Alexa Ballentine had a troubled childhood, but has turned it into a blessing, working to help kids like herself find jobs, educations, and hope for a better future.
But Alexa is being stalked by a mysterious figure in a hoodie, and when she is almost raped one night, he comes to her rescue. Revealing himself as a tattooed business owner (not always on the right side of the law) named Twitch, he begins an obsession that threatens to take over Alexa’s life. For reasons of his own, he’s been plotting to seduce Alexa, make her fall in love with him, and then abandon her, but he’s drawn to her with a force even he can’t resist, and finds himself as much in love as she is. But he’s not a nice, safe guy, and he doesn’t have a nice, safe life – and when tragedy hits, their relationship and their lives may unravel completely.
This is a disturbing book, to say the least. Any reader looking for a comfortable, easy, tender little love story should put it down and back away slowly, because it isn’t that, not at all. It is passionate, erotic, and forceful, and it will mess with readers’ minds and leave them in pain, perhaps even in tears. The author is very, very good at emotional evocation, and the book’s heat is tangible – in places the book burns the fingers with its erotic energy and fierce passions. It is hard not to love the characters, and dangerous to love them.
Anyone who’s not comfortable with dominance/submission and/or rape fantasies should not read this book. For that matter, anyone who wants a sympathetic male lead should not read this book, either. Twitch is not a hero, and while he has a good heart (sometimes), it’s at serious war with his sociopathic side. There is little resolution here, no safe conclusion. The ending is heartrending and jarringly unexpected – either it’s a cliffhanger or the author simply loves to torture her readers (but in a good way).
This is essentially a romance, but not a sweet and loving one – it is better described by words like “heartbreaking,” “wrenching,” and, well, “raw.”
Reviewed by Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader