| Title | : | The Predator (Dark Verse, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 318 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2020 |
In the dark underbelly of the mob, Tristan Caine has been an anomaly. As the only non-blooded member in the high circle of the Tenebrae Outfit, he is an enigma to all - his skills unparalleled, his morality questionable, and his motives unknown. He is lethal and he knows it.
As does Morana Vitalio, the genius extraordinaire daughter of the rival family. What Caine does with weapons, Morana does with computers. When a twenty-year old mystery resurfaces, Morana infiltrates Caine's house, intent on killing him, unaware of a tie that binds them together. Hate, heat, and history clash together with unexpected sparks.
But something bigger, something worse is happening in their world. And despite their animosity, only they can fight it down.
The Predator (Dark Verse, #1) Reviews
-
i read this in one sitting and now i’m a changed woman. you don’t know what enemies to even more enemies to enemies with benefits to enemies that still aren’t lovers is until you read this masterpiece. i read this in less that 24hrs and now my skin is glowing.
this shit changed my hair color. the slow burn, longing, and copious amounts of staring made me feel like someone pushed me onto incoming traffic. and i loved every bit of it. i finished it and suddenly a cliff appeared in front of me.
Tristian and Morana are two characters that i’m deadly afraid of yet two characters i’d let take me any which way. their tension made me want to jump off the golden gate bridge, throw a toaster into a bath tub, and jump into it. my body folded like an origami with that bathroom and shower scene. anyways can’t wait to read the sequel next. -
– 2.4 stars
What this book has:
💫 a heroine in a mafia setting with a brain
💫 a heroine who is not just waiting for her father to arrrange a marriage for her
💫 a dark hair, blue eyed hero with BDE
💫 a hero who doesn't speak much
💫 enemies-to-lovers
What this book also has:
📌 3rd POV
📌 endless monologues
📌 staring so MUCH STARING 👁👄👁
📌 SILENCE
📌 guns and violence
📌 did I already mentioned staring? if not, yeah, a lot of staring 👁👄👁
📌 blue eyes
📌 a motorcycle
📌 the words "TRISTAN CAINE" (219 times to be exact)
📌 a voice of whiskey and sin (that was not used nearly enough)
📌 I wanna do this review for The Predator justice so I gotta mention once again the eye staring contest Tristan and Morana had going on throughout this whole book 👁👄👁
📌 no talk, only stares 👁👄👁
Not to compliment myself, but I think I did a good job of summarizing The Predator. If something is missing from that list, my DM's are wide open for suggestions. 😇
A staredown. She didn't remove her eyes from his, and he didn't remove his from hers, neither willing to look away first.
Basically this whole book in a nutshell:
Morana Vitalio: Stop staring.
Tristan Caine: No.
I wanted to say that reading this book was such a great experience, but just looking at the rating, that would be a big lie. It was painful af. The first 40% of this book were hands down a solid 1.5 stars rating from me. The monlogues, the eye starring, the silence I hated everything about it. It was so mind-numbing. The voices in my fucking head talked more than the characters in this whole book. 😭💀
Tristan had the potential to be up there with all the great heroes. Is there anything this man can't do? But due to the writing I couldn't care enough about him. Same applies for Morana. For the first 40% I was just begging for someone to end my misery (I'm dramatic ik just let me 🤡🤚) that by the time when something interesting between the main character happened I was like
Tristan fucking Morana in the restroom while her father's men are standing behind the door calling out to her? Yeah, even I can admit that scene was something. If I had to choose my favorite scenes from this book, then it probably that one or the Tristan & Morana rain kiss in the last chapter. That were the scenes were I was mourning this couple potential, cause they could have slapped so hard and end all other mafia couples, but nah sorry missed that mark with all the staring instead of talking.
"Next time, I'm going to see how loud you can scream, Ms. Vitalio. I'm going to make you so sore you won't know if it's from the screaming or the fucking."
Ugh. See? R.I.P. the potential of that man. I'm mourning. Honestly, I wish I could love him more, but the way this book was written destroyed everything and was so boring. 😭
There was actually an interesting flashback scene between Tristan and Morana that I somewhat enjoyed, until I got to the point where it was revealed why Tristan hates Morana that much. And oh boy.. oh hell. Here is my reaction:
He stilled even more, impossibly.
She stilled even more, reflexively.
The air between them stilled, dangerously.
I really wanted to put a sweet TristanMorana quote here, but all my highlights are 90% from them staring at each other across the room while crickets are chirping in the background or 10% fucking. That's it. 😬
Conclusion
The first half was pretty much a disaster, the second half was somehow better, but I still don't care enough. Usually I'm all about the side characters, but even Dante and Amara didn't do anything for me, because I'm already dreading how the writing is going to be 💀 I'm still going to read the next books, but for now I need a break. 🏃🏻♀️
┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑
DARK VERSE SERIES
#1 The Predator – 2.4 stars
#2 The Reaper – tbr
#3 The Emperor – tbr
#4 The Finisher – tbr
#5 The Annihilator – tbr
┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙ -
OMG OMG THAT LAST CHAPTER WAS BOMB.
It’s been a MINUTE since I stayed up till 3 am to read a book. 𝐎𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆. It gave me EVERYTHING I had no idea was missing from my life. I can see myself rereading this every month or some shit. Like it was that good.
It came to a point where I wanted to start the book again just so I could relive their first encounter forever. Bc my god, I WAS NOT EXPECTING IT. AT ALL.
𝐎𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐝 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫. There were so many times when I couldn’t predict what the characters would do and that’s something I truly ADORE.
Okay, I have to say that it was the third pov that kinda made me waver a little since I just got disconnected sometimes when there were too many she said, he said. Also there wasn’t much ✨romance✨ (and when I say romance I mean emotional connection) but that’s part of the story and hopefully I’ll get that in the next book. And the writing was sometimes corny but whatever bc 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓.
𝗠𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁 😃
𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚 was chef's kiss. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. She gave herself time to process and basically gave herself interventions lmao. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋. I loved her the entire time and it's so hard to find a book where I love the FMCS too.
𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧 was a tough nut to crack and srsly I’ve still not got him figured out. 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐌𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 He had more personality in the texts than IRL bro he never even spoke much 😩
Ngl him staring had me a little like okay dude LMFAO 💀 but then I found out why and I was like damn okay I'll allow it.
𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐌𝐄? Each character was so FIIIINEEEE. 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗲 💅
pls, what is in their water bc 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄??!! 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝. Her backstory? Ugh, I wanted to cry. I love her sm.
𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 𝐒𝐊𝐀𝐉𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃!!
𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲:
Best believe I’m licking those DanteAmara crumbs off the table. 𝐈 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄! I can’t wait for shit to hit the fan with them sksjdkdhk
𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀: 🎧
Russian roulette - Rihanna
Devil in a dress - Rhea Raj
Wish I never - kehlani
I’m yours - Isabel LaRosa
Proud - SoMo
Bite - EMM
Villain - Julia Wolf
Talking in your sleep - DREAMDNVR
Down - Simon ft. Trella
Man's world - Nova Miller
Nights - Adrian Daniel
Peachy - EMM
Antihero - AViVa
Body - purpleheart ft. Adrian Daniel
Hate you but I don’t - Sophia Gripari
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:
"𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗲."
…"𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜," he remarked evenly,
~SJSVEUKENSKSN IM SCREAMINGGG
"𝗪𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂! 𝗪𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸!"
𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐲’𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞.
~Lmfaoo 💀
"𝗜 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲."
"𝗜 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲."
~SCREAMMMM
"𝗡𝘂𝗵-𝘂𝗵. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂,𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿."
He stilled, his gaze intensifying. "𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀."
~HAHAHHAHA I'M CACKLING.
‘Even as she steadied herself, 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤, 𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙠.’
~THIS ugh the neck holding just makes me go feral
𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲.
"𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨."
~ help. pls.
“𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗻𝗮𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂,”
~THE LATTER PLS TY
“𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱.”
~pls stop bc this shit is hurting me
𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀:
The devils night series - Penelope Douglas
***
I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF EVERYONE TEASING ME WITH THIS SERIES SO… it’s finally happening.
***
I’m seeing this EVERYWHERE on my feed!!
Should I or should I?? -
This series is going to be my newest obsession. I can feel it!!
I enjoyed this one so much and I was so invested in the story. From the full of action plot. To Tristan who was and I quote; “A walking, talking Mission Impossible, that's what he was.” I just really really liked him. He definitely goes to the list of my -favourite toxic book boyfriends I never want to meet in real life- (or maybe I do?). He rides a motorcycle better than any one I know. He climb walls. When he saw the heroine looking like hell on his door, he prepared a room and a bath without saying a word, left her and then sent a message to check that she’s okay? Even though he’s only two doors away? You don’t know how much giving her space meant to me! It might show that he didn’t care enough, but I disagree!!! And many many perfect scenes more. I like him, okay? I just do!
I like Morana as well; her smart mouth, her genuineness, and how she stood her ground. For such a genius, she kinda made a lot of stupid decisions tho. That even I know they were stupid.'Apparently, you're not out of my system, Ms. Vitalio.'
Those two definitely gave me power couple vibes and the sexual tension was so freaking crazy!! And their chemistry was just so freaking explosive. I have a tiny problem with the amount of staring they did tho. No couple stare at each other that much! There were a lot of scenes with them making eye contact and just staring at each other that at some point I was like, are we done?? The inner monologues were kinda long and too much as well. But overall I really enjoyed this. The last chapter was so good that I’m jumping into the next book immediately!
#1 The Predator - 4.25 stars
#2
The Reaper - 4.5 stars
#3
The Emperor - 4.5 stars
Song recommendation:
Secrets and lies by Ruelle
Like that by Bea Miller
Bravado by Lorde -
2.5 stars
lol (mostly) all they did was stare at each other, and you call that a romance?!?!? ugh, puh-leasseee. was it why it was called ‘The Predator’ - cause they ALWAYS followed each other with their eyes, sometimes they barked, and a couple times they actually bit (read: fucked)???
im mostly annoyed by the lack of dialogues. they came few and far between with long narratives that were mostly overwrought with grammatical errors, misspellings, and repetitive descriptions. i get that the author was trying to build suspense and tension.
it worked the first few times. but if she hadnt done it through bad writing, i wouldnt have felt compelled to skip - which i ultimately did. the mystery was intriguing, and some of the actions were epic. but the romance was lackluster, and the sex was... *crickets*
this guy’s default mode was silent - even when he was doing the nasty. only it wasnt nasty at all bcs there was no dirty talk and no touching - apart from their connecting ‘channels’. idk if i want to read the next book, but theres a small part of me thats also curious to know more. -
HOLY KNIFE TO THE THROAT FCK THIS BOOK WAS SO DAMN GOOD😭
-
OMG OMG OMG 😶 what was that the ending and the last few chapters 👀.....
This book is just so good 😩🔥.....
It literally had me screaming, giggling, and crying in the ending chapters.
This book has angst, staring, hatred, tension, attraction, mystery and a very heartbreaking past. This is exactly how Enemies to Lovers books are suppose to be written. The starting was amazing, Morana planning to kill Tristan at his own house and the ending was painful.
Tristan and Morana has such an electric chemistry 🔥 God, they both are so hot. Their first encounter was iconic. Morana Vitalio trying to kill The Predator with a knife at this throat. I knew they are going to be my favourite from that moment.
This book is written in third pov but it was really easy for me adapt to it. The story was fast paced but also a little slow I don't know how to explain that.. It is dark and gore. But I am a sucker for dark romances. So here I am 😌 It was perfect although there were long narrations and less dialogue but I get that in the end why Tristan speak so less to everyone. It is because of his past and how people around him treated him when he was young. He was traumatised. Ahhh those people.. I want to kill them 😤
And yess there is lots of staring... like literally lots and lots of staring 👁👁 and it is the only thing that bothered me in this book. They both just couldn't keep their eyes away from each other. It was good in the start because it makes all the tension between them looks hot but then sometimes it was just too much. But still the sexual tension between Tristan and Morana is so hot 😩
And that KISS IN THE RAIN 😭🤌💖 AHH THE BEST BEST SCENE OF THIS BOOK. It is literally the best and the most beautiful kiss scene I have ever read. Hands down. It was painful, beautiful and comforting. That scene literally had me screaming and crying.
The ending...omg.. I am still in Pain. LOTS OF PAIN. For Tristan, for Morana and what they both had to deal with at such a young age 😭
They both deserve all the happiness in this world and I will do anything to protect my precious Tristan Morana.
