Darker Shades by Charlotte E. Hart and Rachel De Lune is the prequel to the of House of Skin series. This prequel delivered an eye opening experience into the criminal underworld and prepares readers as to what to expect from the other books in the series. 

Darker Shades is definitely not for the faint hearted. Going in, I knew this would be a dark romance, but it was so much darker than expected.  A well written story with interesting characters, but the premise was not one I would have gravitated towards. As you can see the blurb provided no information as what to expect when diving into the story.

In the initial stages of the story I considered giving upon the story. However, the authors' engaging style of writing held me captive. The story piqued my curiosity and so I continued reading.  I had to know how the main characters would escape the precarious situation they were in. A situation created by the hero because of his insatiable greed for money. Although not a candidate for sainthood, he abhorred the situation he got caught up in, forcing him to formulate a creative way to to extricate himself  as well as the heroine and the other women involved from it. His immediate attraction to the heroine also played a part in influencing his decision to double cross the Cortez brothers.

The parts leading up to the execution of the plan and the aftermath had me on the edge of my seat.  The story featured disturbing events such as human trafficking, kidnapping and rape.

Darker Shades was an interesting but disturbing tale.This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading