✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲:🕒 3 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Michelle Heard ✍🏻𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 281 📖

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀:⭐⭐⭐⭐
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲:🌶️🌶️

𝗔𝗴𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗽:  13 Years [MMC 39, MFC 26]
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Interconnected Standalone
𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: HAE
𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀: It has vanilla Haunting Adeline vibes
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲: Dual POV

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙪𝙨.”

☀️Morally Grey MMC…
🌻…With Cinnamon Roll Vibes
☀️He Rescues Her
🌻Trauma & Healing
☀️Real Life Hero
🌻He’s Her Anchor
☀️Touch Her and Die

I’m sorry, but can we just take a moment to appreciate the gift that is Santiago Castro?

“𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙢𝙞 𝙥𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚ñ𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙡. 𝙐𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.”

I dare any woman not to fall for this fine specimen of a man. Like, where did he come from?

Morally Grey? ✔
Selfless? ✔
Cinnamon Roll vibes? ✔✔

He’s the perfect mix of Alpha male and absolute sweetheart. I love how he handled Ciara’s rescue and recovery, the amount of patience he had with her, and the fact that – even though he claimed her as his – he never took her autonomy away. He was willing to take whatever she was willing to give, and I’ll be damned if that isn’t hot as hell.

“𝙏𝙤 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙄’𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.”

Ciara’s kidnapping and torture by Nolan was made even more impactful by the fact that it wasn’t all physical; it was the degrading and taking away of her autonomy that made me feel the most powerless.

I’m glad Santiago let Ciara pick the tarot card that would decide Nola’s fate. TBH, in my opinion, bruh still got off way too easy.

This was a sloooooooooooow burn… actually, I’d say the slow burn didn’t even kick in until 70% into the book, and the actual open door action doesn’t happen until around 85% in. (Which makes absolute sense with Ciara being traumatized and all.)

This is an interconnected series and-of course- in true Nat fashion, I started with book three 🙄 I’ll for sure be circling back, because I desperately want to know Grace and Dominiks story.

Now, there’s a reason why this wasn’t a five star read, and that’s mostly the pacing. It felt a bit rushed at times; it’s like watching a movie at normal speed and then you fast forward through a few scenes, to then go back to normal speed.

For example, when Dominik and Santiago agree that Ciara needs time before speaking with Grace, and that Grace wouldn’t be told yet because she just had a baby, etc. Then the very next morning Ciara is on the phone with Grace, who seems to be all caught up.

We also rushed through Ciara’s recovery a bit, considering the amount of trauma she was suffering and the point she’d been conditioned to. Obviously, we can’t show it all on page, but I think we could have stretched the timeline and alluded to the healing that happened off page.

All in all, other than the pacing, I didn’t really have any other standout issues when it came to this story. I would definitely recommend giving this a read if you love a morally grey MMC, but also don’t mind those cinnamon roll vibes.