Book Info
Cold Retribution by Selena MichaelsSeries: Tangled Revenge #1
Rating:
Book ratings explainedGenres: Dark Romance
Pages: 281
Published: 08/02/2022
Purchase at: Amazon | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU
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My brother's getting engaged, and I couldn't give less of a shit--until he shows up at our parent's home with a woman I've had in my arms before. It seems Luke forgot to tell her he had a twin.
I'll be damned if I let him use my good name to net a catch like Hana. My brother's as possessive as I am, and we butt heads over our little Hana with deadly consequences.
She's like a treasured toy held between two boys, pulled in either direction at the same time, but I won't let go of what's mine.
Luke doesn't deserve her, and I'll die before I let him break her.
Cold Retribution is a dark romance written for mature audiences only. It contains graphic scenes that may be too dark for some readers.
Cold Retribution – My Review
I’ll be honest, when I picked up Cold Retribution I didn’t quite realise what I’d gotten myself into. I read the trigger warnings with my usual suspicion that the book probably wouldn’t live up to them. Damn! Was I wrong.
If not for the first chapter, the book started out like an incredibly hot and heavy but light romance. Boy and girl hook up, and then a second time when she’s really hooking up with his twin. Girl walks into her new job to find one twin is her boss. Shenanigans ensue. I should’ve heeded the subtle warnings in that first chapter – there was no way in hell this was going to be a light fluffy romance.
“How badly do you want this job, Hana Lee?” I asked again, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
“Not bad enough to suck the same small dick I received last night,” she snarked.
I love Hana’s character in the first few chapters of the book. She’s sassy, snarky, confident, and unafraid to go after what she wants. But, after six months under Luke’s control, you can see a lot of that attitude fading out. It’s meeting Logan again that brings these qualities back, but by then the damage is done. Even though she stands up to Luke, her behaviour towards Logan is conflicted. One minute she swears she’s going to fight, and the next she’s not just acquiesced, but is almost actively encouraging his toxic behaviour.
He possessed me as no one had ever possessed me before. It was raw. Primal. The kind of fucking that went beyond conscious thought. It was nothing but sensation and pleasure and pain and darkness.
Luke is an absolutely vile excuse for a human being. In fact, his character is solely responsible for a number of the content warnings given at the beginning of the book. Not only is he overly entitled and arrogant, but he’s also brutal in his anger and approach to taking what he wants. Logan suggests that it’s a product of his upbringing, although this view is based wholly on his own experiences. Towards the end of the book, Luke gives a very different opinion on his relationship with his brother. Neither is wrong nor right, but both have been damaged by the actions of their parents.
Yep, this book brings a whole new meaning to the concept of sibling rivalry.
It was time to unleash the darkness and take the love I deserved. And once I had Hana, I could stuff that darkness back into a box and live happily ever after.
Understandably, Logan is obsessed with getting one over on his brother, but with that vendetta, he’s also able to indulge in his obsession with Hana. It seems that Hana is an unfortunate casualty of their animosity yet Logan is incapable of realising how negatively his actions are affecting her. The difference between him and Luke is that Luke knows his behaviour is reprehensible yet doesn’t care.
Having read the content warnings, I knew that I was going to be in for a cliffhanger come the end of the book, yet I didn’t realise just how steep of a fall it would be. Luke and Logan had already proved that nothing was past them, but up until the last few chapters I had an inkling of how things would play out. I’m not afraid to admit that I was wrong. Oh so wrong. The book was full of the brothers’ shady shit but nothing could prepare me for those final chapters.
Bravo Selena Michaels. Bravo!
Why you should read Cold Retribution
- If you revel in trigger warnings, you’re gonna feel like a kid in a candy store
- Sinister yet thoroughly addictive
- Deliciously dark and steamy
About Selena Michaels
Selena Michaels writes romance novels with adult-aged characters (and lots of twists you’ll never see coming). Her novels often stem from her own experiences growing up in the small town of Pennsylvania, along with other people’s experiences she has met along her life journey.
Selena is a devoted (obsessed) fan of anime and has an extensive collection of manga that graces her office as she writes. She currently lives in Virginia with her amazingly supportive husband, her adorable son, and her spoiled yet precious dog.
