Cassandra Hallman

I was so excited that we got more from Quinton and Aspen because their story was so heart wrenching and twisted it was was right up my dark twisted heart’s alley. This short story has us falling all over again with Q and the way he adores Aspen by showing her over and over again he would do anything for her shows us how much he has fallen for her. I love that we get a glimpse of Q’s soft side and his fierce side when it comes protecting her as well. I wish we could spend alll the time in the world with them but this was such a nice glance at where they are now.… (mere)

Lucca has always seen himself as the protector over Claire since she was young. Coming from a harsh background Claire has suffered like a child shouldn’t so she always looked to Lucca as her savior until one event changes it all and she sees a glimpse of the monster that lies within him. Years later and Lucca is still watching and protecting her even from a distance. While this does give her a sense of peace it always bothers her because she can’t seem to forgive his actions. Then someone else is coming after Claire and in order to keep his promise to always protect her he must hide her away. Claire isn’t happy with Lucca interfering with her life constantly and then she becomes even more furious when he still treats her as a child and not the woman, she wants him to see. Lucca sets himself up to be in danger in order to save her, but he keeps his distance because he feels he is not worthy and se is too innocent. The back and forth, push and pull between these is at times infuriating yet always intriguing. Claire was childish at times when she was pushing Lucca to his limit and he kept begging and telling her no for her own good, yet she wouldn’t let it go which was a tad annoying. Also, Lucca’s constant need to protect her, the need to have her, yet refusing her pushing her away only to refuse anyone else have her was frustrating as well. Overall a great angsty read with hints of mafia life sprinkled throughout and want to read more!!… (mere)

Dark, twisted, and one intense ride describes this book perfectly. As I sat down to read it I became obsessed with needing to see how things would play out. I felt bad for Aspen as she is suffering for the sins of her parents, yet in the world of mafiosos you know that what her parents did is not tolerated at all. Lucky to be alive Aspen is sent to an isolated school strictly made for the kids of the mafia, but everyone at this school knows her father is a rat and is luck he is alive rotting in prison. Aspen’s parents tried to bring Xander Rossi’s empire down but they think sending Aspen to this school is the safest place for her and even if she is bullied she will stay alive as the one and only rule is no killing each other. Trying to keep to herself, keeping her head down Aspen suffers from name calling, pushed around, threatened, to almost starvation and it is not only the students doing this but the faculty as well. Things for Aspen never seem to get better as Quinton Rossi discovers her there and decides it is time to make her life hell because to him she is just as guilty as her parents that happened to cause him his greatest pain. Living in a nightmare Aspen suffers greatly at the hands of Quinton, yet he also provides her with a since of safety from others who would do way worse to her and though they don’t want to some feelings start to arise, but they can’t ever let themselves forget they’re enemies first. The ending left me shocked and breathless, yes it’s a cliffhanger but trust me I say it is one that left me craving more and dying to know more. I can’t wait to see how things go from here, what secrets will come to light, and will revenge be sweet or painful?… (mere)

From the ending of book one when we were left with that breathe taking cliffhanger this one picks up where it ended and not we are left with the fallout. In the first book it set up the scenery of Corium, the characters, the hatred for Aspen, and how they all crave her demise. Aspen is paying for the sins of her family even if she is innocent in every aspect the others hate her with a vengeance and will stop at nothing to make sure she gets every thing that is coming her way. Quinton was cruel, distant, and was the first to attack so I was hoping as the story goes we would get to see a softer side to him and at times we did see glimpses of his heart but he has too much hatred to let go of. They have their shared moments but someone or something always triggers the hatred so Aspen is still getting treated like garbage and Q doesn’t do much to stop it or stand up for her. I knew that even if Q had a complete 360 and change of heart things would never be easy for them but I still wanted some redemption of some sort. I will say this book like the first has triggers and myself as a reader I can set my mind up to not take it in stride because that is difficult but I can realize that this is a work of fiction like other dark romances but to others it could be very difficult or traumatizing so be warned things do take an even darker turn. That being said, the things poor Aspen has been through and still endures things never seem to get better and it made my heart hurt and I felt so heavy after reading it. Also Q still still hurting and lashing out on Aspen but towards the end he shows some of his heart and I can’t wait for him to unleash unholy hell on those that hurt Aspen.… (mere)