Wicked Steps by Cory Cyr

Blurb: Strong language, explicit sexual situations, M/F. F/F. 18+

If anyone had asked ten years ago, I never would have imagined I’d be a thirty-five-year-old widow today.

I could tell you I married Hartman Wick out of love, but it’s complicated. We were friends. He was dying. And he needed me. He also made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Of course, I agreed with the very best of intentions. But we all know what the road to hell is paved with.

All I ever dreamed of was owning my own gallery. A place where my best friend and I could introduce the masses to inspiring and new artists. Hartman promised me the deed to the gallery, wealth, and security for the rest of my life.

Instead, I find myself in a war with his estranged son Kieran—my stepson and one of the most prolific painters, known for his erotic shock art. He’s been plotting revenge against his father for years, and now that Daddy’s dead, he’s seized the opportunity.

Between the constant battles, heated exchanges, and threats of blackmail, I find myself inexplicitly drawn to this twenty-four-year old. He’s beautiful, seductive, arrogant, and evil. Not only is he a gifted artist, but he’s certainly inherited some of his father’s more unsavory traits. He truly is a Wick.

But then he takes things too far and pushes me to my breaking point. I’ve had enough. In retaliation, I make a plan.

And I almost feel sorry for him—almost. I’m sure, even as a child, he was never read a single fairy tale. Poor bastard.

He has no idea how truly wicked a stepmother can be.

3 Stars

I do love me some step-romance.  Don’t judge me by my reading preference!

This one kinda bothered me though. First of all, the blurb doesn’t do this book any justice.  I didn’t find her to be wicked at all.  If anything, she came across as incredibly meak and demure with really no self confidence to speak of.  I had a hard time liking her to be perfectly honest.  Which probably affected my reading.

It was the step-son who was wicked.  He was a douchebag and a half.  And seriously, it read like a predators guide on how to victimize a weak woman.  Cause that’s exactly what he did.  He used her already fragile psyche and alienated her to the point of silence.  Not attractive to me.  I do love an alpha, but this guy was like two alphas on crack.

I had a hard time reading this book.  It was very graphic and I would never have been so forgiving to anyone who treated me that way.  But thats just not how I am built so I had a difficult time identifying with either character.  The emotions this book evoked were so intense that I finished reading it even though I was a bit repulsed by their behavior.  And I’m not talking about the sexually explicit stuff, that was hot.  I’m talking about the psychological abuse they inflicted on each other.  It was just horrific to witness from the outside looking in.  ::shivers::

I was ready to put it down because the mind games were getting a bit out of hand for me. But then, the second half of the book did this weird 180 and everything was different.  I got whiplash from the quick change.

And it went from being about hate and revenge to forgivness and hope.  Two very contradictory things.  I couldn’t find it in my heart to even entertain the idea of forgivness at this point.  While I’m a huge fan of forgiveness in general sometimes things happen that just go to far and are unforgivable.  Some of the stunts pulled in this book could be catagorized as unforgivable to me.

She is a better person than me to retain the ability to trust and forgive.  I wouldn’t have.  I suppose I would recommend this book to others, but only to people who don’t get too emotional while reading and also to folks who don’t have any triggers.  This one was a bit dark.