Once upon a time they were my best friends, my family, my soulmates. But this is no fairy tale and I have nothing left to lose.
Beaten, bruised, scarred, emotionally traumatized. Olivia finally found a way to escape her sadistic husband. Now broken and penniless, with nowhere else to turn, she seeks out the four men who always protected her when they were younger. But can they come together and help her heal from the damage wrought? She loved them all once, will she again after being held by the devil’s embrace?
Sawyer, Nolan, Lake, and Grant share more wealth and power between them than the majority of the civilized world. But when an old friend comes back into their lives, they find themselves sharing more than a substantial plan full of revenge for the man that tried to break her. Each with their own set of skills but none able to resist the woman that needs them most. Vowing to protect her, the lines are blurred into murky shades of gray as secrets unfold and five hearts are on the line.
Reader beware: this is a dark reverse harem with triggers (SA, domestic violence, death) none of which the heroine suffers at the hands of her four men or in great detail.
Nichole is a contemporary romance author. When she isn't writing, she's chasing her four children around. Writing has always been her aspiration but it wasn't until her husband suggested she actually follow dreams that she took the biggest step. Her debut novel, Cold and Broken exceeded her expectations and she can't wait to share more of the stories taking up space in her mind.
Her other hobbies include baking, listening to music, and reading. She also has an obsession with true crime podcasts and cheesy 80s movies.
This is a reverse harem about our heroine who is running away from her abusive husband. She runs to her four best friends from high school. They had tried a relationship in the past with the five of them, but they were not really emotionally mature enough to handle that. Now, they're older and the four guys all work and live near each other. She shows up with broken ribs and asking for their help. Of course, they all get super overprotective and feel guilty for not knowing what she was going through. Things go from there.
I actually really enjoyed the beginning of this book and how she was getting to know the guys again. I really liked the dynamics between the heroine and the four guys and how they're trying to give her space but also want to protect her. I especially liked her development with Grant and overcoming his hangups over a relationship with her. Livi doesn't want to ever be lied to again, so she has to find her strength in standing up to them and telling them that she will not put up with that kind of relationship again. Where this book fell flat for me was the ending. Things went way too fast at the end and just wrapped up way too quickly. I would have liked this book to be longer and draw out that final conflict. I would have also liked a bit more depth into the guys and what it is they actually do for a living. That would have added more to the plot and to their characters that I was missing. While it wasn't a bad book, it definitely left me wanting a little more.
Hi my name is Melanie, and I’m kind of in love with every book I read by this author. Yeah, I’m reading her backlog backwards, but here we are.
Dark Devotions is a poly romance read, but it’s also about a woman escaping an abusive relationship, finding herself again, and falling back in love with her past lovers. I honestly enjoyed this book so much and I’m glad someone recommended I pick it up, because it was exactly what I was needing. A bit emotional, steamy, and a dash of suspense.
We meet the h as she’s escaped from an abusive marriage. She runs back to her high school sweethearts (4 of them). They take her in and hide her.
We watch as she reconnects with the guys. One of the Hs holds back from her as he feels guilty for pushing her away from their group and to her husband all of those years ago.
We discover the husband is involved in some horrible stuff and the guys want to draw him out to get rid of him for good. They have a tonne of security but still, this one guy manages to best one of the guys, all of the security and kidnap the h.
I found myself wanting the book to wrap up earlier than it did. The writing was good but it definitely had some lag time.
Oh - I struggle when a character has broken ribs but they are a non issue for the character. Broken ribs are incredibly taxing and render someone pretty useless with so many tasks.
Also-I wonder if we are going to revisit this crew in another book as one of the Hs wanted to explore BDSM with the h but it never happened. As much as I wanted the book to wrap up, it all happened pretty quickly by the end. We didn’t find out if they were moving to the beach and open their luxury villas. Some things got wrapped up in a bow and some things were left hanging.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Prior to reading this, I did see in a lot of reviews that said it was a quick read, but I didn’t realise that this meant that the story occurred at an pretty accelerated rate as well. It was like someone sat on a fast forward button.
