3.5-4 stars Overall
Age gap, older grizzly MC president and traumatized but resilient young girl, a little mermaid reinvention, cults and drama and steam- ALL THE THINGS I love. And truly, this story started out amazingly. The world building, the character arcs, the intrigue. The chemistry! I was hooked pretty quickly.
Truly, a marvelously twisted first half of this story. It’s a dark situation we find Arie in when this story begins - like really dark and disturbing. So we feel so victorious as she finds her way into the MC world of Viking and his crew- rescued by this big scary man who is nothing like the scary she’s experienced at the hand of sick and twisted men. He’s her savior, even if she’s terrified of men, and she knows NOTHING of the real world. And he’s drawn to her- first in a protective way, but as she blossoms into her new freedom. And then a sizzle explodes between these two.
The characters are interesting- a strong but traumatized young girl, wide-eyed to her “whole new world” and her Viking savior. I loved watching her find herself, and Viking is a delicious, edgy, super alpha protector- with a dirty mouth. Their connection feels really sweet, and restorative for them both, especially as they both share connections to this bigger nefarious enemy. He helps her find strength, and she softens his heart- and the steam is great. And the little mermaid references are great along the way.
And then this boks just kind of fizzles out- it felt rushed, and satisfying. We get some great action and some victories, but we lose the great romantic progression, and what reads as a great story about two broken souls finding another that had a lot of depth suddenly reads like a surface-level quick fix ending. I wished we’d had more emotional content in the ending, more explanation to the other book connections, and more romantic closure verse introducing other pieces. I fell in love with this couple, I wanted a bit more. 5 star beginning, 3 star ending.
Heed the trigger warnings!