I was never supposed to fall in love with a married man. My best friend’s brother. I’d made too many mistakes in my past. Like last night—when I married Lex Edwards impulsively.
In a bid to finally find their happily ever after, Lex and Charlie find themselves on a journey of learning how to love again. They began a new future to move forward from a broken past, finally together at last.
They vowed nothing would tear them apart… again. But life’s cruel fate destroys their lives, and in desperate times they tear their love apart grieving over a lost loved one.
Lex and Charlie find themselves on the verge of finally saying goodbye to each other, until the return of a scorned ex-fiancé who’s desperate to claim back what was his.
**This title was previously published as Into the Light. It has been extensively rewritten, re-edited, and has a steamy new cover**
Born and bred in Sydney Australia, Kat T. Masen is a mother to four crazy boys and wife to one sane husband. Growing up in a generation where social media and fancy gadgets didn’t exist, she enjoyed reading from an early age and found herself immersed in these stories. After meeting friends on twitter who loved to read as much as she did, her passion to write began and the friendships continued on despite the distance. “I’m known to be crazy and humorous. Show me the most random picture of a dog in a wig and I’ll be laughing for days.”
Okay I already said this in the first book review. I hate Lex and I won’t like him ever. I was team Julian from the beginning and we all knew that wasn’t going to happen.
We started off after the ending of the first book that was a cliffhanger. Now I thought the beginning was great but then came my least favorite trope out there. I know a lot of people love this trope it’s just not for me.
I was kind of dealing with the trope and said yeah whatever but THEN.
Let’s just say Lex was and will forever be the biggest asshole ever.
Now here’s the biggest issue (spoiler 100% and ⚠️ Trigger warning ⚠️)
Lex sexvally assavlted his wife and it was never talked about. She never knew and that scene never influenced their future. She still ended up with him. And no it wasn’t cnc. They were fighting at the time and she wanted a divorce. She passed out from the alcohol and he came on her and did oral on her.
100% not consent and I fucking hate her friends for it even more. There was no regret, no mention of this influencing their relationship nothing. Eric her friend is an absolute asshole for saying “she should have one more drink”
The only people I liked weren’t mentioned ALOT and those are Julian and Kate.
Also the cheating was too much. He cheated and her and she just forgave him?!?! I mean we all know “once a cheater, always a cheater” so I really don’t know why she decided to stay with lex.
Title: Into the Light (The Dark Angel #2) Series: Yes Author: Kat T. Masen Rating: 1 star POV: Dual HEA: Heat/Steam 3/5
Triggers? Cliffhanger: . No. Intolerable Heroine .No. Über Douchebagery .Yes. Taboo Subject Matter .No. Cheating: Love Triangle
I really enjoyed the first book in the series but this was just awful. Not only were the random POV chapters we got of Nicki and Eric completely random and boring but the story just dragged on and on. I found myself having to skim a lot because I was sick of reading in Eric's POV (why the hell was that even necessary) and about his love life. I get that the author was trying to add humor but it felt like she was just trying to add filler chapters to drag on the story.
I would have rated this higher if it weren't for what happened towards the end of the book. It was so unnecessary especially after everything Lex and Charlie had already been through throughout the years. I was so disgusted and pissed off at Lex and what happened with Montana that I didn't give a shit how the book ended after that. His excuse for his behavior was bullshit and made him look like a pathetic weak hero and a poor excuse for a man. I would have been able to forgive his asshole behavior but THAT..that one fucking scene? Hell no. You disgusting pathetic worthless piece of garbage. After everything he had put her through and after complaining about how he hadn't been strong enough for her the first time things went to shit 7 years ago he does THAT!? The mother of your child that you claim to love and yet you knowingly put yourself in a situation like that? I felt so disgusted by him that I was never able to forgive him for it. What about Charlie? Maybe she was having a hard time with what happened too. But No! Selfish pathetic WEAK Lex only cared about himself. He just looked like a pathetic loser to me and a poor excuse for a man.
I needed major groveling after his behavior and was disappointed that we got none. He was so selfish and cruel I actually hoped that maybe . I knew that wouldn't happen but after everything Lex put her through AGAIN I would have really enjoyed seeing him suffer.
