Overall, it was fun.
It had its moments, but I found it hard to stay engaged.

The constant back and forth between timelines was really annoying.
Just when the story began to grab me in either the past or present, it would shift, causing me to lose interest over and over. But once it finally stuck to one timeline, I was fully in.

Still, I found the book to be pretty good overall and am curious to explore more from this author. ( )

[b:Corrupt|21981841|Corrupt (Devil's Night, #1)|Penelope Douglas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398947518l/21981841._SY75_.jpg|41292505]
Need to Make More Time for Romance
I know you are looking at this title and thinking how do I not have enough for Romance? What I am saying is that I haven’t made friends with the genre as much as I would like to. Admittedly I have to say Penelope Douglas is slowly shifting my gears. I read this with my friend Anna and somehow, she couldn’t get into it as much as I did because I had it finished in a day and she is still working on it. Sadly, I don’t know if she finished it. I loved the dark atmosphere and the romantic undertones that Ms. Douglas writes so beautifully. I haven’t fully gotten a feel for her writing style just yet, but to me, it seems that she loves to push her characters to their maximum limit and then go a bit further just for good measure. (my kind of book)
Rika (Erika) is treated like a fragile child. She is protected by those around her at all times. She is constantly being held back and she needs to spread her wings and fly. Then one-night Rika steps out on her own and stands up for herself, showing just how much people have underestimated her all this time. This is the first time she has shown her inner strength and it does not go unnoticed especially by Michael who I loved.
Michael is always indifferent around Rika like she doesn't exist. It felt like it was that Katy Perry song Hot and Cold at times. Each chapter is taken from either perspective and it adds so much to the story.
Throughout the story, we are taken back to a particular day, three years earlier. This is a day that had a huge impact on Rika, Michael and his friends. It is that day, that lays the foundation for the turmoil that takes place between the cast of characters. Along with the suspense angle, there is also the 'will they, won't they' between Rika and Michael. There is so much more that I can say about this story but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I will say that I am hoping to read book two in the early days of 2020.
( )

Even more enjoyable this time around.





This is a quite over the top dark romance. I wouldn’t recommend this for people that like their romance to be more realistic and without so much angst. There are some major issues as well which caused me not to give it a 5 star rating. ( )

Even more enjoyable this time around.





This is a quite over the top dark romance. I wouldn’t recommend this for people that like their romance to be more realistic and without so much angst. There are some major issues as well which caused me not to give it a 5 star rating. ( )

2.75 stars. After hearing all of the hype and seeing this book rec'd so many times, I had high expectations for this book. It did not meet them. This was just okay for me. While there were parts that had me sitting up straight and hanging on to the narrators' every word, I did not love this story as I had hoped. The plot was intriguing, but I didn't care enough about the characters to be fully invested. The story was unhinged, which I love, but it was definitely too long. Without being invested in the characters, I really didn't care what happened to them. The epilogue was completely unnecessary. The spice and sexual tension between the MCs were great. While this was a disappointment, I will probably try another book by the author. ( )