Tristan The Predator Caine He has been through hell. Everyone around him thought he was a monster but they never really thought that he was just a small boy, an innocent boy, who was just trying to protect someone. It was hard when I was reading about his past. I was a sobbing mess while reading that chapter. He deserves everything. He deserves Morana because she is the only one who makes him feel alive, when he had been dead inside for over twenty years. He deserves Dante and Amara because they are the only family he has. I love him sm. I just wish he gets his closure and the love he deserves. I want Morana and Tristan to be happy and in love. He is the king of silent king and those who thinks he is not attractive just because he doesn't speaks much I am ready to fight them 😤
Also Tristan has more personality when he is speaking to Morana on texts then he is speaking with her face to face. (It was kinda relatable though 🤣)
And TRISTAN CAINE IS AN AMAZING COOK AHHHH 🤤🔥 This man is love❤️
Morana Vitalio "The nerdy IT girl" omg she is just amazing. She is intelligent, passionate, strong, fierce and independent. God, I love her. All her life she just wanted her freedom and love and a few friends. I don't know how horribly her father treated her that she is even scared of making friends. But I am glad she found Amara, Dante and Tristan. Even though they are her father's enemy yet they all protected her and made her feel safe and happy.
And Dante Maroni have I told you that This Man IS A Fucking Gentleman. I can't wait to read his book. And the way he talks Ahhhh 😩
Amara she is such a friend in need, always ready to be there for you when you need her. She is so sweet. I love her. And I know her past will break my heart into million pieces 💔
Also the tension between Dante and Amara is delicious. I know their book is gonna be amazing..
QUOTES
"We've been honest so far, Ms. Vitalio," he murmured. "I'll be honest now. I despise you but I want you. Fuck it, I do. And I want you out of my system."
"Apparently, you're not out of my system, Ms. Vitalio."
"No one else gets to kill you, Ms. Vitalio," he spoke quietly. "The last face you see before you die will be mine. When it comes to death, you're mine."
"Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt."
"The man who'd claimed her death had given her a glimpse of life by doing something he probably didn't even realize he'd done.
In that moment, the enemy had done what no one had ever even tried to do for her.
He had made her feel a little less lonely."
"I don't want to fix him. I want fix me. And he's the only thing that seems to be working."
"He kissed her – without his tongue, without his hands, without his body. Just his lips – soft, firm, present – on hers. It was the most beautiful kiss she could have ever dreamed of, the most untainted she’d ever imagined from him, with a softness she’d not thought him capable of. With his intensity, with his blazing eyes, the silent promises had been of devouring. This wasn’t devouring. This was savoring."
I really can't wait to read more of this series and to unravel all the mystery. -
Okay... the sexual tension in this book was savage. Tristan was so hot it was almost too much for my feeble, unworthy mind. And I already felt that way just based off scenes of him talking to Morana, or simply standing there, but on top of that he had so many hot guy doing hot things scenes, I didn't stand a chance
eh-hem, for example:
the fact that he kept whipping out all this big dick energy, plus all the hate-fuck energy him and Morana had going on that neither of them would acknowledge... it was too much that I just kept finding myself rocking back and forth going—
1. him going all mission impossible and scaling walls to infiltrate enemy territory and get into her bedroom
2. him shooting out the tire of a car while riding a motorcycle
3. him knocking out Morana's bodyguard with one punch just so they could talk in private; also generally just kicking so much ass
4. him leaning in and saying,
"There are places on your body that I know," he spoke, his free hand wrapping around the back of her neck, his grip strong, just on the periphery of threatening, as the gun stayed right above her racing heart. "Places that you don't know. Places where I can shoot and harm and you won't die."
🥵
As for Morana (h), I liked her. Didn't love her, but she was a solid heroine. I can definitely relate to her daddy issues so points for that. I also loved that she was a techie brainiac and I wish the story played on this aspect more bc I wanted to see her brains in action. She could be stupid about some things, ie. if you're trying to sneak out of an apartment, don't text the person you're fleeing from goodbye before you've actually vacated the premises. Also, it was pretty obvious why Tristan hated her. So the fact that Morana, the supposed 'genius' couldn't put it together was... concerning. Or very convenient for the plot/angst. Still tho, when we got the full revelation via Tristan's chapter, that was sad as hell, my sweet, ruthless boy 😭If there was one thing she knew for a fact, it was that this man would not let anyone else kill her. Her death was his, and only his.
In terms of plot, I liked the 'code' component bc the idea felt very fresh for a mafia book. I also like that it was the heroine who invented it. If I'm being real, I still have no idea what the codes actually do, but the emphasis on them being important and dangerous was somehow enough to keep me invested. I will say tho that there was wayyyy too much inner monologue in this book. Pages and pages would go by without a line of dialogue but I'd just skim so it was whatever.
I think I only have two real complaints story wise.
First, I kept thinking during this book that I loved how silent Tristan was. It made the tension killer and when he did choose to speak you paid extra attention. I thought this was a positive until I got to their sex scene and my dude was MUTE. I don't need crazy dirty talking, but I realized during this book that I need a sentence or two here or there to break up the action or I feel awkward. The scene was still really good because they just had too much chemistry for it not to be, but yeah.... *crickets*😬 They figured it out as the book went on tho so I'm glad I can say it improved. And I actually loved that they never kissed until the right, impactful moment. It was ✨*chefs kiss*✨
Secondly,their staring contests were tooooo damn much. The first time it happened I was like wow... this is hot af
The second time it happened I was like hm, slightly less hot... actually a bit weird now
And from the third time on I was like yeah this is dumb as hell, you guys are idiots. I really don't think I'm exaggerating when I say 10% of this book was just them fucking staring at each other
All in all tho I really really enjoyed this, and if I'm not mistaken this was this authors first book so consider me impressed. I will be prancing my ass onto book 2 to get more of my mans Tristan→ -
— i generally hate reading books written in 3rd person, but this book is the exception bc this dark romance DELIVERED. so raw and intense—it was emotional from start to finish. the tension, sexual tension, the glances (i swear all they do is stare at each other) but most of all the angst is unmatched
the TENSION between morana and tristan kept me on my toes, IT IS INSANE !!”he devoured her in the rain,
with his gun beneath her jaw.”SIR-🧎🏻♀️🧎🏻♀️🧎🏻♀️
strong fmc ✓
possessive/morally grey mmc ✓
dark mafia romance ✓
forced proximity ✓
3rd person POV ✓ -
As the first book of the series, I'm so very happy with the way I've set the foundations in this story. Tristan and Morana and the Dark Verse have just begun. There will be more intensity, more darkness and more love as the series progresses, along with a familiarity with the characters you'll get to know over the course of the books. I hope if you choose to read and dive into this universe with me, you will enjoy the journey. Thank you for your love. Book 2 will be out in July 2020.
