I don’t normally read dark romance, but I’m a pretty big fan of this author, so I figured I’d give this book a try. It’s different but still quite enthralling as well as quite steamy.
Kane and his Misfit Toys, as one of them calls them, all have reasons to hate Alice’s father, and kidnapping and hurting her seems like the best way to get their revenge. But the more they spy on her, the more they realize she’s not what they think. Perhaps the ultimate revenge may be even sweeter than they anticipated.
“We’re all a delicious mix of saints that were corrupted by the sins of our past, our fathers, our choices. And we can both hate and love in the same breath and still not want to change a single day of how we live.”
Kane and each of the men have been scarred in some way by Romano’s actions, whether that’s through loss of a limb or the ability to talk verbally, or the invisible scars Kane carries. While they all crave Kane’s attention, they have separate relationships with each other as well with various degrees and flavors of kink. Four heroes, backgrounds and interactions is a lot for one book to handle, but the author navigates it well without shortchanging any of them. Kane, James, Phoenix and Ariel all feel like well developed characters with their own needs and it was fun identifying which fairy tale each drew from.
“Do you want to say no?” I shake my head. It’s not a lie. I want to feel good. If this is all going to come crashing down, I want something to cling to. I want the power to decide for myself for once in my fucking life. I want to say yes without the fear of what someone might say or do.
In comparison, Alice didn’t fare so well. She may be Romano’s coddled daughter, but she’s been kept away from him for years since her mother and sister died in a car accident. We get hints of her personality, like when she sneaks out of her college dorm to explore the town without her Romano bodyguards, but she’s still quite young and innocent and unused to have any say over her life. But events force her to make some big choices very quickly, and while they’re a bit predictable, I liked the hints of who she was becoming.
“And I will admit that eventually, when we have Guido Romano on his knees, bleeding and begging for his life, I will take pleasure in being the last face he sees. I know the others feel the same as well. I know James wants both of his hands, and Ari wants his tongue. I want his eyes. And Kane? Kane wants everything Guido has ever loved—and everything he should have loved and doesn’t.”
As someone who doesn’t usually read this subgenre, I suspected there would be a lot of content warnings and this book didn’t disappoint. None of the violence feels superfluous or done solely for shock value, though. It all fits into the characters, their backstories and their views of the world. And given how much backstory has to fit into one book, the pacing still moves quite well, though I thought the ending was a bit abrupt. This is the first book in the series and it ends on quite a cliffhanger.
Overall, while this isn’t my usual cup of tea, I very much enjoyed this and can’t wait to see what happens next. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Alice and Kane and his Misfits!
I received an advance review copy of this book from Grey’s Promotions. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
