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gnlee26's review against another edition
- 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
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
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
xoxandiexo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
kiabejero's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, and Kidnapping
rae_bookmarkchronicles's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I hated most of the dialogue. The romance did not feel believable because when things started between them they simply had not spent enough time together or even had enough straight forward conversations to develop real feelings. However, the author kept emphasizing the feelings were more than lust and I'm not convinced that they were.
A lot of the things that Grayson says were cringey af. I kept reading though because I was curious about how it would end and then I disliked the ending. I am curious about the second book but I will not be reading the second book... I'll just look up what happens lol
If you want to read this for the smut heads up that it is a very slow burn. Every time you think they will....they won't.
Graphic: Torture and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping and Death of parent
Minor: Pedophilia
madz_'s review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder
roseisthebooksflower's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
monicaaaaa's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia
queencariad's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Pick Born, Darkly to follow the story of a sort of Robin Hood sadist murderer and his equally fucked up psychologist.
I particularly read the end of the book as quite the Criminal Minds episode, with huge thriller/true crime vibes.
Grayson gave me the creeps— which is actually normal and reassuring, I’d say— and was uncomfortably fascinating.
London was just as interesting, as her past gets revealed layer by layer.
I “enjoyed” the closed quarters setting that covered a good half of the book and definitely helped building the tension between the characters, and the growing feeling of… being trapped.
I also appreciated how London acknowledged her attraction to Grayson all the while admitting the fact that he was a complete sadist (and that she has her own issues, too, lmao.)
My biggest complaint would be that the place is overall extremely slow, despite the book being so short.
I’m not sure I’ll read the second volume yet, but the ending did intrigue me. We’ll see!
3 stars.
Graphic: Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
curlychaos_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
sistershelves_fasya's review
- 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
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!!!
Graphic: Gore, Torture, and Murder