A dark romance cover reveal

 Hi, book buddies :-) This week, I bring you a cover reveal. I love the combination of black and red, of danger and feminity. What do you think?

SOFT TISSUE DAMAGE

Author: Lilith Vincent

A boyfriend's Dark Dad Romance

Series: Deadly Hearts #2

Dark Romance / Age Gap

Cover Design: Soren Designs

Release Date: September 24, 2025

His obsession for me is deadly, and I’m falling prey to his pleasure.

There’s never been any security in my life. After being dumped on indifferent relatives as a child, it hurt when I realized that no one was ever going to protect me.

But Cullan, my boyfriend’s father, makes me feel safer than any man I’ve ever known. He’s twice my age and  totally forbidden, but his protective embraces, deep voice, and inked muscles have awoken things in me that I shouldn’t want.

When darkness swallows me, it’s Cullan who pulls me into his strong arms and leads me back into the  light. He gives me protection, and a job as a nanny to his very young child. But I suspect that Cullan is drenched in his own darkness. There’s a killer on the loose in the city, and I think I know the identity of the man behind the red mask.

My instincts tell me to run from Cullan as fast as I can, but my boyfriend’s father has stolen my heart with hands that are soaked in blood.

And though it should be impossible, I think I’m having his baby.

Author’s note:

Soft Tissue Damage is a standalone boyfriend’s father MF romance with dark themes,

a twenty-year age gap, the hero as the other man, breeding, a jealous and possessive alphahole,

and a sweet but strong virgin heroine.

This book features appearances of characters from Fear Me, Love Me.

The story is dark, dirty and delicious, so please read at your discretion.

Read an exciting excerpt

I put my hands on Elena’s waist and slowly back her against a bookcase. “You didn’t tell Leon about our kiss?”

Elena shakes her head. She's in the circle of my arms with my head bent over her.
 
“Why didn’t you tell him?”

“We made a mistake because of the intense situation.” But she looks conflicted. Because she doesn’t know what she wants, or because she doesn’t know if she’s allowed to have it?

 I bend my head lower toward her lips and whisper, “Was it a mistake?”
 
Is there a chance she doesn’t want Leon, and she wants me instead? Her mouth is parted, and her eyes are filled with longing. Does she ever look at Leon like this, or is this needy expression just for me? We’re so close that her face is just inches from mine. 

“Elena, how attached are you to my son?”

I know what I’d say if she wasn’t dating my son. Be a good girl and tip those pretty lips up for a kiss. But first I have to know how she feels.
 
“Cullan…” she breathes.

I cup her jaw and slide my thumb over her full lips. Elena closes her eyes and arches her throat as I touch her, and desire pours through me. She shouldn’t say my name like that and respond to my touch like that if she wants me to back off. 

I have to know if I have a chance with her. “Tell me. How much do you really want my son?”

FIND ME ON GOODREADS:

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234463753-soft-tissue-damage

PRE-ORDER LINKS

US: https://amzn.to/44l9kpA
UK: https://amzn.to/4469Zd0
CA: https://amzn.to/463eTdx
AU: https://amzn.to/44aoVXS
Universal: https://books2read.com/u/4jQeNl

ABOUT THE MASTERMIND

Lilith Vincent is a writer who believes in living on the wild side!

Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/lilithvincent 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilithvincentauthor 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/649473483113116 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lilithvincentauthor

💜

Keep calm and read on.

Two treats, two reads

Hi book buddies :-) By now, you know that I will always read any book by Whitney G. Even a thriller! Which is one of the two books that she has graced us with this week. Here they are for our pleasure.

PRETTY CRUEL LOVE

 

An intense and intoxicating thriller with a sensual twist.

Sadie Pretty has spent the last several years of her life behind bars, wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder. Upon being considered for parole, she's sent to an experimental program with esteemed Doctor Ethan Weiss.

Two weeks in a secluded cabin is all he needs to determine if she's a risk to society, but every minute spent with her makes him question his own morals, and before he knows it, he's crossing the line in more ways than one...

MY TOTALLY UNFAIR DEAL

Eliza Hart doesn't do heels, small talk, or sitting still—especially not for some uptight finance bro in a three-piece suit. But when her brother ropes her into a crash course in “ladylike behavior” to help land the deals that could save their crumbling family business, she finds herself stuck in Manhattan with the cockiest bastard on earth: Harrison Jones. Polished, smug, and irritatingly hot, Harrison owes her brother a favor—and apparently, that favor includes turning Eliza into Manhattan's newest social darling.

 

But in between champagne toasts, disastrous dinner parties, and one very memorable wardrobe malfunction, their love-hate banter turns into heat neither of them can ignore. And in Harrison's sleek Manhattan penthouse, the only thing more dangerous than the high heels… is the sexual tension.

 

Eight weeks. One uptight gentleman. One hot mess.
What could possibly go wrong?

Whitney G. is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author. Her books are currently published in over a dozen languages.She lives deep in the Tennessee woods and spends most of her time drinking coffee while penning dirty-talking alpha males.

Find out more about her next project

at www.whitneygbooks.com

Link - Website  - Goodreads  - Facebook - Instagram

💜

Now that I've read both books, here are my opinons :-)

PRETTY CRUEL LOVE 

A psychological thriller with the author's twisty, snarky stamp. I pretty liked it. Darker than what I'm used to from this writer, it's still highly engaging and full of mind games.

It seems the main character is a female convict accused of notorious crimes and sentenced to prison who is accepted for an experimental and controversial medical programme. From the start, the reader never knows if Sadie is innocent or not despite the insurmountable evidence against her. I know I rooted for her because she is a victim of the system and the cruelty of men. However, the enigma surrounding the crimes and her attitude towards interrogations, media and the medical programme is intriguing. 

Is Doctor Weiss trying to analyse her mind for his own pleasure or is he genuinely striving to help her? Sadie harbours more secrets than she lets on and her days in the medical facility are filled with strange methods, intense surveillance and the allure of an increasingly unethical doctor. The excitement is served.

Quick, mysterious and engaging. I love how boundaries are crossed, the naughty heat between the characters and the dark truth behind the events in the past and how they bleed into the current plot. Interesting turn for this author's writing. I wouldn't mind reading more of the kind.

MY TOTALLY UNFAIR DEAL

A modern version of My Fair Lady, this entertaining romance is fun and well-thought out.

Ill-tempered Eliza is free and wild in her family farm. However, her days of foul-mouthed persecution of unfairness are over when her brother coerces her into a rehabilitation programme to curate her manners, language and attitude in the hands of cold, handsome city man Harrison. She's all fire and untamed beauty, and he's icy efficiency and distance. Of course, frontal collision between the two provoke funny encounters, challenging dialogues and melting bedsheets galore.

Even though the poor girl suffers quite a lot with this pruning system, the whole process is highly entertaining and she comes out victorious. From strong duckling to successful swan, Eliza takes Manhattan by storm and it's so fun to watch. I enjoyed the beauty sessions for the dreamy transformation they symbolise and I think everything related to the farm business and plans are very interesting. 

On the other hand, the romance is quick and hot as it usually is with this writer. There's a point where perhaps I'd have made Harrison explain his harsh behaviour better. I'm not saying he didn't suffer for his own mistakes, but sometimes their communication faltered :-D Despite that, I found all the characters and their stories interesting, and perhaps we could have someone else's story too. That farm is a good scenario for more romances.

💜

Keep calm and read on.

Darkly read: Cup of Lies

Hi, book buddies :-) The feeling of wellness when you finish a good trilogy, am I right? 

So here is my recommendation to fans of dark romance. It's an amazing trilogy, but proceed with caution. Dark themes ahead.

CUP OF LIES

Author: K Webster

Series: The Crown Conspiracy, book three

Release Date: May 30, 2025

Purchase Link: https://geni.us/colkwevent

From USA Today Bestselling author K Webster comes a new dark captive romance… 

Synopsis

I’m trapped in a lie.
They’ve twisted my mind so that I barely recognize who I am anymore. In this new prison, I’m the devoted wife of a brilliant, deceptive man who holds the key to my carefully constructed reality.
But something is missing and my soul aches.
As the cracks in my mind widen, fragments of a life I don’t remember claw their way to the surface. A name lingers on the edges of my thoughts and sends a shiver down my spine.
Caius.
This new life is a nightmare but not real. The truth holds steady in my heart, showing me the way. I know Caius is searching for me. We’ll soon find our way back to each other.
The people who did this to me think they’ve won and broken my mind forever.
They were wrong.
Once I find him, we’ll expose every facet of their evil empire.
Together, we will burn it all to the ground.