This book just didn't work for me and the manufactured drama was over the top. I mean C'mon the thing that happened at the penthouse in London? Wtf was the point of adding that. It wad just so ridiculous and over the top.
Lastly, the two encounters with Victoria in the first half of the book rubbed me the wrong way. The person who was the reason behind why you're not with your wife and you actually almost went there? That he had to be stopped by Kate and Eric just fucking pissed me off. That is the ultimate betrayal. How could you even want to touch someone who betrayed you and hurt the woman you "love" ?
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Both main characters are so immature and annoying there isn't a character development happening, same plotline, Alex and Charlie characterization was a sham! You supposed to root for their romance especially now that they're finally married, but one unnecessary conflict arises which tbh isn't related to the storyline but somehow its pivotal but only for them to be driven apart, put a fucking rip on their marriage, and Alex omg what a cheating asshole, he's weak and pushover by his dick, he's no loyalty and self-control, he's a man child. I dunno why I'm even surprised by his behavior or actions he's exactly like this in book one, and really if your marriage is on verge of falling apart instead of having a conversation like a normal couple you decide to throw a tantrum and go clubbing because your horny and dry as the Sahara Desert?? It's selfish and stupid. I don't appreciate that the author includes a baby, just for the sake of painting a picture of a perfectly happy family, well it's a freakin bluff. I dunno what was the author trying to achieve out of this, is she justifying that cheater will always be a cheater, because that's what I'm getting at, exactly like Alex persona. why does she keeps adding needless conflict and pointless drama, tbh even if they get back together it doesn't feel authentic or convincing anymore, the moments between them does not feel sweet or cheesy to me in lieu only cringeworthy and forceful. wrapping up the story just to deliver the expected happy ending to the readers. I expected more from this book, the author has a lot of opportunity to polished the storyline and build character development but we get none of that, it's just a humongous blank space every time I felt like this might it, but then it went south, it only add to my disappointment, it has the material and potential to flourish instead it just went downhill.
I look back now and remember how close I was to losing my family. How easy it was to make promises in front of God, your family, and friends, only to forget them in desperate times. ⇾meh 🤮🙄
Some typa trash, it’s actually a next level joke. All the characters, the various povs, the way I skimmed should be in the guinness world of records 🤧🫶
Cue whole plot being vomited out:😅 Past: • Charlotte “Charlie” is Alex “Lex”’s sister Adriana’s best friend. He’s known her his whole life, but they reacquaint when she’s 18. • He’s 25, starting his intern years as a doctor, and is married to Samantha, capice? • Samantha is keen to have a baby with Lex. Lex resents that and the dirty dog begins an affair with Charlie. They fall in love… whatever. This lasts months. • For whatever reason, it’s mentioned that Charlie lost her virginity last year to her best friend Finn so there’s some scenes of jealousy pertaining to him. • Lex stops having sex with Samantha, and keeps telling Charlie he wants to commit to her. But whenever Samantha would come on to him, and raise her suspicions about an affair he acquiesced to her advances but Charlotte catches them, and he stops • Ding dong, a few months later Samantha announces she’s pregnant and exposes Charlie + Alex for their affair after she found their explicit emails. She claims there was a night Lex was drunk and had sex with her resulting in her current pregnancy (later turns out to be a lie). • Adriana shuns Charlotte as does the whole town. She’s a “whore / home wrecker”. Lex is forced to leave town with Samantha to raise their baby by his parents. • Lex disappears on Charlotte so she never actually got closure. His phone number is no longer contactable. • Charlotte goes to live with her grandmother. She learns she is pregnant. Baby is pretty much still born because it was breech. A few days after her baby’s death, her grandma also dies. • Then she decides to honour her grandmother. She was meant to go to university with Adriana but following the breakdown of the friendship, accepts her Yale offer for Law and leaves. • Samantha admits to the baby not being Lex’s, but a ploy to keep him however she had an affair after finding out about his. Lex returns back to town but is told Charlie has left, and then resumes living his life. • He quits being a doctor and moves to London where he becomes a successful business man.
Takeways from the past: Charlie suffered for her sins so clearly there was some karma and penance. Lex is a predator, and some type of uncommitted loser. But as dislikeable as they are, at least you could go thinking along the lines of… oh no matter who they’re with, they’re going to cheat so they can end up together, and have their forever, right? Semi romantic. No friends, no because even in the present, when he has her, SHE is not enough for him.
