Den of Vipers

by K.A. Knight

Ryder, Garrett, Kenzo, and Diesel—The Vipers.

They run this town and everyone in it. Their deals are as sordid as their business, and their reputation is enough to bring a grown man to his knees, forcing him to beg for mercy. They are not people you mess with, yet my dad did. The old man ran up a debt with them and then sold me to cover his losses.

Yes, sold me.

They own me now.

I’m theirs in every sense of the word. But I’ve never been meek and compliant. These men, they look at me with longing. Their scarred, blood-stained hands holding me tight. They want everything I am, everything I have to give, and won’t stop until they get just that. They can own my body, but they will never have my heart.

The Vipers? I’m going to make them regret the day they took me.

This girl? She bites too.


*18+ Reverse Harem Romance. Warning this book contains scenes and references of abuse/assault that some readers may find triggering. Along with graphic sex scenes and violence. This is a dark book*

• ISBN13: 9798663179645
• Publish Date: 10 July 2020
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Independently Published
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 654
• Language: English

Reviews

[Inkslinger]

Many things have been said about 'Den of Vipers' by K.A. Knight. Generally the consensus seems to be that it's the darkest smut people have read before.. and to that I say.. maybe it's time to up your game.

 

Honestly, while there are some edgy scenes surrounding the demise of people here and there, the more intimate content is not that bad. The author certainly toys with dark possibilities, but she pulls her punches quite a bit.. dispelling the illusion of any real danger often before things get started.

 

Diesel had a ton of potential, but it was largely wasted due to that sort of.. neutering of his character. Ironically, Ryder gets better and better as the book goes on. I will say, the author gives great backstories. If she were able to properly break into those on a psychological and emotional level, they could be extremely moving. But that's not the point of this book.. and while it's a drawback, it doesn't really affect my opinion of the writing.

 

Roxy was a disappointment to me. I feel like if she'd been allowed to be the kind of resilient, sarcastic person she was at the core.. instead of being turned into some Harley Quinn caricature , I could have really liked her. She was still okay, but it just could have been so much more than that.

 

The story is written in multiple POV, but the author lacks the ability to do this well. Her idea of separating her characters comes down to changing their terms of endearment. Unfortunately, they all have the same narrative voice.. with no real distinction whatsoever. Frankly, the book would have benefitted from single or at worst.. dual perspective. Also, not every character in a room has to be addressed in every moment, it just bogs down the progress of the story.

 

Heaviness. That was a real problem with this book. It's long for a dark romance, I suppose.. but it only feels long because there's so much excess. Just.. a lot of wasted words that make it take so much longer to push yourself through than should be the case.  

 

All that out of the way, I did find it decent. I enjoyed a few of the intimate scenes.. again, giving special mention to Ryder.. who is the only one that really got to loosen up slightly by the end. D should have been my favorite, but both of his big scenes were held back.  

 

I'm glad I got to experience the book that has gotten so much attention in the last couple of years, but now I'm ready for someone to do it right. 

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

To be honest, I read Den of Vipers because of BookTok. I know some readers are hesitant to take recommendations from BookTok. I was one of them. I decided I was going to give K.A. Knight’s Den of Vipers a try. I’m glad I did. I found a new author to add to my long list of authors I have to check for backlist/new releases. 

Storyline/My Thoughts: I’m going to admit, too, that this book was not a favorite, but I did like some aspects of it. First, it’s a Reverse Harem where the FMC doesn’t have to choose from the male characters. She can have them all as love interests. Although, in the case of Den of Vipers, Roxy is forced to be with the male characters. Her father owed a lot of money to the Vipers, four men everyone knows are trouble, and they own the town. Roxy’s father can’t pay the debt, so he sells her to settle his debt with the Vipers. The Vipers, Ryder, Kenzo, Diesel, and Garrett, never expect that fierce kick-butt Roxy will fight back at them at every turn. She does deal with unruly people at the bar she owns, so she should be able to handle the Vipers when they come to collect her. Unfortunately, taking on four a-holes can be challenging. The Vipers have no idea what they want to do with Roxy at first, but one of them, Diesel, the unhinged one who carries a fanny pack with explosives and other things, finds her fascinating. Ryder, the sexy suit businessman of them all, finds her annoying. Kenzo is charming, but he will steal your money from you by gambling, and he’s taken a liking to her. Garrett is the scarred, damaged one that doesn’t like to be touched. He doesn’t like women and has every right not to like them. His one-true love tortured him, or he thought she was until she marked him up and left him for dead.

If Roxy wants to stay alive in the clutches of the Vipers, she has to find a way to escape, and if the Vipers think she’s going to be compliant, she’s not. She bites back like they do and does it even better sometimes. The Vipers will meet their match with Roxy, and they will realize how much she is like them.

Now, here are the things I liked about this book:

• Reverse Harem. I love this trope in books right now and love when the FMC has several MMCs as her love interests. I did like certain Vipers over others in the book, but I’m going to admit I liked them all. Ryder and Garrett were my favorites, but I liked Diesel and Kenzo, too.
  • Ryder for his alpha-like qualities. I love a man in a suit who takes control, and he puts Roxy in her place.
  • Garett because I always go for the ones who have been damaged/tortured. Roxy helped him overcome his hatred of women, showing how she cared for him. I felt for his character the most on what happened to him. The woman who scarred him deserved what came to her.
  • Diesel tended to be unhinged/psycho so much that he was scary, but he was the one who proved that Roxy was like the Vipers.
  • Kenzo is the one I considered the pretty boy. I have no idea why, so don’t ask.
• Roxy’s character. I love an FMC who fights back, and Roxy sometimes did, especially in the beginning. Now, fighting off four males that want you is a different story. Each one with intense personality, but Roxy has a fierce personality, too. She did destroy one of their cars and destroyed Ryder’s suits. Yup…she’s unhinged and the perfect female Viper.
• The spicy scenes. There’s quite a bit in this book, so if you are looking for mild spice, this book is not for you. This one goes off the charts with the spice in the book.

