. She's changed her looks and changed her name and lives her life off the books or under the table, constantly looking over her shoulder for the one person she knows is looking back.
She's the one thing he could never leave.
Dominic Xiang is a name that strikes fear into the hearts of hardened criminals. He runs an empire of vice and blood, which he rules with an iron fist. But when he met Beatrice ten years ago, he had just enough of a heart left to break.
If they don't bury the past, they'll bury each other.
Now he's found her again, and she's dancing on the edge of his knife. Whether it cuts her ties or ends her life is all up to him . . .
462 pages, Paperback
First published August 20, 2022
114 people are currently reading
606 people want to read
About the author
Nenia Campbell
60 books20.8k followersNenia Campbell is a dark romance author who lives in San Francisco, California. When she's not writing, or reading, she can be found roaming the city or curled up with her void cat. She collects romance novels older than she is and loves a villain with flair.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
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December 15, 2022
Ugh, I wrote a WHOLE REVIEW for this which my computer just killed! I'm so annoyed. I can't write it out again (it was a bloody detailed one, too) but here are the salient points:
✔️ Literary, lyrical prose. I always leave Nenia's books feeling like I've read a Donna Tartt novel or something, in the best way possible. The last book had several instances of dialogue which crossed the line into purpleness, but that was dealt with much better here.
✔️ Most of the chapters are set in 2003, in a DVD/video store. I was alive back then but not terribly self-aware, on account of being a toddler, and I really enjoyed this setting; it felt like a glimpse of a bygone era, considering today's Netflix/Prime Video world.
✔️ Dubcon, boss/employee dark romance between 18-year-old Beatrice Arsenault and 28-year-old Chinese drug kingpin Dominic Xiang. I don't necessarily understand what Dominic sees in her, but I rolled with it. He's a pretty unique hero and I liked his blend of violence and tenderness.
Also, my usual disclaimer: Nenia and I are friends on here and I've loved her writing since I was literally 13 or so, but that never impacts my reviews.
Okay, I think those are all the main points from my original review! I might have to start writing them elsewhere and then copying them over, losing a whole chunk of work like that was MADDENING...
✔️ Literary, lyrical prose. I always leave Nenia's books feeling like I've read a Donna Tartt novel or something, in the best way possible. The last book had several instances of dialogue which crossed the line into purpleness, but that was dealt with much better here.
✔️ Most of the chapters are set in 2003, in a DVD/video store. I was alive back then but not terribly self-aware, on account of being a toddler, and I really enjoyed this setting; it felt like a glimpse of a bygone era, considering today's Netflix/Prime Video world.
✔️ Dubcon, boss/employee dark romance between 18-year-old Beatrice Arsenault and 28-year-old Chinese drug kingpin Dominic Xiang. I don't necessarily understand what Dominic sees in her, but I rolled with it. He's a pretty unique hero and I liked his blend of violence and tenderness.
Also, my usual disclaimer: Nenia and I are friends on here and I've loved her writing since I was literally 13 or so, but that never impacts my reviews.
Okay, I think those are all the main points from my original review! I might have to start writing them elsewhere and then copying them over, losing a whole chunk of work like that was MADDENING...
September 2, 2022
I'm the odd one out here, but I found this boring. I didn't connect with the characters and didn't get interested until the very end. I didn't feel a thing but other people did so see how you go.
August 24, 2022
3.75*
This would have definitely been 4* for me if it wasn’t for some personal things I don’t like in my heroines. Off course it’s my personal peeve and definitely something I know won’t bother a lot of other readers.
What I will say is that Dominic is by far my favourite anti hero written by Nenia! What does it say about me that I found Dominic more relatable and likeable than the heroine?! If you love obsessed, dark anti hero’s you will love this book. You know what….for the engrossing read and how much I loved Dominic I will give this 4* because otherwise it’s a disservice to Nenia Campbell. The fact that this book had one of the best anti hero’s written this year shouldnt go unnoticed just because I didn’t feel a connection with heroine because of own personal peeves. Second book after Fairydale this year that kept me hooked till the last page. Well done Nenia!!
This would have definitely been 4* for me if it wasn’t for some personal things I don’t like in my heroines. Off course it’s my personal peeve and definitely something I know won’t bother a lot of other readers.
What I will say is that Dominic is by far my favourite anti hero written by Nenia! What does it say about me that I found Dominic more relatable and likeable than the heroine?! If you love obsessed, dark anti hero’s you will love this book. You know what….for the engrossing read and how much I loved Dominic I will give this 4* because otherwise it’s a disservice to Nenia Campbell. The fact that this book had one of the best anti hero’s written this year shouldnt go unnoticed just because I didn’t feel a connection with heroine because of own personal peeves. Second book after Fairydale this year that kept me hooked till the last page. Well done Nenia!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2022
DISCLAIMER: I beta-read this book, but I paid for my copy to read and review, and my friendship with Nenia has no bearing on my rating.
I'm actually not a fan of mafia romances. I've only read a few in the Boston Underworld series, and then some stories in a holiday-themed anthology. That crime lord vibe just has no appeal to me when reading about a relationship. So going into this, what really stood out to me was the amount of research Campbell must have done to get all the cartel stuff down the way she did, from the actions and behavior of various characters to the many creative deaths. I mean, she's gotta be on some FBI watchlist.
