Sweet Solitude (King's Trace Antiheroes)

**ARC for Honest Review**This dark mafia romance was awesome!!! I read Sweet Surrender (Book 1) and thought it was absolutely amazing. I was excited about dark, haunted Kieran and party-girl Juliet being featured in Sweet Solitude and Sav R. Miller definitely delivered. The character development/arc in this book is incredible. This is a dark romance with broken people in a twisted world and it is beautifully written.Juliet is a scarred heroine and I couldn't help but adore her. She has an awful family history that made my heart hurt for her as she tried to heal from her past (a lifetime of being a victim of family manipulation) and decide what she wanted her future to be/who she **deserved** to be. I loved seeing Caroline again and how she helped Juliet help herself. Juliet was so poignant and reading her positive arc was perfect after rooting for her to believe in herself past the party girl image she'd cultivated.Kieran... omg Kieran was PERFECT. I love a good antihero and Kieran was all that and more. He was just what Juliet needed. Kieran obsessing over Juliet was **hot** and I couldn't get enough!! Their love is DEFINITELY dark though. Not in a bully-I-can't-believe-she-even-likes-him kinda way, but more like a they understand each other's flaws and kinks and sometimes that leads to some steamy dreamy dub con, kind of way lol.Sav R Miller excels at the art of poetic and metaphorical prose. Seriously it blows my mind every time I read it and every page has something extremely quotable that I found myself highlighting to remember because it hit me in the feels. The emotions explored in this book are so deep, powerful, and well-written that even if you haven't experienced anything these characters have (Dear God I hope you have no literal skeletons in your closet 👀) you feel an intimate connection with them and you're wholly invested in their journey.This author just has the "it" factor. If you can't get enough of dark mafia romance with antiheroes who obsess over their strong FMCs you need to do the following asap: first, fall in love with Sweet Surrender, then dive into this masterpiece, finally, do yourself a favor and go ahead and pre-order Sweet Sacrifice.Speaking of Sweet Sacrifice, there's a little teaser at the end in this book! Fiona (Kieran's sister) is a total firecracker, so I can't WAIT to read that one!!!

I love when I read a book where the antihero is doing something to end unjust/inhumane business, and that’s one of the many underlying themes of this book.The prologue begins with Kieran‘s perspective, and he’s listening/watching Juliet desecrating her father’s tombstone with another man (yup- you know how😬). She often goes there and does this, and he always enjoys watching and hearing her do it 😅😬. This is Juliet’s way of seeking revenge for the wrongdoings of her father, which happened in book one. The things that her father did and was involved in was sickening, and Juliet’s constantly battling the death of her father and the abandonment of her mother.Juliet dropped out of school, without telling her older sister, and is unsure of what to do with her life. She goes to a charity event, a masquerade, and suddenly feels the urge to throw up- which is when she encounters Kieran for the first time, with another woman 😒🙄. She doesn’t immediately leave, and then realizes that he’s bigger than her in every way and can easily overpower her. Kieran’s part of Ivers International, a massive cybersecurity empire that’s a front for their dealings in crime organizations- and this dangerous man (nicknamed Doctor Death) has her locket- the locket she treasures, and she wants it back. In order for her to get it, she’s gonna have to do whatever he wants, and he has no qualms about getting what he wants from her 😈.What I liked: possible SPOILERS-The chemistry between Juliet and Kieran. Oh… dear Lord 🔥🥵 these two have a visceral/PRIMAL connection. It might’ve started on Kieran’s part before (since he’s watched her with OM), but once they’re in the same room, holy hell 😅. Kieran wants what he wants, and he’ll do any kind of convincing to get it 🔥🥵 with or without permission 😬. The smexxxy scenes are explosive and diiiirty 💦😉. Although we see Kieran with OW early, once they begin their relationship, he only wants Juliet.-the smexxxy threats Kieran makes. She’s his and no one else’s- unless she wants the other man to die 🤷🏻‍♀️ he’s nicknamed Doctor Death for a reason; don’t tempt him. He gives no Fs. J/P ness 👏🏻💁🏻‍♀️.-what Kieran does behind the scenes. Trafficking is horrible, and I don’t mind the torture for those at fault 💅. Blood may be thicker than water, but it means nothing if you’re part of this horrible crime. He’s a “bad” guy, but I didn’t see him as one 🤷🏻‍♀️. He has a soft heart for a lot of things.-the sense of family unity-Juliet has a loving sister and brother-in-law and Kieran has his family as well. Both have close friends. I love how her BIL pushes her to define her future ❤️-although this is book 2, we get enough information from book one to understand what’s going on. I won’t ever read it since there’s cheating in that one, so I appreciate that I got all the backstory needed.-their love develops over many months- it’s not instant-the angst: I always appreciate when we feel what the characters are going through, and the author’s writing was well done.-the twist 🤯-he calls her KITTEN 🥰and there’s praise kink 😉What I didn’t like/needed more:-the OW scene. *Sigh* why is it always an OW on her knees? 🤦🏻‍♀️ at least we see Juliet with two OM 🤷🏻‍♀️that’s what allowed me to continue-the time jumps- it was hard to keep track, but I appreciate pages not being filled with useless information-the 🍑 to 🐱 scene 😳😳😳 in that order. It was cringy, but not horribleOverall, I enjoyed it despite all the stuff listed in the ⚠️⚠️safety squad⚠️-no cheating/sharing-noncon/dubcon-dark/violence/torture-OM: the h is with 2 OM. The H watches both times 😬. The second time is after they meet-OW: she’s on her kn££s. The h goes into the bathroom to throw up and walks in on them- she doesn’t leave 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️-praise k!nk/breath play/sp@nking/voyeur/exhibitionism-light d@ddy k!nk-breath play-the h is s€xu@llu assaulted/almost r@p€d by a man- the H takes care of him 💅-no c@nd@ms- and the h has been with 2 OM 😬. They don’t really talk about being clean, but come on🙈. Neither have been celibate and her being on the pill doesn’t mean clean.

