Hello readers, and welcome back to the blog! As someone who was obsessed with Navessa Allen's first book in the Into Darkness series, Lights out, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the newest installment. I'm a sucker for a good dark romance book, and am always on the lookout for a new favorite, so my hopes were pretty high for this one. With it's mix of mafia ties, a spicy second-chance romance, and an obsessed hero, this book has been on many romance readers most anticipated reads list for the summer. Here are my thoughts on Caught Up.
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Synopsis
The story follows Nico "Junior" Trocci, a member of the mafia who has a secret obsession with his old high-school flame, Lauren Marchetti. In his youth he had to push her away to protect her from the violent world he lives in, but he never really let her go. Now Lauren has reinvented herself, and is the co-owner of a club with her friends, while also being an advocate for better treatment of sex workers. When Junior discovers what she does for a living, his obsession only grows stronger, and brings himself back into her world. As they navigate their complicated history and the dangers of Junior's mafia ties, they are forced to address the secrets that originally kept them apart, and whether obsession could ever become love.
Strengths
I'd like to begin by saying something that Navessa Allen does really well is balancing the darker elements of her books with humor. One page you might have the characters throwing a car with a body in a river, then the next a light and funny moment, it just works. There was one specific moment in Caught Up that gave me a serious case of the giggles, and was a scene that took place in one of the first church scenes between Nico and Lauren. However, I will say I wanted more humor in this book than what we got, but I'll dive more into that later. Something that really kept my interest in the story was the character cameos from the first book. We get to see Ally and Josh multiple times, and their characters get to have a major role in this story, as well as Josh's old roommate, Tyler.
Weaknesses
Sadly, this book had a lot of things that just didn't work. First off, the humor, we needed so much more than what we got, especially since in Lights Out it helped to drive the story forward and keep the story from being too dark. In Caught Up that spark was missing that the first book had. Nico often came across as creepy and controlling, while Lauren was borderline annoying. She had no personality, and her internal monologue revolved almost exclusively around sex work, which made her feel one-dimensional, and impossible to connect with as a reader. The only thing that was driving their relationship was lust, whereas in Lights Out Ally and Josh were such a believable couple that felt like they'd last a lot longer than the last page. In addition to this, a lot of the same discussions and arguments kept being rehashed, most of which felt immature, and could have probably been resolved a lot sooner if the characters would have simply communicated. Also the motorcycle element seemed like a missed opportunity, since marketing heavily revolved around it, even going as far as putting a motorcycle helmet on the cover. We expected some spice with that bike and weren't even delivered crumbs. Overall, I wanted so much more from this book, and I know from what I've seen of other reviews that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Would I Recommend It?
Honestly, no, I wouldn't recommend it. You'd be better off re-reading Lights Out and forgetting this book exists. Sure, if you are new to dark romance and aren't looking for plot, just spice, this book may work for you. However, there are so many books out there that tackle similar themes in much better ways, while also having compelling characters. I wanted to love this book, I really did, but unfortunately it just fell flat. The third book in the series will be following Tyler's romance, so I'm interested to see what other readers think of it once it's released, but personally will be waiting for reviews before deciding whether I'd like to continue on with the series.
Ratings:
Overall Rating: 2/5
Spice Rating: 3/5
Content Warnings
Stalking, Violence, Past domestic abuse, Mentions of child abuse, Controlling Parents, Explicit sexual content, Organized Crime, Hacking
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