My first ARC 💝
received through Pen Pinery.

I was pretty excited going into this one because the tropes and blurb immediately caught my attention. Secret identities, a sniper MMC, a mysterious masked FMC known as Il Cigno.

I enjoyed the banter between Matteo and Mia, and their tension was probably one of my favorite parts. Their relationship starts more as strangers, and I liked watching them slowly get closer. Mia also has that sunshine energy while still feeling strong, which I appreciated.

The plot was fairly easy to follow, although I did find myself questioning a few things along the way. There were moments where I was like, “Wait… that’s it? hmmmm… okay.” 🙂

I also wished some parts of their backstories…and especially some of Matteo’s decisions had been explored a little more.

Matteo definitely has the morally grey thing going for him, but his obsession unfortunately didn’t quite hit for me. I wanted to feel a little more of that intensity between them.

The spice: 🌶️ 🌶️

Overall, this wasn’t really my cup of tea, but I can see this being a fun read for anyone who enjoys romantic suspense, secret identities, and a mysterious masked heroine ❤️‍🔥

I would describe this as a dark romance with a little touch of thriller, at least that’s how it felt while reading.

Wren—The FMC—accidentally records a criminal act and ends up in the hands of Silas, the man known as The Cleaner. His organization specializes in making people disappear, erasing traces, and giving them new identities. And unfortunately for Wren, she’s now caught in the middle of something much bigger than she expected.

The whole identity-switching and running-away situation kept me on edge. There was definitely a cat-and-mouse feeling throughout the story, especially with Wren constantly trying to stay ahead of the people hunting her down.

As for Wren and Silas, their dynamic leans more toward forced proximity. Wren doesn’t exactly have many choices, and eventually finds herself under Silas’s control. Their chemistry develops through that tension, and I enjoyed seeing how their dynamic unfolds.

The spice was also a plus for me. It felt consensual and naturally built around their tension rather than being forced into the story.

Overall, I had a good time with this one. It’s the first book in the series, so I’m curious to see where the story goes next.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

If you enjoy dark romance with a little thriller element, forced proximity, and a cold-blooded MMC, you might want to add this one to your TBR 🤏