5⭐️ 3

"Because this is supposed to be filler, but you're making me curious about the plot." This book caused me highs and lows I’ve not know before. The first thirty percent where a struggle for me. It wasn’t that it was badly written. Or the story wasn’t intriguing. But nothing really happened that pushed the plot forward. I got bored a bit. But after passing this mark it somehow completely changed. And I am really glad that I kept reading and didn’t give up. Isadora isn’t really an extraordinary character to read about, I must admit. At least not in the first half. She is daughter of an drug addict single mom and therefore was mostly raised by her Aunt. But she decided to take the job working for the Blackfords. And this maybe was the best thing that could have happened to her. I’m not in love with her. I don’t particularly like her but I don’t dislike her either. She is, like i said, nothing too special or exciting. She has her Moment towards the end but to be honest, I wouldn’t have kept reading for her. If it weren’t for our baddie Lucian Blackthorn. And let me tell you, he is the real deal. I loved him from second one. He is a grumpy secretive man that is quite private and haunted by his past. But he also is unbelievably hot. Owns a whole garage with tons of fast cars which alone is enough to convince me. And he is also so effortlessly funny with his dry sarcasm. He really carried this book and I loved the way his story was told through throwbacks from his past and present pov‘s. This really gave an awesome insight in how we works and why he maybe acts the way he does. And I can only repeat: he.is.fucking.attractive. With a tendency to obsess and the fact that he takes la petite mort a tad bit too serious he is exactly the love interest i want to read about when diving into a dark romance. And I must say the side characters where an extraordinary thing themselves. They where all quite special and twisted in their own way and really added a great aspect to the book. They created a well-rounded experience and essentially made the book what it is. It wouldn’t be as good as it is without Rend, Aunt Midge and all the others. And especially Laura, Lucian mother. She is the reason Lucian and Isa met in the first place and without her being the main character - somehow everything evolved around her. I really enjoyed how she was portrayed and her character development. It was something…unexpected to not spoil anything. And last but not least let’s talk about the subplot besides the romance. We have a secret organization. Called Schadenfreude. They are really something…special. I must admit this plotline was not my favorite. It didn’t bring something essential to the story and what it did could have been executed without them. Don’t get me wrong - the idea for this plot is genius. A really cool and unique thing to write about. A sadistic organization that pays people for letting the members hurt them. That researches genetically caused sadism. An interesting idea. But I wish it would have played a more important and better executed way throughout the novel. The parts where Schadenfreude was involved could have just been easily motivated by the acting characters instead and the story would have been the same. Maybe even more harmonic. Or let them play a bigger and more essential role. The way it was left me unsatisfied. But speaking of… what definitely was satisfying, was the spice level. We got some pretty good scenes and spicy moment. It’s some kinky stuff, expected from a dark romance. But done really well!And they where, like the whole book, written in pure perfection. I really enjoyed the whole writing style. This was my first novel by Keri Lake but I plan on reading more!!! I’m a huge fan of dark romance. But I must say this wasn’t as dark as I expected it to be. This may come surprising now for some because it’s not that this book is not dark. It really is. But there was potential to make it darker. It felt a bit sugar coated. Of course the whole Schadenfreude plotline is dark as fuck but since it wasn’t explored that much…. Everything we got either happened in the past and we only got glimpses into it. Or it happened off page. The on-page darkness and twistedness I love from a good dark romance book seriously got lost somewhere between the lines. But the featured mystery part was really good! Maybe that’s just my broken standards speaking and I’m used to too dark stuff? It’s definitely nothing that could be considered as a flaw! Maybe a personal preference but it is not the reason I omitted a star from full five stars. It is a great book and I enjoyed reading it! I can still highly recommend it! This book convinces with fantastic writing, an unique and interesting plot, mystery and romance to leave you giggling and smiling and in love with it. Great side characters that provide an enjoyable reading experience. But the main selling point: Lucian Blackthorn, whom I want to marry instantly! 4