A review by jordan_janelle
Lessons in Corruption by Giana Darling

5.0

Spice: 2.5/5
Plot: 5/5

Omfg, where do I even start with this review?! I kinda feel like I just came off a three day bender and I’m about to dive right back into another one with zero recovery time lol. So brace yourselves, long review ahead…

So, I definitely didn’t have the reverse age gap spot on my bingo card. I thought I was well and truly over that trope after having lived it, coughtwicecough. But this book was like WHAM, here’s the most delicious and perfect 18 year old MC King - You have no choice but to fall madly in love with him. And fall madly in love I sure as shit did; coo coo ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson lol.

But seriously, King Kyle Garro… my panties were like, poof… CYA. Giana’s description of him, all I could picture was Jax Teller and y’all, it fucking works. The shit that came out of his mouth. His persistence and the way he wooed Cressida… Poetry is not my jam but THE FUCKING POEMS.

“A secret in her smile
Tucked in a rosy furl
I want to pull it out with my teeth
Soothe the paper cut with my tongue
Dip in the well of her blood and write
My own secret on her lips
So that every time she talks
Every lick of those lips
And drag of breath through her mouth
She feels me
Her tongue scrapes the scar of my secret on the inside of her pout
And she can’t deny the truth of it
Of me
Of us
I’ve branded her with it
She’s mine.”

Fuuuuck. She held out way fucking longer than I would’ve.

Now our girl Cressida, aka Cress, aka Teach, aka Queen… I adored her. Talk about an absolutely perfect character arc. I won’t go into the details of it, but it was everything I wanted it to be.

Giana’s writing is so good you guys and thank the good Lord and all of his fallen angels, but she actually wrote a proper MC romance. Not one of these wishy washy, pussy footing around, mediocre, “the prez is a homeschooled church boy,” try hard, wanna be MC books lol. And yea I’m throwin’ a little shade at some popular series here because they shouldn’t be touted as being “MC” when that couldn’t be further from truth. End rant lol.

This book had some serious grit to it. It had the violence and the filth and the realness that I so desperately needed. It was so fucking perfect. The way Giana introduces us to the rest of the club and is setting up the characters and the next books has me on the edge of my seat, practically drooling with anticipation lol. The way that I need the rest of these men is probably more than a little unhealthy lol. Also, the way she works in Paradise Lost and draws the comparisons between Eve, Satan and the apple; I found that it made this book even more mentally stimulating and really had me thinking about some things on a deeper level.

I was gunna give this book a 4.5/5 because it is single pov, there were a couple ick words for me and one or two super small plot holes, but I can’t. It was so fucking good that those couple small things don’t even matter. Everything about it; the writing, the characters, the plot, the angst and the fucking tension, even the third act breakup was fucking perfect. I was literally stress eating ice cream at one point and my stomach was in knots, it was that good. I wouldn’t change a single thing about this book.

Giana, from the bottom of my MC loving heart, THANK YOU for writing this book! I am absolutely feral for these men and already well into Welcome to the Dark Side and Daddy Zeus… yes. All of the yes lol.

If you haven’t read this series, go start right now, you can thank me later!

Xo
- J

P.S. Giana is also Canadian and this book takes place in BC, so FUCK YEA! Always a pleasure to support a Canadian author!