The Finisher: A Dark Marriage of Convenience Romance (Dark Verse)

"𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍."⭐⭐🎇⭐⭐RuNyx is unable writing anything but 5 stars! I’ve died and been reborn. Ripped apart and put back together. Lived multiple lifetimes in between these covers. Loved and laughed, cried and crumbled.This highly anticipated fourth installation to the beloved Dark Verse series has you crying tears of anger as well as of happiness, has you believing in rainbows behind the grey skies and in love that forces its way through stone."𝑹𝒂𝒘, 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔."Power, allure, dominance. A giant with a golden eye. Alessandro “Alpha” Villanova has fought his way through the darkness of life with his fists, earned every bit of his reputation as the one-eyed beast with sweat, blood and sacrifices. Until one day, the ever-present gray clouds darkening the skies of his kingdom, are pushed to the side when a girl made of pure sunshine literally jumps into his life with a marriage proposal. She’s the colorful burst of light into his darkness, a rainbow after the storm."𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝒁𝒆𝒚-𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒓. 𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒖𝒃 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎."One of the things I love most about Zephyr, is her way of loving (and lusting!) wholly and without shame, giving herself entirely to what she is feeling and not caring what others think. Zephyr De la Vega, the girl with the bubble gum colored hair, doesn’t know any other way to love than utterly, completely and with all her heart."𝑲𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔."Alpha sees himself as something ugly and horrific. But "𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍." The strength he carries himself with, the honor in ways he offers his protection to those in need, is what she sees. The beauty of the beast.Zephyr is a child of light, and the darkness of his world threatens to dim that light. But she fights it with everything she’s got, like the stubborn creature she is. She is determined to find her way underneath the hard outer exterior and into the heart of her Alpha. This curvy little spitfire turns his world upside down in ways he never saw coming.I see so much of myself in Zephyr; how deeply she loves and what she is ready to do for those closest to her heart. And when she believes something is meant to be, there are no sacrifices too great to make to achieve the fairy tale."𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒆. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆."Sometimes, however, old insecurities came gnawing at her and during those times, she didn’t feel beautiful. She just wants what we all want; to feel loved, needed and appreciated. And most of all, wanted. To feel unwanted is one of the greatest pains in this world.Their story explores emotions in a wide scale; from stone cold fear to sky-high happiness to fire hot desire. What I’ve always loved about this writer, is her way of never shying away from areas of discomfort, when it comes to human emotions. Her characters are real and perfect in their imperfections. Things of darkness are always treated with utmost respect and honesty. Her stories show unapologetically what, for example, periods of depression and extreme hopelessness look like, sometimes balancing on that very edge of life and death. They teach us that all emotions are valid and everyone deserves to be loved just as they are. Even during the heaviest of storms, there is always hope. Always a rainbow on the other side of the clouds.The author writes from the heart, honestly and without restraint. Something I truly adore, is her way of always staying true to the stories. They course through her veins like rapids in the wilderness, live inside her heart, maturing into tales unlike anything I’ve ever read. The words explode like drops of finest wine on my tongue, their taste fine-tuned to perfection, lingering scents of the divine."𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒂 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓."The heat between them is explosive, their chemistry off the charts. Alpha is literal sex on legs, a giant with the stamina of a true beast. Zephyr is liquid fire, a woman comfortable with her own sensuality and not afraid to show it. In true RuNyx fashion, this book is best enjoyed in private (because the sexual tension will make you squirm) and with a cool beverage (because the steam will leave you parched) 😏🔥The story serves a plethora of tropey goodness, hitting the nail on the head on Marriage of convenience, mixed with a twist on beauty/beast and fighter/his girl.We meet the couples from the previous books and seeing familiar faces from another character’s perspective is always fascinating. They are investigating the connection between The Syndicate and the mystery of the missing girls, but where one question is answered, ten new ones arise.The ending includes a tiny revelation to the last book in the series, which will leave you gasping…!! Feelings of perplexity and confusion are best dealt with re-reading the previous books looking for clues you might’ve missed (stuff in previous books make so much more sense now!), followed by a full-blown investigation with notes and charts of the plot twists with friends 😁Be prepared for an all-nighter with this one! The book can’t be put down. It truly can’t. RuNyx is the evil master of barbequing my ovaries in the hellfire that is the steam she writes. Of making my soul weep for the beauty she creates with her words. Those words weave the most hauntingly beautiful of melodies that echo within the halls of your mind long after you’ve finished reading, the notes slowly fading into the ink black skies…The love I have towards her books is infinite 🖤 Thank you, girl with the magic words ✨