This was at least how I found it. I much prefer a natural progression, but maybe because it was a second-chance romance the author decided to skip a lot of steps.
⚠️Spoiler ahead⚠️
So the FMC is running from her husband who is extremely abusive - mentally, physically and sexually. She doesn’t seem to mention the SA in detail, just references it. She runs to the 4 guys she used to have a poly relationship with, who are extremely gentle and caring towards her, and are essentially just really happy to have her back in their life.
I only made it to 60%, but this is what I know about the MMC so far.
Sawyer - Attorney. Grew up with money. I can’t remember anything else.
Nolan - Hacker. Very intelligent. Went to school on scholarship. Uses humour as a defence mechanism. (I did just have to look back for his name, because I thought it was North)
Lake - Enforcer. Kinda had anger management issues. Protective. Very alpha male. Ex marine.
Grant - Total D*ck so far. He owns establishments. Also grew up with money. If hot and cold taps were a person.
So they all were in a relationship when they were younger but ended it because maturity and jealously. Since then Sawyer and Nolan seem to have a thing. There is a bit of M/M in it, which isn’t really my thing, but it seems to only occur between these two characters and the FMC.
Anyway, but to the plot pace. The FMc has maybe 2 interactions with Lake before she sleeps with him and he’s pretty forward. You would think because of all the trauma she had faced they would be hesitant, but he seems to go very alpha male. In this plot, for this FMC storyline I don’t know if it worked as well. The relationship with the rest of the guys also develop really really quickly. Let’s take a breath 🧘
I’m also confused if they are criminals of not. Because they say they operate outside the government, but the government is aware of there rescue mission squad. They seem to be rescuing people from cartels and war zones, but they refer to themselves as being involved in white collar crime. How bad are the good guys ?
Parents ‘accidental’ death plot twist - just why … nope.
I will say it has a very pretty cover though. I sometimes can’t really picture the FMC, so it was nice to have a mental imagine of someone.
My heart broke for Livvy. All that trauma she suffered made me want to cry. I love how the guys were so caring and gentle with her. I love them all, but Nolan is special. He's the sweetest. All of them are, but he's extra sweet.
Nichole Greene had done it again with this smut-tastic reverse Harem dark romance!
I'm not usually into dark romance, but this author is amazing so I had to try, and I'm so glad I did. Definitely pay attention to the trigger warnings for physical/sexual/mental abuse because her husband is the worst. But the book starts right after she escapes, so all the abuse is in the past, which helped to put some distance, especially because she is now with her guys who love her so much!
Oh, the guys. I love all of them! Greene does such a great job making all of them different and unique, from their voices to decorating choices to smutty kinks. Love, love, love all the beautiful smut, and the deeper message of hope and healing and breaking free from those that abuse you. Also loved the focus on using therapy to help heal.
Wonderfully smutty dark romance reverse harem that I highly recommend!!
Trigger warnings: past sexual/physical/mental abuse, confinement, brief mention of suicidal attempt, violence, murder
25% in and I'm already tired of suspending my disbelief.
I cannot say that I understand in any way, shape or form how victims of abuse - domestic or otherwise - cope or heal but.... After years of physical, mental, emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse from her husband, Olivia seems mighty fine and trusting - in just hours of reconnecting these men. Only a few days go by before she's letting them slide into bed with her and is getting turned on by them. Idk about you but this seems a bit off to me.
Am I saying that she shouldn't heal and forget about her abusive husband? No, absolutely not. Victims deserve happiness after they manage to escape. However, after the harrowing experiences that Olivia outlines in this book.... a few hours and days just don't seem enough. Oh plus she says she hasn't seen these men in years and here she is trusting them all at once because they were once best friends. It might be because I'm a skeptic and a cynic but this level of trust is a bit much
First of all I can’t believe I actually got through this. Was it spicy yes… BUT, I truly feel this could have been a duet. With the amount of trauma she had and the abuse she went through there was a lot to unpack. It would have been good to read about her journey instead of having her shipped off. And other questions, like why did they grow apart? Why did she marry someone else? If they were so close and together what happened? That’s not explained… and I wanted to know damn it 😤
It's more of a 3.5ishhh. Woman running away from her abusive husband. She runs to her four best friends who take her in with no hesitation. Can I just say how that warmed my heart after getting disturbed by the last crazy book I read?!