-
3.5 stars. Yeah I'm about to start some stuff today bc you guys LIED to me!!! 😂😂 Ok, ok maybe not bold faced lied bc I did ultimately enjoy parts of this book but you definitely oversold this to me by a lot!!!
The Predator is about the daughter of a mafia boss, Morana, getting entangled with one of the leaders of an opposing mafia syndicate. Tristan Caine. (as if I will EVER be able to forget this name for the rest of my life!) They are forced to work together even tho they hate each other while also drawn to each other (who knew staring contests were hot foreplay?) and if they get caught it could cause a war between the syndicates.
Ok, let me start off being positive and sharing what worked. The pull of this book was the TENSION! The freaking tension between the two main characters was insane and kind of addictive. The "they hate each other but they want each other" back and forth was done really well. That bathroom scene was next level hot btw! Another thing was the depiction of the mafia world in general. It was callous and violent, and it wasn't romanticized at all which I appreciated, and it lent to the overall understanding of the characters motivations. I thought that ending revelation was pretty awesome and kept me hooked in for the next book for sure.
Morana, I liked her grit, she was ballsy AF and I loved that about her but she also has to be the dumbest smart person ever! 😂 How is she this "genius" that can create this groundbreaking code but she can't find out basic information? Or hack an IP address? Or understand basic safety strategies and tactics when she has grown up in the most hostile environment ever? But she apparently has some super Spidey sense for whenever Tristan's eyes are on her.
Tristan Caine, What was with the staring bro?! It was so weird! He also barely speaks so we don't really know anything about him other then he's murdery and hot and in case you missed the thousand references he has blue eyes and a whiskey and sin voice. And I realize the intention of Morana using his whole name ok but wtf?! Did I have to read, Tristan Caine sat down, Tristan Caine sipped his water, Tristan Caine stood up, we got the point already!
I liked the writing, but it could use some editing bc it was super repetitive. I think I went into this book with really high expectations bc of all the great reviews. I was expecting something a little more polished but in reality, it's more of a rougher read. So, I don't regret reading bc I did enjoy it most of the time and I will read the next one, but I will manage my expectations. 💙💙💙 -
"This man made her want to scream like a banshee on crack."
Me too, Morana, me too.
TRISTAN CAINE I FUCKING LOVE YOU.
I loved Morana too- probably more than Tristan at times. She was so fucking relatable.
I loved the book.
I loved the characters.
AND THAT KISS IN THE RAIN. 😩
One thing I didn't like was how many times I saw the name "Tristan Caine". It was so annoying. 😭
REREAD:
CHANGING THE RATING TO FIVE STARS I JUST LOVE TRISTANMORANA SM. 😭😭😭😭 -
If I have to read one more time about magnificent, or firce blue eyes I'll burn the book. She wrote about main character blue eyes over 70 times in the book. Just enough already. This was so painful to read..
-
Second time reading - November, 2021
I still love Tristan with all my heart 🥺
This book was highly recommended to me by a handful of friends! All of them madly gushing about Tristan and Morana!
So my expectations where sky high level!
But it's a debut novel... And I'll try to be constructive here, because I can see all her potential!
It took me a while to warm up to this author's writing style...
It's not a completely third person, it's more like first person talking about themselves in the third person...
I know that it sounds weird, but you get used to it pretty quickly.
The book starts at a very slow pace and having only Morana's POV, turned hard to connect with Tristan at the beginning... I mean... They stared at each other. A Loooot! Full pages of staring contest! And yeah... I know he have deep, amazing, magnificent blue, blue eyes (I've searched! It was mentioned 79 times, so it's a very important thing!)
The book have a really good plot, but it's also very repetitive. It could be easily a 5 star read with a good edit to cut off the BS and all the repetition.
Morana is a lonely person. She's really alone in a mob men's world. She has no one to trust or to deal with. Not a single soul. (I'm still trying to understand how she ended up dating that Jackson dude.)
She's smart, strong, sassy and obsessed with her car. But I fucking loved her! I'm Team Morana in this book! You go girl!
Tristan is a mystery until almost the very end... Other than his outstanding blue eyes, emotionless gorgeous face and deliciously hard inked body, were don't know shit about him.
He's a silent character and without his POV, I couldn't really connect with him beyond his hot physically description.
I mean... He was there for her almost at every turn, but not showing anything.
My heart broke for him in the end!
Finally at 42% they start to act on that sexual tension that have been stretching since the first chapter, and oh boy... That hate sex in the bathroom was really hot!
This is a book set in a Mafia context, but other than an explosion at the end and the flashback scene from Tristan past, I'd missed some real Mafia action.
I know my review ain't the most flattering one, but I'm being honest when I say that this could be a better book, without changing the plot, but just cleaning up the edges.
I did enjoy how the story ended, in fact while I could not concentrate until the middle of the book, I also couldn't stop reading after around 70%, because the pace and the action got really better!
Tristan really won me at the end.
My heart broke for Little Tristan and I can understand all the claiming him that happened around my friends!
Everyone loves a broken boy.
I'll still continue with the series, since everyone that recommended it, also said that The Reaper is better.
-
3 STARS
Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt." 
I've been eyeing this book for a few months now. I've been on a kick this year with trying new to me authors, and I'm excited to say that I'll now be adding RuNyx to my TBR. Was this book perfect? No. It definitely lacked some much needed polish. However, you can clearly see that the author can WRITE and create incredible characters and twisty stories that keep you invested until the last page.
Let's start with what I liked. The characters. Runny has created multilayered characters with plenty of depth that they grab your interest from the very beginning. Tristan is an anti-hero that immediately jumps off the page. He's mysterious, enigmatic, and practically oozes danger. Morana is the daughter of a rival family that lands in his cross hairs when her codes go missing and could mean a war for their families. Now granted, I still don't quite understand exactly what those codes are or do, but I'm hoping we get this in the next book.
The story is addictive and even though there were things that bothered me, I was invested enough to continue reading until the end, so that's certainly saying something. I completely understand that this is a debut book, so I certainly wasn't expecting spotless. But in all fairness, there were quite a few polish issues that bothered me enough to deter from my enjoyment of the story.
Starting with Tristan Caine. Referring to a main character by his full name for the entirety of the book drove me a little batty. Every single time he speaks, he's thought about or referenced, it's in his full name. He's the only Tristan, so it's not like we need the clarification. It was just strange.
