Love the story. Not my usual cup of tea, but it was surprisingly delightful. Recommended if you are a fan of Shiloh, or crime romance.

This was in my Top ’19 List and for good reason! I swear, when a book that’s all sorts of wrong for you makes you feel so good while reading it, it deserves all the praise in the world!

Spectre is a special kind of assassin – the kind that is hard to find and hire and even harder to survive meeting (if you’re the target). When he’s hired to take care of a cop’s sister, he finds himself not able to resist her blunt charm and honesty. The wolfhound is becoming a tame wolf guardian – and Tia is not even aware of it, as she has her own issues to deal with, on top of being kidnapped and having to run for her life…

OK, first of all, fuck! Spectre and Tia were everything a lead couple should be and even more. Realistic, full of flaws, humane. He was abused – judging from his reactions when he met Sarge – and she had Asperger’s, and my heart broke for both of them. Not out of pity, but for the way they were treated by those around them. Save for Sarge and Mac, the world just wasn’t good enough for these two characters. It was just… not enough. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Both Spectre and Tia were pure, wonderful chaos. They didn’t know how to deal with people and emotions. And instead of it making things worse, it actually worked for them. They were both figuring it out as the story progressed, and they GOT each other on a level not even their loved ones did – I think that’s why Mac agreed to Spectre’s plan in the end and tried to come to terms with his sister’s choice in a partner. (Btw, I share the same views with Meric on the subject of criminals, so, go Spectre!)

The pace was fast. The love scenes were hot – good Lord, dirty talker Spetre nearly destroyed my ovaries! -, and the plot was intriguing. I honestly can’t find a single flaw – and to elaborate a bit on the matter of the book being “all sorts of wrong” for me, I was referring to quite a few of my pet peeves that make their appearance in the story (I’m not telling which, so as not to spoil you). And instead of being grossed out and leaving the book be, the writer managed to keep me interested and convinced me, via her amazing talent and brilliant characters, to stay put and finish it, something which I don’t regret a single bit!

I recommend this book soooo hard, you wouldn’t even believe it! It has everything a book of its genre should have, and it’s a must for every self-respecting reader’s library!

***I was given an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinion stated in this review is solely mine, and no compensation was given or taken to alter it.***

A dark romance with an assassin hero and a heroine with Aspergers, this is a quick, steamy romance with a real, imperfect couple who have to work through extraordinary circumstances to be together. For fans of Netflix’s Jessica Jones and J.R. Ward’s scary men and tough women.

Thanks for the chance to read! I would recommend this and would read more from this author in the future.

3.5 🌟
I don't know why but I think I was expecting a bit of a paranormal story with this book by the description so I was surprised when I started to find that it wasn't as I thought.
I found this book took a while to get into as there is a bit of character intro and prologue etc before you get to the start.
The story follows spectre who is hired to carry out a hit on Tia as payback against something her brother did. Spectre doesn't want to fulfill the job so kidnaps her instead to keep her safe and then plans his own revenge.
Its quite a dark and a very erotic read.
I found it an enjoyable read but it took me a while to get into it

I have had this book for several months, and I kept skipping over it, thinking I had to be in the right frame of mind to read a dark storyline. I have read so many mediocre stories while a diamond in the rough was languishing in my unread pile. While this has some darkness to it, the hero is a hired assassin who kidnaps the heroine, it isn't a dark read. It is heavy on the erotica, some bondage and anal play, but everything between the two is explicitly consensual. The hero is very anti-sex abuse for some reasons that are hinted at. 

I also enjoy a story where one of the main characters is autistic. in this case, its Tia, our heroine, who has Asberger's a milder form of autism. Tia's condition is very well done, it is a part of who she is but is not all that she is. in fact it is because of her bluntness and lack of filter that our hero falls for her. 

This book isn't for the faint of heart; it is explicit and has a dark subject matter, but it is a fantastic read. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes a different kind of love story.  

