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Giana Darling

Book Review: Dead Man Walking by Giana Darling

Book Review: Dead Man Walking by Giana Darling

Jan 1, 2021

Dead Man Walking (The Fallen Men #6) by Giana Darling

Pages: 542
Publish date: 27 December 2020
Publisher: –
ASIN: B08RDSGPV1
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

A killer.
A criminal.
A psychopath.
The Irish enforcer for The Fallen Men MC is everything good girls are taught to stay away from.
Only, I found myself inexorably drawn into his dark gravitational pull. I wanted to know what it would be like to walk beside the human personification of Death and hold his hand, feel his kiss, and maybe even earn his undying love.
But Priest McKenna is older, cold as ice, and notoriously unfeeling.
So what are the odds that a dead man walking would come to life for little, insignificant me?
When a serial killer begins to target the women of Entrance, BC, and The Fallen suffers another terrible blow, Priest resolves to hunt down the killer himself.
And when the murderer sets his eyes on me?
My very own psychopath steps between me and certain death, thrusting us into an intimacy I prayed we would never recover from.

Dead Man Walking:

I received an earc of Dead Man Walking by Giana Darling for review in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book. 

I have a lot of feelings about this book, and even now nearly a week after I’ve finished it. I’m still not sure how I feel. I haven’t read many dark romances. My experience of reading this band of romance is very small. So I don’t have much to compare it to. This isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s dark, questionable and something I would not want to happen in real life. But it’s also intriguing, damning and sexy. It’s a great addition to this series and adds another layer to all the characters. 

As soon as I heard that this was going to be Priests and Bea’s book I was super excited and intrigued. They are such different characters and before this book, we didn’t know too much about them. Priest is very closed off and we only get a few little things about him here and there. And Bea, we might have seen her grow up, but she was a side character for a lot of it. Dead Man Walking follows their journey. The ups and downs. The rough patches. And both of them going through a hell of a lot. At first, they don’t seem like a good pair, but as the novel goes on. It makes sense. 

Photo by Tamas Munkacsi on Unsplash

Priest is a very interesting character. As soon as he was introduced in the series, he caught my eye. And as it went on I wanted to know more about him. Priest likes to kill. He does it and will do it again. And that makes him such a hard character to love. He has had a hard life and it’s turned him into someone that doesn’t feel and when he does it’s mostly angry. But because of all this, it makes him intriguing and I just wanted to keep on reading Dead Man Walking. The reader can see Priest come to not only understand himself, the man that he has become, but those around him too. Priest isn’t for everyone, and there are times where I had to pull myself back as well, but I still wanted to know more. 

Bea was this fantastic mix of sweet and dark. I really enjoyed this side of a female character. We don’t often see it, especially in MC romances. But the reader can see a side of Bea that is dark and dangerous even. But then there is this sweet side that shines through. She is the sunshine in their group and I loved that. And as Dead Man Walking goes on and things intensify Bea grows and the reader can see her both stand-up for herself and for Priest. 

The romance had its ups and downs for me. I think that there was so much chemistry between Bea and Priest that it jumped off the page. I liked seeing them become comfortable with one another and break those walls downs. Priest walls were built over many years and even being part of The Fallen Men didn’t break those. But Bea slowly but surely picked at them and broke it down little piece, by little piece. Like I said before I don’t read many dark romances, and their romance was not conventional. There were a few times that I have to pull myself out and just take a break. But I didn’t hate it either. 

Photo by Valerie Elash on Unsplash

The plot for Dead Man Walking was so intriguing and interesting. Like the rest of the book, it was dark and dangerous and kept me hooked. It was so interesting and at first, I didn’t know what to think of it. But as the book went on everything fell into place and just made sense. Dead Man Walking was intense. There were so many moments that were fast-paced and kept ongoing. I have found that a lot in MC books and I think it’s a fantastic mark of it.

Giana Darling did such a fantastic job in Dead Man Walking. She had two very different characters and she was able to make them both interesting, intriguing and real. The MC world in books isn’t always. There is a fine like and this dabbled in the dark side. 

Photo by Max Muselmann on Unsplash 

Overall, I have a lot of feelings about Dead Man Walking by Giana Darling. This book isn’t for the faint-hearted. Well, none of this series is. But while the series started off somewhat light, as the books went on things got much darker. And Dead Man Walking is dark. Priest is not an easy protagonist to get along with. He isn’t someone that you can fall in love with immediately or at all really. But that made for such an interesting combination, with Bea. Dead Man Walking explores the notion of darkness and light, of good and bad. And the grey in between. If you like you dark and even sadistic romances, then this one is for you. 

