The day I met Hunter Maxwell he wasn’t the rich kid who lived in the giant house, he wasn’t the most popular guy in school, he certainly wasn’t the bully who had chased his own best friend out of town after a falling out—he was just a boy with a black eye and a dark secret.
My life would have been much easier if I had stayed out of it, but I couldn’t. I saw someone hurting and wanted to help. I saw someone possibly in danger and wanted to make sure he was safe.
There’s nothing safe about Hunter Maxwell, though. I thought there might be. I fell under his spell. Whatever the world saw when they looked at him, it wasn’t what he showed me.
The bond we formed was real. I know it was real. But with Hunter, when the tides turn, you’d better hope you’re safely on the shore and out of his reach.
I thought I was a strong enough swimmer to keep my head above water. I thought if it came down to it, I could resist his pull.
I didn’t know, but now I do.
Once Hunter sets his sights on you, there’s no such thing as out of his reach. Whether it’s today, tomorrow, or five years from now, he’s coming for me—and when he does, he won’t stop until he’s destroyed me.

This is my first book to read by Mariano, and I enjoyed the experience and was totally addicted. I love second chance romance especially when the hero and heroine have met as younger teens and watching them grow in their relationship. The back and forth drove me crazy but in a good way because I love angst.

While I enjoyed their heat and chemistry and Hunter’s possessiveness over Riley, there were some things that didn’t work for me. I didn’t realize that this author was known for dubcon scenarios so I didn’t love that. I like reading dark at times but I don’t love reading when consent is questionable. I’m not sure that I ever felt that connection between them or felt that his trying to redeem himself was ever sincere. I guess I just wanted more. I wanted to feel that love. And while I felt that Riley held her own, at times I also felt like she was weak – why did she love him, what about him made him “the one”, why was she ok with unprotective sex when she would ask him repeatedly to wear a condom? Just all things that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

I would read Mariano again because I feel like her readers say so many wonderful things about her books and her characters. I would like to go back and read Untouchable to meet some of the other characters mentioned in this book and some of the secondary characters seemed interesting enough to read their books too when they come out.

Did I love it completely? No, it was ok. I will give it 3/5-4 stars for the addictiveness, the sexiness, the good storytelling but it was missing something for me.