So this wasn't a 4 star worthy story because of the poor development of the past. A lot of things didn't make sense like, 1. We barely get glimpses of when the heroine meets all the guys when she starts high school. 2. No clue as to how they all reacted when they found out she likes them all or how they decided to work it out. 3. How did a random guy end up marrying the heroine after she tried having individual and poly relationships with her four guy friends?! I mean she literally said that the guys were the loves of her life and she just randomly left them to be with another man?! What the heck?!!! 4. The guys claim to have loved her yet they had no idea what was happening in her life?! I mean..if the love of your life left you to marry someone else and throughout the years you don't hear a lot about them and no one knows what happened to them, won't you feel a little concerned? Maybe feel the need to check in once in awhile to see if they're breathing at least? 5. The guys claim that they didn't know the heroine's parents passed away which is ridiculous! These guys are crazy rich and extremely influential with members of the FBI and even judges in their pockets. And the heroine's parents' death would have been a big deal because of her father's popularity in the medical field as well as their humanitarian work! 6. Revenge scene was mehhh. I would have loved to see something a little more extreme or maybe that's a me thing?😬
This book wasn’t all that great. I did not like Grant at all. Even when he gave the reason as to why he was being a jerk. If he felt bad for introducing her he didn’t need to take it out on Olivia. Then it kind of annoyed me how he want to “degrade” her during sex or whatever. I think that should have been brought up later. You have these four badasses and Tripp stole her away so easily. Then how they’re these elite killers and she just so readily excepts it. I guess it’s because she grew up around them. I don’t know … it didn’t show much of her being traumatized. The only saving for this book was at the end when they made her go to therapy. Also we never found out how Tripp got the photo of Olivia in the first place or how he found her so quickly at the gala.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The story opens after Liv has escaped her husband and is on the run. As she has no one else, she turns to her four ex boyfriends. She's scarred and traumatized, terrified her ex will find her. The guys are all equally furious and desperate to avenge her.
Meh. This book should've been longer as it needed more fleshing out to answer all questions. I had trouble connecting with the characters and felt like things happened too fast. Liv took a vicious beating that results in broken ribs but a few days later she's getting dicked down like nothing. This was my first read by this author. There were characters from previous books so I had no clue who they were. I might read the bonus story as things ended abruptly and questions remained unanswered.
One is not the authors fault, but I was promised Sword Crossing in this RH by a different reviewer. And I guess we just have different definitions of the term.
Sharing the woman, or being willing to touch the other man's cock is NOT sword crossing. It's literally what an RH is. Sharing a girl and being cool with it.
So I was disappointed by that.
And secondly, the writing was just not great. It was too short, to rushed, and too big of a story for 5 people in a poly relationship.
I really enjoy this book. It was such a beautifully raw book. There are some triggers so please keep that in mind before reading.
Olivia has spent the past six years living in a nightmare. Her husband has been mentally, and physically abusing her. She is finally able to escape and with nowhere else to go she seeks help from the four boys she could always count on. They make it their mission to protect her and keep her safe. While staying with them old feelings come to the surface.
Olivia is such a strong heroine. She has been through hell but she doesn’t give up. Seeing her go from scared and timid to this strong woman that takes what she wants was incredible. I loved how comfortable she was around the guys even when they would disagree. The guys were amazing. I love Sawyer, Lake, Nolan, and even Grant once he came clean. They treat Olivia with so much care and devotion. They step up without hesitation to protect her and take her husband, Tripp down.
This was a great story of the aftermaths of domestic abuse and finding one’s self. There were some hard scenes when Olivia was telling the guys what Tripp had done. I do wish there were more flashbacks to see Liv and the guy’s relationship before she left. It was kinda fast-paced but since it was a second chance that didn’t bother me that much. Will be checking out the author’s other books in the future.
