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Voracious by Leigh Rivers
Series: The Edge of Darkness Trilogy #2
Publication date: November 30th, 2023
Pages: 399
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
HE'LL NEVER FORGET HER, BUT HE'LL NEVER FORGIVE HER EITHER
Stacey returns home with the security of Kade's team, only to be dragged further into her own living hell by her deranged abuser Chris--until the opportunity finally comes to fight back.
Kade has never been so deep in the pits of hell itself. Seeing Stacey once nearly knocked him off his axis; seeing her twice -- ready to submit to his dominance -- is a disaster waiting to happen.
Yet despite his hatred for her, she's his anchor, the flashes of what they used to be the only thing keeping him sane and stopping the darkness from claiming him completely. But what happens when the truth about their past finally unravels, and both he and Stacey learn what really happened the night that tore them apart?
As this is a dark romance, the author highly recommends reading the 'content warning' page.
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Review:
Stacey had no idea if she would ever see Kade again after he shoved her onto his jet and she watched him be knocked unconscious by a bunch of armed men. She begged to be returned but when her pleas fell on deaf ears she was resigned to return to her abusive stepbrother and try to live each day in pursuit of finding and helping Kade. But when her stepbrother decides to try to force Stacey to love him by any means necessary she fights back for the first time in her life. She finds help in her ex's family and finally admits to what happened between her and Kade so many years ago. All she can think about is finding Kade and breaking him free of the dangerous forces who hold him captive. Meanwhile Kade has no choice but to go along with what he is told to do. If he doesn't, it risks everybody he loves. After he learns what actually happened to Stacey so many years ago he has nothing but guilt for how he treated her. Can Stacey break Kade free and will Kade be able to make amends for the torment he put Stacey through?
This was the absolute more heart-wrenching middle installment in a trilogy I have ever seen. It seems like Stacey and Kade just never get a break. The minute they find a moment to be together someone comes in and ruins it for them. Whether that be Kade's 'owner' for lack of a better term, Stacey's stepbrother, or their past, something or someone is always lurking around the corner to ruin everything they try to build. And the amount of abuse the two of them goes through. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy! Stacey is one strong chick to be able to handle as much crap as she does.
I didn't find much about the book that I didn't like aside from the villains but they were made to be unlikable. I loved the interactions between Tobias and Stacey. It was so wholesome to watch a deranged serial killer psychopath melt into being a father figure to a girl who has lost everything due to her stepbrother's manipulations. I found myself laughing out loud a lot whenever Tobias would get all grumpy over Stacey showing affection to him. The way the author showed that Tobias, while unable to feel love truly, can still find a way to show he cares for the person. I liked that she could show that disconnect between Tobias and his feelings but still show that he had learned enough about love by observation to know how to show it to the people he cared about. This made Tobias one of my favorite characters in the entire series.
I think this was the perfect middle ground between books and while it was a lot of doom and gloom I could understand the necessity of it. You have to hammer away at your characters before they can rise from the ashes and find happiness, or so I hope will happen in the next book.
