So, okay, Runts, but make it dark and messed up? This is a why choose…romance(???), full of some sweet, some sour, and one thoroughly bananapants psychopath, who was my favorite, which is Classic Me^TM. The plot moves quickly and is action packed. The writing is a bit repetitive, which is my only negative comment about it. Otherwise, if you like mafia men with questionable morals, then this is for you.

The Red‘s story is organized into acts. Each act follows the same pattern, wherein Mona discovers the work of art, which symbolizes the theme or meaning behind the scene that she participates in with her mystery man. The Sky Bar is divided into four sections of chocolate containing different fillings, which matches up with this multi-act type of feel. Plus, not all of the fillings appeal to everyone, similarly to each scene in The Red. Despite the wild concepts presented in the story, I found the telling to be imaginative and artistically beautiful.

Hear me out, the reason Peppermint Patties go well with this book is because they’re tasty because they are made with sugar, but, like, are they really tasty? Same with this story. Am I actually siding with a sociopathic stalker? There’s never a heart of gold moment. Adeline never changes this guy into a sweet cinnamon roll. He’s unloving, cruel, violent, and sadistic. Buuuuuuuut, he WILL burn down the world for her and if you touch her, you will, in fact, die. So. There’s. That. One thing I will say is that the second book, Hunting Adeline, contains graphic descriptions of rape and torture. I’m tolerant of most content warnings, but even I had a difficult time reading some parts of the story. The journey and the writing are interesting enough that I did feel compelled to find out what happens in the end.

Unlike the MMC in Haunting Adeline, the fellas in The Dare and the Losers duology do, eventually, come around. Therefore, sour patch kids. They start sour and end sweet. And then I found a picture of this particular version of sour patch kids and the fact that it has the word “share size” made me chuckle because, well, this is a why choose dark romance with two M/M couples within the poly dynamic. I think this story falls within the bully romance category, which normally I don’t love. However, the way that Harley showers us with such rich character development, is wonderful. Should you read The Dare? You CAN jump into Losers, as what happens during The Dare is referenced quite a bit in Losers. I would recommend reading it though and, hey, it’s novella length. You’ll get through it real quick.

The premise of this book is wild, but the romance is just so incredibly sweet. If you’re able to side step descriptions of…er…fluids…and focus on the core relationship, then you’ll really enjoy this one. And as for the candy pairing, *cackle* I couldn’t resist.