Despite Chaos

Written by Stacy Lynn Miller

Narrated by Lori Prince

Alexandra Castle hides the brightest part of herself. She is the perfect daughter and heir-apparent to the Castle Resort empire. To her controlling father, her only fault is that she's gay, so she keeps her sexuality out of the public eye for his benefit. With his retirement on the horizon, he pits Alex against her corner-cutting twin brother in a high-stakes competition to choose who will take over the company. Just when she takes the lead, an ex-lover reappears, threatening to destroy her life.

Tyler Falling hides the darkest part of herself. On the surface, she is a put-together business owner, middle-class wife, and mother. In reality, she's broken from a rape years earlier. When she unexpectedly comes face to face with her rapist, a deep family secret surfaces.

Both escape to Napa. Their brief, anonymous encounter sparks a mutual infatuation, changing the trajectory of their hollow lives. Living a lie was no longer an option. Weeks later, Alex and Tyler are thrown together in the virtual world without realizing they are each other's mystery woman.

Can an improbable romance bloom amid embezzlement, blackmail, and self-exploration?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666165982

Reviews for Despite Chaos

[emily · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Humm. Okay. I DID enjoy this, and i very nearly bumped this up to a 4 rating because I was very much engaged the whole time, invested in the characters, and wanted to know what the hell was going on.

HOWEVER, the way the romance developed is… not my personal preference. Instalove, or love at first sight is… not my thing. These characters (both of whom I liked a LOT!) spent the majority of the book apart (not really an issue for me, as I know this is the first in a series, and I’ve listened to the Manhattan Sloane series, and while I have my own issues with that series, the slowburn development of the romance over the course of the three books largely isn’t one of them) so I was on board for a setting introduction and early stages of romance. HOWEVER lol, these women spent like 2.5 seconds in each other’s presence and are obsessed with each other, still on board! We’ve all met a stranger that stuck with us for whatever reason or another, sure, fine. But then they have like… maybe 4-5?? (that’s never made super clear) phone conversations and suddenly they’re In Love. They met for the first time after realizing all of this and they are In Love with all the capitals and bells and whistles that comes with it. And I just… sighed. Because while I want them together, this is a series! Let us see them learn each other and fall for each other!! It felt like telling instead of showing and needing to get on board with love at first sight, which is just not my preference.

That said, I DID enjoy their interactions, and I bet I will really like their dynamic in the next book, it just was kind of a bummer for me. The story was engaging and I really liked almost all of the characters.

Big caveat and trigger warning: there is an on page rape scene and one of the main characters main arc is her ptsd recovery journey after her rape. (And the rapist comes back into her life, and she gets pregnant and keeps the baby, spoilers, but I think ones some people need/want to know going in). The actual scene is pretty short, and not super descriptive in an explicit way, but it’s def something to note and be aware of.

I’ll be on the lookout for the rest of this series, if nothing else than Lori Prince brings the characters to life in a way that is perfection, which is why I got into reading this authors books in the first place.

[Eva Szalma · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I coul not read it past the sixth chapter. I still gave it 5 stars because the writing and the narration is good. For me the arch of one of the characters rape and the ptsd was too much to continue.