A review by roksyreads
Bait by Jade West

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

It’s only supposed to be one night—rough, dirty, and dangerous—to sate Abigail’s deepest, darkest desires and make her forget. A primal game in the darkness, where he’s the hunter, and she’s the bait… if only life were that simple.

Based on the blurb and what little I could find online regarding tropes (which was, essentially, nothing), I was not expecting this to be such an intensely emotional read.  Beneath the obvious spice—which is incredibly well written—is a detailed, captivating, suspenseful, narrative that follows both the FMC Abigail and MMC Phoenix (Leo) as they navigate their complex individual experiences of trauma. The very fact that I read and sympathised with the characters through plot points/tropes that I try to avoid and which put me off a novel entirely if I'm unaware of them prior to reading (

anything related to parenting/pregnancy

) speaks to the quality of the writing and the story overall.