Even If It Hurts

Coastal Elite, Book 1

By: Sam Mariano

Narrated by: Theo Sinclair, Allie Shae

A psychopath and his prey.

A dangerous, toxic, and utterly destructive love story....

He could have been my hero. He saved my life that night, a beautiful dark angel slicing through my fear and the water, dragging me from its deadly clutches. He should have been my hero. I thought maybe he was.

Villains aren’t supposed to win, and good should always conquer evil, but in the elite coastal town I live in, the only purpose a label has is letting you know what something—or someone—costs. Good, bad—it’s all relative, and it hardly matters. Baymont, California, is a land of beautiful villains and happy ever afters that are just out of reach.

Especially for me.

Until Dare moves the world beneath my feet, and even though I’m afraid to trust it—to trust him—boy, am I tempted. In more ways than one. Being with Dare is scary, but being without him is impossible. He makes it impossible.

Dare’s no hero, that much is clear, but maybe... Maybe he’s mine.

This story contains triggers and is intended only for a mature, adult audience. See the opening author's note for more explicit warnings, but know this is a very dangerous relationship with a very dark hero.

©2022 Sam Mariano (P)2023 Sam Mariano

This is not a romance

So do not rate it as such. I still liked Mariano’s ‘Untouchable’ better. Carter > Dare, but the sociopathy of these hero’s is everything.

No one else is willing to color outside the lines.. and if they are, they’re unrealistic in how they go about it. Not These Books though! I love it.

Dark and twisted

Love that Sam Mariano wrote an antihero and committed to it! There’s no warm and fuzzies for this story. It’s angsty, dramatic, toxic and addictive. The narration was stellar by the talented Theo Sinclair and Allie Shae.

One of my favorite Sam Mariano

Dare is the best villain/boyfriend in the series. His possessiveness knows no bounds. You can truly feel Aubrey’s fear of him and her confusion about whether she loves him or is scared sh*tless.

Well that was just crazy

I hated how it ended ! I was hoping for more questions answered but I loved the bullying! Voice narration was amazing!!

what a lovely mess!

the story was hard to turn off! As a general rule, I prefer unrealistic stories like Sci-Fi and such. But this story is realistically, unrealistic. None of the stuff would ever happen! That's what makes it fun and kept my attention, I believe. It's so twisted and so many turns. There are warnings all over that tell you .. you better have some kinks and sense of adventure if you wanna enjoy this book. Please audible all her works!