Present (9 years later): • Charlotte lives in New York. She runs her own law firm alongside her best friend Nikki. She is engaged to Julian, a man she met at the gym three months earlier. She’s had 5 lovers in total. • She sees Lex at some type of event. Lex has been living in London. Bare in mind, this man is a whole 34 years old. Basically he’s a manwhore. OW scenes. • By the second time she sees him, they’re having an affair and she stops sleeping with Julian, though she does kiss him and what not. There’s no remorse from either of them. In fact, all her friends encourage her to cheat on Julian and even plan out ways to protect her and meet Lex whilst she’s doing it. Her gay friend was probably the worst one, it was so cliche and disgraceful. • Julian is lovely. A journalist. Good looking. Honourable. Faithful. Builds her up. He calls her whilst her and Alex are doing it and she picks up the phone. He even asks her directly if she’s having an affair with Lex and she denies it. Yet he still forgives her and wants her even after finding out the truth. • She marries Lex whilst engaged to Julian. She never even tells Julian she married Lex. • Let’s see what else… there’s a ton of OW drama, but my brain is clearly already making strides to forget this book. But let’s just say this, Lex gets hard whenever he sees an attractive woman (it happens so often), women come onto him all the time, he goes to strip clubs all the time, gets women dry humping all over him, a woman was spread with her legs apart in his bedroom, IN HIS PENTHOUSE after he and Charlie are married because apparently he gave this girl a key in the past. He was very attracted to his personal assistant Kate, and talks about her body and their connection. Whenever he was upset with Charlie, he would come on to other women (pure chance he didn’t sleep with them, one of them being a business partner who had tried to come into him before, but SHE rejects him this time saying he’d regret it).
In this book, near the END, Adriana Lex’s sister’s husband, Elijah dies from cancer. We are jumping forward here but in this book Lex and Charlie now have a daughter. Lex somehow makes the brother in laws death about him and then is all… Charlie might die, therefore I shouldn’t love Charlie. Pushes her away. Is disgracefully mean to her. Stays at work for long hours. Bails on commitments. Gets a new personal assistant, Montana. Charlie tries to make him angry by going to a club and flirting with some guy. He takes her home. Eats her out whilst she’s dead unconscious bc he’s horny🚨 But HE goes clubbing with his new assistant. Talks about how beautiful the assistant is and how he’s noticed her and how he’s hard. He wants her. Guys this is in the final fucking fifty pages. He’s partying with this girl whilst his wife and daughter are at home. Then he rubs the assistants cl1t. LIKE??? THE FUCK. After everything he’s put her through, he gets off scott free. I thought this book was meant to work on redeeming him but fifty pages before the end ☠️
Charlie has some event for her firm. She asked her husband to accompany her but he doesn’t show up. Julian is there. They dance. Julian says he wants her back. Her best friend calls Lex, tells him to come or he’s going to lose her, then he gets macho aggressive because if he can’t have her no one can.
Admits it to Charlie a few chapters later that he touched his assistant, and she says she contemplated cheating with Julian. I mean not the same, one is an action, the other a thought. So, there is no WAY that man is going to stay faithful to her. The ultimate end to this book would have been her getting a divorce and marrying Julian because Lex is for the streets. Even that’s too kind, he’s for the slums. Because ain’t NO way I read these two books of absolute shit and torture.
I am having trouble coming up with my rating for this book bc Lex Edwards is easily the worst man I have read about in a long time. Potentially ever honestly
I do not know how I keep finding books like this! THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST ABSURD AND MORE DISGUISING BOOKS THAT YOU LIKE! I'm sorry, the author may even have struggled, BUT TO WRITE THAT HILL OF GARBAGE ??? Expect the pathetic man protagonist to betray his wife after all the suffering he caused to her, on the penultimate page of the end of the duology and the pathetic to forgive him in two lines! Yes Yes! And you think this is a happy forever after he has already betrayed her other times? !!! That would be funny if it were not so ridiculous!
I was bored, I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters like I would in other books. Eric’s POV was unnecessary it didn’t add to the plot and wasn’t needed.
