The Reaper (Dark Verse)

— 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 “Give them hell,” he whispered to her. She smiled. He stared at her smile for a long, long minute, his magnificent eyes glued to her mouth. And the most beautiful, precious thing happened. His cold, aloof eyes warmed. 📖 | 420 pages 👤 | author RuNyx 🏢 | published independently 📅 | release date 30 June 2020 What you can expect: — Adult Contemporary Dark Romance — Second Instalment In A Series — Third-Person POV — Morana X Tristan — Enemies-to-Allies-to-Lovers — Rival Families — Forced Proximity — Mafia Families — Found Family — Check TWs Trigger & Content Warnings include: human trafficking, rape (past, recounted), panic attacks, suicide and suicidal ideation, blood depiction, death of a parent (on and off page), death of a sibling (mentioned), murder and attempted murder (including children), torture, gun violence, explosion, kidnapping (mentioned). The Reaper is the second instalment in the Dark Verse series and the last instalment focusing on the point-of-view of Morana and Tristan by author RuNyx. Tristan ‘The Predator’ Caine had been unprepared for Morana Vitalio. After spending his entire life with a vow he broke on a rainy night, he finds himself torn in a battle between his painful past and an uncertain future. The only thing he knows? Her life still belongs to him. For Morana, the line between enemies and allies has blurred. Everything she once held dear to her has disintegrated and the unknown gapes at her, leaving her with both her freedom and life on the line in enemy territory. The only thing she knows? His life has always belonged to her. With twenty years of history tying them to each other, Tristan and Morana begin their hunt for the truth together. And they realize that the mystery of the missing girls is just the tip of the iceberg. Skeletons are uncovered. Dominoes begin to fall. A storm is born. I can't with this series. The sequel to The Predator has continued to deliver on the expectations set from book one. Everything that you experience in book one? Expect more. And more and more and more. More thrill. More tension. More pain. More stakes. More heat. I am in awe of author RuNyx writing and the ability to weave such an intricate and delicate plot with many contributing elements and players. The Reaper is bittersweet as whilst I'm trilled to be getting Amara and Dante's story in The Enforcer, I have absolutely adored the focus on Morana and Tristan within the first two books. The journey we have followed Morana and Tristan on has been a story filled with pain, sadness and death. Two lonely souls filled with longing tied together by vow, who have chosen one another outwith that vow as outside forces look to drive them apart. I'm so proud of the development of both characters, and I know I'll constantly be on the lookout for their appearances in future instalments. The Dark Verse series is a story that spans across six interconnected books that have to be read in order to understand the continued plot despite the change of focus on different couples.

Faced paced, second time reading this series. Spicy, but not graphic like 'The Ritual'. Loved reading about the characters and their relationships. Recommended this series for anyone who loves a good enemies to lovers story.

Beautiful. Brutal. Emotionally ruinous. This was the perfect, heartbreaking conclusion to Tristan and Morana’s story—without ever undermining the strength of their arc. The Reaper hit me hard, in the best way. The twists? I swear I could not have predicted a single one. Runyx didn’t just write suspense—she mastered it. Every revelation had me stunned, reeling, and frantically flipping pages. And the romance? God. It was intimate, raw, and deeply earned. The way their love deepened after everything they’d endured… It’s rare to see something that feels so dark yet so healing. I miss them already. But knowing that their story has a real conclusion makes it all the more satisfying—and now I get to fall into the rest of the Darkverse. Ayana and Dante? I need that book yesterday. The only dilemma? Do I wait for my physical copy of book three, or dive straight into Kindle? Because I know once I start, I won’t stop.

