Crave (Pretty Poison Book 1) by C F White

A dark and gritty start to a new trilogy from CF White. A rough drug dealer trying to survive meets a rebellious rich boy that sparks instant attraction but an impossible future.


From the blurb:

"He was everything I didn't want. Danger dressed in leather. Salvation wrapped in smoke. And once I tasted him, I couldn't stop. He was in my blood. My sweetest poison."

Razor
I control the drugs in East London for a man with a soul darker than the devil’s. Violence kept me breathing. Loyalty kept my sister and her baby fed. Control was the only thing I’d ever owned.

Then he walked into my world and tore it apart.

Tristan Hale-Fitzroy.

Rich. Beautiful. Irresistible. A bloke who should’ve run when he saw me coming. Instead, he stood his ground with lies on his lips and defiance in his eyes. And I was hooked on something far stronger than anything I’d ever peddled on the streets.

I knew he didn’t belong.
I knew he’d ruin me.

I let him anyway.

Tristan
I was born into privilege and raised inside suffocating expectation. Performing perfection on demand kept me obedient. My status kept me in lavish luxury. Until betrayal showed me the truth—I had everything except control.

So I went looking for something real and found him.

Razor Slade.

Rough. Raw. Untouchable. A man carved hard by the streets. He thought I was simply another transaction in his violent world. I let him believe it, because the truth was far more dangerous.

He wasn’t my escape.
He was my addiction.

I was desperate for another taste.

Crave is the first book in the Pretty Poison Trilogy—a dark, addictive MM romance set in London’s criminal underworld, about forbidden desire, class collision, moral corruption, and choosing love in a world designed to punish it.


SNik's review:

First in trilogy (Pretty Poison). Opposites attract. Forbidden/secret relationship. Dual POV. Heed content warnings. 

Two very different men from different backgrounds stumble across each other one night and can’t forget. Posh, wealthy law student Tristan is mistaken for a rent boy by drug dealer Razor, and they both take risks to see each other again. 

This book is definitely meant to introduce and describe the different worlds in which Razor and Tristan live and how impossible their desires to live a different life seem. When they are on page together it is electric with tons of chemistry but not anything deep as they both acknowledge the impossibility of anything more. Razor has a hard and very gritty life, and both men want to fight against their circumstances but it really seems hopeless. As this is just the beginning of the trilogy nothing is settled and it is a mild cliffhanger as the story continues. This was a fantastic introduction to two characters you really want to root for but dread the path they have to travel in order to make it work, but I am here for it.


Crave is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription