3.75/5 ⭐️ 2.5/5 🌶️

Tropes:
Stalker
Serial killer
Enemies to lovers
Revenge plot
Knife play
Blood play
Secret organization

This was a thrilling first book to the Villainous Delights series and I’m glad I picked it up. The writing was pretty solid and there were plenty of tense moments to make your heart pound and wonder what’s going to happen next.

I will say that Laine got on my nerves and aggravated me a lot throughout the book. She’s extremely indecisive and makes ignorant decisions that help move the plot along.

I loved Jaxon as a character though. A tortured soul with blood on his hands is exactly what I was looking for when I picked this book up.

I felt like there were some points in the story when it should have slowed down and there were some moments that were unrealistic. I also didn’t really buy into Laine and Jaxon’s chemistry either.

Overall a decent stalker and serial killer novel. I may check out the second book when it releases.

 Content Warnings: sexual content, blood play, violence, gun violence, blood, torture, kidnapping, stalking, murder, mutilation, sexism, classism, toxic relationships, PTSD, and grief.
Mention of: sexual assault, rape, and child abuse.

Ngl the summary pulled me in but as I was reading the summary didn't seem to fit until later in the book. In the beginning she has no idea who the Ripper is, and though she does have some anger towards Jaxon it's for a completely different reason. Might sound weird...but I think I would have enjoyed the book more had the summary been a bit more accurate and didn't spoil a big part of the book 🤷🏽‍♀️

Individually I enjoyed getting to know the characters but...I feel like I needed more to show why their love/obsession with each other made sense...especially from Jaxon's POV. Also, when exactly did the Ripper decide he no longer wanted to murder Laine? It seems like he went from wanting to mutilate her to BAM wanting to destroy anyone that touched her...

I still plan to read more from this author and hope to connect better with the characters they write. 

I have a strange feeling after closing this book.
There are many really good ideas and plots, I was hooked and I read this book within 24 hours. So I can assure that the story is good.
And there are as much as inconsistencies.
I cannot tell about the ideas and the plots because of “no spoil” mandatory but sometimes the timeline is blurry, the characters have strange behavior like illogical regarding the situation that they are involved.

Regarding the TW, Jaxon is a killer and a “dedicated” one. So there is a lot of blood, blood play… 
The spice is light: 🌶️.5/5