Beautiful Venom (Standard Edition): A Dark Hockey Romance (Vipers, 1)

I had mixed feelings about Beautiful Venom. I ended up finding the plot really interesting and I think Rina Kent is a talented storyteller. I did not connect much with Kane and Dahlia as a couple because they both felt immature to me. I never completely understood why they became so obsessed with each other. Dahlia comes to Graystone University looking for revenge after her foster sister Violet is brutally attacked by members of Vencor, a powerful secret society. Her plan is to use Kane Davenport, the captain of the Vipers hockey team, to get close enough to Vencor to figure out who was responsible. Of course, Kane figures out pretty quickly that Dahlia is using him. The two of them end up in a very toxic relationship full of manipulation, obsession, and violence. I never found Kane's attraction to Dahlia believable. It felt like she happened to show up when he was ready to become interested in a relationship. Dahlia becoming so obsessed with Kane bothered me more. Her sister was brutalized by the organization he belongs to. I kept wondering how she was able to separate Kane from everything Vencor represented. Was her end goal not to get revenge for Violet? Dahlia definitely lost the plot for her entire reason she claimed she got involved with Vencor. I did not understand how Vencor seemed to be somewhat exonerated by the end. Dahlia spends so much of the book trying to destroy this organization because of what happened to Violet. I expected a much bigger reckoning with Vencor itself. I finished the story still feeling like these people did horrible things and everyone looked the other way to move forward. I did really like Kane when he figured out that his father had Dahlia strung up and was torturing her. He walked in and immediately started shooting everyone standing between him and Dahlia. No questions or dramatic conversation. He just handled it. I appreciated how decisive and protective he was in that moment. The sex scenes are very graphic and have plenty of dirty talk. I was surprised that I kept wanting them to hurry up so I could get back to the plot. That is unusual for me. The secret society drama, revenge storyline, family politics, and mystery were much more interesting to me than the romance. I would definitely read more from Rina Kent. I liked her writing because she kept me interested in what was happening. I wish I had enjoyed Kane and Dahlia's relationship more. Pick this up if you don't mind immature main characters and are looking for a great plot.

3.5⭐️’s. I felt like this was a combo between the L.O.R.D.S series and a hockey romance. Lol. The characters are so messed up you can’t help but watch the train they’re on derail. Between the abuse mentally and physically from their past to the toxic trauma bond that forms their relationship you can’t help but wonder how the hell this will end. Though I wasn’t excited about the book I did enjoy it though I felt it went on a bit longer than needed. Either way it’s a fun f*cked up read. lol 😝

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶🌶🌶
Very unsatisfying.
I love Rina Kent and went into this book already loving it and now I'm coming out of it not being happy at all.
I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a morally gray hero and heroine with a backbone story. It is neither.
Dahlia and Kane.
We don't get enough backstory on either of them. We get just the bare minimum to get by so we can understand their parts of the story.
The twist is not very well explained so we are left confused by Kane's motivations for tolerating Dahlia's behavior and treating Dahlia like he did knowing all the information about her already.
The third act breakup is resolved way too quickly for how complicated it was. It was resolved and bam, the book ended.
The two epilogues do set up the next couple of books and have an HEA for Dahlia and Kane.
The book is nice and spicy. I'm giving it 🌶🌶🌶🌶4/5 chilies on the spicy scale. It has a hint of primal, and a lot non-con that turns into consensual non-con. But, I did not give it five chilies, because Dahlia has body betrayal syndrome way too early in the book. She's supposedly strong willed and she gives up way too easily at the very first s3x scene. She's terrified and fighting and 2 sentences later she's enjoying herself being impaled on the biggest dck she's ever seen, including porn so much that she's squirting.

I listened to the audiobook. Michelle Sparks is amazing, I love Corvin King, but I don't think he was the right choice for Kane. Kane is very high strung and Corvin King's voice is very laid back.They didn't mesh well.
Duet narration, 2 narrators, 2 POVs, first person