The overly descriptive and at times redundant prose. For example:She was trembling. Trembling. Trembling like her body couldn't contain anything...
orThe moon continued to glow and bathe the entire area in the moonlight.
The amount of times we read about Tristan's blue eyes and whiskey voice was pretty up there too.
Some of the descriptions were almost too much at times, particularly when they were placed at random parts that didn't seem to call for them, which led to the writing becoming stilted and the pacing becoming too slow to fit the story.
Polish and some editing issues aside, I did quite enjoy this book. I'm definitely invested enough to grab the next book. And with Dante's story up next, you best believe I'll be reading that as well.
Am I a picky butthole? Yes, I am. Does that mean you'll have the same issues with this book as me? Not at all. So if you're a fan of sexy mafia romances with a splash of dark and grit, definitely give this one a try. This is book one of a duet, so it's not the conclusion. But book 2 is already out, so no waiting needed :)
Find me on:
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I'm kicking myself for not reading this sooner!!!
Tristan Caine. Holy shit. I would crawl through broken glass for this man. He's a man of few words, letting his BDE do all the talking on his behalf. His actions and demeanor? His blue, blue eyes and piercing stare? Oooooooooof.
Morana Vitalio isn't anyone to sneer at either. She's smart, independent, and an overall badass. She's not a doormat, just aware enough to know when or when not to act out. She's a breath of fresh air and not once did her actions make me want to fling myself into the abyss (sadly a common thought I have when reading other fmcs in angsty dark romances).
I was surprised to find out that Dark Verse isn't a series of standalones; I'm not sure why I thought each book would wrap itself up, oops! Therefore the book ends on a HFN and there's a handful of unresolved story threads to be addressed in future installments.
If I were to rate this purely on my enjoyment, this would be an easy 5 stars. However, there's a touch too much repetition with some descriptors or phrases (voice like whiskey, staring, something shifted inside her, staring, etc) that pulled me out of the story. The staring Tristan and Morana do, while it creates delicious tension, border on comical after being described many times.
Regardless, RuNyx is proving yet again that they can craft an immersive story full of tension and intrigue. If you're remotely interested in dark romance, mafia romances, and stories full of angst, you NEED to pick this up. -
➥ 4 Stars *:･ﾟ✧
Her back slammed into the wall beside the door, her right hand holding the knife up the wall, restrained by a tight grip. Her left hand with the knife came against her own throat, controlled by a much stronger, much angrier Tristan Caine.
He leaned closer, his face just inches from hers, his eyes cold and voice brutal as he spoke. "This spot, right here," he spoke quietly, pressing the tip of the knife against a spot right under her jaw on her tilted neck. "It's an easy spot. I can nick you here, and you die before you can blink."
Her stomach churned but she grit her teeth, refusing to show fear, silently listening as he moved the knife to her fluttering pulse near the center of her neck. "This spot. You die but it won't be clean."
He moved the knife again to a spot near the base of her neck. "And this... You know what happens if I cut you here?"
━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
Gloria enjoying a mafia romance? Unheard of. Just to be clear, I have a never-ending list of aspects I think were trash about this book, but something about this just...worked for me. Probably just the fact that it was dramatic in a way that I could take seriously. I even read it in one sitting like what??
to be continued...━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
-
➳ 1 star
“Tristan Caine: Apparently, you're not out of my system, Ms. Vitalio.”
dnf @ 47%
somehow i managed to accidentally delete my whole ass review on this book, so this is a rewritten version.
anyway, this book already had me on the verge of tears, because of how bad it was. it was my first and apparently last mafia books, cause if the other ones like alike this, i don’t want it, thanks.
let’s start.
first of all, the writing style. that was a fucking fire, guys. the amount of mentions of “his blue eyes”, “our gazes locked” and “he stares at her” caused me 5 years of my life minimum.
exhibition A:And he turned his neck, his blue eyes locking with hers.
exhibition B:
She could feel eyes on her. His eyes. Hungry eyes.
exhibition C:But she felt those eyes caress every inch of her exposed back, felt her nape prickle in awareness as her body buzzed with sensation, imagining him, sitting somewhere, devouring her with those blue, blue eyes.
exhibition D:But she could feel that stare on her back, zinging across her skin.
i understood even from the first sentence that they’re not blind. i’m not an optometrist, i don’t give a single fuck about your eyes. you’re not mute, therefore you can speak. so why then i feel like i was watching “animal planet”?? and someone really should buy a dictionary for the author as a birthday present, because how can be otherwise explained, that the word combination “Tristan Caine” was mentioned 228 times? and when it wasn’t that, it would be “he” the whole goddamn chapter.And it did puke out a truckload of information at her, mainly IP addresses that did not belong to Tristan Caine, as they'd been framed to look like. Either Tristan Caine happened to be one brilliant Machiavellian
i thought that everyone have to attend middle school, but apparently it’s not necessary? can someone explain how we got to the point, where the books to publish don’t even have to have a basic editing? how this even went past the drafts? i’m not reading a fanfic on wattpad, where people are beginners. this book is for sale. people waste real money on it. so how the fuck the publish book can have a grammatically incorrect, not only sentences, but the paragraphs??
now *sighs*, the romance aspect. when morana(h) and tristan’s(H) relationship didn’t consisted of the threats to kill each other and staring contest, they had dialogues like this one:"My mother loved the rain."
A pause.
"I thought you had a mother."
A familiar knot constricted her throat.
"I don't anymore.”
is this a fucking joke? i’m so sorry, but people who recommend this shit to anyone deserve jail. how you can not be embarrassed? and more important how the author herself is not embarrassed? and i haven’t even got to their first sex scene, guys. that was a real bomb."We've been honest so far, Ms. Vitalio," he murmured. "I'll be honest now. I despise you but I want you. Fuck it, I do. And I want you out of my system.”
was that supposed to make me hot and turn on? anyway, what do you think? after all this “angst” and “tension” there must be super sexy and steamy sex scene, where tristan worships morana and her golden pussy. haha WRONG. their first sex aka quickie was in the public bathroom in the restaurant with their enemies and moron’s father in it. oh, and have i already mentioned, that tristan was mute the whole time? like literally. who”s here was complaining about bad dirty talk? what about no dirty talk at all? dear runyx, i’m not reading your whole ass fanfic for finally reach the smut scene and find out that the guy not only bad at dirty talk, but in speaking overall?? i’m not asking him to retell the whole “war and peace” during sex, but maybe he at least can moan to let the heroine know, that he didn’t fall asleep while they were banging?? and right after that mind-blowing scene, tristan mf caine gave out this:"Not as experienced as you wanted me to believe, Ms. Vitalio,”
and i supposed to fall for this, THIS GUY? before sex he’s literally asked if she was a virgin(which she wasn’t) and now he’s making fun of her lack of experience? am i look like a woman with no standarts? am i?? this man supposed to be written by woman, so why some woman achieve to write the most intolerable men better than male writers themselves?
gosh, if you haven’t already understood what a cheesy piece of shit this book is, i have more examples:"Tristan doesn't allow people into his space. Everyone who knows him knows that." Morana blinked, still reeling from questions about the incredibly baffling man.
