Untouchable book review | 4 star

Untouchable by Sam Mariano
on December 17, 2018
Goodreads

The bully isn't supposed to win.

Senior year was off to a rough start: lube in my locker, panties on my front porch, unimaginative name-calling. See, I got a player suspended from the football team for harassing me, and in my small Texas town, you don’t mess with the football players—even if they mess with you first.
I didn’t care if it was an unpopular thing to do; I stood up for myself… and in doing so, opened Pandora’s Box.
I never dreamed I would attract the attention of locally worshipped star quarterback, Carter Mahoney. Never imagined his coveted attention would turn out to be such a nightmare. Beneath his carefully constructed façade lurks a monster, a predator looking for the perfect prey to play with. Now, since I’m the girl no one likes or believes, I guess I’m the perfect target for his dark games and twisted desires.
After surviving my first encounter with his casual depravity, all I really want is for Carter to leave me alone.
But all he seems to want is me.
Warning: This book is provocative. It is categorized as DARK ROMANCE for a reason. It will not be for everyone. If you are a reader with certain triggers or sensitivities common to the dark romance genre, please heed the author’s note at the beginning of this book.

I have taken myself on a new journey and I am kinda a little thrilled to be honest. However, I was never a massive reader of romance and I think Untouchable might have changed that for me. I want to make it very clear that this book deals with disgusting things. There is a lot of non-consensual graphic sex scenes. So if that is a trigger for you this book isn’t for you AT ALL, so please don’t read it. I don’t know what I think about this book from a moral and ethically standpoint. That was a little difficult for me to work with but I actually LOVED this book.

Characters in Untouchable

The main characters were Carter, the golden boy and Zoey the school’s quiet girl. I wasn’t sure I could get past how they were pushed together. But as the story goes on the characters became more and more complex. There is way more to the story than what meets the eye. I fell in love with the narrative and the way the character’s story came together. Watching Zoey build up her strength and work out what she wanted and how she wanted the relationship to go really drew me in. I loved Zoey as a character and the way that she took a step towards Carter. Also trying to figure out what was going on, and in a different book I would have had a completely different reaction. But it somehow worked in this book.

Carter is an odd one for me to love because I shouldn’t love him. In fact I should be completely repulsed by him. But the story was brilliant complex and well written. I don’t condone the things that he does but there is something that draws me into him as a character. Regardless, I think I fell a little in love with him in the end which was completely shocking for me. Especially when I think of the awful things he does, but there is something about him. I know that probably makes me an awful person but I loved it.

Good and bad bits

The best for me and without shame was the sex, the scenes in this book are STEAMY. The sex scenes are brilliantly written, even with the acts of non-consent and dub-con. I adored the way they come together and how each of the scenes was completely different. It was a particularly brilliant book. The characters and the ending was a complete surprise. I think this is the start of something beautiful.

The worst bits of Untouchable for me were the side characters, I feel as though a lot of them were introduced but there wasn’t any development or complete story for any of them. They all just seemed to be a mini story without endings or a complete arc for them which was a shame. I think the story would have been richer for them having a complete story especially considering there’s an epilogue that would have wrapped them up nicely.

Recommendation

If you’re looking for a super-steamy romance with a questionable hero then this is the book for you. I would recommend Untouchable to anyone looking for something a little on the risky side. I think this will be the first of many romance book as the year goes on.

Have you read this one? What are some of your favourite romance books? Let me know!