2022 Excerpt/Teaser, Blog Tour - 2022, Dark Romance, Mafia/Gang/Secret Society Romance, New Adult, Suspense/Intrigue Romance, Year of Releases - 2022

Blog Tour – Bloody Cruel Monster by Lucy Smoke

Bloody Cruel Monster, the dark and all-consuming second book in The Bloody Duet from USA Today bestselling author Lucy Smoke is available now!

It will end the same way it started … with death.

Clover

I gave Braxton Smalls everything. I sacrificed myself and all I ended up with was a broken heart and a shattered soul. Now, I’ve got bigger things to worry about than an angry Eastpoint Heir hot on my trail.

Brax may be the psycho who kidnapped me–but he’s nothing compared to the organization my brother works for.

And me? I’m the monster ready to wreck them all.

Braxton

I live for vengeance. That’s all I know, all I see. Until her. Until Clover La Roux. No … until Evgenia Volkov. Daughter of a Russian mobster. Sister to the man who tortured one of my best friends. The only woman to ever satisfy the cruel desires inside of me.

Whoever took her will pay with their lives. And once I have her back, I’ll make sure she can never leave me again. Consequences be damned.

Grab your copy today!
Read FREE in Kindle Unlimited
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ll43qK
Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/bcmonster

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3OrbtoR

Start the duet with Bloody Cruel Psychohttp://mybook.to/bcpsycho

Excerpt

“You’re going to have to forgive me at some point,” he replies. “Because I’m not letting you go, Clover.”

“I don’t have to do shit,” I tell him. “It’s my life, my choices. For all the power you have, Brax, you can’t force me to love you.”

His amusement drops away and he reaches up, fingers tightening around my wrist. I press into his carotid artery and feel a responding movement against the lips of my sex. I blink and glance down, shocked. “Are you fucking hard? Now?”

“My baby is sitting, half naked on my dick with her hand around my throat,” he replies coolly. “Were you not trying to get me hard?”[HL1]

On instinct, I release a growl and tighten my hold. “You are so fucked up, Braxton.”

“I could say the same for you, Clover,” he replies. “Or would you prefer Evgenia?”

“I would prefer not to look at your traitorous fucking face, yet here we are.”

“Right,” he agrees readily and then offers me a smug grin before continuing, “with your pussy rubbing against my cock. Perfect place, if you ask me.”

My chest pumps up and down. What now? I think. Do I kill him? Can I? My head fogs over with the desire. “You’re mad at me for leaving,” I say, my words barely above a whisper as his hands creep up the line of my hips. His bare palms skim the outside of my naked thighs.

More heat. More ice. They’re like warring sides within me. One side trying to be calm and rational and the other obliterating it without a care. I can’t tell which will win. I can’t tell which one I want to win.

“But I think I have more of a reason to be pissed,” I continue, trying as hard as I can to ignore those emotions and feelings and the wetness gathering between my legs as he presses his hips upward. The fabric of his low slung, gray sweats rubs against me and I know when I get off of him, there will be a spot of it soaked in my own juices.

“You kidnapped me.”

“I did.”

“You hurt me.”

Braxton’s hands clench against me. “I did,” he repeats.

“You fucked me.”

“And you liked it.”

Fuck him. He’s right. I did like it. A part of me hadn’t wanted to, but he was the fucking best I’d ever had. In my short realm of experience, no man had ever taken me to the same depths, to the same edges as Braxton had. It’d been more than a physical fuck. It’d been a mindfuck as well. As bad as he is, he made me realize something about myself.

I liked the pain.

And I liked giving it as well.

About Lucy
Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark suffers from severe wanderlust and enjoys people watching to find her next character. Who knows, maybe you’re in one of her stories as well.

Author of new adult, reverse harem, and dark romance, Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark switches between subgenres, but focuses the primary themes of her novels on strong heroines and romance.

She lives and works in the south with her beloved puppy, Hiro, and enjoys teasing the life out of her all of her friends.

