3.5 stars, rounded up.

Oof. What a ride.

I’ll admit, I was expecting more morally grey characters. That is not this story. This is the love story between two people who take pleasure in killing. As such, I’m not entirely sure I was the right audience for this. That being said, I did enjoy the ride, fucked up as it was. The characters were solidly built. The plot line was slow in places, and could have benefitted a lot by having the lead up to the final conclusion more drawn out throughout the book, rather than just taking place almost entirely in the last 30% of the book. Even so, this was … disturbing, which is exactly what it was going for.

CWs/TWs:

Spoiler

Bloodplay, multiple on page murders, on page violence, on page torture (just one scene, it’s relatively short, FWIW), gore, homophobia and homophobic slurs, references to sexual and physical abuse of children, domestic abuse, I’m sure there is more

Thanks to Gay Romance Reviews for an ARC of this book.

This was great. The characters are well drawn with great depth to them. Cam has a heart of gold, but not in that cheesy, over the top way. He’s just very believable and real and it’s super easy to get sucked into the politics that play out around his motorcycle club. Saint and Alexei are great as well, and I’m just sorry we didn’t get to see more of their backstories but from what I understand, that comes with the next book.

I don’t know if I would qualify this as a dark romance, necessarily. I think if you come into this expecting one, you might be disappointed. But it is the darkest book I’ve read yet from Garrett Leigh and I think it all is very well done.

Thanks to Gay Romance Reviews for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CWs: on page violence and death, recreational drug use, human trafficking, mentions of child abuse (of the sexual variety) and neglect

Omg. This was utterly adorable. I’m such an enormous sucker for really good and sweet aftercare, and this has that in spades. Sam, Callum and Luke are so beautifully kind and charming, and Jacob was as well.

I feel like we get less of Jacob’s personality, because he does have a tendency to mold himself into whatever his boy Friday needs him to be atm, and in that sense, we see much more of Sam, Callum and Luke’s personalities.

My other criticisms of this is that the ending is a little weak, but okay, whatever. My bigger criticism is that this takes insta-love to a whole new level, and not just in the insta-love x3 sense, but also in that Jacob has this almost eerie ability to make things insta-perfect for his three little piggies (with just one exception), and creates the kind of perfect vacation for them that one might hope to aspire to create for their partner after years of knowing them.

Still, I really enjoyed this as syrupy sweet escapism at its finest. It was really fun and kind. And like I said. I’m just such a sucker for books where people are endlessly kind to each other the whole way through.

Side note: GIVE ME HARRIS’ BOOK. PLEASE.

EDIT 3/3/22: This has successfully achieved the status of “comfort read.” I just love everything about this book. Especially today, when I just wanted something cute and light that I could start and finish before going to bed.

My original review from 1/9 remains unchanged below.

I thought this was going to be short erotica, but it’s actually a really cute poly romance. The characters are all great. The banter is really charming. This was lovely and perfect.

Why did I wait so long to read this? I really enjoyed this. This was wild and bonkers and shouldn’t have been nearly as believable as it was.

Admittedly, it was a little dated, especially in regards to the once or twice the book talks about gender. But it was just a few lines, and honestly, in 2013, I didn’t know enough about gender to see anything wrong with those few lines, so I can’t fault this book for being a little out of touch. Maybe it is time for an update, though? Just an idea.