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wasn’t even a man when I took a life for the first time, although you couldn’t say I was a child. If I’d ever had a childhood, it hadn’t lasted long. My father, may he rot in hell, had seen to that. I took his life as well and that, too, happened before I was old enough to be considered a grown man. I never regretted it for a second. That path almost led to my own grave, and would have, if I hadn’t stumbled across somebody who was as different from my father as day was from night. Sarge had seen the monster lurking inside, so he took control, gave me guidelines, rules, so I wouldn’t be the monster my father had planned. It worked. I restrained the worst of my rage and honed the skills that had been drilled into me—theft, stealth… assassination. The broken child ceased to exist and I became Spectre, an assassin spoken of in whispers, hired to take out the worst of humanity. Then I was sent to kill her…and my world came to a screeching halt.
This book had me from the first page. My heart broke for Spectre right from the beginning. I loved following both him and Tia as he fights to save her. I really loved both characters. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Spectre is some of Shiloh Walkers best work! I seriously couldn’t put this down. Definitely a must read, and a book I’m sure I will be rereading in the future!

It was a good read. I like the storyline and how it was laid out. The characters were great especially the fact that one is autistic. Haven't read a story like this before.

I was totally intrigued by the idea of an assassin falling for and saving his intended victim. This was a good, solid book.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the main heroine an African America women was teaching children with Asperger. And the fact that she had it as well. I like how the author explained what it was and how she was able to function and learn to interact with the world. I enjoy that she did not try to change herself. I also like that the author wrote a disclaimer at the beginning of the book explain that it would have kidnapping and violence. The sex was hot and the I was ok with the violence. I really enjoyed this book.

Contemporary romance is not my thing. Not at all. But the synopsis on this made me really want to check it out. And yeah, I was bored sometimes with mundane things that went on, but overall I thought this was really good. And occasionally really hot.

I just loved Spectre (Meric). His father was a monster that was raising him to be one as well. Up until the point that Meric killed him anyway. Taken in a complete stranger, Meric still grows up to be an assassin but now he's one with a code. I enjoyed his complete detachment from emotions and how nothing bothered him if it meant completing his mission. He thinks himself a complete monster, but he was actually more decent to some people than ones who don't go around killing people. He is one of the best at his chosen profession, so good in fact, that that's how he earned the name Spectre. His most recent job comes from a truly evil man. Before accepting though, he wants to check out the mark. And when he does, he immediately knows he won't be accepting.

I was okay with Tia. She was a lot like me in many ways, so honestly how everything came back to her having Aspergers pissed me off. I have a hard time understanding emotions, connecting to people, and a lot of other things she did. Difference is, I'm not going to label me like she did like it's an excuse. Anyway. Her brother locked up the brother of the guy that wants her killed. Her brother is definitely worried about her, but she mostly thinks that she has nothing to worry about. Just in case, she decides to get a dog.

When Spectre refuses the job, he knows somebody else will be sent for Tia. Her innocence in this case and something else about her, causes him to want to protect her. And the only way he knows how to do that is to kidnap her and kill the bad guys. A good portion of the book is them on the road with Tia trying to figure out where she should stand with the guy that kidnapped her and drugged her dog. Oddly enough, it's the fact that he brought her dog with them and takes care of it that pushes her more into believing he won't hurt her. And once they get to his cabin she pushes his buttons and finds that she actually desires the dominance he has over her. These two only spent a few weeks together, but they really seemed to go together pretty well. Both of them have complicated emotional issues, but somehow they work.

I had guessed that at some point Meric would try to give up his lifestyle for Tia, but I'll admit I was hoping he wouldn't. I don't really love it when the guys always change for girl. And with his adamant attitude that he wouldn't do it, I was kind of hoping they'd figure out some other way to be together. But in the end, Meric just shows how good of a guy he really is by even going to Tia's brother. Of course, that was after taking care of a few things first. The ending was pretty predictable, but it wan't bad because of that.

I wanted to like this book bc I really liked the characters. Meric and Tia are people worth rooting for and I felt they were well drawn and relatable. I also appreciate that in spite of their backgrounds the story did not meander into overly dark territory.

But I’ve got some issues. First I don’t feel Tia’s ASD was part of her character. She refers to it a lot, but she behaved in a very neurotypical way. Maybe that’s cold and unfair bc every aspy is different, but honestly it felt like the author made Tia autistic bc of the success of recent best selling romance novels, not bc it was intrinsic to the character.

Second the flow was confusing. The last third of the book was mired in details about revenge killings and realizations by secondary characters. I was very lost through much of it and almost gave up altogether- in fact I skimmed through quite a bit bc it just didn’t make sense. If that could be cleaned up it would be a great suspense read.

Dark, thrilling and oh so sexy!!! A hot and heavy read that has great characters and a nice story behind it.

