Tag Archives: author: avery collins

Cruel When He Smiles by Avery Collins (Sinners of Blackthorne Book #3)

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TITLE: ⟫ Cruel When He Smiles
AUTHOR: ⟫ Avery Collins

SERIES: ⟫ Sinners of Blackthorne U #3
RATING: ⟫ 4.5/5

BLURB: ⟫ Liam Callahan likes to break things.
… and Nate Carter was made to be broken.

Liam
I was trained not to feel. Taught to observe, manipulate, and control.
Nothing prepared me for Nate Carter.
He’s stubborn and beautiful in his resistance. The harder he fights, the deeper I sink my teeth in. I engineered the therapy sessions so I could get closer and watch him unravel. To dissect his fire and watch him spiral from the inside out.
But Nate is fury wrapped in lace, and he makes me feel things I was never meant to feel.
Want. Possession. Hunger.
Now, I can’t stop. Not until he’s mine; broken, rebuilt, and burning just for me.

Nate
I knew Liam Callahan was dangerous the moment I met him.
Too perfect. Too polished. Too in control.
They said the anger management sessions were routine, but nothing about Liam is routine. He gets into your head with softness, pulls you apart with praise, and leaves you craving the pain he caused.
So why do I keep going back?
I don’t know what’s real anymore…what’s me, and what’s Liam’s design.
***
Cruel When He Smiles is the third book in the interconnected Sinners of Blackthorne U series, but it is a complete standalone. Readers are advised to approach with caution and ensure they are comfortable with the listed triggers and content warnings before proceeding.

This is not a traditional romance. Reader discretion is advised.

REVIEW: ⟫ Reader discretion is right – this book was so full of red flags, it looked like a football stadium! I couldn’t decide which one of them was the most messed up but then I reached a certain point in the story and realised just why they were so well matched and fit together perfectly. The background characters were so good – Killian is my absolute favourite although I’m not sure what they says about me – but we also got to see Sage and Roman again which was great.

The research that must have gone into this is mind-blowing and I really wasn’t expecting this. I’m trying so hard not to give spoilers because I really think this series is so much more rewarding when you go into it blind, but suffice it to say that books 1 and 2 were tasters for the absolute gourment meal that this book was. The sex was steaming, the possessive obssessiveness was next level and I raced through it because I really wanted to know where it was going. The back and forth, the banter, the lace – yeah, this may well be my favourite out of all of these books and I’m not surprised to realise that I read all three of them within a week! Adding Avery Collins to my must-read list and contemplating reading her heterosexual romance to see if she can cause the same feelings in me that these three stories did!

Bitter When He Begs by Avery Collins (Sinners of Blackthorne U Book #2)

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TITLE: ⟫ Bitter When He Begs
AUTHOR: ⟫ Avery Collins

SERIES: ⟫ Sinners of Blackthorne U Book #2
RATING: ⟫ 4.5/5

BLURB: ⟫ Luca
I’ve built my life on control. On the field, in my reputation, and in keeping my demons buried where no one can see.
Sage Blackwell was never supposed to be a part of that. The nerdy prodigy overheard something that could ruin my entire career, so I do the only logical thing. I don’t threaten him. I don’t scare him off.
I claim him.
I tell myself it’s about survival, about keeping my secret safe. But the longer I keep him close, the more I realize I might be addicted again.
Only this time, my drug of choice is him.

Sage
I wasn’t supposed to hear it.
I definitely wasn’t supposed to get caught.
One wrong step. One overheard conversation. That’s all it takes to make me the unwilling keeper of Luca Devereaux’s darkest secret.
Now, Blackthorne U’s arrogant, untouchable quarterback, has decided I belong to him.
He’s relentless, possessive and cruel in the way only someone with too much power and too little consequences can be.
Being owned by Luca might just destroy me… especially when I realize I don’t want him to let go.

***
Bitter When He Begs is the second book in the interconnected Sinners of Blackthorne U series, but it is a complete standalone. Readers are advised to approach with caution and ensure they are comfortable with the listed triggers and content warnings before proceeding.

REVIEW: ⟫ Well if I thought book 1 was unhinged, book 2 basically went just that little bit higher! Luca Devereaux was everything that’s wrong with elitist society – using his money, position and power to make his problems go away without facing any consequences. Sage Blackwell is in the unfortunate position of accidentally coming into some information that could cost Luca dearly, and Luca can’t afford to let that happen.

It would have been so easy to make this a more traditional ‘bully’ trope, but Avery Collins dug deeper and harder, turning this story into a scorching tale of obsession, love and addiction, with a side order of kink. It was too easy initially to think of Sage as the innocent caught up in something he didn’t understand, but the further I read, the more I realised that Sage had issues of his own that made him more than a match for Luca.

The background plot and characters were solid, adding depth and nuance to the story, as well as causing more than a tear or two of their own. The relationship between Sage and Luca was by turns hot, confusing, dangerous, dark and ultimately a fabulous love story, with them becoming each other’s anchor in the turbulent seas they were facing. I think I still prefer book one but only by a smidge, and spending more time with Roman and Damon was fabulous. Luca and Sage fought so hard for their happily ever after and the change in the two of them, supported by their friends, was beautiful to witness.

Now I only have book three to read and I’m sad to say goodbye to these guys – in such a short space of time, they really touched my heart.

Pretty When He Bleeds by Avery Collins (Sinners of Blackthorne U Book #1)

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TITLE: ⟫ Pretty When He Bleeds
AUTHOR: ⟫ Avery Collins

SERIES: ⟫ Sinners of Blackthorne U #1
RATING: ⟫ 4.5/5

BLURB: ⟫ Roman Bishop hides his pain behind bruises and penalties, using the ice to escape the ghosts of his past. But when Damon Ward, the brooding, tattooed art major with a grudge and a sharp tongue, returns to campus, Roman’s carefully constructed world begins to crack.

Damon is Caleb’s brother—the boy Roman loved and lost in the most devastating way possible. But where Caleb was light, Damon is all fire and shadows, dragging Roman into a dangerous game of hate, lust, and regret.

What starts as a battle of wills turns into something darker, something neither of them can control. Damon wants revenge, and Roman craves the pain Damon is more than willing to give. But as their obsession spirals out of control, the line between love and destruction blurs, leaving them both questioning how far they’re willing to go—and whether they’ll survive the fallout.

Hate feels a lot like love when it cuts this deep.

REVIEW: ⟫ I picked up this book following a recommendation in a facebook group I belong to and oh my word!! I don’t even know where to start with this book – it’s described as a Dark MM Hockey story and dark doesn’t even cover it! Damon and Roman should have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Damon blames Roman for what happened to his brother, and Roman is drowning in guilt. It sounds so simple, so basic, but the complexity of everything these two are going through – Damon’s personal issues, Roman using physical pain to combat the mental pain he is suffocating under – how they are with each other. So incredibly hot whilst also being painful to witness. When Damon insists that Roman will bleed for no one but him, it shouldn’t be hot but it really and truly is.

And amidst all of this darkness, this wrongness, pain and grief, the romance is next level. I finished this book in tears – like, didn’t realise I was crying until the tears were dripping off my chin, but I also immediately grabbed book two as soon as I’d finished because I was that blown away by the quality of the writing. I don’t want to spoil this story for anyone because you deserve to go into it blind, the way that I did, because then you can really fall into the story, bleed alongside these troubled young men and reach the other side feeling like you’ve lived a whole life.

Pretty damned amazing and I am so incredibly grateful to the person who recommended it – I just wish I could figure out who it was so I could ask them for more recommendations!