Category Archives: Erotic

Review: Finale (North Security #4.5) by Skye Warren

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Title: Finale
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  CreateSpace Publishing 8/30/21
Length:  173 pages
Series: North Security #4.5

Overview

Francisco Castille, the exiled Duke of Linares, knows his duty. Even in modern times, the line must continue. So he’ll marry and produce an heir.

Yes, a wife will fit into his well-ordered life.

Instead he ends up with the brilliant pianist Isabella. Strong. Spirited. And highly disobedient. She rebels against every custom and every rule, threatening his careful balance.

Francisco never backs away from a challenge.

Isabella never bows down to anyone.

This scorching hot battle of wills may leave both of them broken.

My Thoughts

I know that I should know a bit more about Isabella, especially since I read the entire series that leads up to this story, but I guess there has been a bit of time since we first met Samantha Brooks and saw her interaction with the hotelier / pianist. Regardless, we have a lovely novella here that peeks into what makes Isa tick, and then what transformed her world because she’s far too selfless.

This story takes us to a point in time where her family is in need of saving, and as the fixer, the one who finds solutions, she’s put at the helm to do so. Her family owns a successful portfolio of boutique hotels that while profitable as they are, the acquisitions themselves end up putting the family further and further into debt. As the one who runs the numbers, Isabella is always trying to get her father and brother to make better choices, but of course men don’t want to hear the sense that a ‘smaller’ woman talks.

Isa gave up the life she had as a society party girl to graduate at the top of her class in Harvard and then managed to save the business. When she can’t save them with the help of banks to loan money, the one thing she can do is entertain a meeting with Francisco Castille, a man who is financially liquid enough to dig them out of a hole.

The meeting doesn’t go as planned, and part of the deal that he makes to help the hotel is for Isa to marry him. While she fights it at first, she always puts her family first and we watch what happens with this naive and inexperienced woman is owned and controlled by a man who’s quite the dominant.

The life she lives now is not one that she ever expected and we watch as she comes to terms with what she’s become. While Francisco gives her freedoms that she wanted, she’s away from her family, she’s in an environment that she’s not confident in, and she’s with a man who’s tastes are beyond her imagination.

Suffice it to say, only an author like Skye Warren could pack quite to much excitement into a novella of this length, but we get to see how this story plays out for all those that could be involved. There’s a rollercoaster of emotions and events, all ending in a way that some may have expected and others were unsure of. So…not it means I have to find something else to read….so that’s where i’m heading. Enjoy!

Review: Love the Way you Lie (Stripped #1) by Skye Warren

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Title: Love the Way You Lie
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Amber Shah 3/9/15
Length:  244 pages
Series: Stripped #1

Overview

A dark romance about the lies that lead us down…

I’ll do anything to stay hidden, even if that means working at the scariest club in town. Then he shows up, mysterious and yet strangely familiar. And so damn sexy.

When he looks at me, I forget why I can’t have him. He’s beautiful and scarred. His body fits mine, filling the places where I’m hollow, rough where I am soft.

He’s the only man who wants to help, but he has secrets of his own.

He has questions I can’t answer.

I’m running from my past, but his might catch me first.

My Thoughts

I’ve clearly read all of Skye Warren’s books / series out of order but it’s ok, i’m learning! This is the first installment of the series related to The Grand, a location that we’ve come to know and love throughout Samantha’s story and an opportunity for us to see a bit more about Ivan. The scary gent. This isn’t his story though, so we’ll have to wait a book or two before we get into that one.

What we have in this first installment to the series is a story about Honor, the girl not the name, although it’s interesting that her parents named her that given their heritage. She comes from a family that has ties with the Mafia, so she’s incredibly valuable to her father and what she can do for him, and as a result, she’s engaged to a man that’s not the best for her. He’s a cop gone bad, he doesn’t treat her well, and after a variety of circumstances, she’s forced to run, taking her younger sister with her. She’s treated like an object and not one that’s beloved. She overhears her father and fiance talking about her, (until she realizes that it’s her sister they’re talking about), and that causes her to fear for their safety even more. There’s a mystery surrounding her mother’s death and disappearance and that scares Honor on top of all else that she’s going through.