Spectre starts out with a crummy hand in the childhood and family department. I really felt for this kid who was raised by a sick man. He runs away and finds himself with Sarge, a man who saved him. We don't get to see near enough of their life together but Sarge stopped Spectre from becoming the monster his father had wanted him to be. Spectre is now all grown up and is a hired assassin. He's contacted to kill Tia so he watches her and learns about her but he knows that she's an innocent bystander, just a way for the guy who's trying to hire him to get back at her brother. He might be a hired killer but he isn't completely without morals so he kidnaps her to save her life. Meric/Spectre is an intense. dark, lethal assassin but he also shows another side of himself which made this book so fun to read

Tia has Aspergers and teaches an art class for kids who also have it. Her brother is a cop who put away the brother of a really bad guy and now he's coming after Tia to send a message to her brother. When Tia's brother tells her that she might be in danger, she doesn't think so because almost no one even knows of her. But when Spectre tries to kidnap her she fights tooth and nail to get away from him at first. It's later that she realizes that while he's a hired killer, he might be telling her the truth about not taking her to the bad guy.

When I read the blurb for this and saw that he had a 'monster' inside him that he kept caged, I instantly thought that he was some kind of shifter, vampire, or other type of monster. It never occurred to me that he meant he was just a plain old human that just wanted to kill people sometimes. LOL

I don't blame the author for the misunderstanding though, I just have shifters or vampires on the brain from all the paranormal romance I read. So imagine my surprise when I started reading this and could not put it down! It's a good thing I started this in the morning because I would have gladly stayed up most of the night to finish this book. It was impossible to put down. I was completely and thoroughly absorbed in this story and really wanted to know what would happen next. There were a few really good twists or turns that I wouldn't have thought this story would go.

Because Tia has Aspergers, she is different and reacts differently than he expects her to in some situations. She surprises him and once they are stuck together for a while getting to know one another, she makes him feel things that he never thought he would. With her, he can actually see a future that doesn't involve him being hired to kill people. I didn't know how that was going to work out or how this would end but when people want to change, they make it work. The characters in this story are different from most other romances that I've read. This isn't a touchy feely type romance at all, except for how these two feel about each other. But make no mistake, this is a dark, erotic read full of characters who would kill for the right reasons.

This book ended up surprising me in a good way. I highly recommend this book.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book via NetGalley but all opinions and thoughts are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Spectre by Shiloh Walker in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t ready to handle these two knuckleheads, nor was I prepared for their individual stories, but that's what I got when I asked for a copy of it.

We read about two great characters. The author does a fantastic job to portray their emotions and needs. You can see they’re very loved by the author. I’m very grateful to have had the chance to read it.

I endlessly rec this book!


Content Warning: Kidnapping, guns, sexual intercourse, death of characters, mention of death and blood

Whew - this book was good. A little insta-lovey, but all in all a good story. The descriptions of the characters could be a little more complete. I'm curious to see if Meric and Tia go from here.

3.5 stars

Spectre was a really enjoyable read from this new to me author. While I expected erotic I was definitely surprised by the story. Spectre and Tia were two unique people who made an awesome couple. Their intimate scenes were smoking hot and their ability to see past what others saw was very heartwarming. I would definitely read more books by this author.

A dark, erotic romance, Spectre bring us Meric Bach aka Spectre a killer for hire and his marl Tia Bailey. Not for the faint at heart, Spectre is a gritty story, I enjoyed the premise and the characters and look forward to reading more by this fabulous author

Spectre was a fantastic book, it was dark and emotionally gut-wrenching at times, but surprisingly I found myself smiling and chuckling too. Both Spectre and Tia were fascinating characters. Spectre is the assassin with a horrendous childhood, but he is not the complete monster that he portrays himself to be. Tia has Asperger’s, she knows she is different but is living as much of a normal life as she can. She has a fulfilling job providing art therapy for children on the autism spectrum. It was awesome how these two were able to find love.

They definitely did not have the conventional start to a relationship for sure, there are mentions of Stockholm Syndrome a few times, but as you read their story you can’t help but root for them.
There are people who want Tia dead, she has a very overprotective brother who happens to be a cop and Spectre is a hired killer. Trying to imagine how these two can be together was definitely what kept me reading on.

I loved this book so much, the storyline was awesome, the chemistry was off the charts hot and all the characters were fantastic. A 5-star read!

Thank you Netgalley and INscribe Digital for the complimentary copy of Spectre. All opinions are my own.