By: Julie S. Blake
Many thanks to Books and Bloom PR for the gifted copy of this book!
Already living in grief, Joe come into Sara’s life, giving it light, making her smile again. He also brings her into a world that she never imagined she’d be in, which includes Liam, Joe’s twin brother. Liam looks at her with disgust, with hatred. He’s cold. Then Sara and Liam find themselves both dealing with grief and fall into each other to help ease the pain. What started as pure hatred, changed. But now Sara is mixed up in a world that could kill her.
This book destroyed me, put me back together, destroyed me again, and then put my back together again. I’m going to try to do my best here with a review, but I’m not sure that I can adequately put everything that I’m feeling about this book into words. This is a book that I never knew I wanted, or needed. Very early on, I knew this was going to be a 5 star read.
Blake did a great job handling the dynamics between the characters and having the characters change and/or grow. I laughed reading this book, and I cried. I cried hard. So hard, I had to put it down and let myself have that moment. There is a particular scene in a bathtub that broke me down as Sara’s sentiments were mine when I was a teenager. It was this quote that did me in: “he’s not even the one I need holding from, but there’s a point in life when any arms that could anchor around you would feel like a million words you need to hear to keep you from sinking.” The way that Liam reacts to Sara, it touched my heart for her, broke my heart for me.
The chemistry between Sara and Liam was off the charts. It was total “I’d burn the world down for you” and I was here for every moment of it. Yes, this book is a dark romance, but it really is so much more than that. It’s emotional, heartbreaking; it deals with death and grief, learning to love yourself and let yourself be loved.
There is a lot of action in this book too, and the action is fantastic. There is always something going on. There are some high stakes, and twists that I didn’t see coming. There was on particular twist that shocked me SO much, I screamed WHAT?! out loud and then couldn’t stop reading.
I’m in awe that this is a debut book. This author has a forever reader in me.
For those that like dark romance, this is must read. Please check trigger warnings.
Publish Date: July 30, 2026
Find the book here.
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Favorite Quotes:
“Because if we do this, I want all of you, Sara. I’ve spent five months learning everything about you, and I haven’t gotten nearly enough.”
“I didn’t leave you, Sara,” he says quietly. “To leave you, there’d have to be somewhere I could go that you aren’t already there.”
“He’s my sin in flesh, but I can’t summon even a smidgen of willpower to resist him.”
“Because you’re like a thorn in the palm of my hand that I have tried so hard to claw out. You’re lodged in and I want to heal around you. If you leave, everything I’ve been holding together goes… with you.”
“Everyone is afraid of something. It’s what determines what we value the most and the risks we are willing to take.”
“Try watching from a distance as the only person who makes life worth living learns to live without you.”
“You love me so fucking much it burns you alive, and you’re dragging me into your fire with you. Stop it! You’re hurting me.”
“God, she’s beautiful. Not in how she stops my heart, but how she starts it again.”
