Insatiable – Leigh Rivers

To say that I’m obsessed with Leigh and her writing style is the understatement of the century. After reading The Web of Silence duet and falling head over heels for Malachi and Olivia’s story, I knew I had to read more of this universe. Not only was I immediately sucked into a gripping and intense story but I knew that The Edge of Darkness trilogy was going to take over my top spot for dark romance series. 

The story

Stacey Rhodes and Kade Mitchell are forced back into proximity with each other, two years after the brutal events that break them up. Kade is determined to continue hating Stacey for what she did, and Stacey is driven to move on from the past. The two are drawn together with sizzling chemistry and must navigate the depths of the underworld, abusive relationships, and the small moments of freedom that they are granted with each other. 

“Freckles, darling, I’m a fucking animal. You should’ve seen me Jackie Chan my shit today.”

The characters

I want to start with Stacey because I was so drawn into her story. I felt so pulled into her experiences. From our first interaction with Stacey, I found myself interested in her unique perspective. She met a boy at 15 and fell deeply with him. They learned the ins and outs of love together. It was an adorable story filled with love and happiness and now as we see her grown into age 21 and dealing with the extremities of her home life plus the repercussions of her relationship with Kade, we can truly see the stark difference of her childhood years to her adult years. As someone who’s currently 21 and is finding bits of myself within these characters, I couldn’t help but mourn childhood Stacey with hope and innocence. She was dealing with everything even back then but the softness of her has disappeared as she’s grown up into this strong and beautiful woman. I found myself loving Stacey as a main character and every inch of her was something that I felt I related to. I loved reading her perspective and really feeling the femininity and adulthood seeping into her words. 

“We’re all broken in some way, Tobias. But we can also be fixed.”

I honestly don’t know where to begin with Kade because I’ve never fallen so quickly for a character before. Undeniably misunderstood, Kade Mitchell is the softest man I’ve met in my career as a reader. Watching him grow up from age 15-18 and seeing his innocence and softness when it came to Stacey had me in tears. He’s probably one of the best male characters I’ve ever had the chance of reading. Not only that but seeing the progression of his feelings into his adulthood years we can see how he’s been handling the difficulties he’s had to face, including the loss of Stacey, the person he trusted more than anybody. This twisted version of his reality is definitely something that I wish he didn’t have to deal with but we can see that he still holds strong to his morals and the fact that he may be becoming similar to his dad but doesn’t want to lose himself into those urges. I found myself proud of him and my heart swelled with every page that Kade was in. I love that he’s still human beneath all of the inhuman acts that he’s had to face and despite it all, Stacey is still his rock. 

“Because you’re hiding, and I want to hide with you.” I caress her cheek and press my lips to her forehead, catching her off guard. “Let’s hide together, Freckles.”

The writing

Leigh Rivers has a talent for sucking you into a story and never letting you go. I started this book fairly early on in the day and ended up reading into the late hours of the night just obsessing over Kade and Stacey’s chemistry. I love how gripping the story is and how easy it is to understand. From page one you’re pulled into a world of twisted darkness and beautiful wording full of love stories that make you want to scream from their intensity. 

Final thoughts

At this point there is no contest. Leigh River’s has beat every single dark romance from the top spot on my list and Insatiable has taken over. Kade Mitchell and Stacey Rhodes may be the best and most beautiful couple I’ve ever read about and I can’t wait to dive into book two even though I know Leigh is about to put me through the ringer. 

Rating: 5/5⭐️