Queen Takes Rose

Aurora and Malone shared a single night years ago. Malone, the most feared and dangerous woman in Carver City's underworld, left afterward without saying a word. Aurora has returned, and this time she has signed a contract: for two weeks she does whatever Malone tells her.

Malone treats the arrangement as a fun, temporary diversion. Aurora has other plans. She means to spend the fortnight destroying the woman who wronged her, and she has to stay obedient to do it.

The book is a dark romance between two women, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a taboo edge and a heavy focus on power. Each believes she holds the upper hand. The heat is explicit, with BDSM elements and mature content running throughout.

The pleasure of reading it lies in watching the balance shift, as it becomes less clear which of them is seducing the other. Aurora appears in the earlier Carver City books, and this is her own story. It is the sixth standalone in the Wicked Villains series and reads fine without the others.