Mimi

I was so torn between 2 or 3 stars. I really liked the story between the male lead and female lead - one night stand with virgin FMC who disappears into the night only to result in her being his best friend's half sister and an accidental pregnancy due to broken condom? Ate it up.

The smut was also good, though there weren't enough scenes, with an obsessive male lead who immediately announces they're engaged and forcefully moves her in with him.

What I hated was how unrealistically overprotective the female lead's half brother is over her. They've only known each other for a month and he's already dictating his best friend, who he's known for years, isn't good enough for his adult half sister. And he keeps up with it even after the main couple announces their marriage. It makes zero sense.

I also thought the female lead's backstory of having her mom pass from cancer was unnecessary and added angst to what could have been a fun read.

The story also barely had scenes of the main couple together after their marriage. It very abruptly cuts to the epilogue. I did like the epilogue though - the male lead's reaction to his older son protecting his daughter was adorable and his obsession with having another son after finding out they're having another daughter was hilarious.

I love spicy books but the writing style wasn't for me - I don't feel like the spicy scenes were spicy It was also really slow and I didn't feel like I cared about any of the two characters. DNF 10%

Sex club founder with a young virgin female lead. Despite what it sounds like this book is not dark nor is it as smutty as you'd think it is. In fact, I felt this book was slow and dry, taking half the book to get to the smut.
The smut in this book is OK. There is sharing, no MM.
I was indifferent to the leads but hated a side character, Maddy, and hated the side coupling of Maddy and Zach - it just came out of nowhere and felt forced. The female lead calling her parents Mummy and Daddy also was cringe.

What really dropped this from 2 to 1 star is everything after the female lead lost her virginity and the reveal of the female and male lead's relationship at the 80% mark. The revelation was supposed to be a big pivotal scene for the female lead but I just found it cliche, cringe and boring. And the pep talk by Maddy felt like some humanities lecture as opposed to someone's actual conversational dialogue.

I really wanted to DNF at this point because I was just bored but skimmed through to get to the final smut scene. I went in with the expectation it'd be a sharing scene and it wasn't. I ended up just skimming through it as I didn't like it.

And I was surprised the book didn't end with talking about the female lead's relationship with her parents. The arc was just dropped

Definitely wouldn't reread this book

This book was so slow up until the 20% mark. So much telling as opposed to showing, the FMC had no personality/was unlikeable and we're supposed to believe that despite the FMC and MMC never really speaking to each other, they're both in love with each other. I also didn't buy that the only reason the MMC was holding back on pursuing the FMC was he felt guilty and wanted to appease his step sister. - it's such a weak excuse. This book was sitting on a one star and I would have DNF if I wasn't excited about the dark romance tropes I knew were going to be in this book.

The book improved once the MMC imploded the FMC's life by showing up again and revealing his dark side - the drugging, hidden tracker (he's so obsessed he inserted 3!), tatooing, security detail that stalked her every move, rented houses across from where she lived, destroyed her relationship with her ex, somno, removal of IUD, breeding kink. The book was sitting at 3 star and while I thought a lot of the smut was average, the smut when the breeding kink kicked in was seriously good.

But then the FMC's mother annoyed me so much and I didn't like the plot twist at the end about the FMC being just as dark as the MMC - it really changed my rating back down to a 2 or 1 star. I also thought Starling got way too much screentime in this book and what type of name is Bunny?

DNF 65%. Too much daddy kink and I wasn't drawn to the MCs

DNF31%. It had a really engaging start but then I got bored of the dynamics between the FMC and MMC. This book could also really use an editor. I could overlook the punctuation and errors with casing while I was invested in the plot but the poor writing couldn't hold up once the plot stopped being interesting. The MMC and FMC were both meh, I didn't dislike any of them but the MMC was too good and soft while the FMC gave in too easily

The first 50% was so good I devoured it in a single sitting unable to tear my eyes away. How dark the MMC is, watching the FMC secretly, keeping her captive and the breeding kink. Afterwards the dynamics stopped being interesting and at the 80% I was definitely bored and I really just wanted to see how the story ended though I wasn't invested in the MCs all that much anymore. None of the side characters interested me either

I devoured this book in one sitting - it was a solid 3 stars from start to finish.

