Ratings2
Average rating4.5
Stevie, the Ghostface killer is sent on a simple mission, find her mark and kill him, easy, she's done it plenty of times before, only this time, the lines get blurred and she can't bring herself to pull the trigger. Baz has issues, which are fully under control, that is until he realises Stevie was sent to kill him. Can they get past what has happened and what both of them represent to give their relationship a chance, or are they doomed to fail?
I felt so many emotions with this book it was hard to keep track. I was disgusted, I was sad, I was annoyed. But then I was happy and charmed, and angry and happy again. Seriously, if there was an emotion, I felt it. M Never has an amazing talent for writing characters that you just can't help but have a connection and reaction to.
I really liked the plot of this book. A character that has been beaten down so often that she builds herself up and is a strong, capable woman. I loved that. I think that is one of the reasons I loved Stevie so much, she didn't take any crap, she could hold her own. I think falling in love actually made her stronger. She had something to fight for and she fought for all she was worth. Baz was also a great character, I loved him to begin with, then he got a little dodgy (hey, he's a guy with complex issues, don't judge) but once he broke down and got himself sorted I just completely fell in love with him. He stepped out of his comfort zone and went against everything he wanted to protect the people he loves. He was confident but vulnerable, sweet and badass. I only have one question – the beard...why?!?! And you all know how I love to have characters to hate and this book sated that need, I hated certain characters so, so, so much! This book just really grabbed me and took me on a heck of a ride.
With that being said I don't feel the prologue was necessary, I think the book could have started at chapter one. Stevie alluded to the events enough in her thoughts and reactions that we knew something had happened. The revelation of telling Baz would have had a greater impact if the listener didn't already know, in detail, what had happened. Plus, we really didn't need it twice. Part of this will be because I struggle with the subject and wasn't expecting it. Being hit with it in the first few minutes kinda put a dampener on it for me, in fact, I turned it off and had to think about whether I wanted to continue. I did continue and enjoyed the story, as stated above. The relationship between Baz and Stevie is actually quite beautiful. The twist at the end was very clever and I didn't see it coming, I was in shock and may have shouted at my phone as I listened to it lol. Although the revelation that happened I did know, from the get go, again, that would have been more of a shock and major revelation had we not had the prologue. But that is just one person's opinion.
Jacob Morgan narrated the epilogue and I must be honest, he was the pull for me to get this book in the first place, so I was a little disappointed to find out he only narrated the epilogue...which he did wonderfully, as always, however, as I was listening I thought it wasn't really necessary. Muffy could have done the entire book, that is how amazing her performance was. Muffy Newtown was absolutely fantastic! I adored her performance, there wasn't one part or one character that she didn't excel at. Her male characters are amazing, I even had to check that it was still her at times...just in case they sneaked in another narrator while I wasn't paying attention. I feel like she has totally ruined my JM narrator crush and now I'm all MN narrator crushing.
Warning: This is a dark romance. It contains violence, dubious consent, suicidal thoughts and the sexual assault of a minor (in the prologue, if you struggle with this trigger, you might want to skip ahead to chapter one). Listen at your own discretion.