Does It Hurt?

It seems I’m on a dark romance kick and this solidified it all for me. I loved this book so much! I think this was the first dark romance I’ve read with dubious consent and such strong masochism but I really enjoyed it. I loved the dynamic between Enzo and Sawyer and the way their relationship was shaped in the story. This is also my first thriller (it might not be categorized as that but to me it was one). I felt dread and suspense and fear throughout the proper scenes and it was really invigorating. I love stories that immerse you in the story and create feelings like that. My first H.D. Carlton book and I was not disappointed.

Yeesh this was bad.

This definitely isn’t a typical love story and please check triggers before reading this cause, oof lmao. Regardless, H.D. Carlton definitely came through again. She somehow had me questioning myself yet again and wondering if I was out of my mind for finding some of the things in this book hot?? Anyway, I’ll start off by saying that I related to Sawyer in so many ways. Her inclination to avoid confrontation at all costs, running from tough situations, lying because it’s easier than admitting her real feelings, etc. She’s a much stronger woman that I am though because my sensitive ass could not have put up with how cruel Enzo was lmao. My feelings were hurt reading about some of the things he said/did. And because of that, it feels odd to say that I loved how Enzo put Swayer back together, because he definitely broke her first. Well.. broke her even more than she already was. But, it’s true - I loved how he loved her in his own way and took care of her so fiercely. He was so incredibly enraptured by her and hated it because of what she did, but after he forgave her, that was it. She was his and there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do to change that. Don’t get me wrong, it was quite the journey to get there, but I’d say it was worth it lol. I had no idea where the plot was going but it kept me on my toes the entire time. What a wild turn of events. Such a tragic but captivating story. So, so good.

** spoiler alert ** Okay, so I’m a bit conflicted with this book because there are parts of it I really liked and parts of it I didn’t. The characters were a bit lackluster and one dimensional, I feel like we didn’t really get to know them that well individually or as love interests. Sure sexually they were great, and Enzo was very protective, but besides that and some trauma bonding - where were they supposed to fall in love? I need more non sexual chemistry personally. As far as the other aspects of the story, I did see the twist of the ghosts not being real coming from a mile away, but I didn’t mind that I saw it coming. 🤷🏼‍♀️ but a whole stash of corpses was more dead bodies than I thought he’d have lol. The book was a bit more repetitive than I would’ve liked, it felt like I was reading the same thing over and over, I know their days were repetitive for a reason so I’m not going to knock it too much for it. The whole drowning kink thing isn’t for me and wasn’t very enjoyable for me 🤷🏼‍♀️ Overall there was a lot of smut and it was good most of the time. The read was still decent.