The plot, smut and characterizations were all good and kept me hooked. I especially loved male lead's dark side - he pushes limits to get what he wants (there is a dub con/non con scene which is really well written), manipulative (he crafts lies to try and stop the female lead from leaving him) and he gets jealous (he reacts badly to hearing the female lead having a boyfriend).

I loved the push pull where the female lead tries and fails to put up boundaries and resist the male lead but fails. I also love that the female lead stands her ground, staying mad at him, determined to avoid him, after the male lead hurts her - the chase in the second book is going to be so good.

I actually didn't find it to be a forbidden/taboo romance or really dark. It could have been spicier. The main leads were likeable enough though they aren't the most memorable

I can't wait to see what the second book brings - clearly the male lead has more scheming up his sleeve and will not let the female lead go.

DNF 76%. This book is plot heavy with zero romance. The plot wasn't enjoyable, I didn't care about any of the characters and some of the characters like Stark actually really annoyed me. What the author did with Brandon was weird and how is Gabe still alive? It makes zero sense.

The author is a good writer, I just didn't like this book

DNF at 40% mark. The book just got boring and I wasn't interested in the FMC and MMC relationship

I really loved this despite how much of a coward/idiot Griff is in this and already devoured the smut again immediately after finishing the book. I was torn between 4 or 5 stars but upped to 5 when I immediately had to pick it up again after finishing it

Sam Mariano delivered again. It's a spicy MFM (no MMC) where the male lead opens up his marriage with the female lead with his best friend in order to keep him from moving away. The female lead is initially reluctant but has a submissive dynamics with the male lead so agrees to it to keep the male lead happy. And all of the smut was hot perfection.

I loved that the FMC is sweet and so obsessed over the male lead's she'd do anything to please him. She likes him being in control

I only wish we got more smut at the end with breeding kink. It was hinted in the book though fizzled out into nothing.

Griff, the male lead's best friend, has always had a crush on the female lead. He fluctuates between being in awe of having the female lead in his arms being super careful of her and being aggressively obsessed with having her in his bed. Unfortunately we don't see the second side of him very much.

There is conflict between Griffin and the male lead at the end but I thought Griffin was being unreasonable given the male lead was sorting out his mess, which became a bigger problem only because he refused to listen to the male lead in the first place. Luckily it didn't last too long.


I also wasn't a fan the male lead ended up owing the mafia a favour. It just made the book end up a cliffhanger of sort, which is unnecessary.

I would give this 2.5 stars if I could - overall I didn't really like or dislike it. I did like the first 30%. Obsessive mysterious morally grey MMC with the FMC initially terrified of him and wanting to push his buttons via jealousy given his obsession.

After that, I felt the two MCs became too sappy too quickly. The MMC supposedly already became in love with the FMC by the time they met for the first time. And the FMC just so readily agreed to move in with the MMC. The overall plot line with the action was very meh and basic. Wouldn't reread - it wasn't bad but wasn't good either

DNF 50%. Couldn't get into this. I didn't hate any of the leads but I didn't exactly like or get attached to any of their stories

I was so torn on 3 stars or 2 stars through out. It was a spicy dark romance about a FMC that is kidnapped by a possessive MMC. The spice was good and it had tropes I liked. I normally don't like it when there's smut between the FMC and other characters but this author made it work. I actually liked those scenes with Papalli much better the scenes with other male characters most just because it didn't involve them beating the FMC to the point she almost dies. I really didn't like how physically abusive the MMC was towards the FMC and the forced abortion. For that, I was going to downgrade to a 2 stars. But the twist at the end ultimately made it a 3 star book.

