Some reviews are especially hard to write. For me it's the books which touch me in some way, which contain my kinks, but also leave me stunned, that present the challenge.
For this particular story I was convinced I wouldn't be rating it with more than four stars. It went on like that for the most of the book, but once I reached the ending (ending which was kind of bland for me when compared to the rest of it)I suddenly realized I more than liked it and I just couldn't go below 5.
Now to clarify. This story is raw, rough, cruel and most of the time illogical. There is cheating, beating, rapes, killings, torture, BDSM without all the conventional rules, insanity - complete as well as partial, there are some hard core stuff and the gentle side in general is mostly missing.
Sin and Matt change each other from the core. But not like you might read in other books. They start off violently and that part never weakens or goes soft. They kick, bite, rape, cheat and, well, almost everything you can think of, and it's not pretty. You might hate them, want to kill them, maybe even feel sorry for them, but one thing you will never do is think of them as normal or even ordinary.
I liked the flow of the story, the violence, the games, even the cheating. I understood the rapes, the abandonment and thought the side characters made the story alive. It's not a thrill - like some books sometimes are - all around. Like when you have that feeling where the book simply can't have enough pages and you're constantly on edge. It wasn't like that for me. It was interesting enough that I stayed awake and am writing this review at 8:20am after reading all night, but not unbelievably intense. Another thing that worked for me.
What I did find as a remark of sorts is the lack of sex from them. not that there wasn't any, there was enough actually, but I enjoy this kind of stuff and I needed more bite and fucking in it with that violent flare. Another thing was the ending which for me didn't fit the story. If there ever was a story which needed to end with rough, animalistic and injury prone sex, it was this one. Now, it wasn't overly sweet and mushy, in fact it was short, to the point and not altogether unsatisfying, but like I said, for me it didn't fit the rest of the story and after meeting these unique characters I needed something more primal and explosive for the finishing touch.
I truly enjoyed this book, and if someone knows another finished story from this author I would appreciate the recommendation. (or something similar when it comes to the story, characters or BDSM)
For others, I can't really recommend this. I am a firm believer in true love, where the characters don't have to choose conventional means to make it happen. My limits are few when it comes to what I don't want to or can't read and this particular book was exactly what I needed/wanted. There is everything in there and I easily could have read about rougher stuff. But there aren't many people ready for that so i would continue with caution.