Our friendship formed on virtual battlefields across the vastness of the internet. We spent thousands of hours in each other’s company, though we never officially exchanged real names.
But I still know who they are.
How could anyone not get curious? Thanks to my profession, I had the skills to dig deeper, so I did. I never expected to discover my friends were the founding members of the greatest metal band of all time.
Hazardous.
Dodger, Arlo, Slate and Prophet. Bonded by juvie, forged beneath stage lights. And all of them are so very out of my reach.
Until now.
A contract has come through, and their names are on the paperwork. The Belladonna assassin assigned to their case?
Marie Mistry is a reality challenged reverse harem romance author whose books are full of pirates, magic, and spicy adventures. When she's not writing, you can usually find her curled up with a game or a book and a large cup of tea. She lives in a wonky cottage in Kent with her other half and a super sweet shepherd named Meg.
She'd love for you to join her Facebook reader group: Mistry’s Inc where she hangs out daily:
MC and love interests are over 30. She's an assassin and they don't try to keep her from her job. They are rockstars AND gamers (they play with her).
Standalone, flows really damn well, and was just a bundle of fun. Reminded me that I desperately need to read more by Marie Mistry.
Wish I could write a better review but my head is still foggy from being sick. But, if you like why choose romance and want a friends-to-lovers, mature romance, with real issues (musicians recovering from drug addiction) and some explosions then you should definitely give this one a try.
I really enjoyed this one! It’s fast burn, standalone RH. I always like Marie’s writing style, and this story flowed so well.
I loved the fmc, Darcy. She was a bad ass who wasn’t over the top about it, but quiet in doing her bad ass things.
The guys were fun, they each had individual qualities to separate themselves. I liked that they were in a band.
Darcy has known the guys for years but they don’t actually know each other, just their voices through the video game they play. I thought this was an interesting concept, and I enjoyed how it all came to be revealed!
I loved the climax of it all, and the epilogue was super cute!
No virgins - fmc is experienced, and so are the guys. They’re in their 30s.
OW - a groupie sits on the lap of one of the guys, but he’s emotionally checked out and doesn’t even notice it. He used to be a sex worker to get money to make sure the guys had food on the table, his mom used to be one too.
The release date is final. This book contains adult content such as graphic kinks, details of substance abuse, past self-harm, and others dark subject matter. For a complete list of content warnings please check out my website page
Don’t know if I can be bothered to continue this. At the very least need to postpone. After the last one, the whole thing is making me too grumpy.
Don’t know if the highlights will work, didn’t on the other. Idiotic FMC Assassin Ha ha! Explosives expert, but also impatient, immature, and flighty� seriously!
A MMC who needs it spelled out that making out with another girl while they straddle his lap, and then lick his chest, is not okay when involved with said FMC.. 😳 Then our oh so intelligent FMC feels guilty for making him feel bad, and APOLOGISES TO HIM You really have to laugh at that, or totally lose it.
There are several more instances of stupidity, but couldn’t be bothered spelling out.
Suspend your disbelief for this one. It has the most unrealistic coincidences, but it's really fun lol. A man named Man brings up a posse of adopted daughters as femme fatale assassins trained to take down the worst of society. Abusers, traffickers, etc. Fun! Darcys a gamer nerd who likes to blow shit up. Fun! Metalcore band on tour. Fun! I wish we'd gotten to see more of the sisters because they all seem pretty unique and interesting, but they each have their own books so I'm sure we see more of them there.
Getting through this was not fun. I skipped quite a bit for it not to be a DNF.
I liked the idea of the plot but felt the writing was shallow and boring. The FMC annoyed me. The author tried so hard to write her as part nerd, part assassin badass. We know that as readers because how many times did she say “oh, I’m such a nerd because…� 🙄 Meanwhile, based on the things she said and did I read her as a 30 something year old woman who was bratty, selfish, and childish. Given her hobbies and career I would have expected more intelligence and less teen-feeling drama and angst. As for the guys - they did not come off as masculine or smart or attractive to me at all. Crap decision making all around.
*Reverse Harem *Contemporary *Multi-PoV *female assassin *rockstars *friends to lovers *cartel *established harem (4) *fast/mid burn 🔥 *standalone Well for her first foray into the contemporary world Mistry has smashed it! Darcy is the original Belladonna and seeing her sisters come and go, on top of her continued failed relationships she’s wondering what’s going on in her life 😖 thankfully she has four online gamer friends who she’s been talking to for the past 10 years who are able to her up 😄 little do they know she knows who they really are� When her current job puts them in her path it is no one is who anyone expects them to be - expect a lot of misunderstandings and grovelling 😄😄😄 The four men are all individualistic and each have a unique aspect and background to them 😍 Darcy certainly completes them, despite her insecurities 🥰 The cartel aspect is different and really brings it’s all together! Omg though those last few chapters 😳😳 certainly a rollercoaster read!
