I absolutely love the fake dating and billionaire trope however, I don’t think this one was for me. The beginning of as fine really, but it got cringy very fast and the fmc annoyed the crap out of me. Was a bit shocked because that’s never the case with me.

I also found it oddly similar to another book I have read before.

Things were rushed in this book and like I said, a lot of things were so cringe. Especially the end of the book because that should be an important part for readers to see how they end things.

I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! We get introduced to Killian & Skye and quickly learn that these two come from different backgrounds but both have experienced the same struggle and loss. The steam and the chemistry between these two were strong right from the beginning. No matter how hard Killian tried to stay away, he absolutely could not. This book is a dark romance and definitely contains the vibe of touch her and you die. Be sure to check the trigger warnings. Tainted Dreams does not lack the spice and will not disappoint. I cannot wait to read the future installments of this series

First of all, I want to thank the author and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Tainted Dreams by Kimberly Quay is coming out on May 26, 2023.

This was a dark sexy romance with two main characters that are complete opposites. The spice in this book is really good! This was my first dark romance book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is book 1 of a series… so there is more to come! #TaintedDreams #NetGalley

***Thank you to Kimberly Quay, BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for the copy***
Release Date: 05.26.2023
"If anything happens to her, I will skin you alive. I'm not being dramatic, I will literally peel your skin from your body, inch by inch, until you beg me to kill you."
OH.EM.GEE. I DEVOURED this story. I love Skye and how she's essentially a bad-ass pheonix rising from all the shit that happened in her life - and Killian, goddamn, he can be my book boyfriend anytime. I was taking a hiatus from dark romances but this one reminded me why I love the genre so much. The writing was perfect. The plot was perfect. I even laughed at a few lines especially at "She'd mostly likely never meet Harry Styles, let alone fuck him, but I couldn't stop the irriation I felt". This is the perfect book if you aren't ready for Haunting Adeline but want something darker than Twisted Love. --- ALSO I can't wait for the next book because while reading "Tainted Dreams" I. JUST. KNEW. that Layla and Wes be fucking on the DL.

I enjoy reading books like this when I want a break from crime and gore. This book reminded me of the Ana Hugang Twisted love series, similar covers and themes. Great read if you love a little spice. The stalker element wasnt over done and this I'm glad of as I didnt want it to come across as creepy. Look forward to the next

Thank you netgalley for the oportunity of reading this book. However some books are a hit, others are not, and unfortunately this was not a hit.
I'm very surprised that this book has pratically the same cover of Ana Huang book, and despite the fact that I did not read that one, they seem fairly similar.
I'm not a big fan of similar covers, but this one to say it's a replica it's far more accurate than similar.
As for the content... it was very cringy, and I had to DNF it very early on

ARC Rating 4/5 ⭐️

"Well, I’ve always preferred the villain anyway.”

Ooooo this was soooo good! It has all the best tropes... billionaire MMC, Obsessed, Stalking and Touch her and die 🥵

This dark romance follows our MMC Killian, a brutal billionaire who stalks our FMC Skye, who is an artist and yoga studio owner.

I really enjoyed this story and the pacing of the story. And obvs loved Killian.

Im not always a fan of the third act drama/break-up but despite this one being drawn out, I did enjoyed this one, and Killian's grovelling!

Overall, this was great, and I'll definitely read the next book.

Thank you, NetGalley, BooksGoSocial, and Kimberly Quay, for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I would like to start out by saying that personally, this book wasn't for me. I usually don't read these types of genres so that was entirely my doing and I did go into the book fully aware of the tropes and trigger warnings. Kimberly's writing is what kept me reading but however, I couldn't connect with the characters let alone their relationship. I did like how she concluded the story it was very satisfying.
This is solely my opinion and I do always encourage you to read it if you are curious and gather your own opinions.
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you love Ana Huang's Twisted Series, then I think you'll love this one. I was expecting something darker, based on the warnings, and thankfully it was just the right amount of "dark" I can take in my romances. While, I enjoyed the book, I will say it felt more lust-obsession, than actually love. It wasn't just believable to me that the main FC (Skye) just accepts a randomly stranger stalking her and then automatically let's her into her life like nothing. I will say that I am excited for the other books in the companion series. Especially Lucian and Chelsea's story.

I'm not entirely sure what I expected requesting this book from Netgalley but I love exploring new authors. Tainted dreams was a well written book with an interesting premise. I found it took me a little while to get into it, but once I was, it became an enjoyable read. I like simple and discrete covers, but I don't think the cover does this book justice. I think this book will find its way, and rightly so, on many peoples "to be read" pile.

