Review – Blackbird by Molly McAdams – Bookalicious Babes Blog

The devil is not as black as he is painted.

Molly McAdams painted her latest book in black with the deliciously dark romance, Blackbird. I went into this battle of feels blindly, this book delivering darkness like raindrops from the sky. No pep talk or words of wisdom would have helped me walk through the pits of hell where the devil reigned, where I could only pray for a sliver of sunshine. All I could do was dive in and silently beg for mercy on my emotions, hoping they would stay at bay.

After the Prologue, I had to wonder: “What are you doing to me, Molly McAdams?!?”

Blackbird is a dark and devastatingly beautiful book of love and loss that will render you broken and breathless, bringing you to your knees! Painted in the blackest of blacks, Blackbird is a love story submerged in splendor and sorrow that sings to the soul. Nothing could have prepared me for the SHATTERING OF MY SOUL that Blackbird rendered…NOTHING. Oh did my soul shatter and sing!!!

Sing, as my soul did to the bittersweet Beetles tune of Blackbird that haunted my head while reading:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night.
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life.
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly. Into the light of the dark black night.

The Prologue struck me hard, barreling down on my heart like a thousand winds, terrifying yet thrilling me. My emotions engulfed me, rendering me breathless, powerless to the feels that flooded me like a storm. This battle was one of feels; a fight I would not win. A fight I did not want to win. I knew this little Blackbird would break me, and break me it did. Blackbird BROKE ME IN THE BEST WAY!!!

I was forced into a world I’d been blind to and came face to face with the devil. A man cloaked in darkness—a man who would set me free. A man hidden in a world I vowed to destroy with him by my side.

Gorgeous with dark hair and dark eyes, a tall and muscular body adorned in ink, Lucas Holt was a devil in a dark world, sucked into it not by choice but by circumstance.

Briar Chapman was a blonde and green-eyed beauty who looked both alluring and angelic.

Dark collided with light as Briar was taken, kidnapped and sold to the devil, Lucas, at an auction.

“The devil will never own me.”

“We’ll see.”

Blackbird, so devastatingly dark yet breathtakingly beautiful, OWNED EVERY OUNCE OF ME!!!

She had called me the devil, and I felt like it after tonight.

This devil and dark knight set my heart on fire. I bled for this destroyed devil. Lucas, so broken yet beautiful, GUTTED ME!!! I had to catch my tears as I willed them not to fall. Tears that teased the dam of waterworks waiting to burst from the words that seized my soul, extracting every emotion. Beckoning me. Binding me. Breaking me. Becoming me.

..His touch shouldn’t steal my breath. But it did.

Blackbird stole my breath. I was BREATHLESS!!! My breathing was bated. My pulse pounded. My heart leapt out of my chest.

The chemistry between these two strangers is undeniable…fire-hot…a slow burn. Passion permeates from a mere look. Lucas and Briar have a shared bond that neither can grasp nor get.

“You’re beautiful, Briar.”

My body was on fire while my heart bled. This devil BURNED ME, melting me into molten lava!!! This devil DEMOLISHED ME!!! Lucas made me SMOLDER and SWOON!!! I LOVED this dark avenger, this complex man!!! Intense and intoxicating, Lucas is a force of darkness and Briar is the light. The devil and the angel, and angel’s whose sunlight he can’t help but absorb.

“You can hate me all you want. I’ll always hate myself more.”

The heart I tried to freeze to stay strong in this story shattered so many times. I thought I was already broken, but I BROKE SOME MORE.

“This was dancing with the devil and attempting to come out unscathed.”

I did not leave this story unscathed. I was SHREDDED TO PIECES!!! Blackbird hijacked my heart and stole my soul like a thief in the night! The spellbinding and spine-tingling Blackbird tore my heart open that lay bleeding, shook my soul that screamed for mercy, grabbed my gut that was unglued, and hit me so hard that my emotions bled long after the story was over. My tears bled all over my face, bleeding for words that penetrated through me like knives, slicing open my soul that was bared to this book.

This book that bared its soul to me is both a top February and 2017 read. Dark romance fits Molly McAdams like a glove, so PERFECT! UTTER BOOK BLISS!!! Molly McAdams writes from the heart and you can tell her heart is poured into every beautiful and brilliant word. Her heartfelt writing hits my heart hard like a hurricane EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. EVERY WORD MATTERS. Meaningful. Mesmerizing. Magnificent.

Oh did Blackbird with its simple title MEAN THE WORLD! This is a tale of ALL OF THE FEELS: heart-stopping love, heartbreak, healing, and happiness. I still feel this love story flowing through me!!! I’m still BARE, BROKEN, and BREATHLESS!!! I’m still GASPING FOR AIR with TEARS etched in my eyes from this stunning and shattering story.

