I tried to like this book where the amount of violence - and it certainly wasn't little - equaled the amount of sex, but when she was convinced, that he had come to kill her, I realized it's just not my thing.

Ci ho provato a farmi piacere un libro dove la quantitá di violenza - e non era certo poca - eguagliava quella del sesso, ma quando lei era convinta, che lui fosse venuto per ucciderla, ho capito che proprio non é roba per me.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

4 ⭐️
3 🌶️

𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲:

Firstly a huge thank you to NetGalley, Quercus Books and Navessa Allen for this arc - I couldn’t hold in the squeals when I saw it land in my emails! Caught Up was one of my most anticipated reads for 2025 and I can’t believe I was lucky enough to get my hands on it early 🎥❤️🏍️🪢⛪️🥵🔥

I may have rated it slightly lower than Lights Out but I still ate this up and left no crumbs. It was hot, funny, dark and empowering all wrapped up in one delicious book 👏🏻

Nic (Junior) was the definition of a man down bad for his girl… quite literally… on his knees 🧎🏻 He grovelled, was protective, possessive, morally grey, filthy as hell and had me sweating 🥵

Lauren totally stole the show for me though, what a badass she was 🙌🏻 She owned her job with pride no matter what others thought, and absolutely killed it 💰💰 The way she advocated, supported, and looked out for others in the sex industry was . What. A. Woman. 🙂‍↕️ Also adored her friendship with her roommates, everyone needs friends like Ryan and Taylor!

I also really loved the kink representation and how Nic wanted to dive in - not just in a physical way (ugh 🌶️) but also by helping out financially with the ‘play club’ and supporting the people that worked there. This part of the book was such a win! 👏🏻

To top it all off we got to reunite with Josh and Aly, Fred and Maud 🐈‍⬛ which was amazing, I miss them!

~

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁:

♡ Stalker dark rom-com
♡ Touch her and die
♡ Second chance romance
♡ Mafia / Biker MMC
♡ Cam girl FMC
♡ Voyeurism
♡ Play/BDSM club

~

𝗠𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘀:

“𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘓𝘰. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘭𝘺.”

💻 Nic as NT95, Lauren’s most loyal sub
⛪️ Seeing each other at the church for the first time in 10 years…Nic pinning Lauren against the wall
🏍️ Nic riding his motorbike past Lauren when she didn’t know it was him - 𝘐 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘺, 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 . . . 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯-𝘰𝘯?
🪙 Nic slipping the tracker into Lo’s bag
⛓️ The kink club review on Reddit - “𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. 10/10.”
😏 Nic telling the man chatting to Lo to move
😆 Their banter together - Lo: “𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚?” Nic: “𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪?” Lo: “𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧.”
⏪ The backstory, how Nic had to pretend he didn’t know Lauren after they’d been together. What he did to the people that taunted her for it - YESSSSSS
🥵 Nic and Lauren front row watching the show, Nic getting hottttttt - 𝘔𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐’𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘫𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.
🧎🏻 Nic dropping to his knees for Lo to grovel UGH
📸 Lauren finding out Nic was NT95, him paying her to go to the photo booth like she’d written about in her diary - “𝙐𝙝-𝙪𝙝. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙞𝙩. 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙡.”
😍 Nic and Josh’s friendship
😖 The men breaking into the club and Nic ‘handling’ them and Lauren being mad at him
🙂‍↕️ Lauren’s grandma, what a legend - “𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙨. 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙮 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙇𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙣. 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙢𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨. 𝘽𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙡𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙣.”
⛪️ THE CONFESSION BOOTH RAAAAH
👀 heheheeh. Nic: “𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙙.” Josh: “𝙈𝙝𝙢𝙢, 𝙢𝙝𝙢𝙢,” Nic: “𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩?” Josh: “𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.”
🍗 Lauren going to Josh and Aly’s engagement party. Her talking openly about her job (yes girl) and her and Aly’s friendship
👆🏻 Nic cutting off douche bag’s finger
😢 Lauren tasering Nic, him grabbing her by the throat, telling her about her dad
📄 Nic buying the Velvet
🍽️ The family dinner, Nic telling Nico that he was going out on his own. Nico being VILE to Lauren and everyone sticking up for her. Josh 👏🏻 - “𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙤. 𝙄 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”
💔 Nico strangling Nic
🥵 Nic and Lauren doing their own show at Velvet

~

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲:

I think because Lights Out was so unique, fresh and hilarious, I was expecting more of the same from Caught Up. I did laugh out loud a few times, but the ‘comedy’ aspect wasn’t there so much in this book and I was really looking forward to that 😌

I felt like the spice was good when we got it (the confessions booth ugh yes) but for me it lacked slightly! Nic and Lauren didn’t fully hook up until 88% in, which okay… fine, they did explore other things but I just didn’t really feel the TENSION, which would’ve made the wait so much better! 🫣

~

𝗠𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:

💬 𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦: 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘺, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘮.

💬 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐’𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦.

💬 “𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘓𝘰.” 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘴.

💬 “𝘙𝘶𝘯, 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴.”

💬 𝘈𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥.

💬 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘹 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴.

💬 “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘓𝘰.”

💬 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘯, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

💬 “𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵?” “𝘉𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.” “𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”

~

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:

I don’t think Navessa could write something that I wouldn’t enjoy, her writing is so easy, so funny and makes you want to stay up until 4am to finish the book in one sitting. I loved it and I can’t wait for book three… Tyler 👀🤔