emilylovesbooks94 's review for:

The Step Bet by Riley Hart, Devon McCormack
5.0
I'm a sucker for forbidden romances, and Troy and Atlas's story was an especially good one. At the start, I was entertained by their ridiculously competitive bets and need to seek each other out for attention, and that translated into a hot as heck, possessive, steamy relationship later on. Atlas was a quintessential broody, grumpy loner, but when he cared about something he put his whole heart and soul into it. I loved getting to peel back his layers and see what a good guy he was underneath all that grouchiness, and he turned out to be kinda perfect for Troy. Their relationship started as the result of an especially chaotic bet, because how else could two uber-competitive stepbros get to that point, and I devoured every steamy stolen moment they shared. Even when they were just hooking up they were fiercely possessive of each other, and I just could not get enough of it. Troy and Atlas each had complicated feelings surrounding their messy family dynamic, and in a way their shared discomfort brought them closer together. It sucked to see how much they were struggling alone at the start, but when they started opening up to each other? Be still my freaking heart. I thought the pacing of the overall story was perfect--the way Troy and Atlas's strictly physical arrangement started relaxing into something a lot more romantic and meaningful, the way they kept things completely under wraps at first and gradually got more comfortable with the idea of telling others about them, and the buildup and payoff of the inevitable family drama surrounding their love. I was entertained from start to finished, too invested in the characters and story to walk away until I knew for sure that Troy and Atlas would end up staying together. I thought the side characters added a lot of depth to the narrative, and despite this being a romance at its core, the story touched on some difficult topics surrounding addiction and infidelity. All in all I can't say enough good things about how much I enjoyed the entire journey, and I already want to go back and re-read it again!

**I voluntarily read an ARC of this book. This review expresses my honest thoughts and opinions.