SORRY, BUT IT'S A NO FROM ME

~ REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS ~

Initially I was in the mood for something different and I love a dark anti-hero story so I took a chance on this book knowing it was going to be an age-gap romance.. BUT, along the way, it started to feel wrong, uncomfortable and not a healthy relationship to be in. Abandoned by her mother when she was a baby, Juliet‘s been brought-up by her shady gambler father who has never cared about her and regularly abandoned her or drew low-life men into their lives. Long story short, 17 year old virginal Juliet has never had care or love.. she’s naïve, poorly educated and innocent about the world.. but she knows how to survive.

Maximo (33) owns Casinos, he’s a ruthless Kingpin and he’s owed a lot of money by Juliet’s father.. and time’s up. Long story short, he kills him, drugs the daughter, locks her in his mansion, isolates her, remotely controls her, obsessively watches her, gets off and waits a year for her 18th birthday. Then on birthday he starts to sexually awaken his Little Dove, introduces her to the ’Daddy’ Sub/Dom spank/reward lifestyle and claims her. There’s a bit of angst and bloodshed with other characters who threaten his Little Dove.

Worth a credit? Nope sorry, not one of mine. I started this with high hopes.. but (for me) it was cringeworthy, had absolutely no chemistry and just felt wrong wrong wrong. It wasn’t the age gap that felt off, it was the lack of contact, grooming, manipulation, controlling/rewarding of a vulnerable immature teen with no-one and no where to go.. the “brat” and “daddy” talk had me squirming with unease and I didn’t.. no, I couldn’t, finish it. Joe’s good of course but Lexi had a very young voice which didn’t help either. However, this is just my own personal opinion.. I’m sure others may view it differently.

15 people found this helpful

🔥OTT POSSESSIVE ALPHA 🔥

It's the ott jealous/possessive alpha for me! This one has age gap, Jealousy, descriptive sex, and a little kink. I'm in love with LittleDove. I was waiting for the piss me off part. Ya know when a miscommunication breaks them up or some other irritating angsty bit comes and ruins the vibe but nope didn't happen. It had drama and excitement but not the kind that makes you want to scream, just tell him what's going on! Okay maybe thats just me but anyway it doesn't have any of that😅 I also appreciated how Layla Frost kept Maxum a badass killer throughout the book instead of having him go soft. Dove isn't super sensitive or overly angry. She's smart enough to see a great opportunity and take it for as long as she can regardless if she has a choice or not. Joe Arden did a great job as Maxum as I figured he would. Lexi Maynard isn't a narrator I was familiar with and at first I thought she sounded too young but I was wrong. She captures Doves character perfectly. It was definitely worth a credit for me because I know I'll be listening to this book again and again. Thanks Layla for a great new age gap

7 people found this helpful

Good but not great

The story was overall good. Much more of a romance than a suspense/who did it story. From the blurb thought that would be more of the plot. There were a few to many times where it felt like little girl trying to be sexy which through me off. And it could have been shorter and got the same effect. Like there being like 3 cookie scenes, asking what his fav are, looking up recipe, cooking with the chef. But never a scene about her actually making and giving him cookies. It was like why even have the first 3 scenes. Overall, cool story. Loved Maximo, Dove was ok. Would have liked it better if it was on Audible Plus and free than spending a credit.

4 people found this helpful

Daddy's Little Dove

This book was so good. Maximo killed Juliet's father right in front of her. He drugs her and takes her with him. He put her in a guilded cage (her room in his huge mansion) and watched her until she turned 18. Then he claims her. He gave her everything she could possibly want. Maximo was a totally over-the-top possessive alpha. He was her Daddy and she was his Little Dove. Her father had enemies who tried to kidnap her and Maximo showed his true colors. I love what he did to them. He was very protective of his Little Dove. The ending was very fitting. Lexi Maynard and Joe Arden did a great job with the narration. Joe Arden was a perfect, possessive, over-the-top dominant alpha.

4 people found this helpful

Maybe not for everyone, but great for those who do

Age-gap; daddy-kink; anti-H, OTT possessive, Alpha; very young, nieve, virgin heroine; suspense; intense HEAT; kidnapping; obsession; murder; and love. This title delivers a lot! This is my first read from this author and I will definitely look for more. The plot is solid and well-written even though it may not be everyone's cup of tea. But if you are willing or even anxious to color outside the lines a bit, this one does not disappoint!

The narrators do an amazing job. I saw other reviews mention how young the female character sounded. They viewed this negatively. I suppose that will weigh heavily on how open (or closed) your mind is. For me, her voice represented youth, but also her vulnerability and inexperience. The contrast between Lexi Maynard's soft delivery and Joe Arden's firm sexy voice really sets the tone for the dynamics of their relationship. I felt it was well done and they both did an amazing job telling this taboo-esque tale. Again, I think it all boils down to your willingness (or excitement) to embrace the content.

I enjoyed the story for what it was and I can see myself revisiting it again at some point in the future. That makes it a winner and worth the $ for me.

