Venom & Lace by Dani Antoinette is a well-paced, spicy read. One thing that I truly loved and enjoyed about this book is the protagonist Nova La Roux. The author successfully creates a character who has a good head on her shoulder, daring, bold and rational. The banter and humour of this character made me smile and cheer for her on numerous occasions. How the two male characters grunt and disparage each other is akin to the drama unfolding at a high school playground. It is a lot of he/said...he/said that made elements of this book unnecessarily convoluted, and it painfully dragged on. Additionally, I feel that the benefit of the doubt and preference was placed on one character, and the other did not have a fighting chance. The ending was great as it entices readers to watch out for book two, but I'm now on the fence about discovering what happens next.

Thank you, NetGalley & Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, for giving me an ARC. This honest review is left voluntarily.

Okay but why did I not read that little thing on the bottom of the cover saying book 1?! Gosh as I was getting to the end there was just pure panic as I realised not all of that could be resolved in a handful of pages.

Sigh... now I have to wait... impatiently that is... because I need to know what happens next. Like need it like I need oxygen. Dani Antoinette did amazing with this I was swooping left and right not sure with guy I wanted her to be with. At a certain point I put all my chips in with a certain masked man 😍 who, I honestly thought was going to be someone else. The twists kept me on my toes! I LOVE that!

Loved the characters! Even loved the characters I hated... certain manipulative asshole and bitch sister... that's when you know it's good. You even love the people you imagine terrible things happening to because of their evil-ness

I got an ARC and I'm so thankful but now I'm so depressed I have to wait so long for the next one! 😭😭😭

Excuse me while I go cry

But 5 stars. The pain is so good 😂😭

I was really confused throughout the first maybeeee quarter to half of the book… but then I realized that that was most DEFINITELY the angle the author was aiming for. you have the billionaire who is quite literally a hunk of a man who can’t quite decide if he’s going to be cold and guarded or if he is going to be sweet and gentle- confusing right? ugh. men. jk! then you have the fmc who obviously is falling for this guy (like who wouldn’t) and then there’s the “enemy” who is even more hunk of a man…. and then backstories are introduced and everything just clicks. all that confusion, all those questions- they all of a sudden have answers. and then…. they didn’t. this was the craziest story. The ending…. oh dear lord. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one sitting. This book captured my attention and held it throughout the entire length of the book. The only thing I would have liked to see differently in the book was its length. I would have LOVVEEDD to get more backstory on each of the characters in a longer book, but then again this was written in first person and we are only meant to know as much as our main character knew… only adding to the angst! miss antoinette… please, PLEASE release the next one!

What initially drew me into this book was it's smoulderingly gorgeous cover art. And once I got inside, what a wild ride this was! This story follows our FMC, Nova La Roux who is the co-owner of a successful online sexual wellness business. She finds herself entering into a fake engagement-of-convenience with billionaire real estate mogul, Ryzen Goodacre. But everything might not be as it appears and things are further complicated when she gets tangled up with Ryzen's longtime rival and ex-business partner, Cian Blackwood.

I picked this up because I was looking for a palate cleanser after reading a high fantasy series and this delivered on all fronts - I finished it in two days. This book was full of twists and turns - it had me constantly wondering who I could trust and what would happen next. I KNEW going in that it ended on a cliff-hanger, but I was STILL mad about it when it left me wanting more - which, let me tell you, just means the author did her job!! I can't wait to read the second book when it is released (and if it was already out now, I would have dove straight in head first).

AND - this book is available on KU so… hop to it!

Tropes:
- Fake Engagement/Engagement-of-Convenience
- Forbidden Romance
- Billionaire Romance
- Enemies-to-Lovers
- Slow Burn

You might enjoy this if you also enjoyed:
- The Dreamland Billionaires Series by Lauren Asher
- Monsters & Muses Series by Sav R. Miller

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Victory Editing, and author Dani Antoinette for the early ARC copy of this book! Reviewed on Goodreads (linked below), Amazon, and full review video also coming soon to my TikTok account, @promisevideo.

Holy Yikes!!! Billionaire and pretend relationship, this was so good!

Major cliff hanger at the end!

I also really love enemies to lovers and this was just really good!

I really enjoyed this book, it definitely felt a little rushed at times. Though i really enjoyed the story line and characters. Need book 2 now after that ending.

The book had a very promising start, but as it progresses things started to feel rushed. I will have to read the next book, though because I do need to know what happens.

I do enjoy the fact that I still don’t know who to trust and that the author had me rooting for one man and then rooting for the other one in the next one.

The female friendship is also written quite well.

I absolutely loved this book! I read it in one sitting and stayed up far too late because of it. The author’s writing draws you into the characters’ drama and emotions. I love experiencing the main character’s thoughts as she is trying to figure out who to trust.

