Black Iris

By: Leah Raeder

Narrated by: Grace Grant

The next dark and sexy romantic suspense novel from the USA TODAY bestselling author of Unteachable, praised for its “lush, haunting prose, deft storytelling, and scorching sensuality” (M. Pierce, bestselling author of the Night Owl trilogy), and called “one of the best forbidden romances” (Lauren Blakely, New York Times bestselling author).

Love is not a thing that we create. It’s an undoing.

It only took one moment of weakness for Laney Keating’s world to fall apart. One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn’t worth sticking around for. If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.

She’s not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.

But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it’s time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help. Which was the plan all along. Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true. She’s going to show them all.

Sinking Slowly

This book began with a bang; so to speak and for the first five hours or so it seemed to be destined for a five star rating. Then the highly depressing, hard to empathize with protagonists (more or less) began to become more than a little tiresome. The plot was stretched too thin and the whole structure collapsed. I won't go into the details here. Perhaps if you're a young out of control late teens or early twenties female then it is easy to relate to. Though for your sake as well as that of the citizenry; I hope not.

An impactful story to be read by all

This novel is one part psychological thriller, one part emotional manipulation, and one part rooting for the villain. This story is dark, told through the eyes of an unreliable narrator, and flips back and forth through time weaving the pieces of the story together for the reader. There are many themes: love, desire, hate, revenge, forgiveness, addiction, hope/hopelessness, acceptance, choices, etc.

Aside from getting lost in the back and forth of time jumps, I found myself fascinated with the story, the characters, and how it was going to end. The writing is impeccable. And I found myself highlighting so many impactful quotes. This is a read that I would highly recommend.

"Strength is not in the body, it’s in the mind. It doesn’t lie in flexing your muscles and crushing those who oppose you. It lies in being the last one standing. By any means. At any cost."

Love/Hate relationship

I'm not giving spoilers (or am I?) but I had a love/hate relationship with this one. I loved Leah's first book but this one I found confusing at times with the dates, timeline, and i feel like Ahmin was an unlikeable character. Delaney was supposed to be unlikable but I struggled with her being mostly victim.
Lastly, I'm so sorry to say this but Grace's Australian accent was atrocious. It should have been scraped for something more authentic. It was terribly distracting and her voice and mannerisms made her fall flat. Part was the writing (she was so embarrassing cheesy yet this hard as nails chick?) but part was also the delivery.
The accent was so so distracting I'd just recommend paper.

So many plot twists

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Wasn’t like any book I’ve ever read. The authors writing is amazing and the plot is good and there’s never a dull moment. I will say it. And be confusing with all the time jumps, especially through audio. But you can still comprehend the plot. And the ending is crazy and makes you think a lot. I didn’t REALLY like any of the characters but the plot was good enough to make up for that. The voice actor did a good job especially on the Australian accent. Definitely recommend!

Bad in every way

Terrible writing, terrible dialogue, pointless plot, and ridiculous narration. If I could give a fraction of a star, I would.