Reviews with content warning for Violence - Unhinged

a series of hot, rich, serial killer brothers?? I’VE NEVER GOTTEN A BOOK SO FAST 😭

i LOVE LOVE LOVE me a good anti-hero read!! doing a bad thing for good reasons, I’LL ALLOW IT (so long as it’s fictional 👀).

i genuinely can’t think of one thing in this story i didn’t love. there was banter, angst, a GOOD (and traumatic) backstory, lovable characters, strong pacing so the plot didn’t unravel too quickly—what’s not to love?? except Gary and his…yk 😤

Noah and Adam complement each other so perfectly, it’s indescribable how much i love them together. normally i prefer a bit of time to pass before the platform for the relationship develops, BUT I DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT HERE I WANTED THEM TOGETHER FROM THE BEGINNING

let me shut up actually, ‘cause i’ve got to start reading (MY MAN 🤭) August’s story 😼

Content Warnings

aconite's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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slammders's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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ghosthills's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was my introduction to the psychopath love interest genre and it is perfect for bad moods. Sometimes you just need that hurt/comfort, heartless except all my heart for you messy, sexy romance to get you through some messy, crappy, i hate everybody times.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Liam Dicosimo, who is so fantastic at doing different voices. I listened to this one driving back and forth to work and started binging the series from there.

The whole series revolves around psychopath brothers as adopted family and the boyfriends they can't live without. Thank you, I'll take at least seven, please.

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haloblues's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

The dirty talk in this one do be HOT AS HELL.

Details: Alternating POVs, third-person, past tense
Favourite character: Noah
Happy ending?: Yes

Favourite quotes:

"How do you raise a house full of psychopaths, Dr. Mulvaney?" she asked, looking back through the glass at the small boy.

"Very carefully, Dr. Arbor. Very carefully."

The mask of indifference shattered, replaced by a slow, almost sinister smile. The boy took Thomas's hand and shook it. He could see why he unnerved the other physician. Adam had no base-line for normal. He could only watch and mimic what he saw. He wasn't a six-year-old boy. He was a six-year-old robot currently downloading the software that made a six-year-old boy.

"Well, now, it's two in the morning and we're stuck here, in Satan's tiled asshole, trying to pry a cleaver out of this fucker's skull."

"I'm sorry to pull you away from the coke you were probably snorting off some rent boy's ass."

"Maybe I didn't want to see you. Did that even occur to you?" he asked, sounding unconvincing even to his own ears.

Adam's brows furrowed together as he leaned into Noah's space. "No, it didn't. Why wouldn't you want to see me?"

"Um, it's, like, four in the morning? I was sleeping? I don't actually know you?" Noah countered.

"Why would you do a drug when you didn't even know what it was?"

Noah shrugged. "What are you, the morality police? You kill people, like, as a hobby."

Noah's brain was turning a mile a minute. "Don't you live in a mansion on the other side of town?"

Adam shook his head with a smile. "No, my dad does. I live in a studio apartment the other side of town."

"And why can't you go sleep there?"

Adam shrugged. "Because you're not there and I want to be with you."

Adam woke with his arms around Noah, his body tucked snugly against him. He was small compared to Adam's six foot two, but he fit perfectly, allowing Adam to all but envelop him when they spooned. He liked the idea of people having to go through him to get to Noah. It was a foreign concept. He didn't know how to describe it. From the moment he'd seen him standing there, holding that gun on him, Adam had just known he wasn't going to let him go.

"Only in the bedroom. You can do whatever you want to me in here. But out there" — he jabbed his thumb towards the window — "I'm in charge. That's my offer. Take it or leave it."

Adam pushed Noah's hair off his face, grinning. "Whatever I want, huh?"

"Within reason," Noah qualified.

"What's within reason?" Adam asked, sliding his tongue between Noah's lips in a kiss that lingered long enough to distract.

"No circus animals. No permanent damage. You can't pee on me."

Adam barked out a laugh. "What?"

"It's a thing."

"Tell Dad. And while you're at it, tell him this. I'm keeping Noah. He's mine."

"He's not a toy. He's a human being," Archer muttered.

His rage took hold, and his hands fisted at his sides. "He's mine. I won't give him up. Don't push me on this or I swear to fucking God, I'll burn it all down. Do you hear me? If you make me choose, I'll choose him."