MY OPINION

A gritty, dark story woven with mind tricks, retaliation, hard-earned freedom and crazy evil.What an intense rollercoaster. 

My favourite book is still the second, yet this is a great finale fraught with dangers galore and surprises all around.The cliffhanger in the previous book is masterful. It left me reeling with questions and an unrelenting need to read the final book. 

So it takes off with our couple in an upside down life where they have to unravel their mind state from a tangle of warped memories and muddled realities. It's awesome the way they carve out their real feelings out of that labyrinth. 

There's a lot of darkness to be survived and overcome that made me cringe. However, these characters that I've come to care and root for are fighters and they plunge ahead to protect their sanity while keeping emotional bonds alive and loved ones safe. It's really harrowing, yet also provides meaningful, tender relationships.

I loved the plot twist that makes it possible for the mind-manipulating Goliath to face their reckoning. All the characters get a worthy ending in this good-versus-evil war where the romance is as exhilarating as the action and the horror is as powerful as the love, family and hope all victims crave as their due.

*****

Mind Maze is book three in The Crowne Conspiracy trilogy. 

 What to Expect in Cup of Lies:

Enemies-to-Lovers

Morally Gray MMC

Mind Games

Touch Her and Die Vibes

Dark Family Secrets

Obsessive Anti-Hero

Forbidden Attraction

Book 1 - Psyop Kings: Here

Book 2 - Mind Maze:  Here

ABOUT THE MASTERMIND

K Webster is a USA Today Bestselling author. Her titles have claimed many bestseller tags in numerous categories, are translated in multiple languages, and have been adapted into audiobooks. 

She lives in “Tornado Alley” with her husband, two children, and her baby dog named Blue. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and researching aliens.

 https://stan.store/authorkwebster

💓

 Enjoy your reading life :-)

Feeling romantic: Love Fast

Hi, book buddies :-) Are you feeling adventurous and hopeful? Then this book is right up your alley. I can never go wrong with a book by Louise Bay.

FAST LOVE

Author: Louise Bay

Release Date: 16 May 2025

Where to get it: https://geni.us/LoveFast

𝘼 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡-𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚,

𝙨𝙞𝙯𝙯𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨.

What to expect:

💙Runaway Bride

🏔️Western Romance

💙Small Town

🏔️Workplace Romance

💙Billionaire Romance

🏔️He falls first

𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐲

I never thought I’d be a runaway bride. But when it came down to it, I just couldn’t marry the wrong man.

So, I ran.

And somehow, I ended up in Star Falls, Colorado—stranded, no luggage, no plan—in a wedding dress

with a past I’d rather forget.

Fate lands me in the only available rental in town, a cozy little cabin… right next door to Byron Miller,

the brooding billionaire who wants nothing to do with me. Or this town.

𝐁𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐧

I left Star Falls years ago, along with every mistake. Now I’m back, determined to build a luxury resort

that might just rewrite my past.

The last thing I need is a distraction—especially not one like the runaway bride that moved in next door.

She has too many secrets and a smile so wide, I just can’t look away.

But no matter how hard I try to keep my distance, there’s something about her, that refuses to be ignored.

Snow falls. Sparks fly. Late-night porch talks turn into something more, something neither of us

expected. But Rosey’s past isn’t far behind, and my future here is hanging by a thread.

She’s just passing through. I’m trying not to put down roots. But Star Falls, Colorado has its own plan.

MY OPINION

I loved this so fast! Really, one chapter in and I felt all the adrenaline and engagement I was looking for. And, oh, the romance! So good I was smiling all the time.

Let me capitulate. I read the New York City Billionaires trilogy and loved it, so I wasn't sure I wanted to change venue yet from my bunch of lovely guys and their sweeping romances in New York. Thank goodness I did because I adored Byron and his tender defensiveness and his childhood dream and his megaproject. 

He feels so real and sweet even though he's a hottie with all the protective streak a hero needs. He's ready to take charge yet he's open and understanding. Swoon-worthy. Rosey, on the other hand, is a smart girl full of ideas and hope. She's got relatable troubles and a background story that deals with family, responsibility and self-awareness. Her story gives so much substance to the plot.

