From USA Today bestselling author Willow Winters comes an emotionally gripping, standalone, contemporary romance.
It was never love with Daniel and I never thought it would be.
It was only lust from a distance.
Unrequited love maybe.
He’s a man I could never have, for so many reasons.
That didn’t stop my heart from beating wildly when his eyes pierced through me.
It only slowed back down when he’d look away, making me feel so damn unworthy and reminding me that he would never be mine.
Years have passed and one look at him brings it all back.
But time changes everything.
There’s a heat in his eyes I recognize from so long ago, a tension between us I thought was one-sided.
“Tell me you want it.” His rough voice cuts through the night and I can’t resist.
That’s where my story really begins.
Featured Series
1 released bookMerciless World is a 1-book series first released in 2018 with contributions by Willow Winters.
Reviews with the most likes.
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
First, I want to say I had NO idea this book had sibling sharing. I'll take cheating over that any day of the week...sigh. That said, I wasn't bothered by that as much as I usually am. I'm attributing that to this author's amazing storytelling ability. The writing was fantastic. The pace was perfect. The plot was engaging and had me hooked from the first page. It was a fairly quick read clocking in at just two and half hours. It was also dual POV, which I always prefer in my books. We also jump back and forth in time. Something that I am usually not a huge fan of but the author did a good job of giving us glimpses into the past without out distracting from the present portion of the story. Last, it was wrapped up on a decent HAPPY FOR NOW ending. This book looks to be the kickoff for a series featuring the CROSS brothers so I am sure we will see this couple again in future books.
~HERO~
DANIEL...I liked him quite a lot. He had the whole tortured bada$$ thing down to a science. But he was also sweet and vulnerable. Especially when it came to Addison.
~HEROINE~
ADDISON...I liked her character just as much as Daniel's. My heart broke for her many times while reading this one. She was sweet. She was vulnerable. I thought she held her own with Daniel. I was maybe a little iffy on her behavior in the past in regard to Tyler. It was a little hard not to feel like she was a bit of a b!tch for leading him on. But our past often shapes our actions, so I tried to cut her some slack.
~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
There were really no secondary characters of mention in this one. We hear from and see a bit of Daniel's brothers both in the present and in the past. The last chapter is from Carter (Daniel's brother) and it sets up his book that is coming up next in May (I believe).
~HEAT LEVEL~
Medium. The sex scenes in this one were suitably hot, and the frequency felt organic to the story.
~ANGST LEVEL~
Medium. This one felt more emotional than angsty to me. There was a lot of sadness, secrets, and shared pain and tragedy between the main couple. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this did have sibling sharing. Addison dates and sleeps with Tyler (Daniel's brother) and we see some of that in the past chapters (no sex scenes though). It is also up for debate of whether she cheated on Tyler or not. Nothing physically ever happened between Daniel and her, but she was in love with Daniel back then and still dated and slept with Tyler. Surprisingly none of that bothered me AT ALL. There was also no OW or OM drama and basically no mention of past sex lives.
~IN THE END~
I pretty much LOVED this one. That surprised me because I think anyone who follows my reviews knows how much I hate that type of story setup. But like I said, this author knows how to weave a tale. And weave an amazing one she did. The writing was great. The characters had depth. The plot was heartbreaking and hopeful. Therefore yours truly is going to give this one two HUGE thumbs up and I will try to wait ever so patiently for the next book in the series.