Have you read Dead Man Walking by Giana Darling yet? What did you think? Have you read any of The Fallen Men Books. You can check out my review of the first four books in the series as well as Inked in Lies for more. 

Author Interview: Giana Darling | Romance Thursdays

Author Interview: Giana Darling | Romance Thursdays

Sep 24, 2020

 

A few months ago, I spoke about the stigma and reading genre, especially regarding the romance genre. And while writing that post and thinking about it after I wanted to spotlight romance authors to highlight how amazing the romance writing community is. I’m excited to share this new feature with you all. 

So, I decided to make a new feature on Angel Reads called Romance Thursdays. Each week I’m will be interviewing a different romance author from across subgenres as well as both traditionally and self-published. I want to share their experience writing romance and why they love it so much. While also focusing on their writing and books. I just want it to be a celebration of romance novels. 

To start Romance Thursdays we have Giana Darling. I discovered Giana earlier this year and immediacy jumped into her The Fallen Men series. And I feel in love, I have a series review for the first 4 books, and you can also check out my review on her most recent released Inked In Lies. Enough of this, let’s get into the interview. 

Giana Darling is the author of The Fallen Men series, The Evolution of Sin trilogy, The Enslaved duet and more.

Hi Giana, and welcome to Angel Reads. For those that haven’t read anything by you yet. Tell us a little about yourself and your books? 

I am a Canadian romance author who specializes in the angsty and forbidden side of love. Age gaps, taboo relationships, and questionable morality are a few of my favourite themes to explore in my writing. I live on the west coast with my man and my cat, Persephone. 

Why did you start writing romance novels? Is there anything in particular that drew you to it over other genres? 

I’ve been a voracious reader my entire life and started creative writing when I was eight years old so I love many genres. The reason I choice romance was because at the heart of all of my favourite books across different genres was an epic love story. I realized that love was such a complex theme I could delight in writing about it endlessly.

You write a range of romances, but you do tend to stick to darker themes. Why do you like writing these types of romances? 

Such a great question. For me, it isn’t about loving dark themes necessarily. Instead, I’m to situations that stress the human psyche, that force us to question what we would do ourselves in extreme circumstances. Love stops for no one, it crosses societal boundaries, age gaps, even our own expectations. I love to write about what happens when love grows where it shouldn’t.  

What is your favourite thing about romance as a genre? Why do you like reading and writing it? 

I love that romance has so many subgenres, so much room to explore other themes. A love story can be dark, funny, pure, sexy, kinky, quirky…all of these many things that are so different, but at the end of the day, it’s still a tale about two (or more!) people falling in love. As they say, no two love stories are alike. I have about sixty ideas for future books and that list grows every day. I love the limitless options. 

What are some of your favourite tropes that you like reading and writing in the romance genre? 

I love reading and writing age gaps, forbidden romances, menage romances (MMF and MFF), and MM romances. Anything that crosses boundaries and forces me to think while I read.

Who are some of your favourite romance authors? Who inspired you to write? 

I love so many that this is by no means an exhaustive list: Ella Fields, LJ Shen, Lauren Gilley, CD Reiss, Kristen Ashley, Kennedy Ryan, and Penelope Douglas. I wouldn’t say anyone inspired me to write, it was just a compulsion I had from a very young age.  

What are some of the ways that you think we can start overcoming the stigma of romance novels?  

I have to say, I hate the stigma. What is wrong about love? What’s even wrong about sex? Both are natural and central forms of human expression. It’s no wonder the romance book industry is a billion-dollar one, people love to love. I think openly talking about romance novels, reading them and writing them, without shame outside of our communities is important. I think smartbooks in the genre are important too, to show that it is and can be intelligent too. Kennedy Ryan and Penelope Reid do a marvellous job of this. 

Do you currently have any books in the works? Is there anything that you are looking forward to writing, but haven’t started yet? Is there something different that you want to try writing?

I am currently writing a mafia duet that I am totally in love with. It’s a new trope for me and I’ve been doing lots of research to make sure it’s authentic. I’m extremely excited to write my first MMF series in the first half of 2021 too!  

Thank you so much for coming by Angel Reads. It was lovely having you here. And I can’t wait to read more of your books! 

And that is it for this week’s Romance Thursdays. I’m so excited to share this romance adventure with you all. It’s going to be fantastic. If there is an author that you would like to see featured here, please do let me know and I will try my best. If you are a romance author and would like to be apart of Romance Thursdays, don’t hesitate to message me. 