We met Juliet and Kieran in Sweet Surrender. Juliet has lived in her sister's shadow all of her life. She has always been the party girl, the one with a different man every night. For once, she wanted to feel like she's something special. Kieran, an incredibly dangerous man and rival of the the Montaltos, caught sights of Juliet and claimed that she was his, no matter what.This series is sooooo good. I am so glad to have found this. This one was a lot slower than the first book, but so much more steam. Also, a lot more twist, turns, hidden secrets and truths come to light.**************************************(June 21, 2021)We met Juliet and Kieran in Sweet Surrender. Juliet has lived in her sister's shadow all of her life. She has always been the party girl, the one with a different man every night. For once, she wanted to feel like she's something special. Kieran, an incredibly dangerous man and rival of the the Montaltos, caught sights of Juliet and claimed that she was his, no matter what.This series is sooooo good. I am so glad to have found this. This one was a lot slower than the first book, but so much more steam. Also, a lot more twist, turns, hidden secrets and truths come to light.********************************Re-read 2/12Still remains a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Sweet Solitude is the second book in the King's Trace Antiheroes series. My tastes has changed since the last time I've read this. Let me tell you, the whole "daddy" thing hits differently ths time around. I had forgotten how steamy, suspenseful, and engrossing this book was. Lawd! I totally forgot how sadistic and swoon worthy Daddy Kieran is...and I'm all for it!! 😍🥵

Sweet mother of Mary... who has the holy water because I need a bucket load after reading this!! I know it’s the 1st of Jan but I think Kieran Ivers might just be my top book boyfriend of the year, I just don’t see how anyone will top him?!True to his dark and depraved self throughout the whole book, Kieran shows us why Juliet, so affectionately, refers to him as the Devil. He is trying to fill in his brothers shadow and fix the mess he created, covering up the truth before it ruins the family reputation. Even though Kieran is a dark soul, he would do anything to protect the ones he loves.Juliet has some incredible character progression in this book. She starts off as a mess, literally a mess, she is spiralling and can’t find a way to feel anything. Until she meets the monster with green eyes. She doesn’t know what she needs until Kieran can show her....... and boyyyyy do I want Daddy Kieran to show me too!Sav R. Miller knows how to write a storyline. She knows how to write off-the-charts, sweat-forming-on-your-forehead, I-need-a-cold-shower steam even more!!!!Bring on Boyd’s book! Although I can’t see him stealing Daddy Kierans top spot for me!!

I have never felt so deeply for characters in a book. Never rooted so hard for two people to be together. Even amongst the violence and depraved goings-on, the light still shone in.

Absolutely amazing book, deffo recommend!