Synopsis: Nothing bad happens at summer camp.
That’s what my fellow camp counselors have convinced me of when the nights around the lake get a little eerie.
But when the kids all go home and the counselors throw a party on our last night at Camp Clearwater, things change. None of us could have suspected that there was a stranger watching us or that our machete-wielding visitor doesn’t seem to like that we’re here. But when I’m attacked in the woods, he unexpectedly comes to my rescue in the most ruthless way.
Wren is terrifying, unpredictable, and possessive in a way that terrifies me. I should go to the police and stay away from him at all costs. Instead, I find myself letting him in every time he comes to play.
Can a brutal butcher ever really fall for me, or am I going to become his next victim?
.
Brutal (Pleasure & Prey #2) by A.J Merlin.
Publication Date: January 27, 2023
Publisher: Unknown
Genre: Dark Romance
Pages: 210
Purchase on: Amazon,
Add to: Goodreads
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Review:
Tropes:
✨Michael Myers inspired MC
✨Stalker
✨Age Gap
✨CNC
This second book in the Pleasure and Prey series totally ticked a lot of my boxes. It had a slight edge for me on the first book in terms of enjoyment though I also liked that one a lot. This one focuses on the friend Wren and he may have seemed totally affable in that one but here we saw a whole new side of him and I adored it.
The contrast between his charm and psychotic serial killer tendencies is extreme Wren is the true definition of a sociopath and the fact that he doesn’t really have a victim type and is definitely a spree killer makes his actions definitely more sinister. He very much gave me an old-school slasher-type vibe maybe because of the summer camp references and his machete.
“I just want one thing, then I’ll let you go.” “No, you won’t,” I whisper, stupidly. But with my brain too focused on death, it’s hard for my filter to get in the way of all the stupid shit I want to say. His knuckles find my cheek again, like a soft reprimand, though it’s not a strike. It’s a brush, if that. A tap, at the most. “You’re going to let me kiss you, pretty little bunny, and then I’ll let you out of my snare.”
I really liked Hazel like the first heroine she has her issues but she’s very much a good person. She has no idea she has acquired a stalker in Wren and their first encounter was dramatic and intense, to say the least. Wren literally terrorises Hazel chasing her through the woods getting off on her fear before unexpectedly letting her go.
I loved the primal prey-type vibe to their encounters and the fact he calls Hazel Bunny. Wren is unhinged definitely and before he fixated on Hazel he was definitely spiralling. The fact that he appears so sane definitely makes Wren feel more dangerous.
BOOKSWITHNATASA 
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