Due to the book's nature, Dominic, the hero, was totally brutal. I don't remember those BU books THAT well, but I feel like those heroes could never dream of being anywhere near as hard as Dominic. Like sure, they do crime, but those books also have a big happy family thing going on when everyone gets their HEAs. Not Dominic. He's a loner. He's a killer with a heart of ice and the soul of a poet. I thought his heritage and background, while not extensive, was nicely portrayed and probably called for its own research (the non-watchlist kind). I liked Beatrice as a heroine, even if she was kind of annoyingly pretty. I also liked the social commentary the author included on why she acted the way she did, and how she felt about being valued solely for her looks.
Dominic and Beatrice's relationship was not always pleasant to read, but you could tell they had a connection even from the beginning. That's one thing I noticed from the beta version to the final version: I could see the way Campbell fleshed their relationship out and made it more believable that they'd be in the situation they were in. So while it was brutal and intense, there were softer moments that made the harsh ones all the more painful.
This dual-timeline mafia-esque romance was very well-written and clearly well-researched. While it's not my favorite kind of romance, I can't give it anything less than four stars for how well Campbell pulled it off.
I'm actually not a fan of mafia romances. I've only read a few in the Boston Underworld series, and then some stories in a holiday-themed anthology. That crime lord vibe just has no appeal to me when reading about a relationship. So going into this, what really stood out to me was the amount of research Campbell must have done to get all the cartel stuff down the way she did, from the actions and behavior of various characters to the many creative deaths. I mean, she's gotta be on some FBI watchlist.
Due to the book's nature, Dominic, the hero, was totally brutal. I don't remember those BU books THAT well, but I feel like those heroes could never dream of being anywhere near as hard as Dominic. Like sure, they do crime, but those books also have a big happy family thing going on when everyone gets their HEAs. Not Dominic. He's a loner. He's a killer with a heart of ice and the soul of a poet. I thought his heritage and background, while not extensive, was nicely portrayed and probably called for its own research (the non-watchlist kind). I liked Beatrice as a heroine, even if she was kind of annoyingly pretty. I also liked the social commentary the author included on why she acted the way she did, and how she felt about being valued solely for her looks.
Dominic and Beatrice's relationship was not always pleasant to read, but you could tell they had a connection even from the beginning. That's one thing I noticed from the beta version to the final version: I could see the way Campbell fleshed their relationship out and made it more believable that they'd be in the situation they were in. So while it was brutal and intense, there were softer moments that made the harsh ones all the more painful.
This dual-timeline mafia-esque romance was very well-written and clearly well-researched. While it's not my favorite kind of romance, I can't give it anything less than four stars for how well Campbell pulled it off.
October 1, 2022
Romance books have two protagonists, usually. This one just has Dominic, and he rules the whole entire book.
You know the protagonists the author just love and won't ever hurt or threaten? That's Baby Dominic. He can do no wrong. Even if he does stupid idiot stuff it all magically goes well for him. He is the Boss Man (tm) of cartel politics. He messes with bigger fish and gets away with it all the time.
The biggest issue for me is balance. Sure reading about Dominic is annoying, but what really grates is the complete lack of counterbalance. There is no other weight in this book hat can offset him. The heroine, Beatrice - or Jo - has no agency. She is never allowed to make choices. She is not the pilot in the shit train that is her life.
Her lack of agency is a theme of the book, yes, but that is not good enough for me. Bea is a wreck and I don't believe for 0.1 seconds that Dominic's "love" (if you can call it that) is doing jackshit to fix her.
If Dom had ended up in prison and Bea in a closed psychiatric ward? That would've made sense.
*annoyed*
Dominic isn't the first villainous, murderous hero in a romance book who really deserves to be drowned in his own piss, but usually when we see these absolutely unforgivable men in novels, they are usually either offset by an equally violent, insane heroine like in Sweet Savage Love, or a heroine with a backbone of steel like in Stormfire or they don't require the offset because despite being criminal fucking dickheads they are also super pathetic and cringeworthy human beings, like in This Other Eden.
Dominic has nothing to balance him out, because he runs wild and free in this book with no female lead to put him in his place and no humanizing qualities of his own that would endear him to me.
I'm not even talking about a manic sense of humor like Inglorious Bastards' Hans Lamda. That would have been entertaining, sure, but also a bit over the top. I'm talking of super fundamental stuff, like a personality.
Outside of being a mob boss with a rigid code of conduct and harsh methods to keep himself afloat, Dominic has zero personality. He's like a robotic killing machine whose hobby is being obsessed with some girl he thought was easy picking.
His character arc fills me with distaste and mild loathing. He's despicable in a way that is not entertaining, and there is also no sense of impending doom in his POV that would imply that karma is coming to bitch-slap him any time soon.
Obviously Bea isn't going to do anything that would rid society of this particular blight.
The only thing that is funny about Dominic is his embarassing hypocrisy. He thinks he's better than the child-raping human traffickers he does business with. His snotty disdain for his colleagues is laughable and probably his only human quality, because he just can't wrap his head around the fact that he is no better than them.
