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Venom and Lace (Venom, #1)

 


Book Source: BookSiren (Arc Read)
Cross-post Review: Chantie's Goodreads Review
Type: Ongoing Series
Starred Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5
Smut Rating: 🌶/5


Venom and Lace (Venom, #1) Review


Never have I been frustrated with a book like this one. Venom and Lace is the first book in the Venom series. A billionaire romance with a bit of darkness to it. We got everything from Nora’s point of view. She was blackmailed into being the fake fiancé of a money-hungered billionaire. A total manipulative dick. And for some reason, the protagonist never noticed this. Like what the heck! 

First off, the so-called best friend was not a true best friend. What friend would convince their friend to sign a contract with a guy that threatened her? None worthy of being called a friend. Then the friend had the audacity to ghost her after shit hit the fence. Who the fudge does that? This one, apparently. This was the first thing that irritated me, but I let it slide and continued. 

When the book started, I was excited. The female lead was portrayed as strong, and I loved that. Her witty personality swept me away. Then somewhere along the line, she lost it. I get it. She had a goal. Fear and misbelief played a vital part in her decisions. But for heaven’s sake, why did it have to drastically change her? I had liked her so much and then she went rogue. And that damn so-called best friend did not help in the situation. I got so frustrated that when the cliffhanger happened, I was like ‘yes, this is what happens when you’re a fool’. That was just an evil thing to say but I craved for her to feel some sort of pain as punishment for having no brain cells. 

Enough of that. I was a bit iffy when the female lead explained the billionaire’s drastic change of character---because it was drastic. It was a bit of a surprise because the first few chapters before the contract never showed me that. He was mysterious and asshole-ish not cute and sweet. It would have been better if the author had shown me why she thought he was sweet instead of having Nova tell me. I would have perceived it better and maybe would have been blinded by his charm like everyone else. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have been as frustrated as I was. 

Even so, I enjoyed the little mystery in everything. The former chapters between the female lead and Cian were great. Maybe because of the banter but it had me excited. Because gosh, I liked that guy. Even when he was portrayed as the bad guy. Yeah, I have a serious problem. Bad guys aren’t supposed to be hot. Either way, I loved him. Will I be reading book two? Yes, even though I was tempted to give this a one-star, I liked a few things---hated a lot more---but it was a good read. I hope book two is a lot better and the protagonist improves instead of backsliding into stupidity. A character is supposed to progress nothing else. Was there romance? I would say yes but not the cute kind. 

I got an Advanced Readers Copy from BookSirens and this is my honest review. 



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