Their only chance for survival is to stay under the radar and get away. We find ourselves in Tanglewood, at The Grand, the strip club that Ivan owns, and she’s working there to make ends meet. She’s a classically trained ballerina so this isn’t quite the style dancing that they had in mind for her, but it’s what helps her provide a roof over her and her sister Clara’s head.

While it’s not an ideal place for them to be, especially given that Clara is still in high school, it’s a place where Honor has managed to survive, until one day when a man comes in to the club and shifts the energy. Distracts her and makes her wonder if she’s met him and what he’s after. That’s where our story takes a turn.

Kip, he’s our man in charge here – he is known by Ivan, by others apparently, but no one tells Honor the relationship. She is warned away from him, told that he’s dangerous, yet some how she doesn’t listen since she’s drawn to him and he’s able to get under her skin just a little bit. Kip is a rogue guy for us, we don’t know his background and his motivation. We don’t know who he’s connected to but we know that he’s also drawn to Honor.

When we find out who he is, we see things take a dark turn. When we find out who he brings around as a result of his connections, we see that he should not have been trusted. What we get to towards the end of this story is a shootout, a death, a question of what the future will hold and then beginning of a relationship, and the hint of another. The who’s and the how’s are yet to be determined but I think that we get a good jumping off point to get into the rest of these stories. Enjoy!

Review: Silver Lining (Diamond #3) by Skye Warren

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Title: Silver Lining
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Amber Shah 11/17/20
Length:  224 pages
Series: Diamond #3

Overview

Elijah North has survived starvation and torture. Now he faces his darkest challenge: the possibility of life without Holly Frank. The woman he loves hangs in the balance. The family he found mourns in the distance. And the future he built crumbles in the wind.

My Thoughts

Here we come to the final installment of this story – wondering what’s going to happen, who’s going to survive and what the cost is. We left Elijah and Holly at a point in their story when things had been good and then went to crap. There was a shooting, a death and a question of survival. Holly has been shot and Elijah needs to keep her safe while trying to keep her alive. She’s done what he set out to do, kill the colonel but what that means that they are both public enemy #1.

The journey that we go on from here is one of hiding, passion, fear and really fearing the unknown. They realize now that the life that they will have in the future means that they will never be at peace. They will never get to just be together without looking over their shoulder, but as long as they’re together, they are ok with that. Until…of course….they are torn apart.

Torture, lies, deception and never knowing if you’re going to see the person you love is the name of the game for the balance of the book.

There’s also another story here, one with London and Adam. We know that London is getting her head back on straight, trying to change her life and get back to a healthy mindset, away from addiction and to be happy. What she doesn’t know is that Adam is obsessed with her (in a good way of course) and that means that he’s going to protect her, watch her and claim her to be his.

When Holly finds out, of course that won’t be a good thing, but the question becomes in what shape will she be when she finds out and what will it mean to have Adam in her life too.

So….we watch how things play out, we learn the real identity of some of the people that we’ve grown to love in this story and we get to see what that means for the ending of everyone’s story. The finale and the epilogue give us what we need, for some of the characters and leaves us hanging off the edge for others. So….Enjoy!

Review: Follow Me Darkly (Follow Me #1) by Helen Hardt

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Title: Follow Me Darkly
Author: Helen Hardt
Publisher/Year:  Entangled 3/29/20
Length:  315 pages
Series: Follow Me #1

Overview

She’s a take-charge woman. But he’s a master of control.

Skye Manning knows what she wants. Her job as assistant and photographer for a major social media influencer isn’t perfect, but it’s a rung on the ladder to bigger and better things. She’s confident she’ll one day take feature photos for National Geographic.

Self-made billionaire Braden Black didn’t get where he is by taking no for an answer. When a chance encounter with the refreshingly innocent and beautiful Skye piques his interest in more ways than one, he’s determined to make her submit.

Dating a billionaire soon has Skye in the middle of a Cinderella story…until the clock strikes midnight and Braden reveals his dark side. Heat sizzles between them, and Skye finds herself falling hard.

But Braden Black is no Prince Charming, and his dark desires are far from his only secret.