“Lex and Charlie find themselves on the verge of finally saying goodbye to each other, until the return of a scorned ex-fiancé who’s desperate to claim back what was his.” Why was this in the blurb if the ex-fiancé was only featured in two pages of the whole book???
Lex and Charlie’s whole relationship is just TOXIC they are not soulmates, the back and forth had me so close to DNF this book many times. Lex ignoring Charlie for two whole months for no reason had me irritated and along with the fact that HE took advantage of his unconscious wife?!?! Are we seriously not going to talk about that?
The situation with Montana was disgusting. Lex could of been home talking and communicating his feelings with his wife about Elijah's death but no he decided ignoring her and going out with another woman and practically cheating on her (in my opinion) was a better idea! So proud of you Lex. Sarcasm.
Overall, will not recommend this book to anyone and don’t read this if you don’t like butt stuff…
5 stars! I couldn't put it down. I absolutely loved Into the Darkness and I knew that the wait for the sequel would be worth it! I felt the good ache and I love when that happens! Lex is mine! Yes, he made some bad choices and I don't care. I love him anyway. He is the perfect example of redemption! I loved how much her loved Charlie. I still wanted to smack her but not as much in this book!
I also really enjoyed the secondary characters and laughed out loud a lot! OMG, there was whole scene about Rocky and his tight pants. I thought I would die. There were a lot of spit-take-did-they-really-just-say-that moment. Awesome read! I am a Kat T. Masen fan!
(If you want only the Chasing Us review, scroll down a little)
Book One background:
I liked the first one. It had great back and forth between Lex and Charlie, but she just couldn't seem to make up her mind. One moment, she was telling Lex that Julian was her forever, that she was engaged, and they could be friends; but then the next, she was telling him that nothing was off-limitss for a weekend in the Hamptons Julian barely knew anything about. Especially the fact the Lex would be there since she told him that Lex wouldn't.
When her and Lex eloped, I thought, "Finally. this is it, she tells Julian things are off and her and Lex will live happily ever after."
Then shit hits the fan... again... like two minutes after they got married.
Book Two Review: Spoliers Ahead
This book made me SICK TO MY STOMACH.
Towards the middle/end of the book, Charlie and Lex are married and now have their daughter, Amelia. We, the readers, soon find out that Elijah has got Stage IV Prostate Cancer.
After his passing, everyone (especially Lex) shut down in grief. I wrote off a lot of things that Lex did after this point as grief. The late nigths working. The freezing Charlie out. The spending time with his widowed sister and her son in his only free time, instead of his own wife and daughter.
But then, things got inexcusable.
Charlie confronted Lex about the not being there, the not looking at her, the not touching her, and he just responded in a very cold manner. She tells Eric and decides to go to the club.
As she is leaving, Lex gets jealous and ends up following her.
The night goes on, and Eric tells Lex that before he does something, to let Charlie have a couple more shots and just let her pass out, which is what ends up happening.
Here is the part that ACTUALLY mad me sick:
Lex undresses Charlie out of her jeans and shirt. Yes, normal behavior for a husband to do. But he does not stop there. He take her underwear off and proceeds to perform oral sex on her passed out body and jack off on her.
(Then is never, ever mentioned again.)
Not only does that happen, but he ends up cheating on Charlie with his assistant. Instead of telling her when he gets home after she asks, even though he felt guilt, he lies and says that meetings ran late.
On Charlie's big night, where she holds a black-tie event for her firm, Julian shows up telling her that he could give her the love that she deserved. in that singular moment, I actually was rooting for Julian for the first time in the span of the two books. Charlie had already drawn up the divorce papers. What was felt to lose? But guess who decideds to show up late? Oh! And only showed up because Nikki told him that Julian was there and about the divorce papers.
He, again, gets jealous seeing Charlie and Julian together. The angry-fuck on the hood of his car and then she leaves, telling him that she needs space after he begs her not to leave him.
What the hell kinda husband ghosts his wife for months, doesn't spend time with his child, then begs his wife not to leave him for the guy she cheated with him on?
Then... THEN, they decide to let everything out and Charlie tells Lex about how she wanted to give in to Julian that night. He literally calls her a bitch for wanting Julian after he literally had just admitted to touching another woman.