Really excited about this book. It was an Absolutely phenomenal read. High will recommend to others to pick up as soon as it is released.

Writing was cheesy, especially during the first half of the book. Wasn’t a fan of the male mc, too possessive and aggressive, not in a mafia sexy way but just a turn-off way, but we are forewarned about that by the author at the beginning, which I appreciated. It was a quick-read romance. Predictable and despite the author trying to give the mc’s some depth I just didn’t care about them enough. There was a good amount of drama to make me want to keep reading at the end of a chapter. I really liked some of the side characters, and imagine we will be getting their stories in the next books, which i would probably read. I usually love a billionaire romance but it just didn’t hit as well as I thought it would.

I’ve gotten really into romance so I decided to give this one a try, but I really didn’t like it. The tropes felt completely over-done to me and there was a severe lack of character building prior to the romance portion of the book. I wasn’t a fan of the way Skye was described, and I was even less of a fan of the instant obsessions they both had with each other. It didn’t seem realistic by any means

I totally have a type of book and this is one of them. I knew I was going to love it before I started it and it didn’t disappoint at all. I love a tattooed, dangerous, possessive man.

Killian, I would let him st@lk me any day! When he stood up for Skye, I was all giggling because that was so hot! I didn’t even know more about him yet but definitely wanted to add him to my book boyfriend list. Skye having a past of her own as well made them perfect for each other.

I highlighted so many parts of this books. I could not put this book down and read in less than 24 hours. I can already guess the couples in the next books of the series and I can’t wait to read about their stories! You can count of me typing up a review blog for the whole series once it’s completed. I’m a sucker for a good series.

If you’re a lover of dark romance, 🌶️, possessive MMC you will love this book!

2.5*

Good but it didn’t have anything new to offer from other mafia books like nothing really stood out too much besides the fact that the mmc wasn’t a b!tch straight off the bat. I’m not a fan of insta love and their relationship just felt so fast paced and just based on lust like yes they spilled trauma etc etc but it’s like what kept drawing them back to each other was lust. Killian not a bad character overall tho

Thanks NetGalley for the arc

ARC Review

What is it with all of these insta-love books recently? It seems like a lot of books lately have had this trope and I will say, it's definitely not for me. I don't understand how you could literally just SEE someone, and then what? Be in love and remember them years later without even speaking?
Nonetheless, the writing was actually decent for me as a whole. I liked Skye and Killian's relationship towards the end, (although the smut was just meh in my opinion) and I can see how I might be interested in other books in the series moving forward, assuming they follow some of the side characters from this one. We shall see...

I received an arc for an unbiased review.
I thought the writing was ok. There was a lot of spice but it got a little boring after a bit because there wasn't a lot of variety.

ARC

Story: 2.5/5 ⭐
Spice: 3/5 🌶️

---

I was able to read this in one sitting but a few things didn't sit too well with me throughout the entire book. The stalker trope was underwhelming. It also seemed like Skye was able to tell when she was being stalked, like what are you a psychic?? While this book did do well on the character development the beginning was just a little too unrealistic to me, essentially love at first sight two years ago. BUT HOW/WHY? Was it physical? No, Was it emotional? also no. THEN WHAT???? It just is.

While the beginning gave me the icks, once I was able to overlook the start of everything the story flowed a little better and Skye and Killian's characters developed into their relationship. That was possibly the saving grace of this book.

I was really interested in this book based on the description even though I don't typically enjoy the stalking trope.... and I didn't enjoy it with this one either. I was put off by the first scene in the painting studio with the painting of the man, and was thrown off by how quickly they connected once they did meet. I know that books are works of fiction, but I feel like there still needs to be some plausibility in the events that take place, and this one was just too off the cuff for me.

First off this was a dark romance with little to no light and fluffy parts to it.

Second it was all so random, the two MC become obsessed with each other by a chance encounter where they literally passed each other in the street. I'm talking a cross the way. Zero interaction with each other.
Then years later they connect in a bar.
Again have zero interaction with each other and he stalks her and she is perfectly happy with this and is so Horney for him.
Just like chill girl. Chill.
Also what's with the disappearing bodily fluids?
They have 'relations' without protection and need no clean up and can still happily sit and have a meal in a crowded restaurant? Screams STI waiting to happen.

And the 3rd act break up was pointless from the way he was acting I thought he was related to her in someway but no he just did his job and his actions had consequences on her life (not saying it's OK. But this was years before they met)

However this wasn't all bad. There were a few good parts to the story. The writing was well paced and some characters I feel would be worth their own plots/ stories.