Connect with Lucy
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3L8Y0QC
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ywMqfk
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3Pf1rIP
Join her Facebook Group, Smoking Hot Readers: https://bit.ly/3Pkit8s
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3FN4eEH
Twitter: https://bit.ly/39fIzsy
TikTok: https://bit.ly/3MeB0Bc
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3L5C88F
Website: https://www.lucysmoke.com/

2022 New Release/Release Day, Dark Romance, Mafia/Gang/Secret Society Romance, New Adult, Suspense/Intrigue Romance, Year of Releases - 2022, Year of Reviews - 2022

New Release – Bloody Cruel Monster by Lucy Smoke

It will end the same way it started … with death.

Bloody Cruel Monster, the dark and highly anticipated conclusion to The Bloody Duet from USA Today bestselling author Lucy Smoke is live now!

rr

Clover

I gave Braxton Smalls everything. I sacrificed myself and all I ended up with was a broken heart and a shattered soul. Now, I’ve got bigger things to worry about than an angry Eastpoint Heir hot on my trail.

Brax may be the psycho who kidnapped me–but he’s nothing compared to the organization my brother works for.

And me? I’m the monster ready to wreck them all.

Braxton

I live for vengeance. That’s all I know, all I see. Until her. Until Clover La Roux. No … until Evgenia Volkov. Daughter of a Russian mobster. Sister to the man who tortured one of my best friends. The only woman to ever satisfy the cruel desires inside of me.

Whoever took her will pay with their lives. And once I have her back, I’ll make sure she can never leave me again. Consequences be damned.

Grab your copy today!
Read FREE in Kindle Unlimited
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ll43qK
Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/bcmonster

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3OrbtoR

Start the duet with Bloody Cruel Psychohttp://mybook.to/bcpsycho

Read Kay’s Review: Bloody Cruel Monster

About Lucy
Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark suffers from severe wanderlust and enjoys people watching to find her next character. Who knows, maybe you’re in one of her stories as well.

Author of new adult, reverse harem, and dark romance, Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark switches between subgenres, but focuses the primary themes of her novels on strong heroines and romance.

She lives and works in the south with her beloved puppy, Hiro, and enjoys teasing the life out of her all of her friends.

Connect with Lucy
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3L8Y0QC
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ywMqfk
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3Pf1rIP
Join her Facebook Group, Smoking Hot Readers: https://bit.ly/3Pkit8s
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3FN4eEH
Twitter: https://bit.ly/39fIzsy
TikTok: https://bit.ly/3MeB0Bc
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3L5C88F
Website: https://www.lucysmoke.com/

Review
Book Reviews, Bully Romance, Dark Romance, Mafia/Gang/Secret Society Romance, New Adult, Year of Reviews - 2022

Review – Bloody Cruel Monster by Lucy Smoke

Bloody Cruel Monster; Sick Boys #6
(#2 within a duet, #6 within a series)

Publication Date: August 26, 2022

Genre/Tropes: New Adult/Dark/Bully Romance

Author: Lucy Smoke

Review Rating: 5 Gold Stars

Review/Synopsis:

Review:
Picking right up where the last book left off Bloody Cruel Monster hardly leaves time to rest. It’s fast paced, bloody – as the title suggests – and full of twists.

At twenty-two the boys are beginning to feel old and recognize that perhaps their old ways need to change. That their group is growing and that looking towards the future isn’t a curse word. Once they take care of the problem, literally sitting in their living room – Ace and by association, Clover, they might just get to do that.

As a member of the Undead, Ace has brought trouble to these boys time and again, and now they want payment in the form of his sister, Clover, but Brax won’t have it. She’s his and no one takes what belongs to him. However, Clover refuses to belong to anyone, but the Undead seem to think otherwise.

Clover is tough and her monsters have come out to play, even with Brax. She doesn’t sit back and let someone fight for her. Not her brother, not the other Sick Boys, and especially not Brax. If the Undead want her, bring it on, she will go down fighting. I do admire her fighting spirit, especially when fighting with the Undead.

Brax struggles with his dominating ways. He wants to lock up Clover and never let her leave, but he also loves watching her fight. His duality is something he struggles with, but his vulnerability is quite beautiful in this book and sometimes I want to slap Clover for not noticing it sooner. However, eventually we get to see that these two are perfect together as his monster loves her no matter what.

This book is bloody and gruesome, at times, and is not for the faint of heart. But for anyone who loves dark, and hard won romance, this book is sinfully perfect.

Synopsis:
It will end the same way it started … with death.