My Thoughts

I don’t quite know how I found this story but i’m glad that I did. I love a good introduction to a series where our leading lady has absolutely no idea what she’s getting herself into because of her status, her background, her current life situation and her innocence when it comes to a romantic interest. In this story – Skye suffers from all of that, and it’s lovely to watch Braden change her world.

We meet Skye when she’s the social content developer for a society girl. This gives her access to all sorts of sponsorships, an opportunity to expand her love of photography which is what she studied in school and hoped to make into some type of profession.

It’s when she’s filtering comments for her boss, and then the root of negative comments turns out to be society playboy Braden that her life changes. He swoops in, propositions her for things that she’s never expected or knew existed and pushes her to lengths that were unfathomable.

He has a dark side, a delicious one and that means that she’s going to either have to become open minded, learn to put the whispers to the back of her mind or walk away. She has faith that she knows everything, however it seems like there may be some darkness that’s not resolved and potentially dangerous lurking under the water. He wants to give her a lot that she’s never experienced, and she wants to lie her life for herself. So, let’s just hope that the conflict that arose at the end of book one some how resolves in book 2. so, onto the next! Enjoy!

Review: Two for the Show (One for the Money #2) by Skye Warren

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Title: Two for the Show
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 9/13/22
Length:  200 pages
Series: One for the Money #2

Overview

Pregnant. Alone. And heartbroken. The only thing Eva Morelli knows for sure is that she wants this baby. She learned how to depend only on herself a long time ago.

The father, however? He made his position on marriage and children very clear.

Finn Hughes has fought his fate for years, but it’s finally catching up to him. Duty took away his choices. How can he hope for forever? He already knows how this ends.

There’s only one thing worse than having a family.

Losing them.

My Thoughts

This is one of those stories that you know how it’ll play out, you’ll defeat all the odds, but you’re still so curious to see how it happens. We met this couple when they created a fake relationship to help both of them out. Eva needed a man on her own terms to keep her family at bay since they all wanted her to be protected and cared for, and her mother wanted her to marry well. Finn on the other hand is a playboy that needed a woman to keep everyone else away and to protect his family secret.

They found something wonderful in each other since they both didn’t want anything serious, but some how opened their hearts just enough to let the other in. And of course that got them into trouble. We ended the first book with a breakup and a surprise pregnancy, as we often do in these stories.

So we start this second installment with Eva trying to sort out what that means for her, she knows that she wants the baby and knows that when Finn learns about it, he won’t since he believes there’s no out from the ‘family curse’ so that’s a conundrum. We watch how this plays out whilst also watching her brother go through the traumatic birth of a child and then secrets come out.

There’s a roller coaster in this story – one of emotions and reality. We watch Finn come to terms with what his life is going to be with or without Eva and he realizes that he can’t be without her. He goes about it in the wrong way of course which pushes her even further away. His misguided attempts are part of what makes this story so charming.

Throughout this story, it’s not just their relationship that’s up and down. We see the Hughes industries people begin to question what’s really going on with Finn’s father, and what’s being hidden or covered up. We knew this moment would come so not only are we dealing with personal strife, we have professional struggle as well.

There are secrets to be kept, there are secrets that come out and there is the unknown of the overall impact on the future of just about everything. What we don’t really have in this story is the same deep and insane passion that we’ve had in the previous book, but I think that’s because of the emotional craziness that we’ve gone through instead. That means that i’m sure we’ll return to it with gusto in book three, but in the meantime, knowing there’s the passion and heat will have to get us through. So on that note, enjoy!

Review: Falling for the Beast (A Modern Fairy Tale Duet #2) by Skye Warren

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Title: Falling for the Beast
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 4/30/19
Length:  200 pages
Series: A Modern Fairy Tale Duet #2

Overview

He can never turn back into a prince…

A troubling revelation puts Blake’s newfound career in jeopardy–and even worse, puts Erin’s impending graduation at risk. He can’t risk her future no matter how much he wants her.

She will never have a happily ever after…

A dark legacy threatens everything they’ve worked to build. When old debt comes between them, both Blake and Erin must fight to protect each other–and their love.

