What do you think?
Rate this book


152 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2022
• M/F Dark instalove standalone romance
• Free via Kindle Unlimited
• 149 Kindle pages (ends at 96%)
• Dual POV, 1st Person
🔪 MMC: Sam Sparks(37), air traffic controller/serial killer. Tall, muscular, bronzed skin, dark hair, light eyes.
🔪 FMC: Erica Watson(21), college student. No physical description besides: swan-like neck, delicate shoulders… and she looks just like his dead mother.🤔
🔪 Setting: Los Angeles
🔪 Safety & Tropes: Dark, insta, age gap, ott jpo MMC, dual virgin, no condoms, breeding kink. No separations. No OW. Mild OM - FMC isn’t interested. HEA
🔪 CWs: (incomplete)
I expected to read a dark novella about an OTT jpo serial killer. And it was. But it’s also a story about a ratty MMC slowly cleaning up his act. He reminded me a bit of Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory. Here, this meant he had a lot of unattractive qualities for a large portion of the book.
• It opens with the MMC saying this about his psychiatrist: “… name-calling judgmental bitch … thinks she’s all high and mighty, that she can judge me with that Karen voice, talking to me like I’m a damn retarded baby?” Um, I know this is a dark romance and character arcs gotta arc - but this is just unnecessarily offensive.
• He spots the FMC in a bar, with some creeper hanging on her. He follow Creeper outside to murder him, and thinks this: “I have a raging erection, half for her and half for what I’m about to do… He will be the first to die in a different way, in a way that’s exciting me so much I’m damn near ready to come in my pants.” Listen, I’m totally fine with him killing men who prey on women, but I don’t wanna hear about murderboners.
• He kills the guy, partly by then takes FMC to his tiny windowless studio that smells so bad she nearly gags. Why does it smell? Because…
• He’s not a very smart serial killer. "… even the stench of the bodies I placed between the walls in the unrented apartments in this building couldn’t deter her. Why between the walls and not the crawl space? I want to smell that smell, to be constantly reminded of who the boss of this fucking place is.
• FMC turns away from him in her sleep, and he contemplates several painful/humiliating “punishments” - although he decides against them. I think this was part of his emotional growth, but trust - the vibe was not hot.
By this point, I had a hard time finding Sam attractive. To be fair, he wants to be what she needs, and actually starts getting it together for her. He does a lot of swoony stuff: makes her his world, kills for her, treats her to a fancy restaurant & penthouse suite, etc. Whether you find the spice/dirty talk hot or cringe is a matter of perspective - for me it was a bit of both. Feel free to ask if you have any questions!