Have you read anything from Giana Darling before? What did you think of it? Are you excited for more Romance Thursday posts? Let’s Chat! 

About The Author

Giana Darling is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Top 40 Amazon Best Selling Canadian romance writer who specializes in the taboo and angsty side of love and romance. She currently lives in beautiful British Columbia where she spends time riding on the back of her man’s bike, baking pies, and reading snuggled up with her cat Persephone.

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads

Book Review: Inked In Lies by Giana Darling

Book Review: Inked In Lies by Giana Darling

Aug 5, 2020


Inked in Lies (The Fallen Men #5) by Giana Darling

Pages: 474
Publish date: July 31st 2020
Publisher: –
ISBN: 9781774440087
Purchase:  Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU 

He moved in next door.
Handsome as sin, older in a way that meant forbidden.
He had tattoos on his hands and wickedness tucked in his grin.
I was a goner as girl to a man they called Casanova for a reason. He would never love me, at least not the way I needed him to.
I tried to move on. But I couldn’t turn my back on him or The Fallen MC.
So when they needed me most, I offered the only thing of value I could use to help them.
My body.
And when helping them meant putting my life on the line, Nova had to decide just how much he was willing to do to get me out alive.

Inked in Lies:

As soon as I finished the last book in this series a couple of months ago, Inked In Lies jumped up high on my most anticipated list. And you know what, I’m not disappointed. There was some aspect that I didn’t particularly like, but overall I really enjoyed reading Inked In Lies. You can check out my series review of the rest of The Fallen Men Series now. 

Inked In Lies by Giana Darling follows Lila and Nova as they grow up, go through heartbreak, death, and falling in and out of love. When Nova, known as Johnathon move in across the road from Lila and her family both of their lives change forever. Through the years Lila and Nova grow closer together and both go through heartbreak. But they also drift apart. And when trouble falls upon The Fallen Men things are about to get even more dangerous.  

Photo by Yousef Espanioly on Unsplash

Lila was such a fantastic female protagonist. I loved getting to know more and more about her. The reader knows both protagonists pretty well. But we get to see their stories now. Lila was a real pleasure to read, I loved that she didn’t take anything from anyone and just did what she wanted to. I liked that she was strong and even though she had been through hell she made a life for her own. One of the things that I loved most about Lila in Inked In Lies is the fact that we get to see her grow, her character arc was fantastic. 

Nova was interesting that is for sure. There were times where I loved him and times where I wanted to wring this neck. The reader is able to see that Nova is holding his feelings back for Lila and while it does this, he does hurt her. But we also know that he also cares about her so much. From the previous books, we already have this image of Nova, but it goes into his life at a deeper level. Nova is a charmer for sure. Darling is able to write him in a way that he isn’t always a pain in the ass. 

The romance had many ups and downs. For the most part, I loved Lila and Nova together. I loved that we get to see them from the start. We get to see them meet each other, know each, care for one another. And then we get to see Lila fall in love. But we also see her go through heartbreak, most of it to do with Nova. Lila and Nova are pretty fantastic together. The interactions between these two were pretty great. The dynamics between the two were just so good.

Photo by Lucas Lenzi on Unsplash

I normally don’t love when books time jump, but I think it played it’s part so well in Inked In Lies. The reader is not only able to see the progression in Lila and Nova’s relationship but also see how their lives played out. Giana Darling was able to write the time jumps well. I do wish at the start of each time jump we were told a little about what time we were jumping to. A year or even how many years passed. After reading a little bit, I was able to make that distinction. 

One of the things that made me smile in Inked In Lies was seeing Nova’s family. They just squeezed my heart. And I wish that we were able to see more of them. I adored how much they supported not only Nova and their boys. But Lila and her brother Dane as well. 

I also wish we got to see more to do with tattooing. I love my tattoo’s and I was expecting to see more of it throughout the book and it wasn’t all there. 

Another thing that I loved is that we got to see so many characters that we know and love from previous books in the series. But that means we also have to go through the heartbreak again. Oh gosh, that did hurt. I loved that we got to see The Fallen Men in action. Both when they were younger and when we know them from the current books. I can’t wait to see what happens next with these bad boys. 

Photo by Stas Svechnikov on Unsplash

Overall, I loved reading Inked In Lies by Giana Darling. It was a great addition to The Fallen Men series. Lila and Nova were fantastic together. I love seeing their relationship build slowly over the years. At times it was messy and complicated. But the reader can see right from the start how much they care for one another. It’s the most different from the other ones in the series but that was a nice change in pace. I can’t wait to see whose book is next. Things are started to heat up and I can’t wait for more. 