I think both characters are strong and flawed and beautifully matched. Uprooted, looking for a purpose and a place to belong to. Their courses collide in this small town with stunning scenery. And it happens like fate has written their romance in a star-studded sky.

Byron and Rosey found me a willing participant in their sweet and passionate relationship. I love it when the male character has this strong pull towards the woman. Not only attraction, but this sense of connection, protection and trust.

 

The town and its inhabitants, both human and animal, are a treasure.  I had a great time exploring it through Rosey's eyes and contrasting her fresh angle against Byron's jaded experience. Both really evolve along the story and find the freedom and roots they needed. And true love, of course. Also, I got to see my guys from New York! Such a satisfying novel.

*****

ABOUT THE MASTERMIND

International, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author, Louise Bay writes contemporary romance novels that make you laugh – the kind she likes to read.

Ruined by the bonk-busters of the eighties, Louise was inspired by Judith Krantz and Jackie Collins, but wants to be Emily Henry when she grows up.

Louise loves the rain, RHOBH, London, days when she doesn’t have to wear make-up, hanging out with her kid, elephants and champagne (not necessarily in that order).

She loves to hear from readers so get in touch!

Website - Newsletter - Facebook - Reader Group

💓

 Enjoy your reading life :-)

Darkly read: Mind Maze by K Webster

Hi, book buddies :-) Did I tell you I am addicted to a new dark romance trilogy with mind-blowing twists? Ho ahead and be thrilled...

MIND MAZE

Author: K Webster

Series: The Crown Conspiracy, book two

Release Date: JMarch 31, 2025

Purchase Link:  https://geni.us/mmkwevents

From USA Today Bestselling author K Webster comes a new dark captive romance… 

They’ve shattered my mind, twisted my memories, and turned my world upside down.

But the Crowne family isn’t finished with me yet.

Haunted by Gareth’s death and trapped in their web of lies, I’m forced to keep playing their games. Caius Crowne is still cold, still ruthless—but now, he’s my only ally in a fight against the monster behind it all.

Every secret I uncover tightens the noose. Every truth pulls me deeper into a maze I can’t escape.

They want me broken, but I’m done being their pawn.

I’ll find the truth. I’ll destroy their lies.

Even if it destroys me first.

MY OPINION

Let's plunge into the maze. It's a hard mission. I was taken aback by the sinister quality of some of the events that took place in book 1, so I was sure they would only intensify in this sequel. However, the pull of the mystery is too strong to deny. Book 2 it is :-D

After the shocking ending in the previous book, things progress with alacrity. Change of scenery, dangerous sensuality, mind-shattering revelations. What's not tempting about all of this?

Romy is equally strong and vulnerable, that's why I feel she's a great main character. Captive but pushing everyone's buttons. Smart yet dealing with a larger-than-life threat.

 I love how her relationship with Caius is slowly turning into a whirlwind of allure and trepidation. His point of view is so welcome!

There's so much happening in here, though. They become so embroiled in each other's hotness (expect a hot fest) that evil things end up running them over. And they blew my mind! The secrets, the twists and the sheer manipulation keep mounting up. I was glued to the pages because I needed to know more, how deep and far things would go, and what nasty machinations would spring up. It's an overwhelmingly addictive, dark installment. So many questions to unravel. Some do get some light shed on them, but only to enhance its bloody core. 

I was literally enthralled by the last part of the story because it's like a labyrinth you can't escape till it might lead to freedom after endless loops of madness or directly to the monster in wait. What a gripping ending! Hard, too. Nasty even. I crave the final book, ok?

*****

Mind Maze is book two in The Crowne Conspiracy trilogy. 

This book is a dark, psychological romance that contains triggering content. 

Cliffhanger!

 

Book 1 - Psyop Kings: Here

Book 3 - Cup of Lies: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DLHSJH3N (5.30.25)

ABOUT THE MASTERMIND

K Webster is a USA Today Bestselling author. Her titles have claimed many bestseller tags in numerous categories, are translated in multiple languages, and have been adapted into audiobooks. 

She lives in “Tornado Alley” with her husband, two children, and her baby dog named Blue. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and researching aliens.

 https://stan.store/authorkwebster

💓

 Enjoy your reading life :-)