"Then why did he let me, of all people, stay here?" Why had he insisted that she stay? Why had he growled like that when Dante had been ready to offer her his apartment?
im dying right here. even “fifty shades of gray” seems to be a fine book in comparison. but what was my last straw is morana’s inner monologue.Thunder crackled in the sky, a split of lightening bathing everything in brilliant white before disappearing. Droplets hit the glass in tandem, trying to break it like bullets, trying to reach her but unable to. She sat behind that wall, longing to feel those droplets on herself, longing to let them sear her, but unable to. And wasn't that her life. Longing for things she couldn't reach, things that tried to reach her and came up against a wall. A glass wall. Where she could see everything, know exactly what she was missing, drown in her awareness even as the glass couldn't break. Because just as it did now, breaking the glass meant death.
when will authors understand, that their terrible, ugly, absolutely hideous pseudo-poetic writing doesn’t attract absolutely no one? in fact, that wasn’t even the worst one. and the author is describing morana as the smartest woman on earth and technology genius? this bitch is dumb as fuck. the first scene in this book started with her, wanting to kill tristan in his apartment. she was alone with a knife. eventually she failed and it was tristan threating her with her knife. the thinking process of a genius is right here.
tbh my og review was a little longer, but i really can’t recall some things that i wrote. and overall i’m sad now, so there’s that. -
THIS DAMN BOOK. I was reading this in secret because I wasn’t really expecting to like it. I wasn’t even expecting to finish it. But I couldn’t stop reading. Morana and Tristan were both great characters. They were both badass yet still vulnerable at times. And seeing them goad each other constantly was entertaining. The plot was a bit unbelievable at times, but that was okay. My one pet-peeve is that this book ended with a “To be continued…” I hate that, but otherwise it was great. I guess I have no choice but to read the next book now.
-
This review so far is based only on the first five pages of the book, because I cannot go any further right now, if at all.
The preface. I've never read anything more pretentious in an Author's Note, let alone that of a 'first timer'. But, I digress, perhaps the author meant well by insinuating that if you didn't enjoy this book it's because you're too weak of mind and you *check notes* like rainbows.
The first page. The author refers to one of the mob groups as the "Tenebrae Outfit", a few lines down it becomes "Ten Outfit", before the page is complete it becomes just "Tenebrae", the next page refers to it as "the Outfit". That's four different variations in two pages.
I know editors aren't cheap, but they are valuable. In the five pages I have read, there were a few errors (comma in the wrong place, observant/observer, blonde meaning female, suck/sucker), but more than that an editor might have suggested that dark "blonde" hair cannot be almost "dark brown" (light brown perhaps, but dark brown is an entirely different color). An editor worth their salt might have also told Runy (Ru?) that Morana seeing Tristan's "light color" eyes across a garden, at night, might be a little (a lot) unbelievable, as are seeing lines on faces.
Beyond this, the writing is stunted, it feels half-finished. It is as though these are just the author's notes or placeholders. Some engage this writing to build anticipation or to allude to chaos, but this slow introduction doesn't feel the place for either. There is little to put me in that garden, no senses are engaged. Frankly, it's like eating dry toast for the eyes, there are words, but no flavor.
"The cool air fragrant with the night blooms" tells me nothing, it gives me nothing. Is it sweet, musty, refreshing, light? I am not engaged. I am bored.
I am unsure if I'll pick this book back up. -
3.62 stars.
First, this book was a lot of fun and just what I needed. I've had a bad bout of insomnia the last two nights...and I was trying to find books to help pass the time and nothing was working. This actually caught my attention. I'm glad this book was recommended to me by a friend.
ALSO if you typically read mafia books I say give this book a go! I've only read 5 mafia books, ever. I'm not exactly well read in the genre. I'm sooo picky. The mafia romance subgenre for me is like the New Adult subgenre. There is 1 new adult book I loved, but I haven't really liked any others since that one. It's the same for mafia for me.
So, the biggest deal for me in this book was implausibility.
The heroine is apparently smart enough to create "codes" that can shut down infrastructure and destroy cities....yet she has many TSTL moments. I actually found her TSTL moments relatable and reasonable, it just didn't make sense to me that this same girl created such a sophisticated type of technology. At one point the author described the heroine as a 'certified genius' and I had to take a pause from the book for a moment.
Then the editing. So much Tristan Caine. Tristan Caine. Tristan Caine. Tristan Caine. He was NEVER referred to by his first or last name only. Either Tristan Caine or "Mr. Caine" it got ridiculous.
This author can write, but damn, it needed to be edited more. It felt very raw. The bathroom sex scene was hot. lol. And that's all I have. I'm moving on to the next mafia book. I'll probably come back to this series, but I'm not in a hurry.
To date my all time favorite mafia book has been Monster In His Eyes by J.M Darhower and I'm on quest to find another mafia book that is just as good as that one to me. I'm having trouble because I feel like to enjoy these mafia books you really have to turn off a part of your brain and forget logic. I'd love to come across a mafia book with a plausible plot, rooted in some semblance of reality. -
Re-read (26/09/22): I came back to the beginning after reading everything RuNyx has published & have come to the conclusion that I love love love love everything she writes. This series will forever be a favourite of mine. RuNyx knows damn well how to write raw, passionate and hot freaking romance with a great plot & in-depth characters
Original review:
The fact that this mafia book does not directly mention the word mafia is so telling of the writing (sounds silly but it makes SENSE). I think?
I love this series with all my heart. Tristan is one sexy ass man.
And a female lead who knows her worth? So simple, yet so lacking in so many mafia novels. Love love love. -
3.5 stars, the ending has me literally GAGGED…. i need more
-
This is a really interesting & refreshing mafia romance! We’ve our main heroine Morana who’s the daughter of the boss of the Shadow Port family. Morana is a strong female lead who I like very much & can hold herself down. She has a wildcat personality with that smart mouth of hers. She’s also a genius who created the most complex codes where they could digitally deface anyone, extract out every dirty secret from the deepest parts of the web, and destroy entire governments. That’s where Tristan & Dante come in the story because Morana ex-bf Jackson stole her codes & disappeared off with it.
