(Souls Trilogy, #1) Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux review

 

Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (3.5 stars)
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (4 spice)

Please don’t hate me for saying this, but I’m stuck in this strange limbo—I genuinely can’t decide if I liked this book or didn’t. I’m somewhere between, “Wow, that was cool and dark and horrific in the best way,” and “Why did I want to slam my head into a wall so many times?”

Now I’m here trying to articulate my tangled thoughts into words, so... here we go.

The story throws you straight into the dark vibes and violence almost instantly, which I appreciated for setting the tone early. It’s intense and brutal—but what softened the blow for me was Leon’s sass and snark. I really enjoyed reading from his POV. He’s not perfect (far from it), but honestly? He was one of the most redeeming and fun parts of the book. His banter, his attitude—it made the darker moments more bearable and even enjoyable at times.

The tone of the book stays dark all the way through, but something strange happened as I read... I felt desensitized. Like the more I read, the less it impacted me emotionally—which was weird, considering how brutal some of the content is. Maybe it was the pacing or the repetition, but it kind of numbed me after a while.

That said, the book was easy to read, and I didn’t hate it. But... I didn’t love it either. And a big part of that is Rae.

She’s a university student, but often it felt like she didn’t have two brain cells to rub together when it came to self-preservation. Her poor choices frustrated me so badly I caught myself gritting my teeth and face-palming. I don’t hate her, but she made it very hard to like her or connect to her as a main character, which unfortunately dragged the whole book down a bit for me. It was just... infuriating.

Now let’s talk about the spice 🔥...

All I can say is: PLEASE READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. Because guess what? I didn’t. And… yikes.

The spice is not lacking—at all. It’s intense, graphic, and very descriptive. That said, it’s not going to be for everyone, and that’s okay. At times, it definitely gave me the ick. But more than anything, it was the nicknames used during spicy scenes that nearly made me rip my own hair out and scream into a pillow. 😬I love my books with plenty of spice, but this one just didn’t do it for me. And before anyone says it might be because the spice was on the darker side — it’s not. I happily read Den of Vipers and have enjoyed many books with dark spice. I just think, for me, something here didn’t tick all the boxes.

Did I hate the spice? No.
Was I blown away by it? Also no.
Like the rest of the book, I was just... stuck in limbo.

It’s a quick, fast-paced read and I did finish it easily. It had action, chaos, twisted romance, and a really unique tone. But will I read it again? Honestly, I don’t think so. I normally love books in this genre, so I’m even more baffled by how unsure I feel.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes—for readers who are into dark, twisted romance and enjoy morally grey characters with intense spice.

Would I reread it?
No, probably not.

How would I sum it up?
A dark, twisted story with even darker spice — entertaining, but not my cup of tea

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