2 people found this helpful

Real Time Review/Thoughts

25% in andbADORE the h. She is so brave, smart, and bold. In the most perfect way. Not like when an author is trying to make us believe the h is strong, but really she's just got a mouth on her, but bends to everything and becomes a doormat from min 1 of relationship. Juliet is not one of those fmc (so far). Smart, strong, headstrong, and did I mentioned brave?? h: "There are things worse than death" YESSSS I find myself yelling this in most dark roms right when they're about to sell h as some sex slave to star in a snuff film and she's just oh so scared of the goons gun or knife she cooperates. No girl, your alternative will make you wish you provoked a headshot. Anyhow, enough drooling on the h. I'm desperately hoping she remains this awesome and doesn't become some weak twit chasing around the H falling at his feet. Come on Ms. Frost don't let me down!

45% in, reducing 4☆ to 3 which will quickly become a 2 if my girl Juliet doesn't get her shit together. Soooo, it happened. Bye bye strength and will. It's not the Dd play. It's the fact that she was written as a woman who, while being open to that shit, would also draw some clear ass lines regarding the level of control and retaining a sense of self. May DNF.
Maximo- While I really like him for the most part. I can't connect with him. A couple minor tweaks to his controlling behavior would've made me a Stan . Its not how controlling he is, but him not giving h as much as he demands. To make this work the sub in a relationship has to own D also. Hes a beautiful badass MF though. Ruthless; capable of extreme violence and murder. But also has integrity and strong morality. Again, I can't connect though and it's a shame. It's not just his control issues, it was her complete tolerance and acceptance of it. Allowing him to completely take her choices. ALL of them and having extreme "rules" applying every min of her day-day life. Not cool. She is the one who needed to stand up to him. Draw lines. He can allow her to be a human with free will while they get kinky in bed and demand that what. I felt he needed an h who was equally as strong and a true equal. From the start of their relationship, at no time have I felt like they're equals or partners. I've read tons of true dark roms with M/S dynamics where I still felt that mcs were EQUALS. A partnership.
Juliet was introduced to us as this incredible woman with SOLID strength who was going to give it as good as she got and instead folded from the first moment she got wet. Instead she allowed someone to ban her from caffeine after certain hours while drinking a cup in front of her. Disappointed. Like how in the fuck did this strong woman with self worth, become the girl who is gushing and beyond appreciative when given shoes (not in the omg these are cute way but in she had none so she couldn't run away and omg he trusts me enough with shoes), and later once she was no longer "technically?" a prisoner and they already developed a relationship appreciates him ALLOWING her to have a phone, acting like he gave her the world by ALLOWING her to leave the house long enough to go to work with him. Like guys- This b*tch reacted like he was doing something seriously above and beyond for her. Again, at this point they were already in a relationship! Not captive and captor.
He wasn't what destroyed this story for me ultimately. SHE WAS. Her not demanding to be treated as an equal was pathetic. Her simultaneously being extremely savvy while also being a complete moron. AGAIN I know this is daddy play, but if it's done right you don't feel like the sub is truly beneath the dom. You feel the equal power dynamic. Great ones show you the sub/d figuring out how much control they can give away while maintaining some ownership of themself and show the genuine respect flowing both way. Genuine effort. Show give and take. There's no equal footing in this relationship and it SUCKS because if the h was as strong as she seemed in the first portion of the book it would be a droolworthy relationship/story. The H for sure was so over the top controlling, but needed an h to shut it down and draw a line.

Also the sex is meh. I'd go as far to say it was kind of vanilla. No real kink outside of spanking and her calling him daddy, which actually made me cringe sometimes. Not because of the Daddy play some authors like Jade West can really make it hot like hot af. Where as the sex here isnt bad it's, it's just meh. Nothing that gives you tingles anyway. Unless something like 50 shades gives you tingles, in which case ... carry on.
Major thing I do love about this though is that UNLIKE waaaaaay too many other roms in any subgen the H is the one chasing h. He's the pursuer. Not some pathetic h chasing down a man who keeps pushing her away and she keeps pathetically chasing him and he just keeps on pushing and then finally he "let's his walls down". those always end up being DNFs for me.. Frost did a really great job in this aspect of the relationship.
Another big pro-The writing is great. Her ability to tell a story is not lacking at all. I just don't like the direction this story is going. lol but nonetheless she's a top notch story teller.

Still have about 35% to go and would love to wrap this review/rant with SHE TURNED IT AROUND. The dynamic shifted to equal power, respect, and control.. I was finally able to connect with Maximo as I did with Juliet in first half and am no longer disgusted with her. Im not super hopeful. As a matter of fact I'm checking out GR reviews to see if it ends well so I know if it's worth continuing.

1 person found this helpful

Great Story and Narration

I absolutely loved the story and the narrators were great. Lexi gave such an innocence to the character in a believable way. Joe was perfect as always!!

1 person found this helpful

A Favorite For Sure!

I absolutely loved the story the first time I read it. Now to be able to listen to it was just as wonderful.

I love the dark and gritty side of the story and how well it meshes into the softer more tender moments, but even those are still a little dark and gritty.

Sometimes you don't want or need a Knight...sometimes it's the Villain you need.

1 person found this helpful

Love it just as much in audio

Wow! I absolutely loved the audio just as much as the print! The narrators did an outstanding job bringing Juliet and Maximo to life.

As a person who doesn't normally listen to audio, I have to say if all audio books were narrated this well, then I may change my perspective. These two embraced the characters 's personalities so well. I truly felt like I was listening to their love story from the characters. A passionate, suspenseful love story with a dark twist. This was one of my favorite reads from 2020 and definitely one of my favorite listens for 2021.

1 person found this helpful

Love

I love the story. Just one thing I wish the person narrator for male character would not rush when narrating.