A review by booksnooksandglory
Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“I can’t apologize for everything I do to hurt you, Liv. Because I can’t promise I’ll stop. But I promise, I hurt every time you do.”
New lifetime favorite.
Best use of 587 pages ever Don't let the length intimidate you.
The stakes were high but as I was reading they kept shifting, and, most importantly, being met.
TW: (not a full list but the ones I caught) fat-phobia, lesbophobia, homophobia, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, grief, violence.
The relationship is very much push-pull, as is with any good enemies to lovers, at first one of the characters has a bit more power but man when the other bites back... :
“You won’t even see the cum stain when he drunk-ejacs all over you in the back seat of the car after the ball,”

I'd say this is a bully romance, enemies to lovers (duh), with some Romeo and Juliet themes. Needless to say, this is not an aspirational romance.
I don't want this review to be too detailed because I went in just knowing it was a wlw enemies to lovers and I think there's not much else you need to know. But get tissues... the way (and number of times) I sobbed with this shit is borderline embarrassing.
There are many Penelope trademarks all over the book. This book is not for everyone but those of you who have liked PD in the past NEED to read this one. I would put this book closer to Punk57 than Devil's night 1&2.
At first, I was a bit scared that loads of characters and subplots were being introduced. I thought they would shift focus from the romance but then I checked and saw the book was almost 600 pages, so my fear then was that the book would drag, none of those fears became true.
There are more subplots that I'm used to with romance but Oh my Lord! they made the story so much better and they complemented the romance so so good. And they made for amazing tension in between steamy sessions, those scenes are many and HOT!!!
Anyway, read this :)
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