DNF 29%. The FMC's reactions just seemed unrealistic, the chemistry between the FMC and MMC weren't there and the MMC just seemed bland? There were also too many side characters. Kate Raven's writing isn't the most polished but when the plot is good like in The Catcher, it's not a big deal. Unfortunately the plot in this is not good enough to overlook the writing quality

I was so torn on 1 or 2 stars. For the first 50%, it was definitely 1 star and I was so close to DNFing.

I did finish the book however to ffind out what happens to the main couple and I did like the cliffhanger ending enough that I'm going to give the second book a shot, therefore settled on 2 stars

I didn't like or care about any of the characters including the leads, the plot didn't hold my attention and I didn't feel like the main couple had any chemistry together. There was smut but I thought it was average and forgettable, though the non-con one at 80% with body betrayal I did like.

There were a few fight scenes because the FMC has a martial arts background but maybe because of the way it was written or I'm just not into a female character with fight, I found myself skimming over these.

This was a fun smutty read until we got to the plot about the male lead's enemy. The plot just wasn't fleshed out enough, came out of nowhere and ended abruptly. It could have been a 3 star if the focus was just on the romance. The ending was also quite abrupt and the female lead's accepted the male lead too quickly, though the smut was decent.

Wouldn't reread this though

It was so promising. I really liked both the FMC and MMC. The prologue was so interesting but it made me expect a morally grey or darker MMC so I felt the plot disappointed in that aspect. I found myself skimming the last 20% to see if the plot improves. I was also annoyed the ends weren't fully tied off. The FMC and MMC never fully remember everything and there isn't a second book that ties everything together.

This was underdeveloped in every way.

This author's smut is normally really good but there was so little of it in this book. We got so little scenes of the main couple together as well. The jump from the sister's wedding scene to the epilogue was rushed and abrupt.

The whole arc about the male lead ending things with the female lead's aunt arc was also really rushed. We saw none of the aftermath

This was almost a 5 star read. Short smutty read - age gap, forbidden romance, manipulative MMC with a breeding kink. All of the smutty was really good.

What let this book down were too plot points.
1. The female lead's mother being able to guess the baby's father was the MMC. It came out of nowhere and there is no way she should have guessed that given the entire book she voiced the FMC was sleeping around with other people after breaking up with her boyfriend

The FMC working out the MMC was intentionally breeding her also came out of nowhere. There were no signs she should have been able to guess that. In this story, it would have made me sense if she never worked it out

DNF54%. Initially I was intrigued and flying through the book, lost interest a bit but then it picked up again during the chase. But then afterwards, I just lost interest again. The plot about revenge for the MMC's sister just seems so cliche and the writing couldn't hold my interest. It's a shame because the chase scenes were actually really good. And way too much Spanish without translations. I was constantly pulling out a translator app

DNF 67%. I don't know what happened with this book but I was disengaged from the beginning and never really improved. I was bored reading and felt like nothing was happening. It got slightly more interesting at 58% when the MMC showed up again with a bang but there was still no tension and it just felt really slow

DNF 37%. I really wanted to stick it out for the smut but I couldn't get into the plot or writing style. It seemed really slow and I didn't feel like I cared much about any character and wasn't feeling the chemistry between the FMC and MMCs. And the FMC incurring the wrath of her entire school never made sense because what she was did wasn't breaking school rules and actually benefited the school.

Ending was more abrupt than I'd like, especially the whole second half development which dropped it from 5 stars but otherwise a really fun read

This is a short friends to lovers read with mutual pining and smut. Contrary to the title, there is only 1 somno scene.

It was too short for my liking and ended abruptly. There were a few things I liked like the breeding kink or the male lead getting jealous of others flirting with the female lead but nothing really happened. Unsure why it's classified as dark romance when it didn't feel dark

I liked it okay but don't hit reread quality