DANCING IN THE DARK by T L MARTIN

The devil asked me how I knew my way around the walls of hell. I told him I did not need a map for the darkness I know so well. – T.M.T

And with that the tone was set for what would be a deliciously menacing, compelling, haunting, horrific and riveting dark romance, our first experience of T L Martin’s writing, and the author’s first foray into the world of dark romance, though you’d never believe it considering the way she so descriptively and brilliantly brought Emmy and Adam’s messed up love story to life, in all its tormented glory.

‘Ash and dust, death and murder. Some drink it down like a poison until it kills them, leaving nothing more than a shell without a soul. Others, like me, are the poison. When you have no soul, there’s no threat of losing it. With no threat, there’s nothing to fear.
And without fear…you’re limitless. ‘

A palpitating sinister prologue immediately grabbed us, making us want to give ourselves immediately to this author and her incredible words. T L Martin is an author we’ll be keeping in our sights because she most definitely delivered the type of story we were in the mood for, which was a f***ed up, twisty, primal, gritty dark read. T L Martin didn’t disappoint in any way and her writing was outstanding.

‘I don’t need a trophy. What I need is my goddam sanity – something I’m not quite sure I’ve ever had.’

We won’t be giving anything of the story away because you need to go into this one blind, to experience the twists, turns and shocks first hand, however please do read the author warning before jumping in because twenty-year-old Emmy Highland and twenty-nine year old Adam Matthews story isn’t for the faint-hearted, and we believe lovers of dark romance will unflinchingly devour this read.

“It’s going to be interesting.” he whispers so soft, so smooth, it would almost sound soothing if I weren’t listening to the words “watching you break. Emmy.”

Following the disappearance of her sister, Frankie, the trail leads Emmy to Matthews House, Inc  – where she has falsely been accepted as a ‘secretary’ to the four good-looking Matthews brothers. Secretary is a very broad term for a woman who can cope with the devious demands of the Matthews brothers. If they can stay the year, they’re paid a very generous bonus. Emmy just wants to find Frankie and is convinced her sister met foul play at the hands of one or all of the brothers, and she’s determined to find out what goes on behind the closed doors.

Adam Matthews and his brothers, Felix, Raife, and Griffin are products of their past, these are men with vengeance and revenge on their minds, and cold-hearted steel for hearts. Despite the horrifying and tragic past switches which are carried out with seamless precision by the author, as much as you feel so unbelievably sorry for these men, they are really difficult men to like. They’re actually quite cruel.

‘They said go to therapy. No one ever specified what kind.’

All the characters are mysterious, fascinating and challenging. The cool calm, calculated and intimidating Adam is a force to be reckoned with, and Emmy, who, at first glance, appears the most put together, has her demons and uses her sexual proclivity as a catharsis for dealing with the overbearing voices of her unloving, God-fearing mother who believed Emmy to be evil.

And that’s where we’re going to leave it because we’re loathed to ruin anything of the story for you, and hope we’ve whetted your dark romance soul appetite enough to dive in. This is not a pleasant happy read – it’s deep and it’s dark and it’s shocking – but’s it’s also addictively passionately beautiful and as messed up as it is, it’s a love story between two lost and lonely souls. We couldn’t put it down!

‘We stopped looking for monsters under our bed when we realized that they were inside us. ‘ Charles Darwin.