Sometimes life gives you a little present. This book was such a present. Officially it's only releasing in July, but my super organized book buying system helped me discover that the paperback is already available (the author thought she was sneaky, but it seems that my organizing system catches sneakiness at some point). So, now it felt like an arc and when it came in yesterday I just had to start reading right away of course!
Normally contemporary is not entirely my thing but from the very first chapter I really enjoyed this book and mostly the characters in it. And that's mostly because Marie Mistry is amazing when it comes to writing believable, realistic, edged and broken characters. They are allowed to make mistakes, they are allowed to be human, they are allowed to have emotions, they are allowed to make me feel for them.
The plot of this book is actually, in a way, quite simple. A boyband is forced to keep on performing because of a contract they didn't think through and now they're stuck working for a cartel. An assassin is sent to take care of the cartel, but it turns out she knows the boys and they're all secretly in love with her. But sometimes a plot doesn't need to be more complicated than that to work, to give the characters a reason to exist and be.
I can also imagine that the book is a great joy for gamers. I know that the author stated that she hid quite some easter eggs in this book for true gamers. I'm not gonna state I can find them. The only games I played in my life are Rollercoaster Tycoon and the Sims. However, the gaming aspect of the story was not that big that I couldn't follow as a non-gamer. I understood what was going on and felt that everything that needed to be explained was explained.
And to make this book even better: Marie Mistry writes the best smut, if you ask me.
This was such a little delight! Loved the storyline, the confident FMC, who despite having a thrilling career, is searching for something more meaningful and fulfilling in her life. The guys were an interesting bunch, they all had their own quirks and it was nice getting a glimpse into their own personal backstories. In general, I am not particularly keen on the idea of musicians in the story, but in this particular book it did work for me.
Really enjoyed the writing style, it was flowing smoothly from beginning until the end. The characters were intriguing and even though things develop quickly, it worked quite well for this particular situation as the FMC and the boys already had some sort of connection prior to meeting in person.
I will be reading the other books in the series as I am curious to see what adventures the other Belladonnas experience.
I enjoyed this, but ... I think it could have been better. I feel like this book was made up of a bunch of missed opportunities. An idea would be presented and then immediately resolved instead of having any sort of angst or build up (not that I'm a big fan of angst, but I found myself craving a little more than was there). For instance, there is this idea that she is going undercover to help her friends and doesn't want to be recognized, but then almost immediately she basically tells them that it's her. Why even build up or bring up the idea if it's not going to be at least a small plot point? This happened over and over again in the book. (Kinda weird)
Darcy is a badass but also part nerd. Raised as an orphan and an assassin she trusts no one but her sisters.... and her online friends. For years Darcy has formed a friendship with a very popular band playing virtual games. The bands connection to a cartel brings Darcy into their reality and it doesn't take long for the gang to realize their new roadie pyro is also the woman they all dream of. The book did read a bit long for me especially since the romance doesn't take long to sizzle and burn. I was expecting the book to be a bit funnier just cause of other books I've read by this author, but it really read more serious. Note the book does lightly touch on darker subjects as the band is being blackmailed by the cartel as they use the groups tour to traffic women and drugs.
Gonna be totally honest here, I was expecting to not really like this book 😅 The whole concept of assassin + rockstars + gamers just felt like it was going to be trying way too hard to be cool/edgy/badass, but it wasn't as bad as I expected! I actually quite enjoyed the scene of them gaming together and wish we'd gotten to see more of that. And I am so, so thankful we didn't have to read any cheesy song lyrics 🙏
I do feel like it was yet another book where an author tries to write about an assassin but doesn't know enough about, ya know, murder and stuff (as it should be irl 😅) so all of the assassin/action stuff just sounded kind of wishy washy. Like this part:
"Before I can do anything else, more security—drawn my way by Jackson's shout—rush through the door. More gunshots. Shit. My plan is falling apart. I take out my attackers and take cover beside the door."
We've got this big climactic scene with someone who's a trained assassin and all we get is "I take out my attackers". I also feel like the book relied too heavily on technology to solve every problem. I know being a hacker is part of Darcy's whole thing but I just find it too convenient when every problem can be solved with "I pull out my phone and do some tech jargon stuff", and it honestly just gets a bit boring to read.