Clover

I gave Braxton Smalls everything. I sacrificed myself and all I ended up with was a broken heart and a shattered soul. Now, I’ve got bigger things to worry about than an angry Eastpoint Heir hot on my trail.

Brax may be the psycho who kidnapped me–but he’s nothing compared to the organization my brother works for.

And me? I’m the monster ready to wreck them all.

Braxton

I live for vengeance. That’s all I know, all I see. Until her. Until Clover La Roux. No … until Evgenia Volkov. Daughter of a Russian mobster. Sister to the man who tortured one of my best friends. The only woman to ever satisfy the cruel desires inside of me.

Whoever took her will pay with their lives. And once I have her back, I’ll make sure she can never leave me again. Consequences be damned.

Find more of my reviews on Amazon under Kayreader
on Goodreads under Kay Daniels Romance
At Bookbub under Kayreader
or you can follow me on Facebook at Kay Daniels Romance

2022 Excerpt/Teaser, Blog Tour - 2022, Dark Romance, New Adult, Suspense/Intrigue Romance, Year of Releases - 2022, Year of Reviews - 2022

Blog Tour – Bloody Cruel Psycho by Lucy Smoke

He came looking for Ace, but he found me instead…

Bloody Cruel Psycho, an explosive dark college romance in The Bloody Duet from USA Today bestselling author Lucy Smoke, is available now!

A life for a life … will kill the both of us in the end.

Clover

I know nothing of the Sickness at Eastpoint University. I know only the backroads that slip past the southern beaches and the gators that make their way onto the swamps shores. Until him. Until the killer known as Braxton Smalls finds his way into my stilted trailer on the coast of Port Charlotte.

He came looking for Ace, but he found me instead…

Braxton

I’m a monster. Always have been. Always will be. The only people I’ve ever given a shit about are my boys and their girls. No one hurts my family, and knowing that someone has … and that they’ve gotten away with it plagues me.

Ace Volkov will pay for what he put Avalon through and if I have to use his most precious weakness to draw him out, I will.

She thinks she can bargain for his life with her own, but I mean to show her that there’s nothing I won’t do to see my vengeance through to the end.

Grab your copy today or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vctkrE
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/BloodyCruelPsycho

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3KBaMbg

Pre-order the jaw-dropping conclusion Bloody Cruel Monster!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ll43qK
Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/bcmonster

Excerpt

“You want to bend me and break me, Braxton Smalls.”

“And you’re going to let me,” he shoots back. “All for him.” He spits out the last word like it’s a curse.

I shake my head. “To an extent, Brax,” I warn him. “You think you have me cornered because I agreed to fuck you in return for you not tearing ass after Ace, but understand this much.” I lean up on my elbows and stare back at him. He grits his teeth as his hands ball into fists. “I’m the swamp rat you picked up. I have not been catered to my whole life like the women you were raised around. I am my own person and when someone pushes too far, I let them know. You have rights over my body, Brax, but that’s as far as it goes.”

Braxton’s arms drop to his sides and before I know it, his hands are around my waist as he rips the towel away from my body and turns, shoving me up against the outside glass of the shower. “You think your body is all you’re giving me, Clover?”

I swallow hard. “Yes.” I turn the small lie into a silent prayer.

His wide mouth curves into a vicious smile. “Then you have nothing to fear.”

About Lucy
Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark suffers from severe wanderlust and enjoys people watching to find her next character. Who knows, maybe you’re in one of her stories as well.

Author of new adult, reverse harem, and dark romance, Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark switches between subgenres, but focuses the primary themes of her novels on strong heroines and romance.

She lives and works in the south with her beloved puppy, Hiro, and enjoys teasing the life out of her all of her friends.

Connect with Lucy
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3L8Y0QC
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ywMqfk
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3Pf1rIP
Join her Facebook Group, Smoking Hot Readers: https://bit.ly/3Pkit8s
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3FN4eEH
Twitter: https://bit.ly/39fIzsy
TikTok: https://bit.ly/3MeB0Bc
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3L5C88F
Website: https://www.lucysmoke.com/

2022 New Release/Release Day, Bully Romance, Dark Romance, New Adult, Suspense/Intrigue Romance, Year of Releases - 2022, Year of Reviews - 2022

New Release – Bloody Cruel Psycho by Lucy Smoke

A life for a life … will kill the both of us in the end.

Bloody Cruel Psycho, the dark and highly intense first book in the Bloody Duet from USA Today bestselling author Lucy Smoke, is live now!

Clover

I know nothing of the Sickness at Eastpoint University. I know only the backroads that slip past the southern beaches and the gators that make their way onto the swamps shores. Until him. Until the killer known as Braxton Smalls finds his way into my stilted trailer on the coast of Port Charlotte.

He came looking for Ace, but he found me instead…

Braxton

I’m a monster. Always have been. Always will be. The only people I’ve ever given a shit about are my boys and their girls. No one hurts my family, and knowing that someone has … and that they’ve gotten away with it plagues me.

Ace Volkov will pay for what he put Avalon through and if I have to use his most precious weakness to draw him out, I will.

She thinks she can bargain for his life with her own, but I mean to show her that there’s nothing I won’t do to see my vengeance through to the end.

Grab your copy today or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vctkrE
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/BloodyCruelPsycho

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3KBaMbg

Read Kay’s Review: Bloody Cruel Psycho

About Lucy
Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark suffers from severe wanderlust and enjoys people watching to find her next character. Who knows, maybe you’re in one of her stories as well.

Author of new adult, reverse harem, and dark romance, Lucy Smoke/Lucinda Dark switches between subgenres, but focuses the primary themes of her novels on strong heroines and romance.

She lives and works in the south with her beloved puppy, Hiro, and enjoys teasing the life out of her all of her friends.

Connect with Lucy
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3L8Y0QC
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ywMqfk
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3Pf1rIP
Join her Facebook Group, Smoking Hot Readers: https://bit.ly/3Pkit8s
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3FN4eEH
Twitter: https://bit.ly/39fIzsy
TikTok: https://bit.ly/3MeB0Bc
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3L5C88F
Website: https://www.lucysmoke.com/

Review
Book Reviews, Bully Romance, Dark Romance, New Adult, Year of Reviews - 2022

Review – Bloody Cruel Psycho by Lucy Smoke

59124065. sy475

Bloody Cruel Psycho; Sick Boys #5, Bloody Duet #1
(#1within a duet, #5 within a series)

Publication Date: May 20, 2022

Genre/Tropes: Duet/New Adult/Dark/Anti-Hero/Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

Author: Lucy Smoke

Review Rating: 5 Gold Stars

Review/Synopsis:

Review:
Dark and not for the faint of heart, but I like dipping my toes into this kind decadent treat from time to time and Bloody Cruel Psycho fed my twisted heart.

Braxton Smalls is full of darkness and revenge. He sets out to gain leverage over the man he’s searching for by kidnapping his sister, Clover. Braxton didn’t account for his kidnapee being mouthy, fighting back, or inciting his monster’s lust, so when she offers up herself as a deal in place of her brother, Braxton’s monster agrees.

Clover is no wallflower. She too has an inner monster, so when Braxton comes to take her she doesn’t hold back. She never expected to feel her inner darkness swirl to life as much as it does around him, it seems to crave him, but could they be too toxic for one another to last beyond the deal they made?

While this is my first step into the Sick Boys world and it is a connected story, this is still Braxton and Clover’s very own tale. I was never lost as the other characters came in, nor as backstories flowed in around them. Lucy brilliantly pieced this as a standalone, well technically a duet, and while reading, I was never the wiser that other books came before this. I loved how the other characters flowed in and out, pushing and prodding the main characters along. Brilliant anti-heros, the bunch of them.

Since this is book one in a duet, there is a mighty cliffhanger. I can hardly wait to dive back into to this twisted, dark world to find out what happens next to Braxton and Clover.

Synopsis:
A life for a life … will kill the both of us in the end.

Clover

I know nothing of the Sickness at Eastpoint University. I know only the backroads that slip past the southern beaches and the gators that make their way onto the swamps shores. Until him. Until the killer known as Braxton Smalls finds his way into my stilted trailer on the coast of Port Charlotte.

He came looking for Ace, but he found me instead…

Braxton

I’m a monster. Always have been. Always will be. The only people I’ve ever given a shit about are my boys and their girls. No one hurts my family, and knowing that someone has … and that they’ve gotten away with it plagues me.

Ace Volkov will pay for what he put Avalon through and if I have to use his most precious weakness to draw him out, I will.

