Sam Mariano

Calvin will do anything for me... except leave me alone.

We were strangers, as far as I knew.
He saw me once, but didn’t introduce himself like he could have.
Calvin Cutler. Nice to meet you.
But there’s nothing nice about Calvin Cutler.
He’s ruthless and single-minded, and he zeroed in on me—a hapless target for his dark and twisted appetites.

In the depths of Hell, I first looked into his sinful brown eyes, felt the greedy touch of his demanding hands for the first time.
Not the last time, though.
He wanted more. So much more.
He wanted me, whether I wanted him or not.


Warning: Descent is a standalone dark romance with an unrepentant bad guy hero. This book is for readers who enjoy stories where the villain gets the girl. It is intended for adults only and contains subject matter some might find triggering.

Descent

clare

funniest book ever. minus 2 star for ‘thank you for your cum.’ THE WAY I THREW MY PHONE AWAY AND LAY ON MY BED FOR A SOLID 10 MINUTES THINKING IF I SHOULD DNF.

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Descent is a standalone by Sam Mariano and I am not sure how I feel about this one here. It definitely was my least favorite from this author. I know many compare this one to Untouchable, but yeah Untouchable was way better. I really had to push myself through this one here, and it was a novel I wanted to love but I will be honest the heroine drove me batty throughout most of this one here. It just seemed like her character just wasn't the best for this type of hero to be honest. And there was no softness that happens with her until the very end, but it did have some similar complexities that this author tends to write in her books.

I want to say that I loved this one, but alas, I really struggled through this one. And its a long one just warning you folks, its over 500 pages, now if it had been more like Untouchable then I probably wouldn't have minded, but I had to force myself to keep going especially in the second half. Normally its the first half I struggle with but nope it was the later half of the story. I think my major issue with this one was the heroine. Because in the beginning she comes off as being this gentle sweet heroine and yeah she isn't that way. She was way too confrontational that didn't match up with her character. I get she was in a bad situation with the hero, but for this type of hero, he needed someone that wouldn't fight him on every little thing and knew how to pick her battles and she just came off so ignorant at times and not in a attractive way at all. The hero is typical of this authors style of heroes, so if you like psychopaths, then you will get a kick out of the hero. And also the friend of the heroine was AWFUL! She is just as manipulative as the hero but acts like she is above it all and how she treats her husband, is horrid. Yeah I really didn't like her in the ending at all. I will say that the ending was satisfying and I am glad that the author really delivered on that because I needed something good after all the struggle haha

Lover of Romance 

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Introduction
Descent is a standalone by Sam Mariano and I am not sure how I feel about this one here. It definitely was my least favorite from this author. I know many compare this one to Untouchable, but yeah Untouchable was way better. I really had to push myself through this one here, and it was a novel I wanted to love but I will be honest the heroine drove me batty throughout most of this one here. It just seemed like her character just wasn't the best for this type of hero to be honest. And there was no softness that happens with her until the very end, but it did have some similar complexities that this author tends to write in her books.

My Outlook
I want to say that I loved this one, but alas, I really struggled through this one. And its a long one just warning you folks, its over 500 pages, now if it had been more like Untouchable then I probably wouldn't have minded, but I had to force myself to keep going especially in the second half. Normally its the first half I struggle with but nope it was the later half of the story. I think my major issue with this one was the heroine. Because in the beginning she comes off as being this gentle sweet heroine and yeah she isn't that way. She was way too confrontational that didn't match up with her character. I get she was in a bad situation with the hero, but for this type of hero, he needed someone that wouldn't fight him on every little thing and knew how to pick her battles and she just came off so ignorant at times and not in a attractive way at all. The hero is typical of this authors style of heroes, so if you like psychopaths, then you will get a kick out of the hero. And also the friend of the heroine was AWFUL! She is just as manipulative as the hero but acts like she is above it all and how she treats her husband, is horrid. Yeah I really didn't like her in the ending at all. I will say that the ending was satisfying and I am glad that the author really delivered on that because I needed something good after all the struggle haha

Rating Evaluation:
Plot: 5
World Building:4
Cover: 4
Hero: 5
Heroine: 3
Steam: 4
Heart & Feels: 4
Ending: 5
Overall View: 3.5

Trigger Warnings:
Non Consent Sexual Content

Vesselina

“Our lips meet and a thrill shoots through me. It’s not the good kind of thrill, the kind you get when something amazing happens. It’s the kind you get when you’re standing on the edge of a mountain and the earth gives beneath your feet. The feeling you only get for a split second before the ground beneath you crumbles and you plunge to your death.

Terrifying. Consuming.”
  


This book? I think it was the most popular and talked-about book in the first few days this year. The release was on 31th of December, so it's pretty understandable (it having a release blitz and promo) but I read quite a few posts from readers that I decided to see that it's about.

I was so not prepared to read this.

This book is dark. Like, 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌, dark.

The hero, Calvin? I both hated and loved him. Asshole? Check. F*cker? Check. Psycho? Check, check aand check. I loved how fond he quickly became of our heroine. Though the man doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word "no".

The heroine, Hallie? I have no idea where she got her strength from. Such a badass, though I found her a bit naïve, too sweet, and pure-hearted. (I had so much trouble with that name, I was constantly reading "Hollie" and going back and being like "no, it's Hallie!", lol.)

“𝘕𝘰. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐’𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧, 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺.”

Descent was my first read by Sam Mariano (why haven't I read any other books by her before?) and I really enjoyed it. I love dark books, and this one went directly in my "top dark reads" list.

Descent

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