Since their forbidden beginning, Erin and Blake’s relationship has been marked by deep sensuality and intense emotion. The couple is tested at every turn. They’re running out of time. Blake and Erin will have to trust each other to forge their own sexy ending.

My Thoughts

It’s been a roller coaster of sorts as we watched this relationship take shape, evolve and then run into challenges towards the end of the first installment. We knew that they weren’t destined to be together for one reason or another, but the attraction that they have for each other, the desire that they share potentially could allow them to overcome it all.

It’s graduation time for Erin, and we want to see her get all that she’s earned and deserves. The degree, the man, the life, but that doesn’t seem like it’s a given. No matter how hard she tries to prove herself in school, there are people who want to cut her down. And there’s the stigma of the impact Blake has on her, on the people around her and the decision makers for her.

There is also a lot for Blake to overcome in this story – he’s got his own demons, his own past to overcome and the experiences that brought him back to this world that impact who he is and how he reacts.

What confuses me a bit in this story is the history that we start to learn and the connection that we learn about between Erin and Blake that precedes them. The notion that Erin’s mother has history with Blake’s father is confusing and random and explains a lot when we learn of the predisposed opinions, but then there’s the added layer of what no one else knew, and what others involved int he situation knew which implied things were not as they seemed even at the time.

Regardless, what we have is complex, romantic, hot and gives you hope that things can change in the future if you allow yourself to block out the noise of others, and when you choose to listen to the noise, how you can make your own story and path. This may not have been my favorite ‘series’ from our author, but i’ll give her a pass since she’s written many of my favorites. Enjoy!

Review: Beauty and the Professor (A Modern Fairy Tale Duet #1) by Skye Warren

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Title: Beauty and the Professor
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 4/23/19
Length:  200 pages
Series: A Modern Fairy Tale Duet #1

Overview

Once upon a time there was a beautiful college student…

Erin cleans Mr. Morris’s house twice a week to pay her tuition. The reclusive ex-soldier intimidates her, but she can’t help but feel sympathy for him. Then she walks in on him touching himself, and she has much darker, much more sensual feelings.

And a beastly professor with scars he can’t hide…

Blake Morris knows he’s scarred both inside and out. He’s reclusive and surly. Nowhere near good enough for the smart and beautiful young woman who cleans his house.

He receives an offer to return to his alma mater as an associate professor. This is his chance to reenter the world–and to be worthy of the woman he dreams about. He never expected to see her sitting in his classroom on the first day of the semester.

My Thoughts

The summary gives a certain level of romanticism to this story, and while it’s accurate, there are elements that are a little misleading. We do meet Erin while she’s working as a maid, cleaning Blake’s house. We know that she’s attracted to him even though he feels that he’s scarred and hideous and damaged. It’s all due to being in the army, being tortured and yet that still doesn’t seem to be enough for him. What we learn is that he was engaged prior to the accident and the woman that he was with (ironically another professor at the university), she dumped him QUICKLY when he came back and that;s part of what makes the pain worse.

Erin on the other hand has her own struggles. She’s working to pay tuition, being the first in her family to go to college, and we also learn that her mother forged much of the same path. working as a maid – a profession that’s respectable when you need to feed your family, but what she learned quickly is that there’s a disparity when you’re working for a wealthy family who feels like you have to do all they say since they pay your bills. A lesson that Erin’s mom is afraid she’s going to learn from Blake.

This story takes a turn when we see the feelings that Blake has for Erin when she least expects it. She walks in on him pleasuring himself, and out comes her name. We then get to watch how she takes matters into her own hands, makes him realize that what he feels isn’t one sided and a lovely romance blooms from there.

There’s a bit of risk here knowing that he’s a professor now and she’s a student, although not in his class. they manage to keep things under wraps until a new semester starts and Erin finds herself in the last class she needs to take to graduate and it’s Blake who’s the teacher. They play it cool, but what we learn is that it’s not cool enough. The professor that was engaged to Blake before his accident is stil lat the school and we get to see what happens when she realizes that he’s still perfect and yet he’s moved on. She discovers the truth and that’s where our story nets out. There are threats on him, there are threats to Erin and we don’t know what the outcome will be. Romance is off the table and hearts are broken. Off the cliff we go, until we get into the next installment. Enjoy!

