Titles: Cruel Paradise (book 1) and Cruel Promise
Author: Nicole Fox narrated by Laura Horrowitz and Walker Williams
Length: book one- 13 hours and five minutes; book two- 11 hours and five minutes
Genre: Romance, sub-plot: dark mafia, overbearing CEO
Is this part of a series? This is the series- a duology that tells the whole of Emma and Ruslan's love story.
I discovered this book via... being obsessed with Laura Horrowitz's instagram and wanting desperately to listen to one of the books she narrated. Believe it or not, this seemed like the tamest of them. (@laura_horrowitz_narrator)
Published: September 6th, 2023 for both.
Ever since her twin died and she became caretaker for her nieces and nephew (and their father), Emma's been trying desperately to keep her head above water. Working for Rusland Oryolov as his personal assistant is exhausting on it's own, so if, at the end of the day a girl needs to let off a little steam, who can blame her? What she can take blame for, though, is accidently calling her boss and leaving a seven and a half minute voicemail of her masterbating to fantasies of him. So the next morning when the boss calls her in for a meeting taking seven and a half minutes.... she's fired, right? Or is she?
Rusland is ruthless, harsh and very used to having things his way. As a ceo and head of a russian bratva, there's very few that would stand in his way. Hearing his gorgeous little assistant using him as masterbation material? He can't ignore the fact that he wants her. It's just a contract- he pays off her debts and lets her keep her job... and she's his, physically at least. He isn't one to do forever, so as long as no one falls in love it's fine, right? But getting to know her and her charges, Rusland is pulled further and further into their world... until it all blows up.
(Book 2) She's pregnant. It's what they had talked about- an heir- before... well, before he hated her. She has to escape. Run. With the threat of Rusland on one side and her other enemies on the other, is there anywhere safe for her and the kids? But the man won't let go- she is pregnant with his kid, after all, and the other children need protection. And so he'll keep them close, but never touch her... never trust her. Emma is heartbroken that Rusland thought so little of her, of them... she doesn't even fight. What for? It's her fault for disobeying the most important rule- do not fall in love. Can the two find their way back to eachother through the lies and misunderstandings?
There's a lot to unpack here. This is a very dark romance, harsher than the light romcoms I usually read. I am half in love with the narrator for Emma's chapters- Laura Horrowitz. She has such a great voice, and I have gotten used to her hilarious out-takes on Instagram. I wanted to support my favorite narrator, so I picked up two of her dark romance books (she also does paranormal, but that's not usually my thing either to be honest). Still, I will read almost anything if the plot and characters are good. These were... pretty good.
Let's start with the premise. Overworked Cinderella "accidently" sends an indecent voicemail to her mafia bosshole... because that happens all the time. (To be fair, I have actually seen this done several times in other books, but honestly? It defies common sense). There were times where this honestly read like a b list drama... and yet I found myself intrigued. What's going to happen next?
The kids, and Emma's stuggle to keep them safe and fed, allowed for some semblance of a plot even after the lead couple discovered sex. (Sex-to-plot ratio for book one is pretty uneven and if we could fantasies and inuendo book two is only a bit better). I liked them, and while at times two dimensional, they added a lot to the story. The chemistry here is through the roof, it's pretty steamy and there are a lot of sex scenes. For me, this was a three star duology. I thought the narration was great and both narrators did an exceptional job... the book itself just isn't one of my favorites. I think it's for those that like things a bit darker... I am not the target audience.
As far as adult content goes... there's a ton of language, drinking, drug use, violence and sex. Contracted sex, consentual sex, hate sex, fantasies about sex... you get the picture. Trigger warnings: some nonconsentual sexual content. There's both physical and mental abuse of adults and children. Honestly, that part was rough.
The books are out. Have you read them? What are your thoughts? If you are on instagram you should definitely check out @laura_horrowitz_narrator. She's amazing and her clips are always a good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment