Title: Born, Darkly (Darkly, Madly Duet #1)
Author: Trisha Wolfe
Genre: Dark Romance
Edition/Pages: Ebook, 286 pages
Goodreads page

Summary

London Nobel has built her career on being the leading criminal psychiatrist. But after so many years, she no longer believes rehabilitation is possible and wants to leave that path behind her. In order to maintain her contract, she has to take on one new patient. Enter Grayson Sullivan, convicted serial killer. Grayson is brilliant. And dangerous. And so is the connection and chemistry between them. London must find a way to stay away from him, and hide the secrets of her past.

“Ours is not a love story—we’re too volatile, too explosive for monotony. No, our story comes with a warning. Beware”

Overview

➸ POV: 1st Person, Alternating chapters from London and Grayson’s POVs

➸ London Noble: Criminal psychiatrist, Repressing memories, Dark past, Trying to distance herself from the criminal cases that brought her notoriety

➸ Grayson Sullivan: Convicted murderer, Killed criminals, Genius level intelligence, Obsessed with Dr. Noble, On trial for additional murders in a state with the death penalty

➸ Content Warnings: Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Mental manipulation, Abuse, etc. This book is extremely dark, honestly, warnings for everything under the sun.

My Thoughts

“We’re monsters. And our love is this monstrous thing that will devour us”

Wow. This was hands down one of the darkest, most fucked up romances I’ve ever read. And I was living for it. This is not for the faint of heart however. This story is dark and twisted and requires the reader to suspend their beliefs. But it is absolutely worth it.

I have absolutely no idea if the psychology in this book is medically accurate, but I bought into Every. Word. Trisha Wolfe obviously did her research because the book felt so realistic. Between London’s diagnoses and the courtroom scenes, the story felt like a documentary at times. I definitely had to remind myself that this was a work of fiction at one point.

The dynamic between London and Grayson was absolutely captivating. I loved watching London’s struggle between her attraction and disgust for Grayson. And her internal battle between what is right versus self preservation. She was such a dynamic character.

London’s backstory was so well crafted. I had so many theories on what she was repressing and none of them right! I loved all the twists and reveals. The pacing and timing was perfection and had me frantically flipping pages until the very end.

Lastly, I loved how this relationship was never romanticized. These two characters are very clearly fucked up. But I was rooting for them to be together regardless! It was such an impressive line the author walked and I have no idea how she did it. I have no idea how I was so invested in the relationship between two sociopathic characters.

Overall this was an amazing dark romance. It definitely won’t be for everyone, so please go into this one cautiously. This goes to some seriously dark places and requires the reader to suspend what they believe about “healthy” relationships. But it is so worth it! I’m picking up book 2 immediately because I need to know how this duet concludes!

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