Topics Highlights:

• Hottest scene on a table in a warehouse
• Sociopaths showing emotion
• Different tones from book 1 to book 2.

Join us for an enthralling analysis of Sophie Lark's Center's Duet series. Delve into the intricate dynamics between Mara and Cole, exploring control, manipulation, and unexpected nurturing in their predator-prey relationship. Uncover gripping themes, characters like Cole and Shaw, and the series' mysterious threads. Brace for a spicy debate on the dark romance elements, discussing standout scenes, 'heat,' and their unique relationship dynamics. Stay tuned for our book ratings and final verdict in this electrifying discussion!

Jenn's Ratings: 2 Skulls, 2 Peppers overall but 5 Peppers for Warehouse scene, 4 Stars

Mistie's Ratings: 2 Skulls, 2 Peppers overall but 5 Peppers for Warehouse scene, 3 Stars

NEW DARKNESS SCALE UPDATED JULY 2, 2024 - 3 Skulls

I want to shriek, I want to squirm, but I refuse to do it. Cole is a predator. If I show the slightest hint of fear, it will ignite his instinct to hunt. This is the quote that I pulled from the Center's Duet by Sophie Lark. It's from the first book and it is a little bit of a spoiler, so just so y'all I mean the whole episode will have plenty of spoilers. I like that. I have thought about that was super sexy, you're welcome. I've thought about that quote so many times since I finished this book. Like I will be driving and just think like he's a hunter and she's just like not giving it and I just I don't know. It was just one of the sexiest scenes I think in the entire I mean the whole that, from like that point forward through that entire chapter, was the one of the hottest scenes I have ever read in any book ever.

I don't. I'm just gonna go ahead and give a disclaimer to those listening. I am horrible with names and I am also horrible with remembering storylines, especially for those books that I don't really like or care for. So what scene was that from? Jenn?

Okay, so the beginning, right? No, that was like. It was one of the last chapters of book one. It is chapter 30. So you've only got 15% left in the book at that point.

Okay, I do have a quote from the first book, oh good. So what I have highlighted is obsession is not the same thing as affection.

Ooh, that is a good one.

So let's talk about the things that we didn't like about it first. Okay, you start. It's not dark Like, or I feel like it was misleading. Yes, we know that the main male character is a serial killer, but we only get one kill scene on the page from him and while we get to see inside of his head on how he thinks and plans and why he's meticulous and does the things that he does, having one kill scene on the page is not enough for me. We're talking from book one with him. Now, at the end of book two, Mara obviously does her first kill, which was very it was all anti-climatic. To be honest, I think the two best scenes were when he has her tied on the table and when he crashes the police car to go back to the maze. Out of both books, like there was nothing else. I loved being in his head, but it just wasn't enough for me. There wasn't enough on the page.

I don't disagree with that at all and this is something that Mistie and I talked about when we were kind of recapping the books is it didn't? As someone who doesn't read a lot of dark romance, I was expecting much more darker themes, like more kill scenes on the page, like you were saying, and I mean even like the relationship to be darker and granted, I know we're talking like stalker, but he I mean, like you mentioned in one of our conversations, almost the entirety of the second book is really a romantic relationship between him and Mara. It's not like there's no like real boundary pushing in that relationship like good grief. Christian Gray was way more controlling and manipulative than fricking Cole Blackwell ever was. I second that.

I feel like his control was. It had the potential to be very sexy, right? The constantly needed to know where she's at the cameras. It had the foundation to be that way, especially with him, like feeding her and like dressing her, but there wasn't enough. It was like almost, like I feel like it was almost the Sophie was afraid to maybe push that far. The author, that's what I think she might have been afraid to push too far. Okay, so I think that's what I think Too far.

Okay. So the other thing that I think worked against Sophie in that dynamic is you are bringing someone, Mara, who has been neglected, used, pushed out into the streets essentially for years. And yes, he's controlling and that sort of thing, but in her eyes this is someone who's like actually giving a rat's petunia about her wellbeing. So it's not controlling, it's not taboo, it's nurturing to her more than anything.

Yeah, and it's showing validation on not only her art but her as a person, because she feels like that she doesn't get that from nobody, right? So like when Shau first kidnaps her, nobody notices that she's gone, like there's nobody there to care. And this attention that Cole is giving her kind of helps be like oh, I am important, oh, I am a person, oh, I can have this connection. I mean, yeah, he's watching me, yeah, he's following me, yeah, he's sitting in the corner booth, but something happens to me. He'll care. And that's hot. I do like a good stalker, but I just feel like it was too light.

Yeah, agreed it was light. Yeah, is there anything.

are there any other? Didn't hate it. I don't love it, I'm not gonna remember it, it's just I'm glad that I read it, because now I have another baseline, right, right. Anyways, you said did I have any other? What?

Well, I was gonna ask if you had like any other things that you didn't like about the duet.

I'm probably gonna say this a lot, but I feel like it was misleading, or maybe I just misunderstood, because I thought that they were gonna have a competition to try and get her affection and I thought that they were gonna come together Like oh, who is she gonna fall for first? That's kind of what I thought it was gonna be going in and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't. It's almost like she tried to create these two villains but then it's not really right, like yeah, cole is kind of the anti-hero, but it's more Shaw's the bad guy, like you. There's a distinct.

You can tell that there's a distinction between Cole being the good guy and I say that with quotations and Shaw being the bad guy, and I didn't like that. I felt like they both should have been the bad guy and not that. Main male characters cannot be redeemable and have redemption because, you know, as he's a sociopath, sometimes they fixate and that allows them to have emotions because they feed off the person who gives them that emotions. I really like that psychology aspect of it, for sure, but I needed him to be more of an anti-hero.

Well, and I feel like Sophie really put the lines between Cole and Shaw by their killing styles too, and Cole points it out in the books again and again, like how unhinged Shaw is, how messy Shaw is, how emotional Shaw is, where Cole's killing style is very like clean cut it's, you know, it has like a process. It's also mostly men, so it doesn't have that same ick factor to readers that Shaw would have. So, yeah, I completely agree that, like you said, I was expecting it to be darker and it just wasn't. I was not disappointed by that, but it didn't hit that dark theme that I thought it was going to either. I agree.

And I was really sad that he broke the display in his office that was like one of a kind and like worth like billions of dollars. I felt like that was unnecessary. I know that she's trying to show that he is having regret and feeling these emotions. I just I just didn't like it. I felt like it was unnecessary. And I want to know why her mom was obsessed with her. You know, like when Cole goes to talk to her stepdad whatever his name is Randall or Randolph or Ralph or whatever he was always like she was just really weird about her, like wearing her clothes and like trying to pretend to be like her. Or I wish we would have gotten more on why she had that Like. Was she jealous of her daughter? Was maybe that really not her daughter? Was she hiding her daughter from her father? And then the whole thing about the father, and then we don't know who the father is Like. What was the point of bringing that up into the story?

Yeah, there were a couple of loose ends that I didn't care for, I actually. But I will say this I disagree with the display in his office. I think that gives the reader the first like real glimpse that it's not just that he can feel emotion, it's that this specific person has that type of impact on his emotional well-being because it blindsides him Like he knew he was obsessed with her but he didn't realize the impact emotionally until that scene. And then he's looking at the destruction he's caused and he's like, oh shit, I am in it deep.

OK, I will concede to that point. You are right. I was just really sad that he destroyed it.

I completely agree. I too was not only sad that he destroyed it, but also like blindsided that he destroyed it. I was like, holy crap, he like really lost his shit there for a second Well, I mean, if we're talking blindsided, her fucking Logan was. I was not expecting that, oh once she left, like once she stormed out and grabbed that person, I was 100% like expecting her to have revenge sex with somebody I expected her to do it.

I did not expect him to allow her to complete it. I thought he was going to stop it or interfere, and not just watch it on the camera.

OK, I completely, completely agree, because I was surprised that he let it go on that long too, and not only let it go on that long, but like was so upset that he stopped watching it long enough for her to get the painting into his office.

That was the best. You know what that would have to be. Probably one of my third favorite scenes was her being petty about that.

I loved it and putting it in his office?

Yeah, OK, so we've kind of tiptoed into territory that we enjoyed, about the series or the duet rather. So you've named your top three scenes. I would say my top. I don't know that I have different scenes. No, no, no, no, no, no, I can't put them in order, but top three would be the table, Like again one of the hottest scenes I have ever ever read, Like it was incredible Mm-hmm.

And then the painting, and then I would say the third scene for me, the other one that's really stuck with me is when he and I feel like Sophie did this so well because it drew me into the story and getting to know him and then it pissed me off for him. I think Sophie managed this really well. So it's when he shows Mara his mom's garden in the basement or wherever, Like it's an underground, like gorgeous wild garden, and he's telling her the story about the rabbit, and I knew where the story about the rabbit was going. I was like, oh man, this is really going to suck, Like he's totally going to kill this rabbit.

But then what pissed me off and I'm sure Sophie did it on purpose is like at that young of an age he wasn't becoming his uncle and his father. Yet Like he didn't like the rabbit, he wanted to kill the rabbit but like he didn't take that step and it just absolutely broke my heart for that little boy who, at four, five years old or whatever, four, I think it was that his mom just gave up on him that quickly and it wasn't even something that he did. That scene was so wet, I think, beautifully written and told the story of, like his development so well that I just wanted to like go back in a hug, four-year-old Cole, and be like I'm so sorry your mom gave up on you. Like you deserve so much better.

I totally forgot about that scene till you just now mentioned it, but it was very good. It definitely hit the heart strings for sure, I agree with you. And then you know, the mom goes and kills herself, which is just, and that's probably why he, even, like you, said that was the foundation right there. But yeah we can speculate. I'm pretty sure it was the uncle who killed the rabbit, but we don't know. It could have been the dad.

I think it was the dad that was my guess is. I think it was the dad, my guess is it was the uncle.

That was a very good scene, Jenn. See, I never would have brought that up because I forgot about it, so yeah, so those were my three scenes.

What? What are some of the things that you aside from like scene wise, like what are some of the things that you did like about the characters or the story or whatever I?

like that they were both artists.

I thought that that was really clever and that he most narcissists don't care about other people's success and he was very adamant about making her successful and seeing something in her. There was a hint of when, I think, he had to do community service at the end and he kind of hinted that he really liked teaching. I would have liked to have seen more of that him be a teacher. And then all I just think of he's like oh, these three, these could be my projities too, and not just for art, you know, like right, because like him and Shaw were able to tell, I guess, besides having the serial killer Jean obviously serial killers attract each other, like they can tell. I really want to know how this happens. I can't think of anything else. I really liked her relationship with Arthur. What's the Arthur? Yeah, the dude from the Maple Place? Yes, I didn't. I didn't like her roommate because I mean, like I understand that Shaw killed what. Was it? Erin or Eden or whatever her name was?

You're doing really well with names. So far, the first name you've said has been right.

Really Yay. Oh, that makes me so excited. It's like she told them that she was kidnapped and like she didn't try to commit suicide and it was. It was almost like they were like okay, yeah, we believe you, sure, if that's the story that you want to tell. And then Erin gets killed and they're like oh well it's your fault.

We didn't believe you so we didn't take precautions. But now that it's happened, yeah, it's your fault, we're going to blame you. Now. We don't want to be friends with you, no more. Like what the fuck? I didn't like that. I didn't like that at all. But I mean, I'm glad that I read it. It was good. I'll probably never reread it and I would recommend this, definitely as a light read for somebody who wants to dip their toes into dark romance.

I would agree. I would agree with that.

So, speaking of that, how many skulls would you give this book, Jenn?

I think two. I think two skulls, because we did have an on page.

Okay, I agree with you on the two skulls.

I would say the things that I really liked about this duet is I do think it's like a good introduction to dark romance. So I kind of like that this is my first buddy read an hour dark romance journey together. The other thing that I really liked is Mara took no shit, like she was very grateful to Cole to for everything that he was doing and giving her and like you know, introducing her and the and the connections and that kind of thing, but at the same time, like she was no pushover, like once he is. I love the line in the sand that she drew when, after her first show, when he was like, hey, you know, you can borrow her whatever, and she's like oh, you, I am out. You know.

I feel like you had a couple of different instances like that throughout the duet where yeah, she liked him and yeah, he was I mean essentially, feeding, clothing, you know, giving her access to what made her famous but she wasn't going to cross her boundaries to keep that.

It was either he was going to meet her in the middle or she was going to give him a hard time basically, which I really really enjoyed.

The other thing that I feel like Sophie did really well is and you've mentioned this already is the look inside his head that we got and help understand, like how a sociopath could fall in love. Like I feel like she navigated his emotions and like how someone could develop feelings as a sociopath. Like really, really well, and Mara guided him in a couple of different areas, like when they were talking about being in love, and she was giving him like this is how I know I'm in love with you, and she like gave him the I think about you all the time. I can't remember everything she said and he was like, oh well, yeah, okay, I guess I'm in love too, which, you know, I I felt was just, it was kind of cute, I just like. I think it was probably that point in the book where I sent you a message as, like I'm getting giddy over serial killer romance. I don't know what this says about me, but they're just so cute.

Yes, and I liked how they to play off what you're saying. I enjoyed how they spoke to one another and they there was no miscommunication. It was, yes, he may not have like come out and said I'm a killer, but he was just like if you think I'm the safest bet, you're wrong and you need to like recheck yourself, but I'm still gonna stalk you and you still need to be within my protection. Like he didn't lie, he didn't like feed her false promises. He was like this is how it's gonna be and she reciprocated and did the same thing. You know, I'm confused like why is this happening? Just like you're saying they defined it. What love was for them, or?

how they felt, and so I can appreciate Sophie doing that. It did make the book enjoyable, and I didn't want to throw it across the room.

