Andreas Merrick, by reputation, is the most dangerous man in London. He is on his path to revenge and never allows anything to get in his way. Until, Phoebe Pace inserts himself in his life. Refusing to take no for an answer, or believe his threats, she makes him consider a path that he has never dreamed of imagining for himself.

This book is brilliant. I first screeched to a halt reading on page 118 when I finally read from Phoebe’s POV for the FIRST time! I went back and skimmed the first 100 pages again, because I second guessed that this was the first time I was getting her perspective. I had not even noticed!

Phoebe is an exceptional heroine, but she almost feels like a secondary character for much of the book. The way Mallory has written this, it is like you are Andreas and you can only know Phoebe as much as Andreas does. It’s really fascinating and I really loved it.

You want to talk about grunting, dangerous, grumpy heroes? Andreas Merrick is your guy! This man is so closed off, the author spends the first 100 pages insinuating the heroine into his life. This book would not have worked if Mallory would have glossed over that.

The plot in this book…as the reader, you know you don’t know the full story. The game that is being played is not revealed, but the author doesn’t necessarily allude to Phoebe and Andreas keeping secrets from each other until you’re more than halfway through the book. In most books, the secrets are part of the future conflict and while that is eventually a potential, it is not a predominant issue in the book. This book is one hundred percent about two people reading each other, wanting each other, and doing the work it takes to be with each other. I believe if we would have heard from Phoebe too early, or more often, the book wouldn’t have been as good.

With all of this being said, I feel I have to say this is a closed door romance (not my favorite, but it still worked for me). This book is phenomenal and this is the first time I really stopped and thought about what the writer was trying to accomplish in regards to writing style. I wish Anne Mallory was still writing, because I think she would be doing exceptional work for the genre!

My favorite of the series