Tynga's Reviews: slow burn

Showing posts with label slow burn. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Review: Iced Out (Leighton U, #1) by C.E. Ricci

Iced Out (Leighton U, #1)

by C.E. Ricci

★★★★☆

Read: April 26, 2025

358 pages

Hockey romance is always hit or miss for me, and not only was this one a hit — it was kind of a revelation, lol. I realized that all the hockey romance books I’ve really loved have MM in them (either straight-up MM or why choose with MM). Apparently, that’s the secret sauce for me, because every MF one I’ve read? Either a DNF or I didn’t bother continuing the series.

I listened to this on audio, and both narrators did an amazing job bringing the characters to life!

Iced Out is a college sports romance where the two MCs go from longtime rivals to reluctant teammates. They’ve despised each other for years playing on opposite teams — even came to blows more than once. Now they’re stuck playing for the same school... on the same line. And since the team is on a losing streak, they have to make it work.

I loved the nonstop banter between these two grumps. Even when they’re finally getting along, they can’t help but tease and bicker. It was so entertaining!

Here are some tropes you can expect:

-Enemies to Lovers
-Forced Proximity (they share a room on the road)
-MM Romance
-Grumpy x Grumpy
-Secret Relationship
-Slow Burn
-Bi-Awakening

I’ll definitely be picking up book 2!

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by Tynga at Tuesday, November 10, 2026

bi-awakening, C.E. Ricci, contemporary, forced proximity, hockey romance, Leighton U, MM, Review, slow burn Leave your mark

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Review: The Predator (Dark Verse, #1) by RuNyx

The Predator (Dark Verse, #1)

by RuNyx

★★★★☆

Read: October 4, 2025

318 pages

The Predator by RuNyx is dark, tense, and full of secrets—exactly the kind of story that pulls you into a world of danger and obsession. I was hooked by the slow build of trust between two broken people and the promise of what could come from it.

But when the last page hit, I felt... robbed of closure. After everything these characters endure, there’s no emotional landing, no breath of “finally.” It’s gritty, well-written, and full of potential, but the ending left me restless and craving more answers, more connection, more them.

Still, RuNyx’s writing is addictive, and I’ll be diving into the next book in hopes of finding the threads left hanging. If you like slow-burn tension, complex trauma, and morally grey characters tangled in power and secrets, it’s worth the read—just brace yourself for an ending that feels more like a pause than a conclusion.

Tropes: Mafia Romance · Morally grey hero · Hacker heroine · Slow burn tension · Forced proximity · Found family (in the making) · Dark romance · Trauma healing (in progress) · Secrets & hidden pasts · Enemies to uneasy allies

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by Tynga at Thursday, October 29, 2026

Dark Romance, Dark Verse, forced proximity, Hacker, killer, mafia, morally grey, Review, RuNyx, slow burn Leave your mark

Friday, May 15, 2026

Review: Famine (The Four Horsemen, #3) by Laura Thalassa

Famine (The Four Horsemen, #3)

by Laura Thalassa

★★★★☆

Read: May 15, 2026

512 pages

Of the three Horsemen I’ve met so far, Famine might be the cruelest — and somehow one of the most affecting.

Where Pestilence stumbled into love almost against his will, Famine resists it with his entire being. He doesn’t just kill; he believes in it. His indifference to humanity feels ancient, absolute, and immovable, which makes watching that certainty slowly crack the entire engine of the book.

Ana is exactly the kind of heroine this story needed. She arrives with justified rage, a knife, and scars that run deeper than the visible ones, but she never becomes one-note. She’s sharp-tongued, stubborn, funny, and empathetic in a way that feels almost inconvenient. Not soft because life has been kind to her, but compassionate despite the fact that it hasn’t. That distinction is what makes her so compelling.

The slow burn here is thornier than the previous books. Famine doesn’t soften easily. He resists, deflects, misunderstands, and makes horrifying choices even when he’s trying to adjust. But that’s also why the intimacy, when it finally comes, feels earned. This isn’t a clean redemption arc. It’s messy, brutal, and emotionally complicated — which is exactly why it works.

Thalassa does a great job balancing apocalypse, banter, horror, and tenderness without letting the romance erase the violence of the world around them. The Brazilian setting gave this installment its own texture, and Ana’s backstory added real emotional weight without pulling focus from the central dynamic.

The ending definitely makes the next book feel bigger and more inevitable. I’m not rushing into Death yet, because these books are heavy slow burns and apparently I value my emotional stability a little, but I am very curious to see how everything ends.

One production note for GraphicAudio listeners: the performances were good, but the sound design was too heavy-handed for me. Music and ambient effects often overpowered the narration, especially during emotional, intimate, or travel-heavy scenes. If intrusive production bothers you, the standard audiobook may be the better choice.

Pestilence still holds the top spot for me, but Famine pushed War firmly into third.

Tropes: apocalyptic romance · enemies-to-lovers · forced proximity · captor/captive · morally grey MMC · Sex worker FMC · divine being/human romance · slow burn · revenge · reluctant protector · touch-her-and-die energy · emotional caretaking

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