3.75 - 4 burning gazebo stars 🌟

I don’t even have words to explain how bad this book was. I really hope the next book gets better

From all the hype, I expected a lot from this series. It was good, but I think I need to finish the series to know for sure.

this was a wild ride but SO GOOD☺️ michael crist😩

i just want to sit with them, be one of them, hang out with them

he corrupted her. she corrupted him. the first dark romance I've read in a while. got me out of my reading slump too. im gonna check out the rest of the series for kai lol

This was so hot and genuinely crazy psychotic that it was making me so angry like girl what is WRONG WITH YOU😟 anyways next😋

DNF @ 73% I really tried to stick this one out because for the most part I don’t mind a well-written dark ROMANCE. Guys the keyword is romance. Obviously romance isn’t instant but i had to drop this almost THREE QUARTERS in because of how genuinely UNromantic it was. Calling this book a romance is a crime against humanity

reread

It wasn't really what I expected but at the same time it was exactly what I thought it would be.

I’m too much of a softy for a book like this.
I need yearning and romance. This literally almost gave me an aneurism.
Too much threat of rape and violence for me, personally: but at the same time it was like a car crash and I was rubbernecking and couldn’t look away. Still managed to read it pretty quickly.
Why this girl even remotely liked this guy or hung out with these foul people are beyond me. Especially since they basically assaulted her every time, but what do I know? Michael is an ick.
I wanted to see what the TikTok fuss is about, and I’m still wondering. I need a pallet cleanser 😮‍💨

girl what the actual fuck

took forever to finish. lots of mixed feelings. all the characters desperately need therapy. 3 stars

Loved it Beginning to end loved this book! I read it in 2 days! Highly recommend. Read trigger warnings!! This is definitely one of my favorites so far.

rika corrupted michael and he did the same to her later BUT THEY ALSO CORRUPTED ME MY PARENTS fuck i re-read for the 4th time this and i think it even got better than since the first time i’ve read it. i love erika sm she’s the baddest istg - "They were here. The Four Horsemen (...) Damon Torrance, Kai Mori, Will Grayson III and Michael Crist ." - "Own who you are,""And don't apologize. Do you understand? Own it or it will own you." - "And from Michael as well as Damon, Will, and Kai I learned to breathe fire. I learned to walk as if the path were carved for me and me alone, and to treat the world as if it should know I was coming." - "You watched the games in high school. You were at every one of my games." "Why did you lie?" "I didn't," (...) "I just watched you." - "And how about me?" "Disturbed,"(...)"Drowning Pool, Three Days Grace, Five Finger Death Punch,""Thousand Foot Krutch, 10 Years, Nothing More, Breaking Beniamin, Papa Roach, Bush..""Chevelle, Skillet. Garbage, Korn, Trivium, In This Moment..." "You're in everything" - "It never escaped my attention how she hid it around my brother, as if it made her less beautiful. No. Our scrapes and bruises, tattoos, scars, smiles, and wrinkles told our stories, and I didn't want a pristine piece of wallpaper. I wanted her and everything she was." - "When she finally realized that my opinion was the only one that mattered. And even though she was always the one to watch me as we grew up, that didn't mean I wasn't always aware of her, either." - "I still remembered the day she was born. Sixteen years, eleven months, and eighteen days ago. That crisp November morning when my mother let me hold her and then my Father immediatelv took her out of my arms and laid her next to Trevor, who was just a baby then, too. Even at three I understood. She was Trevor's. And I just sat there, wanting her back, wanting to see the baby and wanting to be included in the fun" - "Why her? Why, despite my mother, who always loved me, and my friends, who always had my back, was it Erika Fane who put the air in my lungs or made my blood run hot. She always got to me." - "The most valuable lesson anyone learns in life should be learned as early as possible. That you don't have to live in the reality someone else had invented. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Ever. Redefine normal. None of us know the full measure of our power until we start pushing our boundaries and pressing our luck, and the more we do, the less we care what others think. The freedom feels too good." - "I would always circle her. It never stopped. Even when we were kids, if she moved, I wanted to move. If she left a room, I wanted to follow. My body was always aware of where she was. And it was the same for her." - ""I need you, I need you every day, every hour, every minute."(...) He was everything. My entire life, I only felt completely alive when he was close, and while I knew nothing would ever be easy with him, I also knew nothing would ever be good without him, either." - "You know.""I don't remember a time when I didn't love you.""When you look at me,""when you touch me, when you're inside me, I'm completely in love with my life, Michael. I never want to be anywhere else." - ""I love you, Rika." I've always loved you."(...) After all the years and all the times when I should've known, it took her nearly getting killed for me to realize what she meant to me. For me to realize how ingrained in every moment of my life she was and how she'd always been there, right in front of me. Her, riding her bike around my driveway when she was five. Her, learning to swim in my pool. Her, running around and doing cart wheels in my backyard. Her, biting her nails when I entered the room. Her, sitting next to my mother at every basketball game in high school. Her, refusing to even look in my direction when I hung out with a girl. And me, barely able to hold back the smile at the little looks she stole and how nervous she was when I was close. She was always there, and it was always us." - "He'd corrupted me." - "She'd corrupted me."