The whole novel is really gorey (in one scene Dominic cut's a woman's face off for shock value), but in a way that makes me impatient instead of horrified. In a way, Dominic makes me feel like a kindergarten teacher. You have this one really annoying boy who tortures animals & the girls and boys in class, but somehow he thinks he's better than the snot-nosed school bully he looks down upon, a) because he is so much smarter and b) because the big oafish bully sometimes eats the worms he kills.
God, I hate how utterly lacking in self-awareness Dominic is. He's like one of those YA heroines who are the most obnoxiously selfish brats but the author makes them out to be always right.
I don't have a single positive thing to say about the hero in Stormfire (I still want him dead and forgotten) but at least he paid his huge open tab with karma by the end of the book and got some needed perspective.
I hope Dominic spends ten years in a gulag eating rats and cockroaches. That might inspire him to become a new, more acceptable man.
--------------
I've started reading this & my expectations are through the roof!
I really enjoyed Nenia's latest novels Through a Glass, Darkly, Batter My Heart and Quid Pro Quo.
I'm really scared though because there has never been a mafia romance that didn't disappoint me for one reason or another, and I do want this to be every bit as good as Gaijin, and those shoes are hard to fill!
Fingers crossed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is on the shortlist right after My Chameleon Mate and Splintered, which I am reading now.
Chinese mob villain romance is just my cup of tea.
I am so sick of mafia romances being done really badly, I just immediately lose interest nowadays. So reading Nenia's take will be blessed paradise I am sure, because the way she writes tropes is snarky and different and I like that.
You know the protagonists the author just love and won't ever hurt or threaten? That's Baby Dominic. He can do no wrong. Even if he does stupid idiot stuff it all magically goes well for him. He is the Boss Man (tm) of cartel politics. He messes with bigger fish and gets away with it all the time.
The biggest issue for me is balance. Sure reading about Dominic is annoying, but what really grates is the complete lack of counterbalance. There is no other weight in this book hat can offset him. The heroine, Beatrice - or Jo - has no agency. She is never allowed to make choices. She is not the pilot in the shit train that is her life.
Her lack of agency is a theme of the book, yes, but that is not good enough for me. Bea is a wreck and I don't believe for 0.1 seconds that Dominic's "love" (if you can call it that) is doing jackshit to fix her.
If Dom had ended up in prison and Bea in a closed psychiatric ward? That would've made sense.
*annoyed*
Dominic isn't the first villainous, murderous hero in a romance book who really deserves to be drowned in his own piss, but usually when we see these absolutely unforgivable men in novels, they are usually either offset by an equally violent, insane heroine like in Sweet Savage Love, or a heroine with a backbone of steel like in Stormfire or they don't require the offset because despite being criminal fucking dickheads they are also super pathetic and cringeworthy human beings, like in This Other Eden.
Dominic has nothing to balance him out, because he runs wild and free in this book with no female lead to put him in his place and no humanizing qualities of his own that would endear him to me.
I'm not even talking about a manic sense of humor like Inglorious Bastards' Hans Lamda. That would have been entertaining, sure, but also a bit over the top. I'm talking of super fundamental stuff, like a personality.
Outside of being a mob boss with a rigid code of conduct and harsh methods to keep himself afloat, Dominic has zero personality. He's like a robotic killing machine whose hobby is being obsessed with some girl he thought was easy picking.
His character arc fills me with distaste and mild loathing. He's despicable in a way that is not entertaining, and there is also no sense of impending doom in his POV that would imply that karma is coming to bitch-slap him any time soon.
Obviously Bea isn't going to do anything that would rid society of this particular blight.
The only thing that is funny about Dominic is his embarassing hypocrisy. He thinks he's better than the child-raping human traffickers he does business with. His snotty disdain for his colleagues is laughable and probably his only human quality, because he just can't wrap his head around the fact that he is no better than them.
The whole novel is really gorey (in one scene Dominic cut's a woman's face off for shock value), but in a way that makes me impatient instead of horrified. In a way, Dominic makes me feel like a kindergarten teacher. You have this one really annoying boy who tortures animals & the girls and boys in class, but somehow he thinks he's better than the snot-nosed school bully he looks down upon, a) because he is so much smarter and b) because the big oafish bully sometimes eats the worms he kills.
God, I hate how utterly lacking in self-awareness Dominic is. He's like one of those YA heroines who are the most obnoxiously selfish brats but the author makes them out to be always right.
I don't have a single positive thing to say about the hero in Stormfire (I still want him dead and forgotten) but at least he paid his huge open tab with karma by the end of the book and got some needed perspective.
I hope Dominic spends ten years in a gulag eating rats and cockroaches. That might inspire him to become a new, more acceptable man.
--------------
I've started reading this & my expectations are through the roof!
I really enjoyed Nenia's latest novels Through a Glass, Darkly, Batter My Heart and Quid Pro Quo.
I'm really scared though because there has never been a mafia romance that didn't disappoint me for one reason or another, and I do want this to be every bit as good as Gaijin, and those shoes are hard to fill!
Fingers crossed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is on the shortlist right after My Chameleon Mate and Splintered, which I am reading now.
