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stygianvixen's review against another edition
1.0
Dnf! Someone being abused even to the level reaper was does not make it okay for every thing he did to Anya. You cannot excuse every action because he was abused and him being abused should make him not want to be abusive to his partner! The level of control he needs to have over her and the stalking of her (following her home for a month & sitting there watching her work every night?!) made me think he was the creepiest main character I have ever read about.
thegeekyblogger's review against another edition
4.0
Listened for Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.25
Character Rating: 3.75
Audio Rating: 3.50 (not part of the overall rating and not because of the narrator--he was a 4.00)
Quick Story/Character Thoughts: If you have read/listened to the Sea Haven/Sisters of the Hearts series then you know Christine tackles some pretty heavy material. This is really heavy material so I have to start with you should have some trigger warnings (mostly around sex and force). I also need to state that while I loved the story (even the hard to handle parts), it did make me have reservations about the main characters (which I will put in a spoiler section in a minute). This is going to be gritty series with hopefully quite a few books. With the shared background, I imagine each will come with some hard to handle storylines. In the end, while the treatment between Reaper and Anya would never ever work for me, I felt for these two characters it worked. There were some definite lines that depending on how you look at it might have been crossed aka my character rating but overall this story works for them. I also thought Christine was very good at staying true to the story even when it got rough (aka the story rating). Overall good listen but tough!
Audio Thoughts: First Jim was fantastic as these characters but the Audible version had huge long pauses between sections. Long enough that I was questioning whether my phone was pausing (it wasn't). You should just know that so that you don't question your sanity during the listen which is well worth the time.
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.25
Character Rating: 3.75
Audio Rating: 3.50 (not part of the overall rating and not because of the narrator--he was a 4.00)
Quick Story/Character Thoughts: If you have read/listened to the Sea Haven/Sisters of the Hearts series then you know Christine tackles some pretty heavy material. This is really heavy material so I have to start with you should have some trigger warnings (mostly around sex and force). I also need to state that while I loved the story (even the hard to handle parts), it did make me have reservations about the main characters (which I will put in a spoiler section in a minute). This is going to be gritty series with hopefully quite a few books. With the shared background, I imagine each will come with some hard to handle storylines. In the end, while the treatment between Reaper and Anya would never ever work for me, I felt for these two characters it worked. There were some definite lines that depending on how you look at it might have been crossed aka my character rating but overall this story works for them. I also thought Christine was very good at staying true to the story even when it got rough (aka the story rating). Overall good listen but tough!
Spoiler
Anya forgave to much/to quickly in one section-the questioning section- that had me questioning her as a character because in other situations she was very sturdy. Reaper stepped over a line for me with even remotely going along with his brothers on their hair brained solution. I didn't feel that matched his character and also because of that first screw up --the questioning section--it really made me question how their relationship stood in the endAudio Thoughts: First Jim was fantastic as these characters but the Audible version had huge long pauses between sections. Long enough that I was questioning whether my phone was pausing (it wasn't). You should just know that so that you don't question your sanity during the listen which is well worth the time.
llamallamacallurmama's review against another edition
**Most of my reviews contain detailed Content Warning/Trigger Warning (CW/TW) sections, which may include spoilers. I have tried to mark them appropriately, but please use caution.**
Audio (Jim Frangione)
DNF at 40%
Summary: As his MC works to find a new path, troubled assassin Reaper falls for the secretive, struggling bar maid Anya. Meanwhile lots of other stuff is happening.
Stats: CR/MC, M/F, open door, part of a series - really ought be read in order with the author’s other work.
Notes: This is the start of a (spinoff) series, but it’s really not the start of a series at all. There’s so much backstory, so much weird characterization and clunk, so much stuff going on I had a really hard time getting into it. I felt like I was forcing myself to continue hoping it would clear up, but it’s time to let it go. I did enjoy parts, and will consider backtracking in the author’s catalogue - but this wasn’t the place to start (or possibly pick up - I think I’ve read some of her books before, but can’t remember for sure).
Incomplete, but still spoilery, Content NotesViolence, mc and club culture, murder, injury, medical care, alcohol, firearms, stabbing, allusion to rape/torture (?), side character with trisomy 21 (brief mention), mention of gambling, fighting, murder for hire, mention of drug trafficking, money laundering/counterfeiting, mention of cancer, kidnapping, nightmares, death of parents (murder) child/human trafficking, homeless FMC, mmc spanks/swats gently FMC (not kink), FMC hits mmc in the chest, some slut shaming of side characters by the FMC (fairly mild), mmc breaks into fmc’s room, mmc masturbates while watching FMC sleep/steals her clothes, poverty/homelessness/food insecurity as a child, child (of side character), mentions of child abuse, scarred mmc, anxiety over unprotected sex, SI/planning, organized fighting, CSA, mmc has FMC followed, organized crime, touch adverse mmc, mutual masturbation, cum play
Audio (Jim Frangione)
DNF at 40%
Summary: As his MC works to find a new path, troubled assassin Reaper falls for the secretive, struggling bar maid Anya. Meanwhile lots of other stuff is happening.
Stats: CR/MC, M/F, open door, part of a series - really ought be read in order with the author’s other work.
