I’m not confident I actually have the words to express my emotions after reading this book. Where do you even start with this?
As always, Alexandria Lee has written a captivating story rich in metaphor, anguish, and attraction. Her characters are flawed beyond measure and struggling in ways far worse than anything I can personally imagine, but they feel so real.
The self-destructive behaviours Scarlett is engaging in at the beginning of the book put her immediately at odds with the man her father ordered to bring her across the country. And from the very first second their chemistry just sizzles.
And then… AND THEN, we get an entire book of deliciously tantalizing slowburn while these enemies have moments of combat, getting inside each other's heads, learning about each other, and desperately trying to push away their growing attraction toward each other.
But I loved every second of these two getting to know each other and exposing little pieces of themselves to each other and the reader as the story went on. It was a gripping and engaging story filled with twists and turns and plenty of foreshadowing if you’re into a good guessing game as you read (You know I am!).
The ending of this story was both the best and most heartbreaking thing about it. It seems like they might finally be willing to let each other in, and they finally see each other and ... I can't tell you more without giving away the ending, but the way Alexandria Lee pushes them together just in time for the world to tear them apart tore my heart out and made me cry so so much! I can't believe the cliffhanger this book ends with but I will definitely be picking up the next one immediately.
I cannot even get over how beautifully this story came together. The whole book was amazing, captivating, and breathtaking (not to mention HOT). I have read the story at least three times since it was released and I will probably never cease to be amazed by how thorougly Lee engages her readers. I'll definitely never get over how poetic and beautiful this book is. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up immediately. And then when you do, come tell me what you think because WOW.
I should also note that this book deals with some seriously heavy themes. I believe it handles them well, with awareness and compassion, but please check the content warnings before jumping in.
Your Romance Reviewer,
Eliza.
Release Date: July 18, 2022
As a boy, I’d developed a likeness for control.
As a man, that likeness had corrupted into an obsession.
Scarlett Avery was the twenty-one-year-old brat committed to setting my obsession on fire and dancing in the flames. Literally.
I was an FBI agent, and she was only meant to be a quick assignment. My orders were to chauffeur Little Miss Loud Mouth across the country to deliver to her father—my boss—after her not-so-minor brush with arson.
Now, I was trapped in small confines with a woman that made my hands itch to wrap around her pretty neck and squeeze—and what's worse? She wanted me to do it.
In fact, she begged me to break her.
Scarlett Avery was a woman of secrets and sins packaged in a body twelve years too young for me and completely off-limits. She's my boss's daughter, and I shouldn’t think about her wicked smirk or fantasize about ways I could rearrange the pouty curves of it.
I definitely shouldn't give into the dare always written into the green of her eyes, baiting me to hunt her. Destroy her. Punish her.
Scarlett wanted a depraved monster.
But she had no idea how nightmarish I could be.