Outside of that, I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships! The spicy scenes were excellent. I'm torn between liking that it was realistic they would kick things off romantically pretty quickly given how long they've known each other and wishing it was a bit more drawn out 😂 I was really enjoying the angst of Darcy struggling with the guys not recognising her immediately and would have liked to see that explored more, but that's just personal preference.
Another minor gripe but yes, we get it, Darcy likes coffee. We don't need to be reminded constantly, jesus. I feel like she was drinking a cup of coffee in almost every scene she was in and it just got repetitive to read.
I always love Marie Mistry's writing style and characters, and this was no exception! It was a fun, easy read that got me hooked in instantly. I'd love to see Marie do more in the contemporary realm because this was great!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was expecting more from Marie. One of the few reasons I was determined to read the whole saga was to get to this book, (because I thought Marie could do no wrong as all her books so far have been among my favorite RH themed books), but I was wrong. Marie with her two sagas of Vice College and The Deadwood knew how to build her harem and her world, but in this book, being a standalone, she kind of rushed to leave out a lot of things that her other sagas did have and I didn't think that was very good of her.
Darcy's method of murder was the most boring of them all as far as I read, plus she was one of the most clueless of them all. The other main characters at least were skilled with a lot of things and tried to focus a bit more on their work than she did. I'm really disappointed that I set my expectations so high with this book and disappointed with this whole saga in general. All of the Belladonna's are pretty useless for being part of one of the best assassin organizations according to what each and every one of them repeated in their stories. They were all very distracted by men and put aside the reason they were hired for their jobs in the first place. The only two female assassins I more or less liked were Royal and Harlow (although that last one I gave up on as well), from the rest, all the books were meh. About the writing in general I'm not complaining because almost all the authors (whether I liked their books or not), knew how to tell a story, but it wasn't enough of their good writing to convince me to finish them.
For the first time, I am disgusted with reverse harem books. I need books that focus 50/50, meaning 50% on getting the world building right and the other 50% on getting the relationship building right. Here in this saga it seems like it's 80% relationship building and only 20% world building and it doesn't work that way. I come back and repeat: everything must have a balance.
I still plan to read Tabitha and Karma (once it comes out), because I still hope that at least 1 of those authors knows how to use the potential that this saga had. Hopefully I won't end up as disappointed.
A fantastic standalone! Undercover bad@$$ FMC helping her rockstar friends from the cartel
It isn't too often you find a book where it's the FMC (female main character) who's the trained killer and the guys aren't. Here you have one, folks!
Darcy was adopted by a man when she was around 5 years old after seeing a building with her parents in it burn down. Ever since, she'd been drawn to fire and explosions. Rather than send her to therapy or a mental institution, her adopted father, Man, worked with her and trained her to be an assassin specializing in such things. In her spare time, she played online, which is how she "met" her four guy friends. With her connections and specialized skills, she was able to discover who they really were behind the screens - Slate, Dodger, Arlo, and Prophet. Four friends who joined up to make a very well-known metal rock band.
One day, she's given an assassination job from Man. One that puts her in very close contact with the band. She initially planned to keep her gaming identity a secret, but they figured out accidently who she was pretty quick. Soon, she's trying to figure out how her life is going to involve them going forward while helping do the pyrotechnics at their show (her cover), while ALSO trying to figure out how to take out her hits.
Things are a bit more complicated when they don't know she's an assassin, and she doesn't know exactly what is going on between the band and her marks! They're both determined to fix things, but when neither know what the others do, it gets a bit messy!
This book was definitely a 5 star read. There's some romance, some insta-love when her identity is realized while also having others dig their heels in more. There's a bit of groveling, some loving on the FMC when she mentions a couple of times that she's a bit self-conscious about her body, spice between characters one on one and in a group setting, toy play, and towards the end, a bit of a pregnancy kink!
I gave 5 stars because it really great story. I dont have much neg to say. The only neg I have to say is basically at the end. There was missed opportunity. Like when she was there and in coma state we get to see the sisters come together. Also more vigilant scenes at the hospital more angst I guess. It was basically 1 day and they next it was 2 months later and she was leaving. Then 9 years later she has only 2 kids. I would of preferred all of them having atleast 1. And the way Prophet wants to try again which wouldn't of bothered me if everyone had one. It should be fair. I honestly like Slate the best. It's because he always new always believe in soulmates and never gave up on her and was rhe 1st to getting her with them. I wanted him to be 1st daddy to be honest. I love all the men Prophet being last cause he just annoyed me the most. But at the end when he finally came around he was great. I wonder if we will get an Emma book. Since she has a child too she must have Maybe or is in a relationship. It would be nice to see. Anyways that was my only neg. Most of the story I absolutly loved. Especially the take take down of Miguel and his brothers. To bad Gabrielle didn't make it. I really want to know why their adopted father is named MAN and he hardly talks. It felt weird to keep reading that lol Like there should be a name there and not MAN. Anyways I think you will really love this book. I read one of the others along time ago. And it was just as good as this. I'm going to read others in this series.