Where do I begin? Let start with the plot. I spent the entirety of these two books trying to guess the ending, something I pride myself on being great at. Not this time, each twist and turn had me at the edge of my seat and frankly, unable to sleep. I spent the hours I was at work, thinking about Morana and Tristan, counting down the minutes until I could pick up my kindle again. Runyx created such a beautiful character with Morana. We love a smart, witty and down right sexy female MC. Pair that with an emotionally damaged, morally grey, protective heartthrob, what more could you want? Watching Tristan develop and learn to love was written masterfully. Every time we learnt more about his tragic past, a piece of my heart broke for him. What is better than a good old fashioned enemies to lovers? The addition of a comical and caring best friend. Dante was the gift that keep on giving, and when I got to ‘that’ part? I was an emotional wreck. We all love a little bit of *spice*, and boy did Runyx deliver. The restaurant scene? Perfection. The angst, the tension, the nonstop staring to the point your mafia father figures out exactly what’s going on? EURG, Tristan rubbing it in her fathers face had me laughing out loud! These didn’t feel like your typical Mafia romance books, these felt like masterpieces that I’ll never get tired of reading. Petition for never ending Morana and Tristan please? If you’re after yet another book boyfriend, meet Tristan. I don’t think I’ll ever be over Tristan. I cannot recommend these highly enough. If they aren’t on your tbr, add them. If these are on your tbr, move them up! You wont regret it.

I loved the first book, and I did enjoy reading this one, but I felt like some of the spark Morana had was lost in this book. I do love the 3rd person perspective, but it would have been great to introduce Tristan’s perspective a little earlier (I could see what the author was doing introducing it later, but it wasn’t impactful enough to make it work well imo). There was so much focus on Morana and her insecurities or her thoughts on their relationship that it made her, for me, a little less interesting. Felt like the plot was a bit patchy and could have sung a lot more.

This is the second book in this dark verse series and this story carries on Morana and Tristans story. This is an enemies to lovers romance, dark mafia, touch her and die vibes and a bad ss fmc. This book picks up right from where book one ended and is full of suspense. These two have both been through so much and are trying to open up together. They both get each other totally and they are going through alot right now to unmask the reaper and stop what's happening. But, there are alot of curve balls being thrown their way making it very difficult. I absolutely love these characters and the side characters too and I'm really hoping that they get there own books much, especially Dante. I loved seeing their love story unfold and once I started this series I must say I'm hooked. Morana is a beautifully fearless woman that you will love and Tristan is a man that is very protective and you can't help but feel his pain. I loved how this author writes and how the words pull you right into the story it's full of angst, suspense, revenge, and it will captive you all the way through. I can't wait to start the third book. DARK VERSE SERIES #1 The Predator #2 The Reaper #3 The Emperor #4 The Finisher #5 The Annihilator #6 The Syndicator

Sooo, this series only gets better!! This is book two of the Dark Verse series and a continuation of Tristan and Morana’s story. We see a huge shift in their relationship here and a slow acceptance of their feelings towards each other. I loved the trust being built between these two. I adored seeing Tristan open up to Morana and his fierce protectiveness of her. Classic alphahole vibes and we love that 🫠 chemistry is phenomenal as ever but there is more passion and love in this book, as opposed to raw lust in book one. Morana is hands down, one of my favourite FMC’s now. She’s so spunky and I really appreciate her giving Tristan a hard time on occasion. The plot in this book was crazy good and I was so enthralled throughout. The ending was just mind blowing! This is definitely a series you 100% need to read in order. I cannot wait for more twists and amazing writing in the rest of the books 🙌🏻 The ending and epilogue were so sweet, it was almost out of character for these two, but it shows the progress they’ve made as a coupe. Finally, a perfect warm up into Dante and Amara’s story 🥹 Also, me when I realised Tristan is blonde = 🤯 *𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬* 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: dark romance 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: mafia, mystery, angsty, book 2 of series and MC’s

If you’re like me and considered putting book one down and not bothering with the 2nd because of the writing, don’t! The author finds her swing on book 2 and it’s well worth the read!

