Periculum: Unus by Natalie Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ciaran was depravity and darkness I could touch with my hands and taste on my tongue.

W.O.W!!! What did I just read!?!? Jesus Christ, Natalie Bennett completely blew me away with the epically dark and twisted Periculum. From the ominous storyline—you can literally feel tension soaring from one page to the next—to the characters, who were more villain than ‘hero/antihero,’ Periculum sent my mind into a tailspin. Reading for the next several days was a challenge to say the least. I’m fascinated with Lilliana and Ciaran, with the desire to turn their characters inside out, and to understand all the little clues woven into the story. However, I’m going to refrain from discussing the characters in depth in this review as I’m concerned about spoilers, so read on without fear!

I didn’t trust anything or anyone around me… Especially the ocean eyed mystery with the darkened aura that was slowly sucking me in.

Periculum is the first book in her new series, the Devil’s Playground. The story is gritty, heart-poundingly intense and absolutely superb… and this storyline!!!! Holy Shit, this storyline had me in knots the entire time I read. I literally caught myself holding my breath as I read—not to mention completely astonished with each dramatic twist and turn the plot took. Talk about unpredictable! I am more upside-down right now than Alice was when she tumbled down the rabbit hole. Now as I’m waiting for the second book to release, I’m quite sure that I am going to be forcefully reminding myself to breathe because Bennett left readers with an absolutely shocking cliffhanger.

“I’m going to fuck you like the whore you so desperately want to be fucked like and set a precedent no other man will ever be able match.”

Natalie’s writing has long been something I loved, but as dark as some of her previous books have been, I’ve never felt like I was reading a script straight out Hollywood. Yet, Periculum is dark and twisted plot gave off just such a vibe—and to be clear, I literally could not get enough! As a longtime fan of horror classics and new franchises like the Saw or Purge movies, I rarely read an author that has captured my attention in quite the same manner. Natalie Bennett is actually one of the few who authors I’ve found who writes what I’d truly call dark, DARK romance that holds me captive without veering away from romance altogether. I’m dying to do a binge-read of everything on my kindle by Natalie Bennett while I wait for the next book in the Devil’s Playground series! I guarantee if you’re a fan or dark and unconventional romance, you absolutely will not go wrong picking up anything but Natalie Bennett. But next to her The Badlands series, this has cemented her as exceptional in my book and an absolute 5-Star read!!!!!

Quotes:

He fucked me as if his main goal was to rip me in half. I’d never wanted to be broken as much as I did then.

He was a little too twisted. I was well beyond tragic. Sooner or later one of us would poison the other.