A standalone RH where the characters are over 30 and have been friends for years beforehand? Sign me up. The rainbow sprinkles on top are the assassin FMC, fun gaming and geeky elements, and distinguishable MMCs. It was great!
I would've liked to see more assassiny things but that's the only complaint I really have. Maybe I'll give Mistry's books a try. The writing flowed really well, the several POVs never felt off (though I did have to go back to check whose POV it was), and she wrote the haunted men so beautifully. It was also refreshing to not read about the FMC being tiny every five seconds.
It feels as if Marie Mistry catched a living human and put them in the book, together with four part-time rockstars and video game players because the FMC Darcy felt. so. real! Her "I will not swoon, dammit"-thoughts, funny inner monologues, her love for comfy clothes and hate for standing up early make it easy to love her. She's an independent assassin who happens to also be a nerd and hiding the former part from her best friends Prophet, Slate, Dodger and Arlo was fun to read. Now to the four rockstars who absolutely adore their woman. They all have a darker, even a little tragic past that still influences their actions. Their character growth is really good written and realistic; it takes time for them to overcome their inner demons. And they themselves are also swoon-worthy! "Darcy" is a standalone by Marie Mistry but part of the "Dressed to Kill" series featuring different authors and an absolute recommendation for all lovers of a clever bad*ss FMC, swoony MMCs with a soft spot for their girlfriend, realistic characters in general, secret identity and spice.
DNF at 35%. I was excited for this- FMC is an assassin, MMCs are a metal band and they're all long time virtual friends over a shared love of gaming- but my excitement ended rather quickly. All of the characters felt like bland stereotypes that were pushing for the 'I'm not like other people' vibes but then giving us nothing to actually work with. For an assassin, Darcy was childish, reckless and blatantly stupid at times. She was very wishy washy, got flustered easily, and easily distracted- all of which annoyed me to no end. She was supposed to be 'nerdy' in her unicorn hoodies but it came off as tacky and forced, as did the boys meaningless leather jackets, tattoos and sunglasses. Intent and purpose were highly lacking in this book. You can also tell that the 'metal band' wasn't written by someone who actually listens to metal music- which is fine, but don't attempt to poorly recreate the genre when it could have been fixed easily by making them some kind of pop/rock group. Despite everyone being in their 30s, they all acted like teenagers, and it became difficult to read about their interactions with one another. The contract between the guys seemed like an interesting point to add if not perhaps a bit ridiculous. The story had a great general idea but none of the flesh to keep me entertained. 3/10.
BOOM! I love this book. This is a contemporary, reverse harem romance with a rock band, a drug cartel, and an assassin. There's a ton of fast-paced action, a mystery, steamy stuff, secrets, and a few plot twists. It's a stand alone but ties in with the other books in this series. There is also a lot of the rock and roll lifestyle, so it's pretty realistic.
My favorite thing about Marie Mistry's books is the characters. These main characters are fascinating, but so are the support characters. I would love to see a story or three about some of the side kicks!
Darcy is a fabulous main character. She was my reason to stay up way too late reading. I liked her more than the guys. (Despite her taste in pizza toppings.) She isn't just a hired killer, she's a gamer, an explosives expert, and something of a chameleon.
Dodger, Arlo, Prophet, and Slate are also gamers, and that's how they know Dark Angel / Darcy before she infiltrates their lives. They're all slightly dummies, but the phrase "young and stupid" explains a lot of why they're in a terrible predicament. Even so, these five people are perfect for each other.
I am excited to read more of the stories in this series!
I can describe my feelings about this book in only one sentence: the cover of this book is hot, and so is the content within. There are some hot characters, the spice is fiery and on top of that we get fire, explosions and so much more! Seriously, this contemporary standalone is filled with a lot of things I love in a reverse harem book or series: a band on tour, a female unaliver with a nerdy gamer personality, a bit of an online friends to lovers trope, spice and an action-filled storyline.
I'm quite fascinated with this "Dressed to Kill" series and the belladonnas in it. They learned to embrace who they are and what they need in life, and don't apologize for using their strengths to rid the world of some scum. This makes Darcy and her sisters the badass females we like to read about, and I love how protective Darcy is over the men in her life. But most of all I'm intrigued by this woman's brain, how smart she is and how she uses technology to beat the bad men at their game.
So yeah, this book has it all: a badass female unaliver, a hot band on tour, and once they meet all the action and spice you could wish for. Definitely recommend!
🔵 Slate @[HzD]StoneRE1 Black eyes Box braids Bronze skin Black and gray tattoos Gold cross earring in one ear and a trail of studs all the way up the ear Ribbed
🟣 Prophet, 36 @[HzD]Proph3t mismatched eyes ghost-blue and warm russet brown Cropped tight black curls, Well trimmed goatee Dark skin Full lips
Rh/Friends to lovers/ Rock Stars No mm or FF Harem members:4 Spice: 🔥🔥🔥 Ending: HEA, 9 years afterwards epilogue
Marie Mistry and her awesome writing style has a magic that can pull me out of whatever mood that I'm in and I just can't stop reading.
Normally I don't read Rh standalones that have less than 600 pages but Mistry did an excellent job fleshing out the characters, emotions, etc, didn't feel rushed we can see the connection with the guys and everything makes sense.
I loved Darcy she was a great FMC on her 30, strong, mature, intelligent but sweet and funny. For me the perfect balance.
The guys are great not my particular kind of unhinged/OTT/dark kind of alpha male but I love them, specially Dodge and Arlo, the broken ones with a difficult past.
The cherry on the top was the plot twist at the end!!!!! That's my favorite one, I love when that happens and we got the MMC pov and I can see their angst not knowing what happened, looooovee ittttttt.
I really enjoyed this! Darcy is the first book of this series that I have read and it definitely made me want to check onto the others. I didn’t realize, until I finished the book that each of these books are written by different authors- which is pretty cool.
I loved that the fmc was nerdy/gamer girl who was also a badass assassin. I enjoyed her character so much!
The only reason why I couldn’t quite rate it 5 stars is because I thought the characters were a little immature for their ages. They were all in their 30’s ranging from 32-38ish. I think it would have been better if they were younger becuase then we could blame a lot of the immaturity on just that- their age. But that’s just me lol
I know that this is Marie Mistry’s first release in the Contemporary genre, but you would never know it by reading! This book pulled me in from the very beginning!
Even though Darcy already had a connection to her guys, there was still plenty of delicious angst from the group coming together. Her guys are possessive, yet they always are willing to trust that she knows what she is doing. It’s the perfect combination!
The steam in this one is off the charts too! If you want to read about an incredibly talented assassin, that has a ton of snark and even a pinch of vulnerability, Darcy is your girl!
This will go down as one of my favorite reads this year!
A fantastic standalone and addition to this shared world
I've been looking forward to this one ever since I saw the blurb and it definitely did not disappoint! I love that Darcy and the guys were all over 30 but still into video games and that their bond began due to them, and I also loved watching Darcy take charge of the situation once she stopped hiding who she was. Each of the Belladonnas has been a strong fmc and I think that's one of the many reasons I'm loving this world so much. There's plenty of humour, action, spice, and emotion and it was the perfect book to devour in one sitting
Darcy is an assassin for the infamous Belladonnas. She is also a gamer and has been playing an online game with the same four men her whole life. Even though she knows their identities but they don’t know hers they are her best friends. When a hit comes in that threatens the life of her four men she must go undercover to keep them safe.
This was good but I wanted a little more kick ass assassining! Most of what Darcy did was work on the tour and hang out with the guys. I wanted more fights, more espionage. Still a good read was just expecting more.
Darcy is one of the original Belladonnas and she is starting to want to settle down after seeing all of her sisters relationships. For years, she has been gaming, and sometimes a little more, with the Hazardous band, although they don’t know she knows who they are. When Darcy’s new contract puts her smack in the middle of their world, she’s let down at how they act in their real life. Dodger, Argo, Slate, and Prophet have unwillingly tied themselves in with some mafia guys, and their hopelessness has led to their bond fracturing. This story does deal with addiction. I loved seeing Darcy and her guys connect and them figuring out there is so much more to her. Great story!
I enjoyed this and ultimately it’s a solid book, but I will say it’s my least favorite by this author. I’m a huge fan of Marie Mistry’s RHs but this was her first contemporary offering and I doubt a lot of things awkward. I’m happy to believe the big weird of assassins and everyone just being chill with polyamory outright.
But I’m not alright with small inconsistent issues like the “legality� of a contract that is 100% not legally viable or enforceable. It’s a small detail but a ton of the book is based off of this “contract� which is nonsense.
Still, I liked this would recommend for a stand alone RH.