This book serie i one of the best ones i read. I know some might complaint about the first books bout alot of state and Ogly eyes, but that had me reading it, i loved every second of it. 5 star ⭐

RuNyx is fantastic, this book is amazing i can’t wait to read the others

Have I been sitting with this review box open and empty for the month or two or ten? Yes, yes, I absolutely have. Am I still having an incredibly hard time writing a worthy review for this book? Yes, yes, I absolutely am. This book picks up right where The Predator ended and, once again, I read it in one sitting and couldn't put it down for a second. Tristan and Morana have me in a chokehold to this day, and something tells me this won't change any time soon. As always, RuNyx' writing is above superb. As always, her words are addicting, so very powerful and touching, and the way she brought this story to life is award-worthy. 🫶🏼 I loved so much the character development in this book. Tristan and Morana's relationship reached a whole new level and I devoured every word and every page of this book as if there were no tomorrow. Tristan will forever be on the very top of my list of my favourite MMCs, and I adored so so SO MUCH seeing him lowering his walls and opening up to Morana, their trust building and growing stronger, and Tristan's protectiveness of Morana. 🖤 Their relationship is so unique and special, and I love them dearly with all I have. Morana, as always, is a major fearless queen. Incredibly strong, fierce, intelligent. I love her so much. The same as Tristan, Morana will forever be one of my all time favourites FMCs and an example to follow in so many aspects. 🫶🏼 When it comes to plot twists and keeping you on edge until the very end, RuNyx does it like no other. My brain was 🤯🤯🤯 it was unexpected, unpredictable and beautifully done. I love absolutely everything about this book and about this series. Ever since The Predator I knew it'd become one of my all time favourite series ever, and each book just proves how right I was. RuNyx will forever own a part of me and I will forever be a willing "prisoner", follower and admirer of her writing. 🖤

5⭐ ✨Mafia Romance ✨Enemies to Lovers (starting in book 1) ✨Suspense ✨3rd person POV ✨mental health and trauma ✨ touch her and die vibe I love Tristan and Morana with all my heart, and after having just finished a reread of this book I love them even more. I love how the first book focuses more on setting up the world and background story, introducing us to all the characters, the family ties, the world, and some of their background information and history while also teasing us with bits and pieces of Tristan and Morana's relationship and what it could look like once they would get to the point where they transform from enemies into lovers. This book was such a great book, picking up everything that we had learned in the first book and giving us answers to some of the questions, like who The Reaper is, and therefore ending that plotline while keeping the main plotline of the abducted girls going. Giving us new information and smaller plotlines for Dante and Amara's story, while also giving us enough information about the big plot and attaching the smaller plotlines to the bigger one, so that you don't feel like you have a million plotlines going on at once that you can't keep track of. This book was filled with so many emotional scenes and I love how Tristan and Morana were always there for each other, even if it was just in their quiet own ways. How they can read each other's eyes and have a whole conversation with each other without saying anything. How when she has a panic attack in the beginning he is the only thing that can save her and weather her back to the real world and when Dante then asks her about what is happening between them she says that her demons dance with Tristan's and that if she or he will ever be overwhelmed by them she hopes that the other person's demons can reach out and help them find their way back to themselves. What I really love about their relationship is that, while both of them haven't ever been in a healthy relationship or one at all, they are both trying to do their bests to be open with each other and communicate to have a healthy relationship that will last. And how they both accept each other for who they are, believing in the other and their abilities and helping each other where they can.Like when Morana asks Tristan if he truly believes that Luna is still alive and when he says yes, she just says that they will find her and that they won't stop until they have all the answers. Or how when Morana doesn't know who she is anymore, Tristan is there to reassure her of who she is and that she will always be his Morana no matter what anyone else thinks or says. I also adore the relationship between Dante and Morana, while we already saw glimpses into their growing relationship in The Predator, especially in the scene in the garage when he finds her after her father pushed her down the stairs, it just really solidified into a kind of brother and sister bond in this book and I love that for both of them. How she also felt comfortable enough to run to Dante's place when she was attacked in her room and he called Tristan for her and stayed with her until he arrived.

I loved the first book. Tristan and Morana are amazing together. Tristan is just so broken, my heart broke very many times, Morana too, she went through so much because of her “father”. I loved their storyline.