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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Okay, but how did we go from hating each other to being ready to kill for their love?! We jumped from one emotion to another, too fast, folks. I liked the action scenes, but I got whiplash.
Overall, it's a good read when you find yourself without a book rec ready to go.
Overall, it's a good read when you find yourself without a book rec ready to go.
I don’t know who is more childish Maddie or Grayson
dark
emotional
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
Grayson Ward + Maddison “Maddie” Peters
By the way the book started, I thought this book would feel repetitive but I was wrong. Butterflies were flying at just 12% in. The story progressed so seamlessly to the point where it became a little predictable. Like a dark Hallmark movie (said with love because I’m sucker for those).
Maddie is a firecracker so I loved how the story kept that alive and focused on the character growth of Grayson. He was a little broken and a lot jaded so I loved seeing him have some self actualization.
I feel ultimately, this book is just teeing up for the story that’s about to come even more alive in the next book.
☀️ “Whenever she’s near me, all I want to do is bend her over and fuck her until she shuts up.”
☀️ “She’s right; I am a monster. But I won’t let the darkness steal my sunshine.”
☀️ “Well it’s a good thing I don’t want a boring prince. I want the villian to fuck me like a whore while telling me he loves me.”
☀️ “I craved to be worshipped by the Villian for the rest of eternity. Would a prince burn down the world to keep me safe? Or take a bullet for me? No. I needed the darkness to set fire to my soul.”
This was a roller coaster ride for the most part. It’s like Maddie and Grayson wanted to claim each other without actually claiming each other. He gets mad that she still goes on dates but wants no relationship with her and she texts and lies about it when she really didn’t need to. I love how Grayson calls Maddie “Sunshine” that’s actually really cute instead of the typical “Baby”. Maddie has been a really great friend to Sienna in the first book so it’s really great to see it reciprocated in this one. Again this book was a tad too long for me being at over 400 pages. Maddie was girl bossing and I loved that for her. Her mom is such a bitch and I’m glad Grayson was there to back her up. Can’t wait to read the next book in this series!
“You know you’re special to me, right, Sunshine? You aren’t just ‘anyone.’ You’re quickly becoming everything.”
•Grumpy/Sunshine
•Mafia hitman by night/ boxing trainer by day
•Ex military with traumatic past
•Sworn off women
•Touch her and unalive vibes
•”Mine” possessive
“You know you’re special to me, right, Sunshine? You aren’t just ‘anyone.’ You’re quickly becoming everything.”
•Grumpy/Sunshine
•Mafia hitman by night/ boxing trainer by day
•Ex military with traumatic past
•Sworn off women
•Touch her and unalive vibes
•”Mine” possessive
okay why did i love that?? the FMC was independent still which i loved and they both fell so hard
I really loved this, which probably says something deeply disturbing about me. I enjoyed the spicy scenes and there were some character interactions that made me laugh out loud. I will be looking forward to the next installment and can't wait to read it!
Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this early!
Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this early!
Grayson and Maddie were an amazing read. It did follow kind of the same plot as Distance, which is the first book with Keller and Sienna, yet the book was very different as the characters were very different. Loved this book as much as the first!
3.5 ⭐
Okay this one was much better even though it was a bit repetitive again. Preparing myself mentally for the next one.
Okay this one was much better even though it was a bit repetitive again. Preparing myself mentally for the next one.
I thought I enjoyed the first book (Distance) but wow this is incredible! Whether it was the enemies to lovers, slight age gap and domination, Grayson resisting Maddie because he was scared about loving her or how quick their romance was, I loved every second.
Although I don’t necessarily buy into the Luca and Frankie running the mafia together I enjoyed how that part panned out and Maddie was protected as well as Grayson not believing she would break up with him like that, rather than the easy option of forgetting it and getting angry.
Grayson started of saying he couldn’t give Maddie what she wanted but knew straight away she was the one, hence why his decision changed so quickly. Although this isn’t necessarily a “realistic” approach, it does happen and I enjoyed seeing how love can change a man’s approach on relationships.
Grayson Ward is definitely ahead of Keller Russo!
I did think the pregnancy part was a bit predictable and too similar to the first book and didn’t necessarily follow a clear path, however I would still recommend this series.
Again I can understand how this contains a lot of spice and darker romance mixed with multiple tropes that people won’t like, I do enjoy a book that has a lot going on as it entices me and draws me in.
Although I don’t necessarily buy into the Luca and Frankie running the mafia together I enjoyed how that part panned out and Maddie was protected as well as Grayson not believing she would break up with him like that, rather than the easy option of forgetting it and getting angry.
Grayson started of saying he couldn’t give Maddie what she wanted but knew straight away she was the one, hence why his decision changed so quickly. Although this isn’t necessarily a “realistic” approach, it does happen and I enjoyed seeing how love can change a man’s approach on relationships.
Grayson Ward is definitely ahead of Keller Russo!
I did think the pregnancy part was a bit predictable and too similar to the first book and didn’t necessarily follow a clear path, however I would still recommend this series.
Again I can understand how this contains a lot of spice and darker romance mixed with multiple tropes that people won’t like, I do enjoy a book that has a lot going on as it entices me and draws me in.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is the second book in the ‘Beneath the Mask’ series and my first Luna Mason book. Thank you to NetGalley and Hambright PR for the ARC!
Where do I start with this book? There were some pros, there were some cons, and overall I’m left feeling very divided about this one. To begin with, I have not read the first book yet, and I think that worked against me.
The pros:
- I loved the MMC. He was possessive, swoony, had a dirty mouth, and was overall perfection
- I LOVED the middle third of this book. While it took me a little bit to get into it, once I did, I devoured the book until about the 65-70% mark
- Mafia is one of my favorite sub-genres. This is a darker (but I wouldn’t really call it dark) romance that would totally scratch the itch for a morally grey MMC
The in-between:
- I found this to be a really fast-paced book. While normally I don’t mind it, I found that because it was so fast, a lot of finer pieces of development were lacking and I had to go back and re-read a lot.
The cons:
- There’s some pretty serious errors in this. An entire chapter is duplicated
- I really didn’t love the FMC. She came across as whiny and nothing special. She had some conflicts with her parents that were brought up and then cast aside, but we, the reader, were supposed to care about.
- I’m not really sure what the plot (besides the two MC’s getting together) was. The MMC works in a boxing gym, but that’s barely mentioned?
Overall, I think this book has promise, but needs to go through the editorial process again to catch some typos and mistakes. I would also love to see more character and plot development so it didn’t feel quite so rushed.
Tropes:
- Mafia
- Morally Grey MMC
- Enemies to lovers
- She falls first, he falls harder
Overall Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall Spice:
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️