Chinese mob villain romance is just my cup of tea.
I am so sick of mafia romances being done really badly, I just immediately lose interest nowadays. So reading Nenia's take will be blessed paradise I am sure, because the way she writes tropes is snarky and different and I like that.
October 16, 2022
!!!
This was a wild ride. It's no secret that I love a good psychopathic lead and Dominic Xiang did not disappoint. He's absolutely feral in all the best ways.
Some of my fav quotes from him:
I went through this faster than I expected and it was one of those books that I was thinking about when I wasn't reading it, looking forward to the next time I'd get to devour a few more chapters.
4 Stars!
I'm friends with Nenia here on Goodreads, but that has not influenced my rating!
This was a wild ride. It's no secret that I love a good psychopathic lead and Dominic Xiang did not disappoint. He's absolutely feral in all the best ways.
Some of my fav quotes from him:
"I'm inside you now. Just like poison-I'm inside you and I'm never going to fucking leave. You're mine."
"The only woman who had ever managed to scratch at the surface of his cold, dead heart, making dark things grow in a place that had housed only death.
"You aren't getting rid of me. No matter how many times you try to run, I'll hunt you down and find you."
I went through this faster than I expected and it was one of those books that I was thinking about when I wasn't reading it, looking forward to the next time I'd get to devour a few more chapters.
4 Stars!
I'm friends with Nenia here on Goodreads, but that has not influenced my rating!
September 12, 2022
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Wow I really loved and enjoyed reading this book.
I definitely will be adding this book to my favorites and will check out this author's other books ❤️
Wow I really loved and enjoyed reading this book.
I definitely will be adding this book to my favorites and will check out this author's other books ❤️
March 8, 2023
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
This was totally different from most of the romances that I read. I don't normally read novels that are quite so dark and the crime lord as dark, tortured anti-hero is not usually what I go for (hey, I like athletes - especially hockey players - among other types). However, I was really sucked in by the story of Beatrice and Dominic.
It's told in 2 timelines, swinging from 2003 to 2013. In 2003, Beatrice is 18 when she's kicked out of her foster home and is working at a video store (...look it up, it used to be a thing, prior to Netflix and streaming services) in the town of Hades. Dominic owns the local strip club and works the shadier side of the town. He's under the big drug lord, but has ambitions to move up. He is ruthless and cold and yet Beatrice has him fascinated. In 2013, Jo (Beatrice - she changed her name) is hunted down by Dominic. She escaped him years back and now he's intent on getting her back. Will he make her pay for the betrayal? Will she begin to trust him or try to run again? There is an intensity to the relationship that is difficult to read and yet compelling.
Although much of the brutality occurs "off the page", there is still enough that this is not for the squeamish. (He *is* a crime boss / drug lord - it's a brutal life.) I also found quite a few typos (for instance, tool for toll and pained for painted - the kind of thing that spellcheck may not find) and that always annoys me. Overall, I liked this story. Sometimes you want the darkness and this one fills that block well.
Quote I liked:
Flaws don't hide beauty...Only darkness did.
This was totally different from most of the romances that I read. I don't normally read novels that are quite so dark and the crime lord as dark, tortured anti-hero is not usually what I go for (hey, I like athletes - especially hockey players - among other types). However, I was really sucked in by the story of Beatrice and Dominic.
It's told in 2 timelines, swinging from 2003 to 2013. In 2003, Beatrice is 18 when she's kicked out of her foster home and is working at a video store (...look it up, it used to be a thing, prior to Netflix and streaming services) in the town of Hades. Dominic owns the local strip club and works the shadier side of the town. He's under the big drug lord, but has ambitions to move up. He is ruthless and cold and yet Beatrice has him fascinated. In 2013, Jo (Beatrice - she changed her name) is hunted down by Dominic. She escaped him years back and now he's intent on getting her back. Will he make her pay for the betrayal? Will she begin to trust him or try to run again? There is an intensity to the relationship that is difficult to read and yet compelling.
Although much of the brutality occurs "off the page", there is still enough that this is not for the squeamish. (He *is* a crime boss / drug lord - it's a brutal life.) I also found quite a few typos (for instance, tool for toll and pained for painted - the kind of thing that spellcheck may not find) and that always annoys me. Overall, I liked this story. Sometimes you want the darkness and this one fills that block well.
Quote I liked:
Flaws don't hide beauty...Only darkness did.
Want to read
August 28, 2022I am terrified, Nenia, but I'm gonna do it.
September 27, 2022
4 stars
Man, I hesitated a little adding it to my smutty romances tag because this absolutely read more like a thriller. I love crazy and unhinged men, but Dominic was just a little too psycho even for me lol 🚩🚩🚩
This has a similar format to Quid Pro Quo, alternating between past and present and revealing what happened between the two leads. I find that when Nenia does this, I am enthralled because she knows exactly how to build suspense, mystery, and how to prolong the tension to leave you always turning pages. Her prose is also always a pleasure to read—more real here than lyrical like it was in QPQ. I preferred QPQ simply because I like the tropes there more; I am a simple girl when it comes to romance, and if you hit my tropes right I’m gonna prefer it. Rent Girl is more raw, more visceral, and more uncomfortable because Dominic is…well, read and you’ll see what I mean—he’s a real piece of work.
