Hey book friends! Happy Thursday. If you follow me on Instagram this review will not come as a surprise as it was the book from my Probably Smut BookClub unboxing video, and if you don’t you can watch it here: https://www.instagram.com/readbytheocean_/reels/ and give me a follow while you are there. Anyways my friends, “Severed by Vengeance” by Elle Maldonado is a tale of love, lies, and the haunting shadows of the past. Intrigued?

We start off with meeting Evangelina, a woman surrounded by luxuries, love, and attention, yet plagued by lies, death, and deceit, even though she doesn’t know it. She is visiting her godfather. Who happens to be about to meet his death at the hands of his estranged son.

Derek’s childhood was a landscape of hate and pain, a soulless existence that bred him into a killer. Bound by blood to a secretive global society, he harbors fantasies of revenge against the man who abandoned him. But when his path collides with Detective Evangelina Cruz, his plans take an unexpected turn. She becomes his weakness, a target for manipulation and ruin.

A few weeks later and Detective Cruz, grieving the loss of her god father, finds a package on her desk informing her that her godfather had a son, Derek. She finds solace in the arms of Derek Cain, a man with alluring diamond eyes and a mysterious past. As their connection deepens, the ghosts of Dereks past lurk in. It’s a history Evangelina can’t ignore, even as their feelings intensify and the fire between them threatens to consume everything. As lines blur between vengeance and obsession, Derek grapples with the all consuming nature of his feelings for Evangelina, even as his dark secrets threaten to unravel everything.

Elle Maldonado tells a tale that’s seductive and full of trigger warnings. The characters are complex and flawed, the past is shrouded in shadows and lies, and their connection a dance between the light and darkness. Elle takes you on a journey where love is entangled with retribution, and the boundaries between right and wrong are as fluid as the emotions that drive the characters. The fact that this is her debut novel is shocking as this book reads like its from a seasoned writer.

If you can’t tell friends, “Severed by Vengeance” is not your typical love story. It’s a dark, intense exploration of the human psyche, where the quest for love and the thirst for revenge collide. This book starts out with where to find the trigger warnings. If these bother you, this may not be the book for you, and that’s okay.

However, If you’re in the mood for a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat, questioning the very nature of love, right, wrong, and the cost of revenge, then “Severed by Vengeance” is a must-read. Grab a copy, a glass of wine, buckle up, and get ready for a ride through a world where passion and darkness entwine. As always, Happy reading my friends!

(Note: This cover is from the Probably Smut box, your cover may be different)