The ending was most definitely rushed and half of it had me lost.
***FOUR STARS*** What a crazy roller coaster ride. This story put me through the entire gambit of emotions. I spent half my time rooting for Lex and Charlie, and the other half wanting to slap the both of them upside the head. This second half of their story was even more turbulent than the first was (for all the characters). And these two had me so freaking irritated at the both of them and their immaturity and ridiculousness. That being said, I did enjoy this conclusion to Lex and Charlie's story, and it kept me glued until the ending, despite leaving me emotionally exhausted.
I bought this book before even finishing my book 1 review. I needed some redemption for these characters desperately. I won’t spoil much here, as you really need to read the insanity of book 1 to appreciate the full circle that book 2 brings.
I start with saying Lex is fabulous. He is all kinds of emotions tied up in the fact that he is in total love for a woman who in my opinion was not really worth it. But putting my bad ju-ju feelings aside, I finished this book in one sitting. Yes, I got some answers as to why Charlotte is the way she is. Yes I got a slight appreciation for her as she finally chose her heart and took what was rightfully hers. Yes, I found this book to be so much better than the first! But you know what they say, gotta have the bad to appreciate the good right?
Happy Times: Again, Lex Edward is beautiful. He is a good man, and he is not immune to heartache. His reconnections with his family was emotional to read. His ability to put Charlotte first continued to amaze me and his constant need for her was scorching! Also, the real “I do’s” were perfect…well appreciated as was the progression of their family.
Not-So-Good Times: I could have done without the multiple POV’s. Not that Eric is lol funny, but a bit over the top! I appreciated Nikki as a friend to Charlotte and a good ally to Lex. The rest were just meh’. I won’t say what but holy tear-jerking moment…why was that necessary? Lex and Charlotte had enough to deal with, so that was just one more unnecessary test that almost broke them…I mean trampy secretary and ex fiancée’ – really weren’t we past that?
So while I admit I skimmed, again, I did like this book a lot more than the first. I mean I love a good HEA and hot love story. So in their own crazy little way Lex and Charlotte truly were soul mates…why else would there be that much pain and pleasure, that many tears, that much sweetness when the last bitter was experienced!
Cheater, cheater... homewrecker! The h knew the H was married to his college sweetheart and still went ahead with the affair. The H (douchebag royale) apparently fell out of love with his wife and started an affair with his sister's bf and an 18yr old. The H's wife is no good herself. The H and h meet after meet after 8yrs. By then, the h is engaged to om and H is divorced and they start an affair a...fuckin...gain!!! The h cheats on om. Gosh! the h had no morals and no heart. C'mon... she ruined ow and om's lives; selfish much?!? I hated both MCs. I somehow finished this duet since I started it (it was a mistake!).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Nah, this book wasn't 'it' for me. The first book in the series was no better, I only proceeded to the next book because I'm a committed reader, but still....it felt like a waste of time. I've never wanted to finish reading a book so fast. God forbid I read the next books in the series.
What the FUCK was this???!!!! It started out somewhat better than the last book and charlie's past was heart-wrenching and throughout the book it was good but towards the ending one scene changed every good feeling I felt and I decided to give it a 1 star. I've read over a hundred books and i've never once HATED and LOATHED the male character, apparently the universe wanted Lex or Alex or whatever to have that place. He fucking sexually assaulted his wife and preformed oral on her while she's asleep, unconscious and intoxicated!!! Without her consent, and while their marriage was going down the drain. What the fuck was going on inside the author's head!!! And then there's what has been happening since the first book which was a big reason why i didnt like it! Alex thinking flirting, looking at, and imagining women who were not his wife/girlfriend was not Cheating!!! What the hell. And he justifies himself that he's not cheating. And then anytime something goes wrong with charlotte he looks at other women and gets turned on by their looks and oh how they have long legs and that he misses charlotte and loves her but he cant control himself??? What happened with Monica or whatever the fuck her name was just wanted me to throw up and I literally forced myself to read the rest just to see how this disaster will end and hoping alex will get his punishment but it never happened. I literally scrunched up my face in utter disgust when that scene happened. FUCK THIS SHIT. Oh and how could i forget alex treating charlie as a property and i dont mean in the hot possessive kind of okay way we see in other books. No he was like "i own you" and he only returned to her at the gala because he was jealous and wanted his property back not because he loved her and all of his excuses were full of shit. Lets not start about how Eric was so fucking annoying and wasnt 'funny' at all. And that eric chapter in between was fucking useless, i literally skipped it. Its the first time im angry and disgusted with a book i've read. I was actually going to rate this 4 stars higher than the previous book but when we reached THAT part i immediately lowered it to 1 or even less
This series doesn’t even deserve a one star! Oh my god! I wish I could get the time back from reading it! I have never read a book that cause such outrageous anger. Lex is the literal worst main character ever! He is a lying cheating awful man! He is honestly just a foul person i can’t even describe it. Their relationship is beyond toxic and I just kept hoping and waiting for it to get better and it never did! They are so immature and toxic they should have never been together so much petty things happening. I just do not recommend this series to anyone and the fact it’s two books of dragged out petty, cheating fights is mind blowing.
