Spoiler-free. 4 stars!

Wow, what a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Firstly, I want to begin to say that the structure of this book is the same as the others in the series. It’s an introduction, build-up, a couple of ups and downs throughout, and then ten plot twists in a row. I also want to express my disappointment that I saw the plot twist regarding Alpha’s assassinator’s identity from a mile away. Halfway through the book, I was considering the options of who it could be (in my mind), and my top choice was the right one, so I wasn’t surprised.

I cried once in this book, and that was when Alpha visited Zephyr at Zenith’s apartment. That was a really emotional scene for me, a five-minute sobfest.

Plot/characters:
Basically, Alpha is a street fighter who earns money off bets on him, and he uses this money to provide shelter and safety to sex workers (he has a backstory for it: his mom (who was a sex worker) was raped and he was an accident). He has an eyepatch over one eye because he lost said eye from an accident he doesn’t remember. Alpha also lost his memory of other incidents (including his past relationship with Zephyr) because of this accident. The person who slashed his eye out (unknown) is now back to end Alpha, but they don’t know who he/she is or why he/she wants to do so.
Zephyr is a hairdresser who’s very close to her sister, Zenith, who volunteers. She leaves a bad relationship with her cheater boyfriend Alec. One day at her workplace, Alpha (her ex who merely left her, now sporting an eye patch) sits her down at the beginning of the book, asks her about her intentions, and then lets her off the hook after understanding that she’s in his city in peace, but she remembers him (and is intrigued). So, for the next couple of days, she stalks around his office buildings and learns about him and his reputation (of the sex workers, etc.). During one of her visits, he invites her to his office and asks her purpose of visiting. She merely asks him to marry her, though she knows he doesn’t remember her. This is because she is to be married by her 29th birthday (which is in two weeks’ time) if she wants to inherit some possessions of her grandmother’s, although this — for some reason — is not mentioned throughout the book again. She proposes that it can be a marriage of convenience, merely one lasting for six months. Alpha agrees merely for his reputation, and because he’s intrigued by her.

This is set in a mafia (kind of?) world. I definitely wouldn’t call it contemporary.

The reason that this wasn’t a five-star book for me was because I saw the revelation of Alpha’s assassinator’s identity coming, and also because their story wasn’t all that unique to me.

I’d recommend this book for mafia romance enjoyers, marriage of convenience enjoyers, My Dark Romeo enjoyers, and Ana Huang enjoyers. The narration is similar to that of Ana Huang’s (meaning it’s pretty dry), and I found the plot line slightly similar to that of My Dark Romeo.

Ultimately, it was a great read! If it sounds like I didn’t enjoy this book, that’s probably my bad for being too critical in the review and only focusing on the negatives. I really love the world that the Dark Verse series is set in, because it’s between contemporary and mafia, so it’s not all that unfamiliar/strange. I’d definitely recommend this book, especially if you’re contemplating finishing the series.