Reviews with content warning for Gore - Born, Darkly

Such a fun thrilling sexy ride!
Dexter meets Hanibal meets Joker and Harley Quinn.
Under a different name (and different characters names LOL London Noble is a sexy-librarian-type stripper name if I've ever heard one) this could be your run-of-the-mill erotic thriller, and a decent one at that.

The writing was surprisingly good, a bit too wordsy at times.
The psychobabble was a bit much, with many inaccuratly used terms. And some of the reveals were a little too convinient. But I willing to suspend my disbelief, bravery this was just too damn fun.

Content Warnings

theartistreader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One sitting. That's how quick I read this book. I am obsessed! This book is so dark and, even though I'm going to sound a bit psychotic myself here, the characters are surprisingly relatable, which is something that isn't always present withing romance books. I've got a feeling this book is going to leave me with a massive book hangover. But now I need more serial killer recs! Book 2, here I come.

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gnlee26's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Read 1.13.23-1.14.23 Reviewed 2.21.23
I didn’t get super attached to these characters or story. While they were interesting and the story was super intriguing (basically just a Harley Quinn/Joker reimagined) it fell flat and the ending pissed me off. I do want to finish the story but I’ll probably just end up making an HEA in my head. Grayson is definitely one of the darker MMCs I’ve read and I loved that aspect but I didn’t really feel the chemistry and the “softer” side of Grayson (even though its not much softer) wasn’t very believable. The FMC (honestly can’t remember her name rn) didn’t start out to me at all. Her

dark arc if you will

wasn’t believable either.

I don’t get the whole “you blocked it out” “you made yourself think you’re Normal/the urges are still there you just push them away” like um…. If she doesn’t have the urges/they dont affect her at all doesn’t that mean she is normal? And if she is actually a psychopath then why doesn’t she embrace it why is she running and hiding and trying to be normal instead of ya know being a freaking psychopath?

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roseisthebooksflower's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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monicaaaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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curlychaos_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

sistershelves_fasya's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book makes me question my conscience.

You know I've read serial killer romance books before, but I've never left a review or rate the book just because I read it as a joke, just pure for my personal entertainment.

But this. I think this book was pretty well written. It didn't romanticize the fucked up things the main character did. The love interest, in this case, the psychiatrist wasn't portrayed as an innocent woman who makes the killer fall in love and yadda yadda you know the drill. Usually, the characters in this kind of story are attracted to each other because of how hot they are and decided "fuck it I'll have sex with them even though they kill people", but no, they were attracted to each other because of how fucked up they were. They play mind games with each other. The killer didn't brainwash the psychiatrist (imho), because it was already there all along, hence why she felt the pull toward him from the beginning.

Not gonna lie I kinda root for them and hope they wouldn't get caught and go full-on Bonnie and Clyde killing bad people (note: the serial killer only kill rapist, pedophile, etc, well you know bad people who are untouched bu the law. Another reason why I'm into it.) Also, he didn't personally kill his victims. He used traps, similar to the movie Saw.

Not recommend to everyone since it has lots of trigger warnings (I mean the idea is already triggering). If you watched Saw, you get the picture of how gruesome it is. Don't tell me I didn't warn you. But to all dark romance lovers, I say go for it!!!

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