My Blade, Your Back (Dark Forces #2)

There could be endless versions of you,
and I’d love each one as fervently and entirely.

Available at Amazon.com

My Blade, Your Back
K.M. Moronova
Dark Forces, book two
ebook, 368 pages
audiobook, ~12 hours
Published December 9, 2025
ASIN B0F7GWK547
ISBN 9781464260162


Broken. Lost. Unforgiven.

One month after surviving the Under Trials, Emery Maves finds herself in a world she doesn't recognize―with a man whose cold eyes are haunted by secrets she can't remember. Stripped of her memories, Emery is tormented by dreams of danger, death, and deceit. The only constant is the lure of the experimental drug that shatters her mind but leaves her almost invincible―and the dangerous pull of the man called Mori.

Cameron Mortem is fighting a battle he thought he'd already lost. He knows letting Emery in could destroy them both, but her amnesia is a curse neither of them can outrun. Forced together on a high-stakes level black mission that goes disastrously wrong, they find themselves thrust deeply into the underworld of the black market with an unexpected foe.

But as old scars are torn open and hidden plots unravel, Emery discovers she's more tangled in this world than she ever imagined. And Cameron will have to face the one person he fears most: himself.

Loyalties will be tested. Secrets will be weaponized. Their bond―once forged in blood―may be the only thing that can save them. If they don't lose themselves first.

So... the author has gone far beyond her quota for using the adjective "veigny" and there's a hell of a lot of talk of cervixes and wombs for two people not trying to conceive offspring.

3 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | paperback | audiobook

Previously in the series:

2025/59

Queen of Shadows (TOG #4)

Even Common Sense was at a loss for words.

Available at Amazon.com

Queen of Shadows
Sarah J Maas
Throne of Glass, book four
ebook, 576 pages
Published September 1, 2015
ISBN 9781619636057


Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past...

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

Whyyyyyy tf do these blurbs keep referring to her as anything other than Aelin?

Eighty percent. That's the point where we finally achieved something. That's the point where everything started happening.

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the journey up to that. But again, so many words. So little progression.

Manon can do no wrong. I am prepared to die on this hill.

And yet the way she will get absolutely no credit for choosing to walk away from Aelin and Rowan and Chaol while Aelin gets all the praise for saving the witch's life...

There would have been nothing to save her from!

Damn you, Chaol, and your mindless desperation.

Damn you, Aelin, for needlessly provoking a fight with that Baba Yellowlegs crap.

Manon had evaluated. Respected the danger. Chose to retreat. Everything would have been fiiiine.

But now Manon owes Aelin a life debt? No no-no-no.

Dorian makes just enough appearance to remind the reader that, yes, he is still being tortured.

Chaol is...floundering as he always seems to be.

Aedion. Wonderful.

Rowan. Near perfection.

Elide. Bleh.

Manon. I'm with her till the end.

4 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | hardcover | paperback | audiobook

Previously in the series:

2025/58

Your Knife, My Heart (Dark Forces, #1)

You are the bearer of my soul.

Available at Amazon.com

Your Knife, My Heart
K.M. Moronova
Dark Forces, book one
audiobook, 9+ hours
ebook, 307 pages
Published November 11, 2025
ASIN B0F7GWD1PR


From USA Today Bestselling author KM Moronova comes a brand-new compelling and addictive dark romance in her Dark Forces world.

Dark. Deadly. Irresistible.

Cameron Mortem has a problem—he can’t stop killing his partners. Officially labeled clinically insane, he’s also one of the most lethal assets in the Dark Forces, a brutal underground military operation built on obedience, survival, and silence. But an experimental drug has fractured his control, making him a liability whenever someone else is on the field. As punishment, he’s thrown back into the Under Trials—a merciless boot camp designed to break the weak and sharpen the ruthless.

His one directive? Don’t kill the new girl.

Emery Maves narrowly escapes a death sentence after her own brutal crimes, only to find herself forced into the same violent world. Assigned to Cameron, she’s expected to survive the Trials and her partner's unstable nature. But Emery quickly realizes there’s more to Cameron than bloodlust and body counts. Beneath the madness lies a terrifying allure—and a strange, dangerous tenderness.

As the Trials push them to their limits, Emery must navigate the brutal demands of the Dark Forces while resisting the pull of a man who could just as easily kill her as protect her. And Cameron must fight the one urge he’s never been able to overcome.

Their bond is intoxicating, chaotic, and born of violence. And if it doesn’t destroy them both, it might just save them.

This was one hell of a pleasant surprise. Equally depraved and heart-achingly sweet.

I borrowed this audiobook for something to listen to while fluffing the branches of the Christmas tree only to find myself staring off into the void, my arms limp at my sides, with my mind thoroughly captivated by Cam and Em.

Mori and Morphine.

4 out of 5 stars. The romance is tender and the spice is dirty.

Available in ebook | audiobook | paperback

Next in the series:

2025/57