I really enjoyed this! 😍 Going into this blindly, I am not disappointed at all. I absolutely loved the main character cause gosh, I want to be her! The twists and turns this book has, really got to me because I did not see that coming goodness gracious. The pace in this book was fast, and world building was intriguing. Looking forward to the second book hehe 🌟

R. U. KIDDING. ME?
This book had me hooked since the first chapter.
Throughout the book, I didn’t know who to trust, there was so many manipulations, one person blaming the other, lies after lies.
It will make you question every single character. This is freaking GOLD. I need the second book.

Nova is owner of a sexual wellness company, who sells sex toys, and on the way to her new apartment, she bumps into a hot guy, Ryzen, in the elevator who turns out to be the richest real state developer in Chicago, they are photographed together and he takes advantage of that to close a deal he’s looking forward to, and proposes to Nova to be his fake fiancée for 4 months. But… she did not intended to be caught on this mess and falling for the archenemies of his, Cian.

Oh boy, does this Cian know how to make a woman crave something she never had. I was in love with him since day one, when he appeared while she was shopping.

This book. God. AMAZING.
I ate this book up.

Will post a review on my instagram the beginning of next week.

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!! Thank you so much for sending me this ARC, my full review will be up on my instagram soon @ the.moon.also.reads

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

Billionaire Romance with fake fiancés, enemies to lovers, slow burn with mucho spice and plot 💋 (chef’s kiss)!

I couldn’t put it down once I started. The story is fantastic with rough and tumble men that could melt panties with every word and a woman who is smart and sassy but still somehow gets caught in a web of deception. Twist and turns and a cliffhanger ending.

Can’t wait for the rest of the series. Publish date March 13th 2023

Thank you NetGalley for this wonderful ARC

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75531000
TikTok: @flintreads
Amazon Review

Oh my gosh. I never expected to get so invested in Nova's story because billionaires aren't normally something I get into, but WOW. Just Wow. I was so into it I immediately thought "I can't wait to read the next one." I LOVE LOVE LOVE the badass fun, confident women in this story! The men are drool inducing, the burn is slow and the story is compelling.

A very hot and spicy read! Lots of twists and turns, I’ve finished still wondering who the bad guy is! Story line is a little cheesy, but I definitely want to read book 2.

a book that starts with close quarters and a suitcase full of vibrators. Let’s just say I’m primed for a good read.

This book was a fun and mysterious twist on an engagement of convenience trope that I generally like. The book had great twists along the way and really has you trying to untangle the truth along with the main character. A nice balance of spice and plot in my opinion. I really enjoyed the read but the end felt a bit rushed and convoluted. I’m hooked enough and enjoy the authors style that I’ll be keeping my eye out for book 2.
Also, any idea where I can find the toy used in chapter 17? Asking for a “friend”. ;)

This book was entertaining and keeps a reader guessing as to who really is the antagonist, took me about a day to complete it. I enjoyed the character's romantic escapades as well as the general storyline. The only thing that prevented true immersion was the somewhat juvenile writing in the book, phrases being repeated and lack of elaborate or eloquent word-choices. The story follows a young woman who is blackmailed into faking an engagement with a billionaire master manipulator and the constant back and forth guessing game of whether or not he or another mysterious masked stranger is the villain out to get her. The ending of the book is in fact a cliffhanger, to be honest I wasn't all that hooked into the character to bother with the sequel unfortunately.

OH MY WOW , This was outstanding 🤌🏻 I finished this book in one sitting being that it was impossible for me to put down!
The writing , the spice , and the plot were pure perfection! ❤️‍🔥

I am thankful that I was able to receive an ARC copy from NetGalley!

I really commend the author writing that this book ends on a cliffhanger - i don’t think I’ve ever seen an author do that before.
Ireally loved the first 40-50% of this book…. Beyond that though it was almost painful to finish. I’ve come to discover that personally, i don’t enjoy dark romance series very much. Mostly because of pacing. If you’re someone who likes constant back and forth plots this is a really great book to read. A lot of unpredictable things happen that kept me on my toes for a decent part of the book.

So I rate books based on the vibes I feel when reading it…. and in the first half of this book the vibes were *immaculate*; however, once I got to about chapter 9 or so, it was like unnecessary drama was constantly being inserted just to further the plot. There was just too much going on and I ended up DNFing at 80% because I literally just could not do it anymore. It was seriously one thing after another and personally it was not the story for me. The pacing is back and forth, the main character becomes almost unlikably insecure when her whole brand is being a strong sure woman.

It has a lot of potential and a lot of likable parts/tropes happening… too much was happening for me to enjoy it fully though

Thanks to the author and netgalley for arc copy. I was intrigued because this is an enemies to lovers story. Did not disappoint! Read the book within 24 hours. I thought I knew where things were going, so some of the plot twists were great. Okay, but the ending?! Way to end, I want a second book now!!! Can't wait to see what happens next in the series.