REVIEW: Beast

Beast

Author: A Zavarelli

Twisted Ever After Book 1
Pub Date: May 16, 2017
Genre: Dark Contemporary Romance

Synopsis: 

Once upon a time, I believed in fairytales.

But then he took me.

And he taught me that life isn’t a fairytale.

He is scarred. Broken.

A dark and wild thing.

His beauty is violent and his words are cruel.

His heart is a shadowed landscape where nothing can grow.

He tells me he could never care for me, and he proves it every day.

He’s destroyed my life.

Tortured me.

And worse…

He’s trained me to beg for his affection.

This prison is a place where sunlight doesn’t reach.

He taught me that hate is born in darkness.

And then he taught me that sometimes love is too.
 

My Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

“And I rise to every one of his challenges, meeting them with determination.  Because I can hear the lies in his voice.  How much he doesn’t want to like it.  It chafes him and it gives me power.”

Isabella Rossi is a pop singer who has lost her passion for singing and is now disillusioned with the music industry and life itself.  She is also worried about her father who is MIA after a mission with the CIA or NSA.  She actually does not know where he was or who he was working with since he left her in the dark about these matters.  One thing she does know and remember is a boy her father had mentioned to her Javier Castillo.  She knows Javier could shed light on what happened to her father if only she could find him.

“She was not made to be fucked by a beast like me.  Beautiful things are not meant to be touched.  But I have touched her anyway.”

Javier Castillo is a tortured and dark soul.  He is a recluse and has but one friend, River, a boy he met while in a sanitarium.  Their friendship has lasted throughout the years for one reason-revenge.  They both have been affected by the actions of Isabella’s father, Ray, but Javier will be the one to settle the score.  He will kidnap and then break Isabella and flaunt it in front of her father.

Will Javier succeed in destroying Isabella’s light?  Or, will Isabella bring light to Javier’s dark world?

This is a very dark read that is told in dual POV.  It is well written and fast paced.  I kept turning the pages so consumed was I in this story.  It is gritty, raw and definitely not for the faint of heart.

A. Zavarelli takes an absolutely dark, ugly, twisted story and makes it beautiful quite seamlessly.  This includes Javier’s transformation as well

This book was psychological warfare.  It made me feel like I went down the rabbit hole and that I was going crazy.  How could I come to love and want to know more of such a manipulating character? 

A.Zavarelli skates the edge in this dark read.  She pushes her characters and readers almost to the breaking point.  I both hated and loved Javier and Isabella’s actions in equal measure.  He was cruel and hateful but also tortured and loveable.  He did wicked things and beautiful things as well.  Isabella seemed at some points like a doormat while at other times, I couldn’t believe how strong and resilient she was.  Throughout the book, I was wondering how I could root for this couple to be together.  This, my friends, is the magic that this author brings to her work.  To be able to create such flawed characters and make us love and understand them is quite the feat.

The only real critique I have is that for me, the author did not completely overshadow my doubts about Stockholm Syndrome between these characters.

This is the first book I have read by this author and it definitely will not be my last.  When all is said and done I loved it.  I loved how the author was not scared to go completely dark and push the boundaries.  I recommend this book to anyone who loves a dark and engrossing read-To anyone who is unafraid to look for the light in the dark.