Characters : ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Story : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
pacing : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
plot : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
tropes : arranged marriage, falls for enemy’s daughter, enemies to lovers, touch her and die, contemporary romance, she falls first.
spice : 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Damn, the way I loved this book, and would love to reread it again, but then the mystery and everything would just feel predictable. I was reading another book, but this one stormed right in my face and said, ”read me first! ” and i’m so glad I did, damein is cold, broody at first, but when he is with river, his walls start to fall, since it’s a slow burn, it unravels SLOWLY, and gradually you’ll see how much he adores river. The book goes back and forth taking us between the past and the present, until the end, but it is so damn worth it, because Damian had me in his hold and i’d never read other books in the series, because this man has left a mark on me, and i never wanna go back. Damian may have married river for revenge, but she was the only person to see him, truly and was the light of his life, i really loved the characters. The story, the twists, damian’s own way of taking care of river, i loved everything. His one dialogue, ”did you eat? Have you eaten? ” and making sure river eats. I wanted to punch and hug this man simultaneously, thankyou Damian for making me fall for you too, like river did.

Overall : this story is the best romance story i’ve read from am Indian author in such a long time, and I am so passionately indulged in this story, i couldn’t sleep, my body is still aching, but this book was worth it. Big thanks to the authors Sanjana and Nidhi for writing this story.

editing this again, because I have much more to say, and when I posted this, I was in a half asleep state.

characters : river — she was soft, kind, loving, extremely obsessed with Damien, so at first, she’d come off as a boring or annoying character, but then, I thought about myself and then, I realised that I was once like her, too trusting and vulnerable, she adores damian, he’s her first love, first kiss, so she is attached to him, and loves him, but then she doesn’t see the horrible things that were happening behind her back, her so called father staging the act of “perfect” father, not knowing there was a murder committed and nobody knew until matt tells her about it. She’s heartbroken when she’s tired of making their marriage work, because before marriage, Damian showed that he loved her, but after their marriage, he was in denial, he wanted his revenge, but his feelings for her warred inside him, and he thought distancing himself from her would be best, but it backfires, because she wants to leave, and demand divorce, which he can’t let happen, because he loves her. The book begins with her running away from him, only to be found by him. It also alternates between the past and the present, which gives more information about what happened, their relationship, their marriage, and more details, it’s kinda confusing to remember everything, but as the story progresses, it gets easier to remember and read further. Damian suffered a lot, because river’s father destroyed his family, and he had nobody to rely on, the only person who saw him, loved him, when he had nobody was river, she’s his light in his dark world, but then it conflicts with her being the daughter of his parent’s killer.

Damian — still grew on me, because he’s tortured, but he’s loving, he shows care in his own way, in the end, he lets river have her space, but also protects her and asks her to come back to him, by winning her, but also respecting her boundaries. In the middle, it does get toxic, but in reality too, aren’t we too toxic when it comes to love? we turn blind to a lot of things because we love the person, the same happens in the story, and I loved Damian, so much that when I took breaks between reading the story, I thought I was watching a series, and then I recollected that I was reading a book, sanjana Nidhi both have written the book so well, from all the pov’s, it was a really good, easy, perfect paced read, one of my favorite Indian authors.

Summer — she was likeable, but not so much, because she was friends with river, and she helps river when she was hurt due to damian’s cold behaviour towards her.

I look forward to reading summer and Raleigh’s story, I read the books in reverse, the ruthless opponent is the first, the ruthless neighbour is the second, and this one is the last. I hope to see more stories from this author. this book JSUT flowed so well, I didn’t know and I was reading the 21st chapter, I loved the writing, it’s top tier, so structured and perfect, capturing each character’s feelings well, making the reader yearn for more. and oh, I was yearning for them.

I loved and hated Damian, but I do still love him somewhere in the corner of my heart. 💕