Dominic, 你疯了!
Recommended for those who enjoy mafia, “kept woman” type of erotica with more meat and realism to the plot.
Man, I hesitated a little adding it to my smutty romances tag because this absolutely read more like a thriller. I love crazy and unhinged men, but Dominic was just a little too psycho even for me lol 🚩🚩🚩
This has a similar format to Quid Pro Quo, alternating between past and present and revealing what happened between the two leads. I find that when Nenia does this, I am enthralled because she knows exactly how to build suspense, mystery, and how to prolong the tension to leave you always turning pages. Her prose is also always a pleasure to read—more real here than lyrical like it was in QPQ. I preferred QPQ simply because I like the tropes there more; I am a simple girl when it comes to romance, and if you hit my tropes right I’m gonna prefer it. Rent Girl is more raw, more visceral, and more uncomfortable because Dominic is…well, read and you’ll see what I mean—he’s a real piece of work.
Dominic, 你疯了!
Recommended for those who enjoy mafia, “kept woman” type of erotica with more meat and realism to the plot.
September 27, 2023
Sept 2023 re-read:
This book was written for me, personally. It’s like Nenia went into my brain, took out every juicy trope I ever wanted, and created this beauty.
“He had thrown on a blazer over a wifebeater and was wearing jeans so distressed..”
No one can fault Nenia for incorrect representation of Y2K.
I loved this book so much. Dominic rivals even Gavin as one of my favourite male leads. He’s unhinged, disturbed, but also thoughtful and obsessive and hot.
The smile slid from his full lips, leaving behind something altogether more terrifying. “You could fuck a thousand men,” he said menacingly, “and still, not one of them could stand up to me.”
No slut shaming for my feminist king Dominic 👑🤡
This book was written for me, personally. It’s like Nenia went into my brain, took out every juicy trope I ever wanted, and created this beauty.
“He had thrown on a blazer over a wifebeater and was wearing jeans so distressed..”
No one can fault Nenia for incorrect representation of Y2K.
I loved this book so much. Dominic rivals even Gavin as one of my favourite male leads. He’s unhinged, disturbed, but also thoughtful and obsessive and hot.
The smile slid from his full lips, leaving behind something altogether more terrifying. “You could fuck a thousand men,” he said menacingly, “and still, not one of them could stand up to me.”
No slut shaming for my feminist king Dominic 👑🤡
February 17, 2023
I loved it! I’ve missed this author after she took a hiatus from publishing! Her Feargame series is one of my favorites! I love indie authors but they just don’t get enough publicity.
What did I like? I like my romance DARK! This was absolutely perfect! Dominic was positively delicious! Bea was so poignant but such a clever girl. Bright as a shiny penny that every man wanted to have. I didn’t want to put this one down. Five huge stars you deserve!
Would I recommend or buy? Dominic is OTT dark and possessive… Bea is trapped by him but the vibes off these two were gut wrenching! I loved it! I’m hoping to get a copy for my Nenia shelf!
What did I like? I like my romance DARK! This was absolutely perfect! Dominic was positively delicious! Bea was so poignant but such a clever girl. Bright as a shiny penny that every man wanted to have. I didn’t want to put this one down. Five huge stars you deserve!
Would I recommend or buy? Dominic is OTT dark and possessive… Bea is trapped by him but the vibes off these two were gut wrenching! I loved it! I’m hoping to get a copy for my Nenia shelf!
Want to read
August 21, 20221st off... I'm obsessed with this cover!!! It's subtly sexy with an edge.
2nd... "The hero is Chinese, the heroine is mixed-race (Asian, Latinx, and white)."
2nd... "The hero is Chinese, the heroine is mixed-race (Asian, Latinx, and white)."
August 22, 2022
For the majority of this book my one thought was: What's redeemable about this man? Dominic is not likable. At all. It really wasn't until the epilogue that I started to warm to him. And that sounds really really bad. But in all honesty this book was more than a "romance" to me. It's a story of traumatized people coming together in the only way they know how. Jo/Bea felt so fucking real. Her insecurities were so utterly logical and were portrayed realistically. The writing is masterful. Liked this!
April 23, 2024
“I’m . . . something you can’t live without?”
...
“I’d rather not find out,” he said.
i have to admit, rent girl just might be the darkest book i've read from Nenia Campbell yet. and you know what, i basically devoured this book in one sitting (unfortunately life got in the way). Dom is … probably a monster? but i love that for him? and Beatrice? probably my favorite Campbell heroine (QPQ reread pending)? what i liked about Beatrice is that she fought Dom till the bitter end. she did not give him her heart easily, that's for sure. she went through it, and i love that she's living her best life .
“I thought crime was a game,” he said. “But if it is, it’s one I don’t think anyone can win.”
i think my only qualm about rent girl was … i wanted more page time of Beatrice and Dom not at each others throats? like, there are a few times when Beatrice mentions waking up with her head in Dom's lap. more of that please. then again, Dom doing cute domestic shit would probably end up in murder somehow, or with him spontaneously combusting, lol
January 6, 2024
Well that was a rollercoaster of a ride the MMC was horrific and scary a psychopath I didn’t know I needed. Loved it so much. New author for me and will be reading more from her
November 13, 2022
"Why do you keep me here if you hate me that much?"
"Because sometimes hating you feels like it's the only constant in my life."
"You're insane."
"Then you've fallen into the clutches of a madman," he said. "I pity you."
My favorite anti-hero of the year!! This is how it's done. Need more authors writing abt dark heroes who don't change and become all mushy just cause they're "in love"
"Are you... proposing to me after we've killed someone?"
Dominic laughed. "I suppose I am, xīngān."
August 27, 2022
“You’re insane.”
“Then you’ve fallen into the clutches of a madman,” he said. “I pity you.”
Read
January 12, 2023I think I may not have liked something that just happened, but I’m not sure. I feel triggered, but it was subtle.
September 10, 2024
Reread 2024: I read this again because I felt like my mood wasn't in the right place when I read it the first time. Now that I'm done, I've upgraded it from 3 to 4 stars. The ending was satisfying but I would have loved if there was an epilogue set further into the future.
Original review: Dominic was twisted but he cared about Beatrice. I liked that his love for Bea didn’t soften his edges but instead made it worse. He was willing to do anything to take care of her.
Original review: Dominic was twisted but he cared about Beatrice. I liked that his love for Bea didn’t soften his edges but instead made it worse. He was willing to do anything to take care of her.
Want to read
October 17, 2022
October 11, 2022
Dark, intense and more than a little crazy!
Rent Girl by Nenia Campbell is an unapologetic dark read containing Dominic Xiang, a hot but crazy villain with few if ANY redeeming qualities, and Beatrice Arsenault, a troubled heroine whom he sets his sights on. He is the LAST person she needs to be with but unfortunately for her, as soon as he notices her there is no escape. The phrase you can run but you can’t hide certainly came to mind when I read this book!
I love the dark romance trope which allow the writer and reader to delve deep into the psyche of bad men such as Dominic – for me this is so entertaining. Dominic’s world is not a pretty one and this book contains scenes of violence, murder and abuse, not to mention morally questionable behaviour towards the heroine. Although I was shocked at some scenes and at times felt that Beatrice would be better off without Dominic, the author slowly but surely turned it round and as the story progressed my dark heart started cheering this complex couple on. I was SO immersed in the interplay between the couple and the wider characters and plot that I read it in little more than a day.
The book has two timelines, one after the couple first meet and the other ten years later when Beatrice’s luck runs out and Dominic, intent on revenge, finds her once again. Dual timelines do not always work for me, but I found it done really well here and it helped illustrate how the dynamics between the couple changed over time and how they grew as characters.
Beatrice finds herself held captive and consumed by Dominic for much of the read and is revolted by his world. The author does an excellent job of showing us just how deep this revulsion goes. I loved how despite being powerless she stood up to him as much as she could. I enjoyed her character growth and Dominic’s realisation that perhaps she means more to him than he thought.
Just how far will Dominic go when it comes to punishing Beatrice for her deceit? Has he ANY capacity for forgiveness, love, or redemption? Will Beatrice ever be more than the rent girl/whore she sees herself? Can she love a monster? What will happen to her once he grows tired of her, especially given how he deals with his enemies and those who get in his way… These questions and more buzzed around my head during the read.
I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as the book approached its finale, and I was a quivering mess as various chickens came home to roost for the couple. I loved the ending. It was just perfect.
Rent Girl by Nenia Campbell is an unapologetic dark read containing Dominic Xiang, a hot but crazy villain with few if ANY redeeming qualities, and Beatrice Arsenault, a troubled heroine whom he sets his sights on. He is the LAST person she needs to be with but unfortunately for her, as soon as he notices her there is no escape. The phrase you can run but you can’t hide certainly came to mind when I read this book!
I love the dark romance trope which allow the writer and reader to delve deep into the psyche of bad men such as Dominic – for me this is so entertaining. Dominic’s world is not a pretty one and this book contains scenes of violence, murder and abuse, not to mention morally questionable behaviour towards the heroine. Although I was shocked at some scenes and at times felt that Beatrice would be better off without Dominic, the author slowly but surely turned it round and as the story progressed my dark heart started cheering this complex couple on. I was SO immersed in the interplay between the couple and the wider characters and plot that I read it in little more than a day.
The book has two timelines, one after the couple first meet and the other ten years later when Beatrice’s luck runs out and Dominic, intent on revenge, finds her once again. Dual timelines do not always work for me, but I found it done really well here and it helped illustrate how the dynamics between the couple changed over time and how they grew as characters.
Beatrice finds herself held captive and consumed by Dominic for much of the read and is revolted by his world. The author does an excellent job of showing us just how deep this revulsion goes. I loved how despite being powerless she stood up to him as much as she could. I enjoyed her character growth and Dominic’s realisation that perhaps she means more to him than he thought.
Just how far will Dominic go when it comes to punishing Beatrice for her deceit? Has he ANY capacity for forgiveness, love, or redemption? Will Beatrice ever be more than the rent girl/whore she sees herself? Can she love a monster? What will happen to her once he grows tired of her, especially given how he deals with his enemies and those who get in his way… These questions and more buzzed around my head during the read.