Tristan 'The Predator' Caine. *screaming* AHHHH!! 😩👏🏻😍🔥 There’s not a lot to know about Tristan honestly. 🙄🤷🏻♀️ Just the fact that he can fight, kill, fuck, cook, and ride a motorcycle bike 🏍 with those sexy skills he got going on. He’s a silent main hero where he doesn't have to talk or be spoken for because his actions speak louder than words. But when he speaks, god 🙌🏻😏 I never want him to stop!! "Doesn't matter. I get my mouth on you, and you'll never be the same." Tristan & Morana have an INTENSE love-hate sizzling chemistry they got going on where I can FEEL it as well. They never back down on each other, always have to have the last say, and staring contest who will break eye contact first. Feel each other's presence. I’m sure you get the idea now. I was honestly getting tired of their games & was like just get it on already because I was in agony. 😩👏🏻 C'mon 👏🏻 I need action 💋👅💦🍆👉🏻👌🏻& less talking please unless of course 💁🏻♀️ it’s my babe Tristan 😌 because it was dragging on where it was too much talking 👄, this & that.👂🏻 Just a lot of exchange back & forth where it seems never ending. This book was a slow
www.. when I say SLOW! 😏 Oh, it was a slow motherfucking burnnnnn 🥵🔥 romance where I was like 🙄 these two motherfuckers need to fuck each other out of their god damn system before this story ends because they was making me sexually frustrated 🤣🤷🏻♀️ with their attraction towards each other & sizzling chemistry & they finally did & ouuu 👄💦 it was hot asf 🥵🔥 especially that BR scene. I dislike slow burn, but the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this book more than I anticipated say something about RuNyx work because her writing was stringing my heart or (should I say) playing my heart like a grand piano 🎹 when I was reading this emotional angst mafia romance that comes with twist & surprise revelation where I want MORE! The ending. How should I say explain it. It’s not a cliffhanger, but not a happy ending either 🤷🏻♀️ but where you’re eager to see what happens next? 👀🙄
I am intrigued by Dante & Amara to see what’s up with those two. 🤨 The book needs to be edit cause there’s def grammatical errors & I swear I saw 👀 & read a few repetitive lines. My dumb ass just forgot to highlight it cause that’s not my job while reading. Also this book is in the third POV. I prefer & more use to narratives that are “I.” I want 👏🏻 & NEED 😩 more sex scenes 🤣🤷🏻♀️ in book 2 (the author did say there’ll be more smut scenes sooo 🤷🏻♀️😏 I’m hoping sooo🤞🏻) because I didn’t sign up for Christian YA romance here, okkurrr. 😌 Beside that! 💁🏻♀️ I do want to see 👀 more DEPTH of my man Tristan because there’s a lot of layers to him. I hope to see GROWTH of Morana & Tristan relationship in Reaper, their last duology before their journey ends. 🥺😏
Overall rating: 3.5 outta 5 stars 🌟 -
~ 𝟰.𝟮𝟱
♫♪ all I ever wanted
all I ever needed
is here in my arms
words are very unnecessary
they can only do harm… ♫♪
✨ᴛʀɪꜱᴛᴀɴ 'ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴇᴅᴀᴛᴏʀ' ᴄᴀɪɴᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ꜰᴜᴄᴋɪɴɢ ɢᴇᴛ ɪᴛ.✨
♥ 𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗚𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗔 𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗔 𝗪𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪, 𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗡… I started reading book two in the
Dark Verse series… and yeah... I'm gonna need to devote all my waking hours towards finishing the masterpiece that is,
The Reaper.
Now, I don't want to leave you all hanging, therefore, I'm going to kindly point you guys in the direction of these lovely reviews… see
here,
here,
here, and
here.
Now, I must take my leave… because… as established…
Tristan. 👏 Fuckin'. 👏 Caine. 👏
┍━━━━━━✧✦━━━━━━┑
𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦
ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏɴᴇ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴇᴅᴀᴛᴏʀ ~ 𝟰.𝟮𝟱 ✧
ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛᴡᴏ:
ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴀᴘᴇʀ ~ 𝟰.𝟱 ✧
ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ:
ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ ~ 𝟯.𝟱 ✧
ʙᴏᴏᴋ ꜰᴏᴜʀ:
ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪɴɪꜱʜᴇʀ ~ 𝙩𝙗𝙧
┕━━━━━━✧✦━━━━━━┙ -
4.5 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
"No one else gets to kill you, Ms. Vitalio," he spoke quietly. "The last face you see before you die will be mine. When it comes to death, you're mine."
I'm surprised I didn't pass out from holding my breath the entire time while reading this book because holy macaroni... I enjoyed every second of it!
The Predator is the first installment in the Dark Verse series and should be read in order since all books in this series are connected by an overarching plot even if the main couples change. The Predator and the Reaper are Morana and Tristan's duet.
This was addictive because I truly could not put the book down! The enemies-to-lovers (with benefits) trope was perfectly executed and the excruciating slowburn kept me on edge!!
While the overarching plot is not that compelling + the plot twist is kind of the reason I had to deduct half a star—but Morana and Tristan had me by the throat.
Morana and Tristan's mere existence was just a provocation to one another from the moment they met. They could not help but clash, claw, and bite. Together they are intense and dangerous, and they wouldn't have it any other way. Enemies heated with fury and hatred yet are ready to devour each other figuratively and literally.
But there is a dark past haunting them both, and the two lonely souls living in this grotesque world torn apart by greedy men may find that they'll need to face their battles together.
And I will say Morana is the main star of this book for me, it didn't take me a couple of pages in and I immediately adored her! Tristan grew on me with time and I'm really, really looking forward to Dante and Amara's story in the Emperor (book 3).
"Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt."
Trigger Warnings: violence, death, graphic adult content, blood, mention of child trafficking, abuse, drugging incident. -
3⭐️
-
Spoilers ahead, 3.5*
Because ot a dare from her boyfriend Morana created a code that in the wrong hands could be dangerous. As the daughter of a powerful mob boss she knows just how dangerous it could be. When her boyfriend disappears with the code Morana tracks him down and finds out he was hired by her father's enemy to get close to her. Now Morana is determined to kill Tristam Caine. She infiltrates the family home og her enemy and finds a man who for some unknowing reason hates her, but he lets her go. Now she must work with her enemy to find the real person who hired her ex and has the code, with threats of war in the background and a 20 year mystery of missing children things get interesting...... And dangerous.