Notes: This is the start of a (spinoff) series, but it’s really not the start of a series at all. There’s so much backstory, so much weird characterization and clunk, so much stuff going on I had a really hard time getting into it. I felt like I was forcing myself to continue hoping it would clear up, but it’s time to let it go. I did enjoy parts, and will consider backtracking in the author’s catalogue - but this wasn’t the place to start (or possibly pick up - I think I’ve read some of her books before, but can’t remember for sure).
Incomplete, but still spoilery, Content Notes
hannas_heas47's review against another edition
4.0
Brand new series by a great author. Fierce group of protective individuals brought up in a Russian training facility. I don't think we dove far enough into the whole Russian training part, bits and pieces... but what they do now is more important. The enforcer, Reaper is a stone cold killer who sets his sights on the one woman who can finally mean something for him. He's utterly distracted by her and she's an innocent. Such rich characters but I felt the storyline stumbled a bit when we figured out where Anya comes from. Still I trudged on to finish the book. I like the new cast of characters, and the promise they hold of something more. I gave it four stars.
lucy_qhuay's review against another edition
1.0
Fucked up hero in a fucked up world, weak heroine, other messed-up characters and raunchy writing. Recipe for disaster.
rebeccareadsmut's review
4.0
His blue eyes moved over her face. He didn’t look at anyone else, or even acknowledge their presence. He caught the front of the shirt he’d loaned her and tugged until she was right in front of him. One hand slid under the mass of her hair, curling around the nape of her neck. It felt like possession. Ownership.
Probably more like 3.5 stars than actually 4 for me. I really like a lot of it, but then there were things in the book that really drove me nuts.
I'm usually the type in romances where I'm always yelling at the heroine to not be dumb, don't leave him over something so dumb. I can say this is probably the first book where there were 2 pretty Fked up situations that happened that I thought she should have left.....at least for a bit but she didn't. I really couldn't believe it. I think the situations worked out okay in the end, but the first one, I was just like WOW she gave in super easy.
I've read a lot of PNR with dark character backgrounds, from other Feehan books (Carpathian Dark Ones I'm looking at you) and Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters, so I really thought I was a bit immune to dark back stories. I can say without a doubt that Reaper had pretty much the most Fked up back story ever. So dark and just messed up that it almost made it not believable.
I also spent about 3/4th of the book trying to decide if they had some kind of psychic abilities or not. It wasn't talked about a lot.
I also couldn't believe t6here was like a new drama/action happening at like 80% of the book, especially since it felt like the main characters were so far from a good point in their relationship. I just found myself going, really? Now? It felt totally unnecessary and not going to lie, I skimmed most of that part.
I did like the characters overall and some good steam. I can honestly say I've never read a romance where the hero had so many sexual issues because of past trauma. It was a bit refreshing and a bit horrifying, but also just really surprising.
I have to say though I think Feehan was a lot more appealing to me as a PNR reader back in the very early 2000s when there weren't a lot of other options. I will say though, she is good at dark characters and intense relationships. I will probably read some more in this series but it probably makes me want to read other MC books more instead.
“Think there should only be one bloodthirsty person in our family, babe, and you’re not near mean enough.”
Probably more like 3.5 stars than actually 4 for me. I really like a lot of it, but then there were things in the book that really drove me nuts.
I'm usually the type in romances where I'm always yelling at the heroine to not be dumb, don't leave him over something so dumb. I can say this is probably the first book where there were 2 pretty Fked up situations that happened that I thought she should have left.....at least for a bit but she didn't. I really couldn't believe it. I think the situations worked out okay in the end, but the first one, I was just like WOW she gave in super easy.
I've read a lot of PNR with dark character backgrounds, from other Feehan books (Carpathian Dark Ones I'm looking at you) and Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters, so I really thought I was a bit immune to dark back stories. I can say without a doubt that Reaper had pretty much the most Fked up back story ever. So dark and just messed up that it almost made it not believable.
I also spent about 3/4th of the book trying to decide if they had some kind of psychic abilities or not. It wasn't talked about a lot.
I also couldn't believe t6here was like a new drama/action happening at like 80% of the book, especially since it felt like the main characters were so far from a good point in their relationship. I just found myself going, really? Now? It felt totally unnecessary and not going to lie, I skimmed most of that part.
I did like the characters overall and some good steam. I can honestly say I've never read a romance where the hero had so many sexual issues because of past trauma. It was a bit refreshing and a bit horrifying, but also just really surprising.
I have to say though I think Feehan was a lot more appealing to me as a PNR reader back in the very early 2000s when there weren't a lot of other options. I will say though, she is good at dark characters and intense relationships. I will probably read some more in this series but it probably makes me want to read other MC books more instead.
“Think there should only be one bloodthirsty person in our family, babe, and you’re not near mean enough.”
dustjacketqueen's review against another edition
2.0
I got about 60% of the way through before I had to stop. It was just too long for the kind of book it was. Plus the mentioning of the tattoos was very cringe to me (she's outraged by wearing a jacket that calls her someone's "property" but is fine with the idea of a tattoo marking her as someone's property? Hmm). Cringe with way too many sex scenes. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, who knows!