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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
“I love being full of him, even if it hurts.”
This shit is toxic AF but I ate it up
This shit is toxic AF but I ate it up
"I can’t speak, can’t breathe air that isn’t his, too. To be loved so hard, so aggressively… it’s frightening, but intoxicating, too."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I'm a huge Sam Mariano fan. I love her crazy, obsessive, manipulative heroes. Carter Mahoney is one of my all-time favorite book characters. How she wrote him was pure genius. But, this book was a miss for me. I finished it, which normally would garner at least a 3-star rating, but I can't honestly in good conscious give it that, as I'm not sure there's value in reading this book.
My biggest problem was the writing. This is nowhere near what I expect from her. Any other author, I would have DNF'd pretty early on. I found the story pretty weak and there was really no depth to the characters. Dare did a lot of crazy things, which I have no problem with, but it's as though he was written purely to be just that...the worst possible kind of villain. But, when it was all said and done, I totally feel that Carter, Calvin and Matteo were all more manipulative than he was. Sure, Dare steamrolled his way in to Aubrey's life, but, she had no one to protect her from him, so really, it seemed too easy. Which leads me to my second issue with this book...
The heroine. She was bad. So naive and pretty much wore the wool over her eyes the whole time. She went to school with these mean kids for three years, but just up and decided to trust one of them overnight? And on top of that, stayed with him even after finding out that his crazy girlfriend was out to get her. No way. Not buying it. That was a huge issue for me. He didn't REALLY have to work that hard for her.
I'm not sure if the writing was not as in-depth as I'd normally expect, as this was initially in an Anthology, or this is just how she wanted to write it. Either way, if you're like me and a fan of her writing, I'm not sure you'll enjoy this one. If you're looking to read about, what she claims is her craziest hero yet, then you might. In all honesty, I didn't find him that bad, but, I've also read quite a few mafia books where the heroes have done far worse things than Dare has to their heroines.
This was a bit underwhelming to say the least. I wish we would have gotten to know who Dare was and maybe why he is the way he is. It's possible that it will come to light in future books, but I'm not really interested in delving any further in to this series.
Nickname: Mermaid
I want to hate him—I actually do hate him a little—but I’m still weirdly charmed by his obnoxious bullshit.
She never had a single fucking thought about coming. That means I thought about her more than she thought about me today, and that’s unacceptable.
“I don’t have an exact ratio of how often I get what I want, but I should tell you, it happens more often than it doesn’t.”
Dare, stop. Her cry whispers across my memory, making my cock feel like a rod of steel trapped inside my pants. I scared the living shit out of her, but she’s still lying here snuggled up with me, letting me stroke her hair and caress her arm. I love that she admitted it, too. She didn’t pretend to be unbothered. Fear danced in her pretty blue eyes as I touched her, kissed her, held my hand over her mouth and left my mark on her soft skin. Fuck, I liked that.
I love being full of him, even if it hurts.
All of this is new to me. The sex and the intensity. For all I know, that’s how most people fuck and I just don’t know it. Whatever the case, it’s clearly how he does it, and I didn’t dislike it, I just have to get used to it.
“Why are you crying?” he asks.
“Because you’re going to break my heart,” I whisper. His grip on my jaw tightens. He directs my gaze back to his and looks me dead in the eye.
“No, I am not.”
“You already are,”
“All I want is for us to be together and happy without other people trying to get in the way of that,” he says in a way that makes it sound so sensible. “Is that so bad?”
“I did all of it for you, Aubrey. Why would I do anything that hurt you in the process?”
That would be sweet if it weren’t so psychotic.
“Dare.”
“Yes, baby?”
“How do I know you won’t hurt me?”
“Well, it helps not to give me a reason to.” He takes his cock out, leaning over me and lining it up at my entrance. “But at the end of the day,” he shoves his cock into me, “you just have to trust me.”
Now I know he’s dangerous, but he’s the danger that spends every night in my bed. My guard dog unless I give him a reason to bite me, too.
I know he’s been kind of crazy, but it really does seem like a lot of his crazy has revolved around being afraid of losing me.
“Maybe I’m just not a very trusting person.” He shrugs.
“You’ve gotta trust me anyway.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You go to the tower,” he states somberly. I crack a smile.
“That can’t be your answer for everything.”
“It’s not my answer for everything. I have many other answers—flowers, gifts, fucking, outright emotional blackmail. Honestly, I think I’ve hardly used the tower.”
“All right, we’re getting a little close to a villain monologue here,” Dare says, glancing back at her. “You want to wrap it up?”
If I stand any chance of getting out of here…
I don’t think I stand a chance of getting out of here.
“I’m getting a little worried about your dedication to seeing me commit necrophilia,” he states. “I’m not into it. Move on.”
“Oh, please. Like you aren’t going to enjoy it,” she says, rolling her eyes and taking a seat on a white chair with a view of the bed. “You like drugging her and raping her. I would think kidnapping her and raping her would be right up your alley. I’m practically giving you one last date night. You’re welcome.”
“Since apparently I have to be very fucking specific, in the future, please do not ever drug me without my knowledge again.”
I can’t speak, can’t breathe air that isn’t his, too. To be loved so hard, so aggressively… it’s frightening, but intoxicating, too.
He pulls his mouth off my pussy to look up at me. “Good morning.” I stretch, twisting my body and bowing my back a bit.
“Bold to wake me up with sex when we literally just had a chat about you casually raping me last night.”
“What can I say? I’m a bold guy.” He kisses my tummy, then looks up at me.
“And you said I couldn’t drug you. You didn’t say I couldn’t wake you up for breakfast.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I'm a huge Sam Mariano fan. I love her crazy, obsessive, manipulative heroes. Carter Mahoney is one of my all-time favorite book characters. How she wrote him was pure genius. But, this book was a miss for me. I finished it, which normally would garner at least a 3-star rating, but I can't honestly in good conscious give it that, as I'm not sure there's value in reading this book.
My biggest problem was the writing. This is nowhere near what I expect from her. Any other author, I would have DNF'd pretty early on. I found the story pretty weak and there was really no depth to the characters. Dare did a lot of crazy things, which I have no problem with, but it's as though he was written purely to be just that...the worst possible kind of villain. But, when it was all said and done, I totally feel that Carter, Calvin and Matteo were all more manipulative than he was. Sure, Dare steamrolled his way in to Aubrey's life, but, she had no one to protect her from him, so really, it seemed too easy. Which leads me to my second issue with this book...
The heroine. She was bad. So naive and pretty much wore the wool over her eyes the whole time. She went to school with these mean kids for three years, but just up and decided to trust one of them overnight? And on top of that, stayed with him even after finding out that his crazy girlfriend was out to get her. No way. Not buying it. That was a huge issue for me. He didn't REALLY have to work that hard for her.
I'm not sure if the writing was not as in-depth as I'd normally expect, as this was initially in an Anthology, or this is just how she wanted to write it. Either way, if you're like me and a fan of her writing, I'm not sure you'll enjoy this one. If you're looking to read about, what she claims is her craziest hero yet, then you might. In all honesty, I didn't find him that bad, but, I've also read quite a few mafia books where the heroes have done far worse things than Dare has to their heroines.
This was a bit underwhelming to say the least. I wish we would have gotten to know who Dare was and maybe why he is the way he is. It's possible that it will come to light in future books, but I'm not really interested in delving any further in to this series.
Nickname: Mermaid
I want to hate him—I actually do hate him a little—but I’m still weirdly charmed by his obnoxious bullshit.
She never had a single fucking thought about coming. That means I thought about her more than she thought about me today, and that’s unacceptable.
“I don’t have an exact ratio of how often I get what I want, but I should tell you, it happens more often than it doesn’t.”
Dare, stop. Her cry whispers across my memory, making my cock feel like a rod of steel trapped inside my pants. I scared the living shit out of her, but she’s still lying here snuggled up with me, letting me stroke her hair and caress her arm. I love that she admitted it, too. She didn’t pretend to be unbothered. Fear danced in her pretty blue eyes as I touched her, kissed her, held my hand over her mouth and left my mark on her soft skin. Fuck, I liked that.
I love being full of him, even if it hurts.
All of this is new to me. The sex and the intensity. For all I know, that’s how most people fuck and I just don’t know it. Whatever the case, it’s clearly how he does it, and I didn’t dislike it, I just have to get used to it.
“Why are you crying?” he asks.
“Because you’re going to break my heart,” I whisper. His grip on my jaw tightens. He directs my gaze back to his and looks me dead in the eye.
“No, I am not.”
“You already are,”
“All I want is for us to be together and happy without other people trying to get in the way of that,” he says in a way that makes it sound so sensible. “Is that so bad?”
“I did all of it for you, Aubrey. Why would I do anything that hurt you in the process?”
That would be sweet if it weren’t so psychotic.
“Dare.”
“Yes, baby?”
“How do I know you won’t hurt me?”
“Well, it helps not to give me a reason to.” He takes his cock out, leaning over me and lining it up at my entrance. “But at the end of the day,” he shoves his cock into me, “you just have to trust me.”
Now I know he’s dangerous, but he’s the danger that spends every night in my bed. My guard dog unless I give him a reason to bite me, too.
I know he’s been kind of crazy, but it really does seem like a lot of his crazy has revolved around being afraid of losing me.
“Maybe I’m just not a very trusting person.” He shrugs.
“You’ve gotta trust me anyway.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You go to the tower,” he states somberly. I crack a smile.
“That can’t be your answer for everything.”
“It’s not my answer for everything. I have many other answers—flowers, gifts, fucking, outright emotional blackmail. Honestly, I think I’ve hardly used the tower.”
“All right, we’re getting a little close to a villain monologue here,” Dare says, glancing back at her. “You want to wrap it up?”
If I stand any chance of getting out of here…
I don’t think I stand a chance of getting out of here.
“I’m getting a little worried about your dedication to seeing me commit necrophilia,” he states. “I’m not into it. Move on.”
“Oh, please. Like you aren’t going to enjoy it,” she says, rolling her eyes and taking a seat on a white chair with a view of the bed. “You like drugging her and raping her. I would think kidnapping her and raping her would be right up your alley. I’m practically giving you one last date night. You’re welcome.”
“Since apparently I have to be very fucking specific, in the future, please do not ever drug me without my knowledge again.”
I can’t speak, can’t breathe air that isn’t his, too. To be loved so hard, so aggressively… it’s frightening, but intoxicating, too.
He pulls his mouth off my pussy to look up at me. “Good morning.” I stretch, twisting my body and bowing my back a bit.
“Bold to wake me up with sex when we literally just had a chat about you casually raping me last night.”
“What can I say? I’m a bold guy.” He kisses my tummy, then looks up at me.
“And you said I couldn’t drug you. You didn’t say I couldn’t wake you up for breakfast.”
dark
medium-paced
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Man, this book is a WILD RIDE! So surprising and unique! Loved it. Only reason it isn't a five star read is because I don't believe this couple will last, and I don't believe the heroine feels the same way about the relationship that the hero does.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
The first 70% of the book I was tearing through, I couldn't put it down. It was really F up and def check ur TW. But the last 30% I wasn't all that obsessed with. Dare got REALLY weird and super toxic towards the end l...well the whole book he was toxic but it hard to explain...and I couldn't really figure him out. Maybe you're not supposed to? All in all, I would read this again and would recommend this book because it was a RIDE.