Hello friends!🌸 Welcome to another book review post. Today’s book is a very “VERY” steamy dark romance, the first book of a series and a January read for me. Just like all dark romance reviews I write, be aware that this book also mentions several trigger topics, read it in mind. Of course, I will not get into each and every detail however I will mention some things so it can also be considered as spoilers as well. Let’s get into the review! 📖
I wasn’t sure what to expect starting this book; however, I had a brief idea about what was going to happen, to say the least. Most of the dark romance series revolves around separate characters in each book; either they are a friend group or a family. “Corrupt” by Penelope Douglas is no different. The book centres around the first character that we meet, whose name is Michael Crist; he is part of a group called the Horsemen. From the first book, I cannot say that I understand the idea behind this group of disruptive university students; however, I know that all of them are highly privileged people who cannot fit into regular societal norms.
Erika Fane has had her eyes on Michael ever since she was a little kid. Not only that, but she is also in a relationship with his little brother, whom we do not know much about until the end of the book. Now, this part is quite frustrating because, from both of our main characters’ points of view, we see that Trevor is not portrayed the same at the beginning and the end of the book. Trevor is Michael’s little brother, and it is made very clear in the book that they both hate each other. However, Erika doesn’t really have a choice since everything in her life is basically planned by this very prestigious family. Although she also comes from a prestigious family, losing her father and dealing with issues with her mother, unfortunately, puts her on the path of the Crist family.
There were several things that I enjoyed and disliked in the book. This was a solid 4.5 ⭐ for me because I liked the fact that there was a plot going on for these characters as well. Recently, in the erotica book genre, we do not really see “plots” when it comes to the books themselves. Like a lot of character development or background is always missing, and I liked that “Corrupt” included these things. I liked the fact that we got to learn about all four of our male characters; I liked the fact that they were given some form of insight regarding their actions; I liked that they were portrayed as people who were always angry and destructive but were also open to growth and love. This is exactly what happened in the relationship of Erika and Michael. He felt that tension between them ever since they were little kids, and her arranged marriage with his little brother did not change his feelings. Yes, he did do several things that I would consider calling the police force on throughout the book; however, eventually, I enjoyed his development from this angry and bitter man who didn’t know what to do with his life to finding the person that he cares for innocent and eventually protects her. To some extent, I could excuse the behaviour our male character showed towards Erika because they had been in jail for something they thought she had done. Considering their irrational and disruptive behaviour before that happened, now free men, I would assume that they would want some form of revenge. Besides the revenge plot that was going on throughout the book, we also had this little brother, Trevor, who is just an excuse for a human, and it basically felt like he was there to create more drama, and I was all for it actually. I don’t know if this is weird or not; however, I think the plot itself would end too quickly if we didn’t have a different form of climax within the book.
Regarding the steam of this book, it was very well written. Their interactions between these two characters were so good, and we had insight into one of the important characters in the book as well close to the end of the book, and I fairly enjoyed it; I’m not going to lie. It is definitely not the type of erotica that you can read comfortably; it makes you wince here and there because of the mentions of pretty sensitive topics; however, regarding the relationship between them, as a dark romance book reader, it is not something I haven’t seen before.
Overall, I think this was a pretty good start for a series about men who find love and get healed to some extent, because there is no way in hell that I would believe these people would be normal people in society lol, but the fact that the revenge has been wrapped up in the first book, I am very curious about what is going to come in the upcoming books. I wonder if there will be a separate plot other than finding love and getting healed, or if it will just be about these men eventually learning how to love again.
Nevertheless, if you enjoy dark romances with a twist, do give this book a chance! See you in my next post. ❤️🌙
Luster of Books 