Beautiful Venom by Rina kent
Rating: 2.5 Spice: 3
Genre: Dark romance, Sports romance
Tropes: Enemies to lovers, Hockey, College
Source: Bought
Rocket Thoughts:
If you are into men who think they know everything and are chronically unhinged, who are not afraid to kill anyone and actually think of it as a game, who have money to burn and resources that ensure the fire never touches them… well, welcome to this ice hockey trio. Only one is just right for Ms. Thorne.
This book has a hint of heat. The self discovery is very limited, and the web of lies is extremely long. Can Dahlia protect herself while getting involved with this depraved group of monsters… I mean men… to help her discover what happened to her sister? Or will she join her sister as Sleeping Beauty?
Be careful who you get into bed with. You never know who’s under the bed or hiding in the closet.
Book Description:
A sizzling new dark hockey romance. In a den of vipers, revenge is the deadliest venom.They shattered my world; now, I'll bring down theirs.The problem? I have virtually no way to trace the puppet master. My only lead: The Vipers.An elite college hockey team that rules the ice―and the shadows beyond it. To infiltrate their secret society, I set my sights on their weakest link.Kane Davenport.The charismatic captain and the lone green flag in a nest of serpents. But too late, I realize I've enticed the most venomous snake.Kane's friendly façade hides a predator more dangerous than I imagined.He quickly unveils the monster lurking beneath the surface. A monster who lured me in only to trap me in a lethal game with no escape.
My Review
This book took me a while to get into. I was truly considering DNF’ing it, but I avoided it because this would have been my first one. I am glad I did not do it because, by the 23% mark (Kindle language), I became entranced. I was truly invested in everything the book had to offer. I just had to give Chef Rina a chance to cook.
With this being the second series I had read by Rina Kent, it took me longer to get into than the first book of the Royal Elite series. That series had me hooked after the first chapter. I am still looking for a series that gives me the same rush as that one. Without even knowing it, that was my introduction to dark romance, and boy, do I love the rollercoaster. Now this second series has opened the door to hockey romances.
A good and easy read that will pull at your strings. But being invested does not mean the book had substance. This felt like the fast fashion of books. It caught my attention, gave me a little entertainment, and in a month, I probably won’t remember anything about it. I wanted to know what happened next, but nothing really stuck with me. Chef Rina got me to finish the meal, but I am not thinking about it after leaving the table. Just a nice book that I finished in two days.
Spoiler
Dahlia Thorne is a little stalker, isn’t she? A 5’6” stalker with an olive skin tone and wavy brown hair that reaches her breasts. Wow, oh wow, and the Vipers are fucking vicious.We start off in the ice hockey arena: “Last time I did that, she didn’t want to drink my blood. Nearly killed her before she was kicked out.” He frowns. “How could anyone refuse my blood?” My initial comment was, “What the fuck? Is this some devil initiation shit?”But no, seriously, is it?The more dark romance I read, the more I see that many have a blood fetish. Like, are you going to run the red light? Just kidding!!!
I mean, we have three Vipers: Preston Armstrong (#13), Jude Callahan (#71), and Kane Davenport (#19).Preston is considered a mystery. Someone who is hard to figure out. He is considered the “League Prince.” He is a 6’3” sandy blond white male who is very attractive, vicious, and a calculated kiss ass. Then we have Jude. Jude is all the way fucked up. I lowkey want to go and read his book to find out why he is so fucked up. He is the tallest of the three, standing at 6’5”, and also the bulkiest. Oh my, please, I am begging you to stay away from this black haired man on and off the ice.
Now we are with the main man of this book, and that is Kane. Our girl Dahlia says he is “the most beautiful of the three.” Kane is someone who demands your attention. At 6’4” with blue eyes, he is as calm as a lazy river on the outside, and on the inside, he is straight danger.
With this much testosterone, it is not a shocker that we first see them verbally fighting. They are best friends, but they are fighting as if there’s generational hate. We later learn that Jude has sleeping issues. Again, he’s fucked up. So they are messing with him so he can let it out. It seems as though Jude is a tea kettle that is always on high, and he just needs to release some of that steam to settle down.
I wish we truly saw more of Graystone University because the book is described as dark academia, and there is not really any academia. But that is really just the TikTok tropes used to pull people in. I also think some storylines were pushed on us way too fast and way too late. But again, this is the only book I have read in this series, so it may be better executed through the other two boys’ points of view and relationships.
Like, is Violet getting into bed with a monster who possibly put her in the hospital? I mean, he didn’t, but he has connections to the one who did. You gotta be careful who you see getting murdered, especially if it is one of the big three’s moms.
Anyway, I was very wary of Kane and Dahlia getting into a relationship because she said it best: “And is it even safe to get entangled with him? He’s frighteningly perceptive and a master at recognizing and linking patterns. It’s fascinating on the rink but lethal in real life.”
Kane thinks before he moves. If you are questioning whether right is the move, then choose left. If you think right is the correct option, just know it’s a trap. She was trying to set a trap, and the whole time, the trap she was trying to set was orchestrated by Kane himself. I mean, the book was so crazy and intense. By the end of the book, I knew one thing: Dahlia thought she knew everything, but she truly knew nothing.
