This series was my first real taste of what an MC book is, and I for one was sold by everything River Savage captured in her incredible debut, Incandescent.

But I’ll let you on in a little secret: Affliction blew me away even more.

Nix Knight took me on a pretty darn fantastic dirty talking ride with Incandescent, but I was not prepared for the unforgettable ride Sy and Holly would take me on in Affliction. I wasn’t prepared for all Sy’s book would encompass. I wasn’t prepared for how much I would feel reading this book. I wasn’t prepared for the highly emotional journey this book, and Holly and Sy would give me. I wasn’t prepared for how much this book would hurt my heart, yet within those same pages how much it would try with all its might to fix that same hurt heart it helped create.

I wasn’t prepared for any of it, but I relished in all of it. Every single brilliant piece.

Holly and Sy captured my interest when I first met them both in Incandescent, but they captured my full heart and soul in Affliction.

What was brilliant about Affliction:

• Sy’s past and how it’s all revealed. Sy’s past is slowly and thoughtfully revealed over the course of his story. I won’t tell you much about that past, but what I will say is that it just made sense. It explained so much about him, why he said the things he said, and did the things he did. It just helped explain Sy, and with each new piece to his past I got him more. With each new piece I loved and felt for him immensely. Even when those pieces broke my heart and made me want reach in and stop the pain, I couldn’t get enough of Sy’s past that was being unveiled.
• Holly’s spunky attitude. Oh Holly. That girl is something else, and her spunky attitude was one of her best qualities. She is a firecracker who never failed to bring a smirk to my face. She’s also one hell of a fighter. After all she goes through in this book, Holly has to fight to get that attitude back. Reading her give it all she had to find her fire again was extraordinary to read, and it made it simply easy to love and accept that vibrant and remarkable fire that was Holly.
• Sy’s no nonsense disposition. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a man quite like Sy. He is rough around the edges and he does not take any crap from anyone. Not even Holly. Especially not Holly. That man is raw and gritty, but he feels with every ounce that he has. Stepping into is head was nothing short of outstanding, and the more I read and learned about him, the more I loved his no nonsense self. He’s definitely a character you don’t want to mess with, but I promise you that the more you read him the more you’ll crack into that hard exterior and just love him.
• The fight for the light against the darkness. Both Holly and Sy are fighting their own darkness and demons that plague their pasts and presents. Though those demons and that darkness are huge, they fight like hell for that light that they’ve both experienced. They give it their all to defeat what scares them, what pains them, and what torments them. That fight defines them in the best possible way. Their demons characterize their pasts and their presents, but both Holly and Sy try their damndest to not let it define their futures, and reading that attempt at defeating the darkness is spectacular.
• The immense amount of feeling. This book is brimming with feeling and emotion. And let me tell you, that feeling and emotion is so varied and well developed that you’ll be blown away by all that this book makes you feel. You’ll feel the lows and the pain that’ll make your heart hurt for these two. You’ll also feel the serious heat and connection they share that fires off the page. You’ll feel those moments of vulnerability that show everything that’s on the line. You’ll also seriously feel how much Sy and Holly feel for each other. You’ll feel it all. The love, the pain, the fire, the hate, the connection, the light, the dark. Everything.
• The gang’s all back, and it’s the best. One of the aspects I loved most about this book and series were the supporting characters that make it all whole. They are each highly unique and they each add something different to the story. Each one of them has their own story to tell, and the way that River Savage couples their stories into the main story of the book was outstanding. I couldn’t get enough of the interactions between these supporting characters and Sy and Holly. Their interactions make you laugh, smile, they make your heart feel whole, and altogether they just hit home the fact that it’s really true when they say the more the merrier.
• The build and connection. This book has some serious build to it. It’s got build for days. Literally. Sy and Holly are building and building together throughout the entire book to see if they have what it takes to make it work together. There’s also the build between them as their immense connection continues to build and smolder. Their build together also couples with that build to fight that looming darkness creeping around the corner. The amount of build in this book will have you feeling these characters in your bones, and will just have your heart racing for the moment when all that build explodes on the page.
• The pain you feel and understand. Holly and Sy’s stories are both filled with pain from all they experience and go through. But with what River Savage conveys in her fantastic writing in Affliction, you understand every ounce of their pain that they’re feeling. You get it. You feel it. You even kind of embrace it in a way because it sheds so much light on these two dynamic characters, and because that pain just makes you feel so much for them and their stories. That understandable pain also leads to some pretty unforgettable moments that literally take your breath away
• The messy, the raw, and all the flaws. I think one of my favorite aspects of this story was the messy, the flaws, and the rawness that encompassed Holly and Sy. It made them beyond real to me because of all they went through. It also made them authentic as hell, and it made them who they are. That messiness, that rawness, those flaws are Holly and Sy. All their cracks and rough edges all serve a purpose in their story, and I guarantee that all those cracks and flaws will just sell you repeatedly on the power and magic that is them.

Affliction is a story I wasn’t prepared for. I knew I was going to love Holly and Sy’s story from how much I loved them when I first met them in Incandescent. What I wasn’t prepared for was how much these two dynamic characters would make me feel for them as I learned all about them. They dove head first into my heart, and I think they’re going to stick.

Their story isn’t one filled with rainbows and butterflies. It’s messy and visceral and downright emotional and pain filled at times, but that’s what makes it their story. You hit the ground running and you’re not going to stop until it’s all said and done. That’s what sets it apart, and that’s what made me fall head first in love with these two characters and their story that just didn’t quit.

Holly and Sy make you work for it. They make each other work for it. They make themselves work for it. But all that fight, and all that work is beyond worth it. It’s also beyond beautiful and breathtaking every step of the way.

They won’t disappoint you one bit, and in the end you’ll realize, all the darkness was worth that chance of experiencing all brightness of the light. 

“What the fuck are you doing in my club?” he asks again, moving his body closer.