this book was a solid 2.5 stars i’d say my thoughts so far: rika: meh, there were scenes where i loved her but also scenes where i didn’t really vibe with her michael: hm, HE WAS SO DARN CUTE AT THE END UGHHH. but again, there were scenes where i wanted to strangle him kai: fav so far (he actually felt bad for what he did to rika) will: k will was kinda funny at some parts but i feel like all he did was laugh at damon’s unfunny jokes🧍🏾‍♀️still don’t really hate him honestly cuz he also did the bare minimum and apologized damon: i lowkey felt really bad when i found out why he is how he is, but he’s a -20/10 so far cuz honestly fuck him :)

The closer you got to anything beautiful, the less beautiful it became. Allure was in the mystery, not the appearance.

This book was so hard to follow. It was spicy and spooky. I really enjoyed it.

I loved this book, yea sure some scenes were a bit cringey for me maybe but I loved this book especially the last two chaps they were just perfect and Plzz don't get me started on the suspense it was oh too good , I read punk 57 before this so i got some yk spoilers and when I started reading this book I never really thought I would love this as much as punk 57 if not more. "She and I were the same, after all. We fought shame every day, struggling with who we could let see the real us, and we’d finally found each other. Unfortunately…we were fucked." I don't know why but this was so deep , so so deep And there was this line “They tell us that what we want is wrong and that freedom is dirty. They see chaos, madness, and fucking as ugly, and the older you get, the smaller that box gets. You feel it closing in already, don’t you?” “There are too many people that try to change us,” he went on, “and not enough people who want us to be who we really are. Someone once made me see that, and I wanted to give that to you.” You know this is so real , I felt this deep in my bone I tell you it's just so true and in some cases/scenes What Erica and Michael felt was so overpowering , some scenes I felt as if I was there because sometimes well most of the time I feel the same , alone and different than others? But The book was as if a movie was playing in front me and I was just seeing the book instead of reading them. And KAI oh I loved him , he got me crushing on him he got that yk that mysterious air around him that will got you loving him without you knowing. Then there is Damon and Trevor those piece of sh$ts I wanted to kill them and I was so damn happy when trevor died it was just so satisfying yes I know I am talking like a crackhead and don't worry I am and I know it well sorry for writing such a long ass review it's my first time writing one So I guess the bottom line is I loved this book ... Lots of love...

michael crist 👏👏👏

Great book, had me hooked from the first minute, smut scenes were exceptional especially the steam room 👀 but Michael should’ve grovelled more don’t think he worked enough to be forgiven

scary

Ugh the steam room!!

i’m all for spicy books but this shit was actually terrible. like what the fuck was going on