Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
2 ⭐️
Characters:
Roman (Mickey) × Isabella (Minnie)
Main Tropes/Tags:
Characters:
Roman (Mickey) × Isabella (Minnie)
Main Tropes/Tags:
I really enjoyed this dark friends to lovers romance. Very dark and depraved, yet sweet. Roman was absolutely obsessive in love with Bella, the abuse she endured through her journey was very sad and disturbing.
4.5⭐️ 4🌶️ 4.75🎧
Relationship dynamic: MF
Tropes/Microtropes/Vibes/Reps:
🖤 Dark
👫 Childhood best friends
🩶 Kidnapping
💘 Second chance
🧲 Good girl x bad boy
❤️🔥 Unhinged and obsessed MMC
🏃🏻♀️ Primal play
🤍 Tattoos for her
Producer: East House Productions
Narrators: Vivienne Larue + JF Harding
Narration type: duet
Writing perspective: first person, dual POV
Standard length: 11:35
Listening speed: 2.2x
Listened via: BookFunnel
ALC provided by: MLA
📖 This childhood best friends to lovers, second chance, dark romance was such a great listen! Roman is that ultra protective, completely unhinged obsessed with her kind of guy and I’m honestly here for it.
🎧 JF completely nailed his entire vibe. Isabelle is a good girl, but has a total soft spot for Roman, and Vivienne’s voice was great at both young and older Isabelle!
I enjoyed this book; but it did take me a while as my engagement did slip here and there. I enjoyed the characters, and I thought the plot was interesting, but I think if perhaps the first half of the book was executed differently then it may have engaged me more.
On a finer note, this book is a case of one character not giving the other a key thing that could’ve concluded the book earlier and prevented the dragging of frustrated emotions for so long.
As advertised, Roman shows up and kills her foster family. We don’t like them so good riddance. However, that happens/starts in chapter one. Then for the first half of the book, it goes into flashbacks of the two meeting and growing up together. I think if the flashbacks have been more spread out, it wouldn’t have been so much character backstory at once. Therefore, I may have been more tuned in with what was happening.
In correlation to the flashbacks, the age between them at one point felt wrong. Yes, they’d grown up together, but we get to the part where she is seventeen and he nineteen. Whilst that is only two years, it still comes down to how one is a minor and one isn’t. Therefore, I was thrown off around this part of the book when he kisses her and has some sexual thoughts about her. I feel if she was at least eighteen, it would’ve felt more right. Once again, I know they know each other and have this special connection, but when it splits over two chapters this part of the book, you get reminded of the age. It’s like here’s their age, now onto thinking sexual thoughts.
So, when we finally get out of this flashback first half, we finally get into the present conflicts. Immediately you start questioning if the tethered dynamic between them would’ve been easier to solve if he had immediately told her where he’d been for the past three years – that is what she’s angry with him for, just disappearing one day and not coming back. Even when he concludes that she knows nothing about his imprisonment, she never got his letters, he doesn’t immediately tell her. So much so, these letters don’t return until the very end where she reads them and instantly feels so bad for him and practically completely forgives him then and there. This instant change after the second half of the book where she’s still angry with him and there’s still a strong conflict in their relationship.
Now onto a more positive note, the humour in this book is entertaining. Roman has quite the thought process at times that belongs most definitely to the love interest in a dark romance book. He is both charming and possessive, just how we like our fictional men. Sometimes I think the possessiveness can be a little manipulative, but I may just be reading it wrong. Anyways, Roman has a lot of entertaining moments in the book that make it worth reading.
Isabella is a sweet character, but she does spend the present part of the book frustrated most of the time. I think if Roman isn’t getting sexual with her, then she’s just angry with him. She blames a lot on him leaving her like he had a choice when he was shot and escorted to prison? Furthermore, I'm not entirely sure what to pinpoint her character development to, she was just angry and then accepted him as soon as she read the letters at the very end! Also, I found her POV’s to be dragging sometimes, she sometimes just went on and on about how annoyed she was with him but then switches to how he saves her etc etc...
Oh, but the real character I love the most, who I'll love in every book, the funny side character. Rico is unbelievably funny; chapter twenty-five had me holding in my laugh when at work. Honestly any chapter or scene with Rico was the best!
Final note, prepare for many references to Mickey and Minnie Mouse. That is their nicknames for each other.
On a finer note, this book is a case of one character not giving the other a key thing that could’ve concluded the book earlier and prevented the dragging of frustrated emotions for so long.
As advertised, Roman shows up and kills her foster family. We don’t like them so good riddance. However, that happens/starts in chapter one. Then for the first half of the book, it goes into flashbacks of the two meeting and growing up together. I think if the flashbacks have been more spread out, it wouldn’t have been so much character backstory at once. Therefore, I may have been more tuned in with what was happening.
In correlation to the flashbacks, the age between them at one point felt wrong. Yes, they’d grown up together, but we get to the part where she is seventeen and he nineteen. Whilst that is only two years, it still comes down to how one is a minor and one isn’t. Therefore, I was thrown off around this part of the book when he kisses her and has some sexual thoughts about her. I feel if she was at least eighteen, it would’ve felt more right. Once again, I know they know each other and have this special connection, but when it splits over two chapters this part of the book, you get reminded of the age. It’s like here’s their age, now onto thinking sexual thoughts.
So, when we finally get out of this flashback first half, we finally get into the present conflicts. Immediately you start questioning if the tethered dynamic between them would’ve been easier to solve if he had immediately told her where he’d been for the past three years – that is what she’s angry with him for, just disappearing one day and not coming back. Even when he concludes that she knows nothing about his imprisonment, she never got his letters, he doesn’t immediately tell her. So much so, these letters don’t return until the very end where she reads them and instantly feels so bad for him and practically completely forgives him then and there. This instant change after the second half of the book where she’s still angry with him and there’s still a strong conflict in their relationship.
Now onto a more positive note, the humour in this book is entertaining. Roman has quite the thought process at times that belongs most definitely to the love interest in a dark romance book. He is both charming and possessive, just how we like our fictional men. Sometimes I think the possessiveness can be a little manipulative, but I may just be reading it wrong. Anyways, Roman has a lot of entertaining moments in the book that make it worth reading.
Isabella is a sweet character, but she does spend the present part of the book frustrated most of the time. I think if Roman isn’t getting sexual with her, then she’s just angry with him. She blames a lot on him leaving her like he had a choice when he was shot and escorted to prison? Furthermore, I'm not entirely sure what to pinpoint her character development to, she was just angry and then accepted him as soon as she read the letters at the very end! Also, I found her POV’s to be dragging sometimes, she sometimes just went on and on about how annoyed she was with him but then switches to how he saves her etc etc...
Oh, but the real character I love the most, who I'll love in every book, the funny side character. Rico is unbelievably funny; chapter twenty-five had me holding in my laugh when at work. Honestly any chapter or scene with Rico was the best!
Final note, prepare for many references to Mickey and Minnie Mouse. That is their nicknames for each other.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at 80%. No words to describe this book at the moment except WTF?
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is the cutest dark romance you could ever read, i really adore them together and how he was trying to make everything right