She thinks she can bargain for his life with her own, but I mean to show her that there’s nothing I won’t do to see my vengeance through to the end.

Find more of my reviews on Amazon under Kayreader
on Goodreads under Kay Daniels Romance
At Bookbub under Kayreader
or you can follow me on Facebook at Kay Daniels Romance

Trouble viewing? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
https://kaydanielsromance.wordpress.com/2022/05/15/review-bloody-cruel-psycho-by-lucy-smoke/

Release Day/New Release, Year in Releases - 2021

New Release – Wicked Dark Heathens by Lucy Smoke

🖤 ℍ𝕆𝕋 ℕ𝔼𝕎 ℝ𝔼𝕃𝔼𝔸𝕊𝔼 🖤

𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐲 𝐒𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!

𝐎𝐧𝐞-𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲!

BLURB

What tangled webs we weave…

He’s everything I don’t want. A playboy. A best with a cunningly gorgeous smile. Faces like his only mean one thing. Somewhere underneath all of that handsomeness, there lies a monster.

And if anyone can sense a monster, it’s me.

I understand cruelty. I’ve lived and breathed it my entire life. I existed on the ‘charity’ of others until I realized that it woudn’t be enough. My demons would soon be set free. They were coming back for me and to be ready for them—to be ready for him—I needed to make myself invincible.

But it’s not enough. If I’m going to survive then I need to make an alliance with a monster of my own: Abel Frazier.

Add to your Goodreads TBR: https://bit.ly/WTH-GR

PURCHASE LINK

AMAZON UNIVERSAL ➜ Books2read.com/WDH

CATCH UP WITH THE SERIES!

Pretty Little Savages (Sick Boys Book 1)

➜ Amazon US: Books2read.com/PLS Stone Cold Queen (Sick Boys 2)

Books2read.com/SCQ

Natural Born Killers (Sick Boys 3)

Books2read.com/NBK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lucy Smoke, also known as Lucinda Dark for her fantasy works, has a master’s degree in English and is a self-proclaimed creative chihuahua. She enjoys feeding her wanderlust, cover addiction, as well as her face, and truly hopes people will stop giving her bath bombs as gifts. Bath’s get cold too fast and it’s just not as wonderful as the commercials make it out to be when the tub isn’t a jacuzzi.

When she’s not on a never-ending quest to find the perfect milkshake, she lives and works in the southern United States with her beloved fur-baby, Hiro, and her family and friends.

AUTHOR LINKS

https://linktr.ee/authorlucysmoke

Bully Romance, Dark Romance, New Adult, Release Day/New Release, Year in Releases - 2021, Year of Reviews - 2021

New Release – Poisoned Paradise by Lucy Smoke

𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐄 a Forbidden, Enemies to Lovers, Taboo, Dark Romance by Lucy Smoke is LIVE!!

𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐄 
❝𝒯𝓇𝓊𝓉𝒽 𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓇 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝒾𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃…❞

𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘
Six years ago, I made a mistake. The worst mistake I could have ever possibly made. I fell in love with the wrong person and … I told him.

Ryan’s always been with me ever since I can remember. It’s been the two of us—side by side. Through every new beginning, every new ‘family’, and every failure. Is it any wonder that the love I had for him turned into something different—something deeper? Something utterly rotten? And is it any wonder that he hates me for it now?

𝑹𝒚𝒂𝒏
I’m a damaged soul, and she’s the only thing that’s ever held me together. But the one woman I want is the one woman I can never have.

She thinks I hate her for her confession, and maybe a part of me does. What I hate more, though, is that I have to push her away to keep her safe. That I have to pretend like I don’t fucking want her when she’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last six years.

We’re no fucking Romeo and Juliet. We’re much worse than that. A love like ours was doomed from the start.

☠️ Taboo
☠️ Dark Romance
☠️ Forbidden
☠️ Enemies-to-Lovers

𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗢𝗪:
US ↪ http:ebook/dp/B094L79X6S

Warning: This is a dark taboo/forbidden romance, and contains dark and very taboo themes which some readers may find uncomfortable or upsetting. A detailed warning is provided at the beginning of the book. If you do not enjoy these themes, or have triggers, please do not read. Recommended for 18+ due to sexual content and adult situations. Please read responsibly.

This book is a part of the Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell series.
**This is a STANDALONE book.**

About the Author:
Lucy Smoke, also known as Lucinda Dark for her fantasy works, has a master’s degree in English and is a self-proclaimed creative chihuahua. She enjoys feeding her wanderlust, cover addiction, as well as her face, and truly hopes people will stop giving her bath bombs as gifts. Bath’s get cold too fast and it’s just not as wonderful as the commercials make it out to be when the tub isn’t a jacuzzi. 

When she’s not on a never-ending quest to find the perfect milkshake, she lives and works in the southern United States with her beloved fur-baby, Hiro, and her family and friends.

https://www.goodreads.com/lucysmoke
Review
Book Reviews, Bully Romance, Dark Romance, New Adult, Year of Reviews - 2021

Review – Poisoned Paradise by Lucy Smoke

58125579. sy475

Poisoned Paradise; Black Heart Romance presents Heaven and Hell 
(A standalone within a series; Black Heart Romance, 6 books)

Publication Date: September 3, 2021

Genre/Tropes: Taboo/Forbidden/Bully/New Adult/Dark Romance

Author: Lucy Smoke

Review Rating: 5 Gold Stars

Review/Synopsis:

Review:

A new taboo twist with smexy, dark themes.

Lucy Smoke leads this book with a content warning. Normally, I love jumping into a book wide-eyed and fresh, but for some reason, this particular warning caught my attention and I’m glad it did, and here’s why…

This book is labeled taboo and forbidden and while I would definitely give it a dark label and bully label, and if I had jumped into reading Poisoned Paradise without any prior notice, then I could see the first two labels sticking, but, and this is a big but, Lucy is excellent at writing this story with a lot of gray undertones that allows readers to not only want these two characters to work out in the end, but also to work out for the right reasons.

As a reader if, like me, you decide to read the content warning, understand that those reasons are important and I won’t give away what those are just in case you are normally are like me and like to dive in head first. However, since I did actually read the warning and it basically gave away THE huge reveal, I had mixed feelings throughout reading the book. On one hand I was glad I did know because otherwise those gray undertones I was talking about, weeeellllllll, they could have been a bit darker than I might have been willing to handle. On the other, since I did know…as a reader we love getting to those twists. I suppose I’ll never know because I did know, but aside from that, I REALLY enjoyed the story and I REALLY enjoyed Lucy’s writing. This will not be my last book by her, because I forgot to mention, this is the very first book by Lucy Smoke. WOW, what a story to jump into plot wise, but I am hugely impressed with how she writes and I want to return.

Willow and Ryan grow up in foster care together, but end up split up for six years not connecting again until college. Ryan is a huge bully, dark and mean. He wants nothing to do with Willow and makes it known that she needs to stay away. As much as she’d love to reconnect, she also knows better, as he never once responded over the six years he was gone from her life, however, some force seems to keep pushing them together and no matter how much Ryan keeps tormenting her, she can’t find it in herself to hate him.

There is certainly more than what meets the eye between these two, but will they destroy everything around them for love?

There are some great twists and the secondary characters help drive the plot as well. I really enjoyed the book overall and no matter what the taboo theme was, I was happy to take the ride.

Synopsis:

Willow

Six years ago, I made a mistake. The worst mistake I could have ever possibly made. I fell in love with the wrong person and … I told him.

Ryan’s always been with me ever since I can remember. It’s been the two of us—side by side. Through every new beginning, every new ‘family’, and every failure. Is it any wonder that the love I had for him turned into something different—something deeper? Something utterly rotten?

And is it any wonder that he hates me for it now?

Ryan

I’m a damaged soul, and she’s the only thing that’s ever held me together. But the one woman I want is the one woman I can never have.

She thinks I hate her for her confession, and maybe a part of me does. What I hate more, though, is that I have to push her away to keep her safe. That I have to pretend like I don’t fucking want her when she’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last six years.

We’re no fucking Romeo and Juliet. We’re much worse than that.

A love like ours was doomed from the start.

**NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Alright guys, I’m gonna need your trust on this one. This might seem like a crazy idea and I assure you, it is. But I’m here, on my knees now, for you―asking you to trust me. TRUST. IN. ME. It’s gonna be fine. Just get to the end and you’ll understand why I had to do this. This is a STANDALONE book.**

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