Book Review | The Maddest Obsession

I’ve been excited to dive back into this series since reading the first book last month.

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The Maddest Obsession
Danielle Lori

She fears the dark.
He rules it.

Her dresses are too tight, her heels too tall. She laughs too loudly, eats without decorum, and mixes up most sayings in the book. Little do most know it’s just a sparkly disguise, there to hide one panic attack at a time.

Nobody can crack Gianna’s facade . . . no one anyway, until he comes along.

Most see a paragon of morality; a special agent upholding the law. In the New York underworld, others know him as a hustler, a killer, his nature as cold as the heart of ice in his chest. Christian Allister has always followed the life plan he’d envisioned in his youth, beneath the harsh lights of a frigid, damp cell. With a proclivity for order and the number three, he’s never been tempted to veer off course. But perhaps one should never say never . . .

One winter night and their lives intertwine. She hates him—his stone-cold demeanor, his arrogance and too-perceptive eye—but over the years, even as their games consist of insulting each other’s looks and intelligence, she begins to live to play with him.

Nowhere in Christian’s plans had he ever prepared for Gianna. She’s chaos embodied, not his type, and married, but none of that can stop his eyes from following her wherever she goes.

All along, she doesn’t even know that she’s his—his frustration, his fascination.

His maddest obsession.

Amazon | Goodreads

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I was very interested to see how this book would play out, we were introduced to Gianna and Christian in the first book but I wasn’t sure how they would come across each other in any meaningful way, but I am glad to say that the way these two come together is just glorious. This is the perfect kind of slow burn beginning to a relationship, where they circle each other and you can feel something brewing even when they are not available to each other.

I have to say that I was a bit uncertain about Gianna because she is definitely portrayed in a certain way in the first book, but I cannot believe how quickly she became a character that I was totally enamoured with. She is feisty, changeable and independent but also has a softer side and a vulnerability that made me completely understand why Christian was so drawn to her. Of course it is hard to resist the mystery of the man who appears perfect but keeps some questionable company, always wondering where his loyalties lie and how much trouble he can handle, because it follows Gianna around.

The chemistry between the two is fantastic but is also at its best because they are constantly pulling away from each other for some reason or another, all of the drama and tension is created by the two of them but it never gets annoying because they gravitate towards each other with such style. I also think this works well because Gianna can give as good as she gets, if she was a weaker character then I don’t think this would have worked in the same way, but she always has a clever comeback and enough sass to pull it off.

I actually think that this book is even better than the first in the series which is surprising because I really loved the first book, but it has definitely made me more excited for the third instalment of the series.

Reviews of other books by Danielle Lori
The Sweetest Oblivion