Review: The Escort by Skye Warren

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Title:Escort
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 3/30/18
Length:  258 pages

Overview

There is no shame in pleasure. And no love in business.

I have a blind date tonight, and I know with 100% certainty that I’m getting lucky. There shouldn’t be any surprises, not for one as jaded as me, but when I walk into the penthouse suite of L’Etoile, everything changes.

1) For one thing, Bea is heartstoppingly gorgeous. Pale green eyes and endless freckles. Curves I want to spend all night exploring, as if her body was made for me.

2) Her innocence makes me want to use my entire inventory of bedroom tricks on her and then invent a few more.

3) Except that… she’s a virgin.

I can initiate her into the world of desire without letting her get attached, can’t I? A few hours of tutoring, and at the end of the night a small fortune will be deposited into my bank account.

Yes, you read that right. There are many words for what I do. After all, mine is the oldest profession. I’m an escort, which means this date is nothing more than a mutually enjoyable transaction.

But once I realize one night with her won’t be enough, I’m the one who’s screwed.

My Thoughts

Well, we all know by now that i’ve read all these books out of order so that means that I know how they’ll end up. Regardless – this peek into what brought Bea and Hugo together is a lovely story.

The summary doesn’t truly open the reader’s eyes to what is going on here, but it’s a good tease. Bea is a young woman who’s had a really rough and traumatic life. She lost her parents at a young age and for some reason that has transferred in her fear for her safety and inability to leave her home, the penthouse of an amazing hotel. She’s the desire of a much older man, who likely only wants her for her money and she thinks that aside from that, she’s desired because she’s a virgin, so she’s working to resolve that. She tries to sort that via men in the hotel and finds that she doesn’t have the nerve and that’s where Hugo comes in.

Hugo is a high end escort – a man who knows how to please a woman and make her feel like the most beautiful thing. He is picky with whom he works, and only works one night a week. His lifestyle as a result of his skill and experience is that of someone who’s got a successful portfolio, so he can compete with all of the high society.

Hugo comes to Bea, uncertain of what he’s getting himself into and realizes quickly that he’s got a challenge on his hands, but something quite special as well. She’s a woman to be treated with care and teased with passion and all the things that she doesn’t know or thinks she wants, and in return, he gets something powerful from her. Eye opening, and life changing. What we also don’t see from the other books in adjacent series is that he’s got a motive to going to this hotel, to take this job. He believes the man that destroyed his mother is the owner of the hotel, and therefore the guardian of Bea. He wants to get his revenge.

The journey throughout this story is one of trust, growth and hope. We know that we want to see happy endings outside of the bedroom for these characters and we know that there is no piece of this journey that is easy. Bea’s fear is so gripping that she can’t even go to the roof of her hotel, and that means that Hugo needs to create a bond that is so true and real that she trusts him. The same time, he needs to make sure that there’s a way to protect her heart when she learns that he’s got other motivations.

We see them grow, we see them thrive and we also get to see Avery/Gabriel, Sutton/Christopher/Harper in this story along with Penny/Damon, so all of the characters that we love and can’t live with out. Pepper in heat, sex, passion…and tension and we have yet another amazing story. So, please….enjoy!

Review: Mating Theory by Skye Warren

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Title:Mating Theory
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 3/17/20
Length:  234 pages

Overview

Billionaire Sutton Mayfair has nothing left to lose…

My best friend is getting married to the woman I love. They say the nice guy finishes last. So what’s the point of being a goddamn gentleman?

Maybe I should take what I want.

Even that sexy little thing on the street corner.

She needs a hot meal and a place to sleep. Instead I’m taking her home to soothe the savage beast inside me. I was born a bastard, and for the first time in my life I act like one.

Except the more I use her, the more I need her.

I didn’t know I had someone left to lose.

For a single heartbeat, I had her.

My Thoughts

We all met and probably fell in love with Sutton when we dove into the story of Harper and Christopher. Now it’s time to see how his life has gone on (or paused) now that Harper has made her choice once and for all and has gone to Christopher. We knew that was always going to be the outcome, however there was a moment where it seemed like it would be a menage. Too bad that didn’t happen, and we get to see what Sutton’s life looks like after.