Now, here are the things I didn’t like:

• The storyline. The Vipers are villains in town, but they do good things, too, but the bad is seen more. The ones after the Vipers in the book felt rushed for the storyline. There are more moments of Roxy trying to escape the Vipers than what other drama was happening in the book.
• The book is over 600+ pages long. Some things could have been cut, and the book would have been more satisfying without some dialogue and certain scenes. I would have loved more of how Roxy’s father is handled. That man sold his daughter. He deserved more than he got.

Other than that, I did like this book but didn’t love it. It gets 3.5-stars from me. Now, will I try K.A. Knight’s other books? Yes, definitely. Other readers have loved this book so I will be recommending it. It is part of KU right now (as of 8/2022). 

Standalone or Part of Series: Standalone

Steam/Spice: 

Trope(s)/Element(s): Reverse Harem; Enemies to Lovers; knife/gun play; Touch Her and I will Unalive you; Unhinged/Psycho MC; Tortured/Damaged/Scarred MC; Badass/Kickass FMC

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Just because I didn’t love the book doesn’t mean I won’t recommend it to other readers. Everyone has different tastes in books. I recommend it to readers that enjoy Dark Reverse Harem (Organized Crime) Romance.

[Angie]

Proceed With Caution:

This book contains blood, gore, violence, kidnapping, death, torture, dubious consent, and mentions of suicide, child abuse, and addiction.

The Basics:

Based on those content warnings, it's safe to say that Den of Vipers is definitely dark. It's a Reverse Harem Romance between one woman and four men. Roxy's father sells her to the Vipers to pay his debts. Needless to say, she's not happy with this situation, but she finds herself attracted to these brutal men and realizes that she's just as screwed up as they are.

My Thoughts:

Den of Vipers popped up in my recommendations because I had read two reverse harem series back to back, so I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed it, but it has its issues. I liked Roxy. She's a no nonsense chick, who isn't going to go willingly with the men who claim she's now theirs. She's even mouthy when being held hostage by the Vipers enemies! I just wish there had been some in-between emotion from her, because she went from hate to love almost instantly. Where was the conflicting emotions?! But this may have also been due to there being exactly zero timeline. Seriously, how much time has passed since the Vipers picked her up and the end of the book? I have no idea.

Den of Vipers is unnecessarily long. There is a lot going on, but it could have been way more concise, particularly in the beginning. Diesel's torture scenes were just extra. We get it, he's a psycho. I don't need to read that much blood and gore. It wasn't shocking or sexy. I kept thinking about how unsanitary it was, which is not likely the reaction the author was going for. Just get to the sex! There's several moments like that, where there's this long, drawn out scene that doesn't really do what it's suppose to do, and it detracts from the main story.

What I did like about Den of Vipers was this screwed up "reverse harem" relationship. I still think that term is stupid, but it gets the point across. Roxy is happily having mind-blowing sex with all four guys with no shame. I was disappointed that she never had sex with all four of them at once though (no DP!). I mean, there's a scene of all of them together, but she never has more than two of them at once. Total missed opportunity. But each guy is into something a bit different, so there's never the same sex twice!

It may seem like Den of Vipers is just a bunch of sex and violence, but there actually is a pretty good plot. It doesn't really show up full force until about two-thirds in, but it's hinted at in the beginning. Basically someone is selling their secrets and put a hit out on them. The Vipers have to find out who's talking and take out all of their enemies, because it's totally believable that four men and one woman can take out dozens of other men. But we're not here for believability, so I'll let that slide. Garrett also has an interesting personal plot, which would have been enough for me without the rival gang aspect added on.

In the end, Den of Vipers was an enjoyable read. There's possibly too much going on and it's not all handled the best, but it's an entertaining piece of work.

[whisperingchapters]

I'm still trying to process how I loved this book. I thought I had read dark romance before, but this is a whole new level of dark romance.... And I loved it. What the heck is wrong with me?

I want to point out that even though this is a reverse harem, each relationship felt so profound and unique, but at the same time, it NEVER crossed my mind how it would work for all of them to be together, to share Roxy. Usually, I question how they will come to terms with it, how they'll approach the subject, etc. But these dudes never even fully discussed. Their family bond is so strong, it holds through anything.

Each one of the male characters stole my heart, even Diesel... Especially Diesel. (See? I need to check myself in a mental institution.) This "crazy bastard" as Roxy calls him, put on an invisibility cloak and snuck his way into my heart.

And Garrett... Ugh *wipes tears* His story tore my heart the most. I just wanted to huge him at every turn. He deserves all the attention and love in the world.

And Kenzo! Out of all of them, I felt like I could identify with him a lot. I loved just how sane and put-together he is, while every now and then unleashing the dark side of him.

Lastly, Ryder. He's the one I was more detached from, but even then, I can't stop thinking about him and all he has gone through to defend his found family, the Vipers.

I can't leave Roxy out. That girl... I have a crush on her. Like, for real. I need more females like her, the ones who stay fierce until the end, the ones who will always fight, the ones who aren't scared to protect themselves, the ones who embrace what life throws at them and come out stronger than ever. Because that's exactly how Roxy was in the story. I know Roxy is a female character I won't forget any time soon, if ever. She's my first girl crush!

The story did get lengthened more than it should have. The last few chapters could have not existed, but it was still a great story. I did skip some very gory scenes, though.

Overall, this story will live in my heart forever, especially the amazing characters!