This little bird chirped to my heart and chipped away at my soul. My emotions are still entangled around this Blackbird. Blackbird WRECKED ME in the worst way yet BROKE ME in the best way. Blackbird made me fly to the darkest dark and to the lightest light. I’m still flying, UNEQUIVOCALLY IN LOVE, as Blackbird OWNS ME FOR LIFE.

“You can’t attempt to touch me with your light and not expect me to darken your soul. I’ll always try to consume your light just as you’ll always try to consume my dark. It’s who we are, but it won’t change who we are. It’s those pieces of colliding that make us incredible.”

★★★★★★ devastatingly beautiful stars

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From New York Times bestselling author Molly McAdams comes a powerhouse romantic suspense that will have you questioning your morals and second guessing your view on love.

I live in a world few know exist. I’ve trained for this. I know what to say, what to do, and how to act. I’ve perfected the lethal calm required for this life.
Now it’s time to buy my first girl. But all it takes is one look at the brave girl who starts singing mid-auction for that calm to slip.

Briar Chapman is going to be the death of me, and I don’t care. I’ll take every day with her until that death comes, and I’ll welcome it when it does.

On the outside, Lucas Holt is what nightmares are made of. A man cloaked in darkness, with sin-filled eyes and an enticing grin. A devil so devastatingly beautiful and cruel that his very presence instills fear.

But beneath his terrifying, ever-calm exterior is an affectionate man haunted by a past that refuses to stay buried. And Lucas looks at me as though he’s finally found the only person who can make it all go away.

We’re a battle of the brightest day and the darkest night—and I want to lie in the wake of our war.

She closed the distance between us, each step slow and calculated. Once she was close enough, I slid one hand around her waist and the other around the back of her neck, using her hair to tilt her head back so I could study those eyes that captivated me.

“I hate that you have so much money that you buy women. I hate that you bought me at all, but mostly that you bought me because I started singing. I hate the circumstances that brought me to you, but I love you and am thankful I’m here with you all the same.”

My chest ached and filled with warmth. I wanted to kiss her and thank her for trusting me with her past. I wanted to erase every bad memory and replace them with ones of us now, but she didn’t realize what she’d just said . . .

As much as I wanted what she was saying to be true, it wasn’t, and it never would be. It couldn’t.

“You don’t,” I said thickly, forcing the words out through the tightness in my throat.

Confusion covered her face and her brows drew together. “I don’t what?”

“You don’t love me.”

I felt the shock that went through her body, but she didn’t try to pull away from me. Instead, she gripped my shirt in her hands like she was pleading with me in her touch alone.

“Lucas . . .”

My eyes slid shut, and I released a slow, weighted breath. “You don’t, Briar.”

“I know you think you don’t know how to love someone, but you do, you have been. You know what love is, and I have never been more aware of how loved I am by someone than I am by you.”

I ground my jaw and finally looked at her again. Instead of disagreeing with her, I said, “You can’t love me, because you don’t know me.”

I hated the hurt in her eyes. I hated that I was putting it there. I hated everything I was, hated that I would never be enough for the girl I didn’t know how to let go of. Couldn’t let go of.

“Yes, I do,” she choked out. “I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it, I’ve experienced your darkness and your monsters, and I’m still here. Haven’t I proven myself yet? Haven’t I proven I am not going anywhere? That you can’t make me run?” Her gripping hands flattened and moved up to curve around my neck. “I knew to fall in love with you I had to fall in love with the devil, too. I am not as naïve as you think I am.”

“But you have no idea exactly how heartless your devil is,” I said darkly.

“Then let me see—”

“I won’t let you into that part of my world,” I said on a growl. Just the thought of her being in a situation to see me like that—to see that part of my world—chilled me in a way that made me feel sick. “All of thiswill change the minute you see it. Trust me when I say you’ll never be able to look at me the same, and I won’t be able to live with myself if that day ever comes.”

“You can’t know that,” she argued, her words still sounding like a plea.

“Think of your worst memories with me, Blackbird,” I ordered gently. “Think of what I told you about the shootout with my brothers. Think about what William did to you. Now try to grasp that all of that is nothing compared to what I have done, and what I do, without feeling a thing.”

I waited for it to sink in, and after a few moments, it did. And there was that look in her eyes I’d come to dread and hate—fear and uncertainty. But I could still see her love for me.

Unfailing and undeserving.

“Didn’t you hear me the first time?” she finally asked as tears filled her eyes. “The darkest part of your soul terrifies me, but, Lucas, I’m not going anywhere.”