I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as the book approached its finale, and I was a quivering mess as various chickens came home to roost for the couple. I loved the ending. It was just perfect.
August 24, 2022
3.5 to 4 stars
Dominic Xiang is the scariest, craziest love interest I've ever read. He is like if John Wick decided to take up a life of drug trafficking. He's the type of guy who if you see walking towards you on the street, you just don't start walking the other way, you start screaming and running. I think my favorite moment with this character is when he straight up says to the guys he's trying to get info from, that he will start taking body parts starting with all the letters of their names and then picking at random what ever he feels like until they give him the info he is looking for. He's the type of guy who thinks guns are not an intimate/creative enough form of killing someone. The cartel calls this guy "El Carnicero" or "The Butcher". This guy pretty much stays at a solid ten at all times on the violence scale.
I just want to be Beatrice's/Jo's friend and give her a big hug. Poor girl has had a rough life and just wants to be loved. Dom's love for her is pretty much obsession up until maybe the last 100 pages where he starts to develop actual feelings for her. A guy like Dom I think is so cold and dead on the inside it takes a while for him to start to have actual feelings in general. The man is the text book definition of a cold-bolded killer.
Overall, the setting and characters were interesting. I liked the video rental store setting, very original and not something you read about everyday. Kind of wish we would have gotten more info on Dom's criminal background in China, because it was so interesting.
The only criticism I have to give this is every woman except for Bea/Jo was a terrible person. They all hated Bea/Jo because she was pretty and had every single guy's attention that she was ever around. Any dude sees even her profile and they are instantly obsessed with her. It kind off made Bea/Jo suffer from special girl syndrome. I mean I get she's pretty, but does every female character have to hate her for it?
One other small thing for me was that the 2013 plot line to me was kind of two dimensional up until the end. There are two timelines in this book 2003, where Bea first meets Dom, and 2013 where Dom finds Bea after she's hid from him for 10 years. To me the 2003 timeline was the more interesting one to read about.
Trigger warnings are listed in the author's review on here (Goodreads).
Dominic Xiang is the scariest, craziest love interest I've ever read. He is like if John Wick decided to take up a life of drug trafficking. He's the type of guy who if you see walking towards you on the street, you just don't start walking the other way, you start screaming and running. I think my favorite moment with this character is when he straight up says to the guys he's trying to get info from, that he will start taking body parts starting with all the letters of their names and then picking at random what ever he feels like until they give him the info he is looking for. He's the type of guy who thinks guns are not an intimate/creative enough form of killing someone. The cartel calls this guy "El Carnicero" or "The Butcher". This guy pretty much stays at a solid ten at all times on the violence scale.
I just want to be Beatrice's/Jo's friend and give her a big hug. Poor girl has had a rough life and just wants to be loved. Dom's love for her is pretty much obsession up until maybe the last 100 pages where he starts to develop actual feelings for her. A guy like Dom I think is so cold and dead on the inside it takes a while for him to start to have actual feelings in general. The man is the text book definition of a cold-bolded killer.
Overall, the setting and characters were interesting. I liked the video rental store setting, very original and not something you read about everyday. Kind of wish we would have gotten more info on Dom's criminal background in China, because it was so interesting.
The only criticism I have to give this is every woman except for Bea/Jo was a terrible person. They all hated Bea/Jo because she was pretty and had every single guy's attention that she was ever around. Any dude sees even her profile and they are instantly obsessed with her. It kind off made Bea/Jo suffer from special girl syndrome. I mean I get she's pretty, but does every female character have to hate her for it?
One other small thing for me was that the 2013 plot line to me was kind of two dimensional up until the end. There are two timelines in this book 2003, where Bea first meets Dom, and 2013 where Dom finds Bea after she's hid from him for 10 years. To me the 2003 timeline was the more interesting one to read about.
Trigger warnings are listed in the author's review on here (Goodreads).
August 29, 2022
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this but the heroine put a small damper on it for me. I believed she was broken and it was well written but I personally don’t like my heroines so sexually easy/promiscuous and I prefer them stronger and less weak. Dominic was a great anti hero though. So dark and wrong but right and possessive
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2024
Can’t decide between 3.5 and 4 stars
I read this sometime ago and enjoyed it a lot. I don’t remember enough to write a review that can show how much I loved this. Dominic was just delicious. He was a scary, hot and…..everything I wanted. He alone made me give this book 4 stars. Even though there were moments I felt bored, the plot was actually really engaging otherwise. Also another big thing was the heroine, Beatrice was actually likable (very rare for me these days).
Definitely gonna re-read this again.
I read this sometime ago and enjoyed it a lot. I don’t remember enough to write a review that can show how much I loved this. Dominic was just delicious. He was a scary, hot and…..everything I wanted. He alone made me give this book 4 stars. Even though there were moments I felt bored, the plot was actually really engaging otherwise. Also another big thing was the heroine, Beatrice was actually likable (very rare for me these days).
Definitely gonna re-read this again.