As always, his father's voice was deceptively calm. "Adam."

"Dad."

He sighed. "Why are you trying to run me down at midnight with my own car?"

"I can't risk it. He already accused me of stealing his backpack full of cash and guns."

Adam chuckled. "To be fair, you did steal his backpack full of cash and guns."

"Stop," Adam said, covering Noah's mouth with his palm. "This isn't a game. I don't play games. If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say it. Honestly, if I said half the things I think when I look at you, you'd run screaming into the night."

Noah's pulse hammered in his throat. He pulled Adam's hand from his lips. "Like what?"

Adam searched his face like he was truly uncertain whether what he said next would send Noah running. "Like I want to stitch my body to yours. Like I want to live inside your skin. Like I would handcuff you to the radiator if you tried to leave me."

Noah smiled despite himself. "You don't have a radiator."

Noah's chest ached. Adam had called two people to find out what humans did when other humans were hurting. Was that romantic? What the fuck did Noah know? It felt sweet.

"You're not going to lecture me on drinking my problems away?" Noah asked.

"No. If this is what you need to cope, then I'll keep you safe while you do it."

Maybe they hadn’t known each other long but part of him recognized something in Noah, something deeply ingrained in their DNA. Adam didn’t believe in soul mates—was quite certain he didn’t have any soul to speak of—but Noah was it for him.

The chemicals Adam’s brain denied him—the ones that released endorphins or dopamine or whatever it was that tricked people into thinking they were in love—were the same ones that told Noah nobody else mattered, nobody but Adam.

Hell, Adam hadn’t even needed those chemicals to choose Noah. He just had. He’d looked at Noah and decided he was his person. The one he’d kill for, die for, choose over any other, including his own family. So, that had to be better, right? Making the decision to do those things without the chemicals. It felt better to Noah. It felt like love. So, that was what Noah would call it. Adam loved Noah in every way he could.

“No way. These guys all deserve to suffer,” Avi said, once more kicking Gary’s fallen chair.

August snickered. “You just like butchering people.”

Avi gave him the finger. “I’m not the one who has a kill playlist on Spotify.”

“That would have been, like, three kills each,” Atticus chimed in.

“Two for one of us,” August corrected.

“I hate math,” Aiden muttered.

“And twenty separate crime scenes to clean up,” Noah reminded them.

“I’m just saying, killing three guys in one night would have been cool,” Avi pouted.

“But, instead, you get to kill twenty guys during the day, with your brothers, as a family,” August said.

“Other families just have barbeques,” Archer said, tone dripping with sarcasm.

Being a Mulvaney made Adam Teflon. And Noah belonged to Adam. That knowledge was a heady thing. Being untouchable. It made Noah reckless. Fuck. It made him dangerous. Far more dangerous than Thomas’s mercenary training ever would. Because Adam would do anything to protect Noah. Anything. He was like a vicious junkyard dog, and Noah held his leash.

“But I don’t want you to go,” Adam whined.

“Yes, both me and my ass are very aware of that.”

Adam cupped said ass. “I’m not letting you shower until you say it.”

“Say what?” Noah asked, blinking up at him with mock innocence.

“You know what.” Adam gave him the big, sad puppy dog eyes. “Please?”

They were so contrived, yet they worked every fucking time. “Fine.”

Noah flushed. It was such a stupid, embarrassingly sweet ritual they’d created. One that would make Noah cringe if he saw it in a book or movie. Hell, he would probably murder to keep it quiet because it was just too precious for two twenty-something-year-old killers. But Adam loved hearing it. And often. Noah didn’t know exactly why. Still, he sighed. “I maybe love you.”

A wide grin spread across Adam’s face. “I maybe love you, too.”

They were building a life together on that maybe. And it was a good one. More than Noah could ever have imagined.

Content Warnings

aylen_96's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

jennyisrad's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

What made me read this was 80% of reviews saying, “I didn’t expect to like this, but I did!” and I really, really have to agree.

This book was a wild ride and hard to stomach at times with the content, but Adam and Noah absolutely belong together. I’m glad they found each other and that they get their HEA.

I will say, sometimes the spice felt super weird to me for the timing of it, but I guess everyone has their own coping mechanisms.

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