NEMESIS
Series: Sterling Falls Rogues #1
Genre: Dark Romance
Author: S. Massery
Release Date: June 5, 2025
A new darkness is seeping into Sterling Falls, and I’ve drawn its ire.
When a masked stranger declares he wants our ruin—mine, my brother’s, the whole town’s—I hope he’s bluffing.
A series of escalating events later, and it’s clear the threat is very present.
It’s not only present, but it drags up old nightmares from my past.
To keep my beloved city safe, I need to find this masked man and eliminate the threat.
I can’t do it on my own, but the three men poised to help are the ones I am almost certain I can’t trust.
Kade Laurent, the elusive and thrilling newcomer, leverages Olympus to get close to me.
Reese Avery, a ghost from my past, brings with him the trauma I’ve tried to bury. But he says he’s here to make amends…
Saint Hart, the partner of my dead best friend, and I will never get along. Especially since I’ve been tasked with keeping him alive. At least, I was convinced we were going to be mortal enemies forever—until we hate-screw in my kitchen…
Now things are all messed up, and I don’t know who I can rely on.
All I want is peace, but with danger climbing around me, it seems I’m destined for the opposite.
You drive me insane. You’re…a glowing beacon in the dark, and I just want to smother you.”
Sometimes you finish a book, and other times the book finishes you. And this was most definitely the latter for me. I don’t know what I want to do first; beg and plead with the author for the next book, yell and rage over that ending, or send her my therapy bill. I’ll go with all of the above for a $100, Alex. Because OH MY GOD.
As a predominantly dark romance reader, truly good dark romance comes harder and harder to come by for me. One, because I’m a picky and moody sh*t. But also, because I find a lot of it to be full of gratuitous violence and shock value. But this book? This is what truly good, incredibly well written dark romance is about. That pit in your stomach feeling of dread and anxiety over turning the page because you have no idea what awaits you. The twists, the turns, all of it had me in such a choke hold that I couldn’t bring myself to put this book down for even a second.
I did myself a disservice by not reading the Sterling Falls series first, which this is a spinoff. Which I will be rectifying immediately. However, as this is also a brand new series, I had no issues keeping up.
The story is dark and I mean DARK, so definitely heed the trigger warnings because the story doesn’t mess around. Artemis’s story is full of trauma and true dark underbelly of humanity. She’s a survivor through and through and it was impossible not to fall in love with her take charge attitude. As the twin sister of the MMC in the Sterling Falls series, you’ll see the connection when you read it but I won’t spoil it for you.
This book is told mostly in Artemis’s POV with a few snippets into Saint, Reese and Kade. I love the way that the romantic element is paced to introduce each MMC in this story and what an introduction it was. Saint; her brother’s friend who lost the love of his life and still reeling from the loss, Preston; the blast from the past of the hell that Artemis survived, and Kade; the mysterious newcomer.
The romance is a s low build and I loved the way it developed. We only get a taste for it here and the hate/lust between Saint and Artemis was deliciously tantalizing. Reese is very much a mystery and Kade is a dark enigma that I couldn’t get enough of.
This was the edge of your seat kind of story that keeps you on bated breath and a razor’s edge without letting up. And just when you think you have some answers, you get hit in the head by a two by four that was the cliffhanger and are left absolutely reeling.
When I tell you that I am absolutely RABID for the next book, I am not even slightly exaggerating. I need answers desperately and will be rocking myself in a dark corner until the next release.
S. Massery:
S. Massery is a dark romance author who loves injecting a good dose of suspense into her stories. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her dog, Alice.
Before adventuring into the world of writing, she went to college in Boston and held a wide variety of jobs–including working on a dude ranch in Wyoming (a personal highlight). She has a love affair with coffee and chocolate. When S. Massery isn’t writing, she can be found devouring books, playing outside with her dog, or trying to make people smile.
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