Merciless (Merciless, #1)

by Willow Winters

[Eve1972]

 
 
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
I will be honest, I am struggling a little with how to rate this book. On one hand, I enjoyed it a lot. The writing was fantastic. The pace was perfect. The plot was super engaging and kept me turning the pages like a crazy person. I just couldn't connect with Carter and Aria as a couple. I read (and love) a lot of dark romances so I don't always expect my heroes to be sweet upstanding citizens, but generally, there are moments even in the darkest of books that I feel the hero cares (even if it is in his own twisted way) for the heroine. In this one I just DIDN'T. Most people wouldn't treat their pets as awfully as Carter treated Aria. I just never understood the reasoning behind why he had to treat her so badly to get what he wanted? He wanted to break her? Why? Surely he could have gone about it in a less harsh and cold way? And from Aria's side, I just felt like the poor girl had Stockholm Syndrome so bad she would have done anything Carter said to stay out of the cell he kept her in. In any case, this one ends on a cliffhanger so I am hoping maybe we will get a bit more background on the "WHY" Carter did what he did in the next book.


~HERO~
CARTER...Carter was a bit of a mixed bag. He was sexy. He was domineering. He was charming. I love how close to his brother's he is. That said, the way he treated Aria was just really abysmal. Since we don't get a lot of background info (IMO) on WHY Carter is doing what he is doing with Aria, it just felt like he wanted to break her and didn't care how cruel he had to be to get it done. Like I mentioned above though, I am hoping we will dive a bit more into his reasonings in the next book. So I have my fingers crossed he can be redeemed. 


~HEROINE~
ARIA...Sigh. I honestly just felt so sorry for this chick. She stayed strong for as long as she could. Even the most strong of spirits are going to break when being kept in a cell with a thin mattress. With very little sleep. Very little food. No place to bath, and having your mind f-cked with continuously. There really isn't much more I can say about her because her character was pretty much a victim for the entire book. Hopefully, in the next one, we see a stronger, tougher Aria.


 

~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
This one was pretty light of secondary characters. Mostly we just see Jase (Carter's brother), and a little of Daniel, (Carter's other brother) and the hero from the previous book. All the brothers intrigue me so I can't wait to read their books. 


~HEAT LEVEL~
Low. There are couple moderately spicey sex scenes in this one, but I wouldn't say it was overly erotic or kinky. There was some spanking. Handcuffs. That sort of thing. That said, the frequency and heat felt organic to the story.


~ANGST LEVEL - SEXUAL HISTORIES~
High...Most of the angst in this one came from the way Carter treated Aria. There was no OW or OM drama. Neither were virgins, and there isn't a single mention of either of their past sexual experiences.


~IN THE END~
So yea, I don't know. Like I said, on one hand, I pretty much inhaled this book in one go. So obviously I liked a whole lot about the book. I adore this authors writing. It (more often than not) is top notch. The pace was good. The plot engaging. Mainly, I just struggled with the way Carter treated Aria for the entire book. I needed some "softer" scenes that showed he actually had genuine feelings for Aria. Or at the very least more explanation for his harsh actions. Hopefully, the next book will address both those things. I know I will be waiting not so patiently to get my hands on it. So, for now, I am going to go with a 3.5 Stars rating with the option of changing that as I marinate on it more.