Okay, so I feel like we've covered as. I say with the straight face, yeah so I feel like we've covered the dark romance scales. We're giving it two skulls. Where do you feel like because this is the other thing that I wouldn't say I was disappointed because I would. I truly enjoyed the relationship in the story, but I was surprised by how little actual like spice there was, especially in book two yes, I yeah, there really there was none.

Like we saw the chemistry and like it was there, yeah, but there was no follow-through on it yeah, like there were, I think, a couple of scenes in well, not a couple, I would like three or four scenes in book two, but they were all especially following the warehouse scene, like they were all very vanilla, where I feel like and okay, I can't say I was a little disappointed because warehouse scene was like this incredible, kinky, sexy, hardcore scene. That like was amazing. I'm thinking, oh okay, this is where we're going. And then after that it was pretty vanilla like the crazy. I think the craziest thing that happened in book two was she danced naked in the window and you probably don't even remember.

Actually, I think the craziest thing that happened Was she dancing naked? Or should just take her shirt off when Cole was coming up, or is that two different scenes?

I think that's two. Oh, that's two different scenes.

Okay, yeah, I don't remember the dancing naked one, but they did have like a quickie after he killed Shaw.

Oh yeah, that was yeah, that was yeah.

But again, it wasn't like that had the potential to be really great, right, but it didn't, yeah, so I would say like when did she dance naked?

When they were at? When Cole went and killed her stepfather, he gave her the Ambien, remember, and she was like dancing. After she took the Ambien and ended up stripping and dancing in the window.

Oh, yeah, okay, Okay, okay.

Okay.

See, this is what I need you in my life for, because I would have never remembered that.

I'm actually surprised how many of the details I'm remembering of these books.

It's because I'm not remembering anything. I gave them all to you because I'm a great friend. I need you to have them all, thanks. So that's another scene that had the potential to be really hot and it just kind of was a lackluster.

Okay. So as far as spicy rating, I feel like book one would get like If we were except for the very Well.

Should we do it as one or should we do it as a whole?

If you did it as a whole, then I feel like you could maybe give it three, but only because of the one scene in book one. But that's why I feel like you have to rate them separate. And then this is so frustrating because book one isn't necessarily spicy. You get one really great scene and that's it.

So even if we do one, if we did them separately, it would be one pepper because it's less than three scenes per book. Yeah, but like it's so Right, wouldn't it? Yeah, but then you have to you could do two. You could do two peppers because it says there's some, the two peppers. It says some, but not tons and not super descriptive. Maybe we do have to do them separate, because I do feel like the table scene was descriptive.

It was a very descriptive, like it was descriptive. It was kinky, it was shrikshi, it was very shrikshi, but like-.

Okay, okay, so book one would be three peppers. Well, that's what-.

Like I feel like the book as a whole would get like two. That scene gets five. So maybe, maybe, maybe, okay, so like the median would be three.

I guess I'm trying to have a smart moment here. Where do we that's actually a really valid point, because there are some books that are like complete trash, but there's one scene that makes it great and that's what you rate the book on is that scene. So I am good with saying the book is two peppers, that scene is five peppers, 100%. And then book two would be two peppers, two, two, because there's not really a great scene in book two. I completely, completely agree.

Then, yeah, that's how I would do it. Okay, yeah, I'm totally good with that. Or now, do you want to give it an overall rating?

Oh yeah, overall rating. Um no, no, you're good, are we Okay? Is the overall rating for both books or just one and two, like we separated with the spicy? I would say overall Okay. So overall I would give it three stars. Yeah, it was good. I enjoyed it. We should totally check it out, okay so.

I'm going to give it four stars, so for me, I'm giving it a four. I truly enjoyed the romance, the story. The only things that I didn't like were the loose ends with Logan we don't know if Cole killed him or not, and that really bothers me. And then the loose end with, like, why the mother hated her daughter as much as she did. And I think those are really the only two loose ends. Everything else, like aside from it not being as dark as I was expecting, I really liked the books and I felt like it was. There were so many beautifully written aspects of it, like I couldn't give it less than a four.

I feel like you had good points. I'm still sticking with a three. I'm glad that you gave it a four, though.

We'll see. We'll see like at the end of this series if I come back and be like nevermind y'all, it's a solid three and this is the four.

Okay, readers, tell us where the darkness rates with you.

Transcribed by https://podium.page