- Mateo Tres Santos, bouncer and MMA fighter. This Latino lover was a real heart-throb. He comes from a broken home steeped in violence and tradition. His word shattered when his little sister was raped, but he has risen above and worked hard to protect his sisters and mother. Mateo or Teo as his friends call him, isn’t your typical bad boy, and I felt for him and yeah even swooned a little.
- Evelyn Preston was born into privilege and had everything taken away from her when her father took his life after his involvement in an embezzlement scandal was revealed. Her friends and family turned their backs on her, but Evelyn is one tough cookie She works as a bartender and is putting herself through nursing school. She suffers from panic attacks and is terrified of the dark, and I found this thread to be interesting and heartbreaking.
- Secondary characters from friends to siblings helped flesh out our couple and added a sense of extended family.
- Preventing rape and the side effects of rape are discussed, and I felt this was weaved successfully into the story.
- The romance felt genuine, and their struggles, success and spats felt genuine. I laughed and connected with them.
Decaffeinated Aspects:
- I didn’t feel this had the same edge that Robson delivers in the Weird Girl Series.
- There were some over the top moments, cliché’ aspects and awkward conversations that felt slightly forced especially when secondary characters were involved. There were some eye-rolling moments that I questioned. Despite that, I genuinely enjoyed the tale and laughed, sighed and swooned.
- While the characters were diverse, I felt some of them despite their individual voices were pigeon holed into a certain stereotype.
- Cecy Robson delivers such fresh, intense urban fantasy and I think I set the bar to high on this one.
Copy received from publisher, full review on blog.This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer