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Review

“I’m tired of hating you … When all my heart has ever needed is to love you.”

4 painful yet healing stars

This book follows on from the love/hate-fest that began in Breaking Him, giving us the conclusion to Scarlett and Dante’s epic story. Like its predecessor, this book is angsty and intense, but we finally get answers as betrayals are revealed, secrets are uncovered, and Scarlett and Dante finally lay it all on the line for each other after years of spiteful game playing and putting each other through hell as they tried and failed to deal with their hurt and anger.

This book picks up a few short weeks after the hideous cliffy of the first book. I had my suspicions where this story was going to go, and I was partially right, but there is SO much more to Scarlett and Dante’s story than I ever anticipated. It’s a heartbreaking and angsty ride and once again, their deep love and sizzling chemistry is beautifully explored as they struggle to move on from the past and find their way forward.

For me, one of the best things about this book is that it’s written in dual POV so we finally get to see what is going on inside of Dante’s head.

My life has fallen into categories – in spite of everything – graduations of her.
Life before Scarlett. Life with Scarlett. Life after Scarlett.
Wanting her.
Needing her.
Having her.
Losing her.

Dante is a complicated man. In the first book we get a certain perception of him, but there was always ‘something’ about him. I knew there was more to his story, and I had my suspicions about what was actually going on, and seeing him in this book was a revelation.

I loved the direction this story took. Again, the story of the past unfolds along with the story of the present, and the two intertwining storylines slowly reveal the full extent of everything that went on with these two, and OMG, how they’ve escaped with their sanity intact is astounding to me! And even though I predicted some of the events before they played out, I still felt it all and my heart broke over and over for them.

Admittedly yes, there is a lot of drama, but honestly, I felt like there had to be in order justify them being torn apart all of those years ago. Their connection was so intense, their love for each other soul deep, if it was something stupid that broke them up I would have been really annoyed. And though the circumstances were extreme, the culmination of all of those things made their split believable, and all of the resulting fall out heartbreakingly tragic.

“Love changes you. No matter how strong you are, it makes you stronger. No matter how weak you are, it makes you weaker. No matter how hard you are to conquer, it will bring you to your knees.”

What I also really liked about this book was that I felt like we got their complete story. There is no denying that they love each other, but they don’t just come together and that’s the end of the story, the big revelation is made about halfway through the book, and after that Scarlett and Dante are able to really open up about their feelings, and that becomes step one of what is an arduously emotional journey. These two have been through SO much, and their feelings toward each other are only a part of the story. They’ve both done things they regret, and confessing that, dealing with the consequences and healing from their own self-hatred is a huge hurdle for them, and is really well written. And through it all, their love for each other shines

“I’m tired of hating you … When all my heart has ever needed is to love you.”

In addition to everything that is going on with Scarlett and Dante, there appear to be some storylines brewing featuring side characters. At the very least I have to believe that Bastien is going to get his own book – there is too much story there to leave it hanging, and epic payback is needed!

I really enjoyed this book. It’s dark and intense, and not always easy to read, but R.K. Lilley has given us a beautifully emotional story with lots of heart (and a whole lot of steamy time). Scarlett and Dante’s story is finished off beautifully, and I loved watching them both fight for themselves, and each other, and get the happy ending that they deserve.

4 stars.

The Love is War Duet

See our R.K. Lilley Author Spotlight for more great reads by this author