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Beautiful Fiend by Lola King
Series: North Shore #1
Publication date: May 1st, 2023
Pages: 492
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
She only wants one thing; to leave their broken down. He only wants one thing; her.
When you were born on the North Shore of the Falls, that's where you stay. There is no way out, no fairy-tale-like escape, no hope. Our broken town has always been at war. Two gangs fighting to take over the shithole we're all stuck in. I only know one girl who wants to leave this place. Me.
I've always been a tough, North Shore girl. Fighting is in my blood, survival in my DNA.
But two years ago, Caden King broke me, and he has proof of it.
Now he wants to blackmail me into doing a job for him. The kind that puts my chance of escaping the North Shore at risk. The kind that means betraying my own crew.
He's on me at all times, his dangerous mind always working on ways to torment me further.
Caden is wicked, unhinged. The North Shore Kings wear his name because of the vicious ways his family has been leading their crew.
Everyone always says there's no point in fighting him. He has that madness in him that blurs the line between right and wrong. Now he's got his hold on me, and I have nothing and no one to protect me from him.
There's no way to win.
No way to escape him.
I'm left with no choice but to do exactly what I'm told.
This book is the first in a series of four interconnecting standalones. Beautiful Fiend is a dark enemies-to-lovers romance intended for readers over 18. It contains scenes that some readers may find triggering. Please check CW in the book.
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Review:
I have been known to read a lot of dark romance. Especially the kind that others would look at and say "yeah, that's too dark." I find the depths of depravity that some characters seem to engage in to be curious and I like to see whether they find some way to be redeemable even when they do things that make them the absolute villain of the story. How deep can one person get into the macabre before they are considered a lost cause? How does a protagonist find a way to forgive despite all the odds stacked against them? Can they? Or is the manipulation, torment, and sometimes physical pain too much for them to ever fully trust or forgive that person? And if they do find a way to forgive and love the person despite their monstrous ways, is it Stockholm syndrome or simply the gauge of how big a heart someone can have?
Beautiful Fiend is a book that I wouldn't think would get to me. I am usually pretty immune to torture, blood, maiming, and assault. But for some reason, this one made me squirm a little. I found myself also wondering if Caden was ever to be forgiven. I have read some truly twisted men but they always seemed to have at least a miniscule bit of humanity left in them that made that female "I can fix it" mentality fire on all cylinders. Caden was one that I kept begging Billie to just forget about the minute she could get away. Usually with harsh scenes there is a small kernel of aftercare that makes the experience a little more palatable. But not with Caden. He took what he wanted and didn't feel the need to console, care, or even pull back on the humiliation after he got it. There were times when I was truly perplexed as to how Billie didn't break down in tears and lose every ounce of fight left in her. It was fitting that they made her an MMA fighter. She had a strength that was unparallel.
Even more confusing is that even with Caden being an absolutely terrible person, I kind of liked him. He was psychotic, brutal, and lethal but he was completely upfront about who he was from the very beginning. He was unapologetically an evil man who was selfish and domineering but also would protect those he felt affection for. Even if he was tormenting Billie himself, he was making sure nobody else did in a world where gang violence was the norm. When someone did disrespect her or hurt her without his permission, he would bring her the pound of flesh she deserved for the slight. He was crazy in general but also crazy about Billie.
Billie was an absolute badass. I can't even fathom the things she went through and came out the other end of. Even when she was having moral dilemmas with her survival instincts and how they chose to manifest, she was still a scrapper. She kept Caden on his toes which is probably what appealed to him the most. While I hated a lot of the ways he treated her, I loved watching some of their cutesy moments. I think anyone weaker than Billie would have been crushed by Caden. And anyone less insane and controlling would bore Billie. They complimented each other even if it was a bit fucked up.
The book overall was really good. The writing style was easy to read and I could follow the story well. I probably will not be reading the rest of the series, however. The second book follows Billie's stepbrother who I didn't really find interesting in this book. The third is about Jade and the stepbrothers, Ethan and Elliot, who are Caden's best friends. Jade was the pinnacle of evil in this book so I don't really want to see her be redeemed in anyway. I was begging for Caden to kill her through the entirety of Beautiful Fiend. And the fourth is about Caden's sister who's only notable mark is that she beat Billie up at 13 because her older sister was banging Kay's man. No thanks. Maybe my choice will change down the road, but right now. I am just happy I got to know Caden and Billie.