January 24, 2023
Man i don’t know how Nenia does it. She is a very talented writer and exceptionally good at creating flawed characters that i sympathise with without downplaying their very real and often very dark flaws. This is not a relationship i should be rooting for and initially i wasnt - i was just as wary and uncomfortable about Dominic as Beatrice was but every chapter from Dominic’s point of view made me more and more sympathetic towards him even though he was a cold, brutal killer. And then eventually i was rooting for these two to get their shit together and be - less dysfunctional?
I think its because Nenia doesnt make excuses for her characters shitty behaviour. The good isnt used to disqualify the bad - she asks the reader to hold the duality in mind and make up their own minds. It doesnt feel like she’s manipulating me to like these characters- shes just presenting them in their entirety and i dont think liking them is really meant to be the point, but rather just understanding them for who they are. I think it takes a lot of talent to write characters like that.
I think its because Nenia doesnt make excuses for her characters shitty behaviour. The good isnt used to disqualify the bad - she asks the reader to hold the duality in mind and make up their own minds. It doesnt feel like she’s manipulating me to like these characters- shes just presenting them in their entirety and i dont think liking them is really meant to be the point, but rather just understanding them for who they are. I think it takes a lot of talent to write characters like that.
October 25, 2023
Don’t sleep on anemia Campbell
Dark romances that aren’t cookie cutter. Another fantastic read by an extremely talented author. A must read for any dark romance reader.
Dark romances that aren’t cookie cutter. Another fantastic read by an extremely talented author. A must read for any dark romance reader.
Want to read
November 29, 2024🎁 FREE on Amazon today (2/9/2023)! 🎁
September 4, 2022
It’s a Tragedy with a Happy Ending in Bea’s POV. It’s a rise, fall & shine of a drug dealer in Dom’s POV.
I love Nenia’s style of jumping between present and past. The beginning was like Red Riding Hood..
Dom was like this scary wolf to get her. It was really interesting.
The Video store, I couldn’t connect cause I wasn’t aware of most of it..
Beatrice in 2003 was extremely annoying to me.. always about her beauty is all everybody or herself is talking about. Basically she’s hot and there’s always someone leering at her or pining over her.. which is cool but mentioned a little too much.
Just when I thought the story is going no where, something really interesting happens.. she stumbles into some drugs in her video store by accident and then the story rolls, my friend. It just gets better from there.
While on this beautiful thrilling ride I encountered a speed breaker when she’s to choose between being a cage dancer in skimpy clothes or death. That’s when I slowly opened my eyes n realized this girl is actually put through soo much in life.
From Dom’s POV we know he has a thing for her and that to keep her he has to be a savage like fuck her and leave her, not spend the night.. lock her up.. force her to dance in his strip club.. not be kind.. death threats..
The girl was constantly walking on pins n needles.. I really felt sorry for her.. love or not.. god she didn’t deserve that treatment. There’s this melancholic mood throughout most part of 2003 according to me.
But then when you look at it from Dom’s POV, he is this hard dude.. with a soft corner for Bea, he fucks her like god.. he makes sure her needs are met.. he makes sure she’s safe every fucking single time. His strategies in expanding his drug dealership.. the counter attacks he plans.. mind games.. being ready to fight back before his superiors can throw him under the bus.. he was a charm.
The action sequences are pretty pretty gory and dark.. full on blood baths. I love that Dom wasn’t a man whore. His eyes were fixed on Bea unfortunately. That girl, goddamn, I feel really bad for her.
It’s like a mafia movie.
I love Nenia’s style of jumping between present and past. The beginning was like Red Riding Hood..
Dom was like this scary wolf to get her. It was really interesting.
The Video store, I couldn’t connect cause I wasn’t aware of most of it..
Beatrice in 2003 was extremely annoying to me.. always about her beauty is all everybody or herself is talking about. Basically she’s hot and there’s always someone leering at her or pining over her.. which is cool but mentioned a little too much.
Just when I thought the story is going no where, something really interesting happens.. she stumbles into some drugs in her video store by accident and then the story rolls, my friend. It just gets better from there.
While on this beautiful thrilling ride I encountered a speed breaker when she’s to choose between being a cage dancer in skimpy clothes or death. That’s when I slowly opened my eyes n realized this girl is actually put through soo much in life.
From Dom’s POV we know he has a thing for her and that to keep her he has to be a savage like fuck her and leave her, not spend the night.. lock her up.. force her to dance in his strip club.. not be kind.. death threats..
The girl was constantly walking on pins n needles.. I really felt sorry for her.. love or not.. god she didn’t deserve that treatment. There’s this melancholic mood throughout most part of 2003 according to me.
But then when you look at it from Dom’s POV, he is this hard dude.. with a soft corner for Bea, he fucks her like god.. he makes sure her needs are met.. he makes sure she’s safe every fucking single time. His strategies in expanding his drug dealership.. the counter attacks he plans.. mind games.. being ready to fight back before his superiors can throw him under the bus.. he was a charm.
The action sequences are pretty pretty gory and dark.. full on blood baths. I love that Dom wasn’t a man whore. His eyes were fixed on Bea unfortunately. That girl, goddamn, I feel really bad for her.
It’s like a mafia movie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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