I would recommend for your sanity, that you only read the first half. What is the point of having a whole book and a half building up a reconnection for these 2 people, just for the last half of the second book to be all about how they’re fucking up their marriage? When I read these kinds of books, I want an end-all, be-all type of love. Both of these losers fucked up. Their reconnection after the gravestones should have been it, but noooo, had to throw a few more unnecessary curveballs in there. Not to mention the completely idiotic baby daddy drama.
this book is wayyy better than the first! i am so happy i enjoyed this more cause i love love the characters. there was so much going on in this book it never got boring and im very happy with the way it ended 🫶
Lex/Alex is an arsehole plain and simple, but he is one you will fall in love with over and over, and though at times I disagree how he handled situations he did it out of love.
Now there was one scene I was disappointed with and spoke to my book buddies about and didn't sit right with any of us, but I guess I will leave that for you all to discover. Lex really lost my respect there, and it wasn't even mentioned after - as in his wife NEVER said a word.......If that was me I would of cut of his pecker and stuck it in his mouth! Now read this book and let me know your own thoughts.....
Charlie was a strong character, however if I was her, I would have had a little more balls etc, and gone through with the threats.
This was a love/hate pull of emotions....how much can you love someone and put up with the lack of trust and their crazy ways.....it has me going, it had me wanting more, did I guess who the next book was about ABSOLUTELY....am I excited? ABSOLUTELY.....I was ALWAYS rooting for the underdog to win her heart, and it failed.....but super exited how Kat can write his book next....Bring on Julian.
This book was a little long for me, it was a bit of a 2 steps forward 1 step back, I don't think I recall reading a book like this which was refreshing, but at times a bit too much.
The story overall I enjoyed, would I recommend YES, would I stop reading what I am and grab it now? NO....throw it on your TBR and read it when you have a free moment, it is worth it in the end.
Again Thank you Kat for the ARC copy of the new edition of Chasing Us.
I was super frustrated til around 49% I just wanted to scream at Lex and Charlie, to Stop and communicate Goddamit!!! But on I read anyways...I don't and won't say to much to give away alot because I don't like to do that but I will say it's so worth the time to read it. I loved it, I'm So 100% Team Lex.
I ended up DNFing this one at 52% because there was nearly 200 pages left and I felt Lex and Charlotte's story was done (it obviously wasn't, but I was happy with where things were.)
Still giving this 4 stars because I did love all 52% of it.
Can I say it? I secretely wanted Julian to wisk her away JUST SO ALEX CAN FEEL THE HURT
Spoiler!
Because Alex is just a fucking wimp... there I said it!
THIS IS A SERIOUS TRIGGER WARNING! This series gives me the hype for all the wrong reasons. Guys, if you have ever been cheated on, then this book is not for you... you will hate what emotions this book evokes. Seriously, it's not worth your well-being
The way I checked to see if they resolve in the first like ten percent of this book and then have needless nonsense for the rest while making pregnancy issues into some weirdly dramatic reveal i-
But I still get to count it because it was all one arc of one storyline and this was just as bad so I get to put it towards my goal :)
i’m gonna have to give this a 3.5. the multiple povs were pointless , i just wanted lex’s and charlie’s povs more. after all the shit he put her through they stayed together i’m done. they’re so toxic