*******
1)Firstly this chick gave me a lady boner 😂😂😂 I haven't loved a female mc like this in a long time. She was such a badass! And she didn't have to be foul mouthed and crass to BE a badass omg! I think I swooned.
2)I didn't quite get a feel for the H because we don't get his POV and he seems allergic to words.... Like almost literally lol, they communicated by staring.....a lot which was intense and fun but I'm a fan of banter between my mcs and the instances these two actually communicated could probably be counted
3)This was WORDY AF! I skimmed......a lot!
4)At times things got a bit long winded and I had to reread a few times to understand what was taking place
5)Throughout this book we know the H hates the h, like really hates her and I struggled a bit with his reason why. On one hand I understand on the other she was an innocent. And it took forever and a day to get his reason
6)Great chemistry and sexual tension. Their hate sex was hot as hell
7)Did I mention I love the h?
Nevertheless I can say I really enjoyed this one, it was far from perfect but for me to be that engrossed with mcs that barely communicated I'll take it as a win.
****One of my biggest issues that annoyed me endlessly was the h referring to him as Tristan Caine......over and over and over again..... Always by his full name! What the heck was that about?? Even Jesus Christ went by one name sometimes you know!
Cliffhanger
No cheating
Enemies to hate sex lol
h had only 1 previous sexual encounter
H didn't seem to be a manwhore
OW drama from a woman he was with before -
O.M.G. This right here is one of the best mafia romances I've read in a loooong time. I devoured this book.
⤏ What to expect:
∘ Adult Dark Mafia Romance
∘ Mystery & Secrets
∘ Rival mafia families
∘ Badass & Genius FMC
∘ Dark, dangerous, possessive, morally grey love interest — a total mystery this man
∘ Angst & Sexual Tension
∘ Great balance between the romance and the plot — neither was neglected
∘ A lot of staring 👁👁
⤏ Tropes:
∘ Enemies to Lovers
∘ Forbidden Romance
∘ Knife to the throat/gun in the gut
∘ Forced Proximity
∘ Hate f#ck
⤏ Trigger Warnings: physical abuse & sexual harassment (not by the hero), mention of child kidnapping/trafficking, guns & violence
The Predator is the first book in the Dark Verse series. The series comprises multiple books featuring different couples, but it must be read in order. Morana and Tristan's story is told in The Predator and The Reaper, which is their duet within the series.
⤏ Plot/Writing
The story starts off with a twenty-year-old mystery resurfacing, prompting Morana to take a daring risk by infiltrating Tristan's home to execute him. Little does she know that they share an unexpected connection.
Their hatred for each other is palpable, but so is the heat between them. However, they are pushed to set aside their animosity and come together in pursuit of uncovering long-buried secrets.
As they delve deeper into the shadows, dark secrets reveal themselves, and they realize they must collaborate. Something far more significant and dangerous looms in their world, and despite their mutual hatred, they must work together to fight it.
Meanwhile, Morana also finds herself in a battle with her own father, who attempts to exploit her for his personal interests.
⤏ Characters
∘ Tristan Caine
Tristan is an anomaly in the dark underbelly of the mob, as the only member of the Tenebrae Outfit who isn't a blooded member. He is shrouded in mystery, with unparalleled skills, questionable morality, and unknown motives that make him lethal and feared.
― currently one of my book boyfriends 🔥“Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt.”
∘ Morana Vitalio
Morana, the brilliant daughter of a rival family, is equally skilled in her own right, but in the world of computers. She's also a total badass! Unlike some other mafia romance novels I've read, where the heroine is often portrayed as a submissive princess who meekly follows her father's orders, Morana is a fighter. She refuses to be anyone's pawn and stands up for what she wants.“One day, I'm going to carve your heart out and keep it as a souvenir. I promise.”
— swoon
⤏ Romance
Oh, the slow burn was killing me! The chemistry between the characters is undeniable, but they're both so hot-headed... Still, whenever they're in the same room, you can feel the sparks flying and the sexual tension is off the charts.
⤏ Conclusion
This is the kind of book that you just can't put down. The plot is engrossing, the characters are complex and intriguing, and the romance is hot and full of tension. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good page-turner!
This story is filled with intense moments of clashing personalities, constant bickering, and confrontations with inner demons.
p.s. that scene at the end brought me to my knees 🧎🏻♀️ -
NOT SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER -- THIS BOOK FLOUNDERS
Maybe I should have been reading with beer goggles to make it better. The writing is bad. The grammar is worse than a grade schooler. The concept is great. I got lost in the middle and then I got stuck and couldn't read on. I just couldn’t get past the writing.
What am I missing? PLEASE, someone who loves this book and can look past all that's wrong with it, tell me why I should continue.
There was that exciting blurb, so all 4 books instantly went on my TBR list. This was gonna be something to really sink my teeth into. Rival factions. Lethal skills. Mystery. Romantic sparks between clashing enemies-to-lovers. There's war brewing between rival families with Tennebrae Outfit supposedly in possession of stolen Code from our darling kick-ass heroine Morana (of the other crime family). She's pissed, scared and pretty slick with knives in failed attempts to retrieve the Codes before all hell breaks loose in her family. When the Codes are discovered missing, inevitable war will erupt and she needs to head it off at the pass. Her nemesis Tristan Caine aka Predator is the enigma of enigmas and skilled beyond words. Way too mysterious and unreadable for an ordinary human. Much moreso than just a computer whiz like Morana. With every encounter, their chemistry sizzles a little hotter and makes Morana lose a few brain cells along with her focus, but she's no closer to getting her hands on the Codes, and Caine obviously enjoys toying with her.
This sounds so fucking good on paper ... but reading it was a chore. AWFUL. Like wading through quicksand. The author really doesn't know how to thread an exciting story or explain much of anything. Words of advice: grammar and sentence structure are NOT overrated. And don't worry about forgetting the H's name -- his FULL name is repeated over and over and over and over and over ... Did I drift off there for a minute? I want to be absorbed in the mystery, the action, and a romance with static electricity. But this is one of most vaguely written, lackluster books I've read. Eventually, there was no choice but to put on the skids.
Anyone? Anyone?? ANYONE????? Shades of Ferris Bueller. Please tell me how I missed the boat on this book, and throw me a life preserver that convinces me to continue on because I am SERIOUSLY bummed by my reaction.