We learned a bit about where Sutton came from, how his background was a bit rough and how he struggled to survive, making him into the man that he is now. He’s got a varied family situation, knowing that his father fathered more kids than anyone should….and he’s able to recognize similar traits in others. That’s where the introduction of Ashleigh into his world takes new form.

we don’t know what brought her to the streets, but we know that she doesn’t belong there. (I mean, does anyone really?). She’s a mystery but clearly more damaged than a person on their own should be. She’s got a friend Ky that looks out for her and tries to steer her down a path to survival, but we learn throughout this story that he’s got his own demons.

Anyhow – watching the way that Ashleigh and Sutton come together is a story of someone who’s broken trying to survive using someone else who’s broken. Sutton sees things in Ashleigh that he wants to help, and at the same times, sees that she’s able to help him find himself again.

We watch how she makes him feel more than he has in a long time, for someone that he can perhaps have. We know that the love that he’s had for Harper and Christopher isn’t dead, but we see the sensitive, caring and passionate sides of him come to life with power when she gives herself to him…..although there’s the hitch of her age.

She helps him through the wedding

He helps her get off the streets

they save each other until he tells her that she needs to find herself without him, to live her life because now she’s got all the opportunity in the world. He walks away from something that he knows will be amazing if the circumstances were different, and she gets a new chance at life. What the future holds is anyone’s guess and I think that we can all safely say that we wish for happiness and passion, but I don’t know if that’s on the menu. Enjoy!

Review: The Evolution of Man (The Trust Fund Duet #2) by Skye Warren

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Title:The Evolution of Man
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 9/25/18
Length:  206 pages
Series: The Trust Fund Duet #2

Overview

Ambitious. Intense. Irresistible.

I never wanted to fall for a man.
And definitely not two men.

They tear me apart until I don’t know how I’ll ever be whole again. Until I’m not sure I want to be. How can I choose between two halves of myself?

My Thoughts

What a complicated place Harper has found herself, loving a man that’s not capable of it and being loved by a man that we’re not sure has her best interests in mind. Sutton and Christopher are mysteries, yet they are so overt in their intentions (sometimes)

In this second book, we are at a point where Harper’s life has changed because her mother is close to the end of her suffering, and Harper has decided that her life’s goal now is to make sure her mom has everything that she wants since so much was kept from her when Harper was growing up. They buy an amazing house where her mom can live out her last days, and at the same time, Harper finds a way to buy the library from the men since that’s something that she feels that she needs for closure.

While making the purchase, Christopher forces her to pay an ungodly amount of 2 BILLION dollars for the building, and from that we learn that Sutton has left the partnership with Christopher, and while he’s made his 50% of the profit, he’s no longer partners with Christopher and he’s separated himself from that mess. What we learn throughout the book though is that there’s so much more to the story and the dynamic there and it’s eye opening.

So instead, we focus on the dysfunctional relationship between Christopher and Harper. She’s come to the realization that the unhealthy love that she has for him is something that she’ll always hold onto even though it’s not healthy for her and she’s never going to get anywhere with it, but it also means that all men are going to be compared and that’s another flaw. The way their love hate, oil and water relationship evolves in this book is one that takes a really long time to see progress, and it’s not until the very end that we see the result of horrible moment bring things to a close.

There are chains of lies and mis-truths throughout this story – and they’re not always to mislead, but instead to protect. Everyone wants to save and protect Harper, knowing what her motivation is with life and with the Library, but to what detriment. What is she going to lose in the long run with everyone who tells her things that aren’t necessarily what she needs to hear.

There’s love, there’s life and there’s death in this story. There is a lot of closure that happens but then some open ended new beginnings that we can hope for. Throughout this story too we see the re-emergence of the Avery/Gabriel saga that we know from the previous series, and we get to experience the sadness that Avery had all over again, at least knowing what the outcome will be.

So all in all, a finale that is warranted and a story that we’re sad to see end but hopeful to see what comes next for Sutton since his story is next. Enjoy!