Loved, loved, loved this. This was a quicker read as it’s a shorter book but I don’t think it hindered the story at all. If anything, it helped keep me engaged with the quicker pace.
I’m an RH fan and Nichole Greene did a phenomenal job. All her men are amazing and loving and swoon worthy. (I did have favorites but let’s be honest I will never get a harem so I have to pick faves just in case). Plus lots of spice, even an MMF scene that I thought was well done and enjoyed.
Olivia, my sweet angel, has been through so much. She escaped her abusive husband and goes back to her friends in hopes they will help her. She is incredibly strong and I really enjoyed her as a character. I thought she had appropriate reactions to all situations and found myself really loving her.
My main complaint is I wish I had more. I believe this is a stand alone which is unfortunate because I would love to see more. Like I said, I don’t think the length hindered the story but I would have loved to have a longer book. Even if it was just filled with fluff because why not.
8 / 10 ⭐️ Dark Romance / Reverse Harem / Crimen Organizado / Violencia de género
Olivia escapa una noche de su esposo tras años de maltratos tanto físicos como psicológicos y va al único lugar donde sabe que estará a salvo, con sus mejores amigos de la infancia. Ellos la protegerán con sus vidas y con todos los recursos de los que disponen que no son pocos.
Me ha gustado mucho la novela aunque haya leído de parecidas. Eso sí, se me ha hecho muy corta. Si es verdad que tiene muchas escenas de 'cama' le faltan páginas de trama en el desenlace. El final es demasiado rápido, demasiado precipitado. En un par de páginas pim pam, se terminó todo. Personalmente creo que le falta más desarrollo en las partes de acción, y no me acaban de cuadrar mucho esas partes de la trama. Es como quiero llegar del punto A al punto B y el camino me lo invento a conveniencia, llegando a resultar inverosímil en varios momentos.
Pero bueno, en general me ha gustado mucho, es dinámico, adictivo y se lee muy rápido. Eso sí, hay violencia, mucho sexo 🔥🔥🔥🔥 y recordad que es Reverse Harem, así que os tiene que gustar el tema.
I’ve read all of Nichole’s books and this is by far the best one yet! It’s been so amazing to watch her grow as an author and find her writing style.
I binged this book so hard! The plot to smut ratio was perfect. There were times the story moved a little fast to be realistic but I’m glad it did move fast because I couldn’t wait for her relationship to develop with the men. As always, we don’t have to worry about not getting a HEA. 🙌🏼
**The copy I read was an advanced read copy that I sadly was unable to read when the book first came out so I imagine some things might be a little different from the published version of the book.
This book was kinda rushed to fit 278 pages with the introduction, the development on their relationship, the problem, and the problem solved. And keep in mind that there are 4 love interests here and developing each with the heroine in 278 pages is not doing it for me.
I enjoyed the beginning of this book and was intrigued enough to know what the heroes going to do to ensure the safety of the heroine and the pamper etcetc but as I’m reading, I kept craving for more and I’m still starving.
I think this book was a little short for such an intense topic. The ending was rather abrupt and I feel there was so much more to be explored. I would have loved to read more about their past together. And I think I need more time for her to heal.... a lot was glossed over and a bit fast forward to 3 month later for example. An OK book that I give 2.5 stars 🌟
I have never read a reverse harem but after reading this beauty, I need more in my life. Nichole has done it again bringing a brilliant story to life. Such a quick, fast paced read. I absolutely loved it.
A girly said screw slow burn, I know what the readers want. And she delivered just that. When the why choose site said it was 5/5 spicy, they meant it. She did not hesitate and had Olivia being worshiped but these 4 men. Good for Olivia. She deserves it. Onto book two!
This was a great first read by this author for me. I really liked Olivia and her guys and enjoyed the story immensely. Forever Devoted is next and at some point I will definitely her other books
This has been on my Kindle for months and months, maybe even a year, and I wish I had read it sooner! Definitely some trigger warnings, so definitely check those, but I really enjoyed it.