Have you read Inked In Lies by Giana Darling yet? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading this series? Let’s Chat! 

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Yeah, this is what I wanted. I really enjoyed Vict Yeah, this is what I wanted. I really enjoyed Victoria Wilder’s Bourbon Boys series, and as soon as I heard she was writing a new series, around whiskey and women. Well, hell year. It took me a little bit to get into the book, but after a few chapters, I was hooked. 

Wyn is hiding, hiding from everyone, even when she is there. She is hiding behind so much, and damn, I don’t blame her. We don’t know everything from the start, but we start piecing things together, and my heart broke. And I was terrified for her. But she is a Crowne woman, and that means something. 

We’ve met Julian before, and while he intrigued me before, I am invested now. He is charming, secretive in the best way and will do anything at this point for Wyn. But he is also lost, and somehow he finds his way to Rumour and back into Wyn’s life. 

The romance is hot and steamy and everything that you want. The tension and chemistry in this one is high. Neither Wyn nor Julian wants to really give in or give up on one another, but a lot is standing in their way, honestly, mainly themselves. I just sat there giggling half the time because they are swoon-worthy. 

I would say this is the darkest Victoria Wilder book I’ve read, so double-check those trigger warnings before jumping in because there is a lot that happens. And I don’t think it’s going to die down any time soon because these Crowne women are badass, and I know things are only just getting started. 

Overall, Rumors & Whiskey is hot and sexual. The tension is dripping off the page, and then you are thrown into the terror and horrors of Rumour. You don’t know what is going to happen next, you don’t know who to trust, and there are so many more secrets that have yet to be revealed. I know I am ready for more. Are you?

Thank you to @atriabooksaus for an earc of Rumors & Whiskey 🥃. I’m in love.

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #bookreview
March was a better reading month than February for March was a better reading month than February for me, and while I’m still stuck in my heated rivalry fanfiction era I managed to scrap out of it a little this month. 

I reread four books from the sweet omegaverse series and honestly had the best time. I also read two of my most anticipated reads of the year and had a blast. Sadly I did also have my first dnf of the year.

What did you read this March? Any standouts? What are you looking forward to reading in April? Let’s chat! 
🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #marchwrapup
I have a love-hate relationship with this series. I have a love-hate relationship with this series. But I ended up really enjoying this one. It’s best friends to fake dating to-lovers. It’s always been you, bad-boy/good-girl, and I loved that. While Save Your Breath has quite a few tropes, it really leads itself to it, and it works. 

Aleks and Mia have known each other for years now. Since they were teenagers, that angst has been building up this whole time. And you can tell right from the get-go, it’s fantastic. I even wanted more of it, because I love pain. When Aleks went to live with Mia’s family as a teenager, sparks flew, but for many reasons, they both put their feelings aside. And well, now they are not only going to be fake-dating, but they might as well be engaged, too. 

I really enjoyed seeing how both Aleks and Mia both tried to hide how they were feeling throughout the whole ‘fake-dating’ situation, but anyone could see it. They know each other as no one else does. Aleks has a lot going on, and while I do think this was brushed over a little too much, Mia is his centre. Mia is a massive music star and is a female in the industry, so yeah, people don’t respect her. Obvsiouly because why couldn’t a female star be badass and write about the things that she has gone through? Aleks and Mia get each other, and that is very clear from the start; they are both just trying to squash everything. We get to see them slowly start to show how they feel, and well, one night it all explodes. 

Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot; it’s not my favourite of the series, but I had a great time reading it. I liked Aleks and Mia a lot as characeters and while I think the mental health aspect could have been explored a whole lot more, I can see why it wasn’t. The romance was slow and spicy, the angst was great, and the payoff for these two was what they needed. 

Tropes
🏒Sports/Hockey Romance
🎤Fake Dating/Engagement
🏒Childhood Friends to Lovers
🎤Forced Proximity
🏒Athlete x Pop Star 
🎤Angsty Slow Burn 

Content Warnings
Mental Health Struggles 
Suicide Intention 
Family Deaths 
Alcohol Consumption
Violence on Ice

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #bookreview
Well February wasn’t the best reading month. I onl Well February wasn’t the best reading month. I only ended up reading 3 books in. 3 pretty fun books but one of my slowest readings months in a while. 

And I’m going to be honest here it’s because I’ve been constantly reading Heated Rivalry fanfics. 🤷‍♀️ I’m having the best time though. 

How was your reading in February? Any 5  star reads? 

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #februarywrapup
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