’m still reeling from The Finisher! This book was a wild ride from beginning to end, and I couldn’t get enough of it. After reading the previous books in the series, I had high expectations, but The Finisher completely exceeded them in every way. Runyx really knows how to pull you into a world that’s dark, intense, and full of twists you never see coming.What really stood out to me in this book was the depth of the characters. The protagonist is tough and complex, and I found myself really connecting with their internal struggles. They’re not perfect, but that’s what makes them so real and relatable. The relationships in this book are just as intense as you’d expect—there’s a mix of tension, vulnerability, and passion that kept me hooked the entire time.The pacing was spot on. I couldn’t put it down! Every chapter felt like it was building toward something huge, and I was constantly on edge, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. The action scenes were adrenaline-pumping, and the emotional moments hit hard, leaving me with all kinds of feelings.I loved how Runyx expanded on the world-building in The Finisher. The setting felt even more immersive, and the stakes kept rising as the plot unfolded. There’s just something about how dark and gritty the story is that makes every twist feel that much more intense.If you’re a fan of dark romance, high stakes, and characters who will stay with you long after you finish the book, The Finisher is a must-read. Runyx has done it again, and I can’t wait to see where this series goes next. I’m officially addicted!⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

This grumpy/sunshine marriage of convenience packs a much harder punch than I could have anticipated. I feel emotionally wrung out after that - especially with the ending.But I'm getting ahead of myself.This book focuses on Alpha (Dante's half-brother) and Zephyr - and when I say that Zephyr steals the show, I absolutely mean that. I've been raving about how much I love the way RuNyx portrays different kinds of strength, and the kind we see with Zephyr is the one that hits home most for me - she's the kind of person who carries so much weight on her shoulders, and some of the people who claim to love her end up regularly cutting at her, but she continues to exude so much light and has so much unconditional love to give. Zephyr wears her heart on her sleeve and her emotions on her face, for better or worse.And she loves Alpha with her whole damn soul, to the point where it makes my own heart ache for her when he's an unmitigated ass. But he gets his act together... like with some emotionally constipated men, it just takes him some time.The setup for this story is clever, and the reasoning behind this marriage of convenience delivers on all the angst and yearning you could possibly want. The romance between our two leads is tumultuous, but rife with chemistry and tension and yearning... and also full of a lot of initial resistance from a certain grump who is terrified by how much he is drawn to Zephyr.As with the other installments in this series, we continue with the over-arching plot involving the diabolical Syndicate, as more mysteries are revealed, and some gut-wrenching betrayals come to the forefront. The climax at the end was the other shoe I kept waiting for to drop, but when it did, I still wasn't adequately prepared for the cost.This book is definitely a HFN (happy for now) with that bittersweet ending, but in typical RuNyx fashion, the way she captures the heavy - depression, grief, trauma, etc. - I don't know what it is or how she does it, but this woman speaks my language, which makes certain vulnerable moments in this book (and series overall) hit so much harder than I think they otherwise would. The part where Zephyr is in the middle of a depressive spiral was something that definitely hit close to home. I'm just glad she had Alpha there to be there for her as a kind of anchor so she could pull herself out of it.I absolutely loved this book.The romance was angsty and full of yearning, but also delicious and full of heat.And the feels hit right on the bullseye. This book made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me swoon, and it made me cry some more. This book, this series, is a journey, and while I'm eager to see how it'll all end, I also don't ever want it to. It is that good.