Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this before the traditionally published re-release!

I had a good time with this book. I absolutely loved Bunny and Bones and thought their banter was great. I loved the darker story line to this which gave it an edge over other darker romances I've read.

However, I feel like the plot unfortunately fell of a cliff towards the end. It got very convoluted and messy, and it just took away some of the enjoyment of this book for me which is why it's a 3 star rating and not higher. I did like the writing, but feel plot points were either left wide open and not explored, or they were rushed and didn't really have much pay off.

That being said, I still had a good time with this, and would definitely look to read more books by this author in the future!

Leave Me Behind was exciting and entertaining! Definitely a dark romance, and I found myself conflicted at times regarding the romance. However the mystery was action packed and kept me engaged. I was also happy with the ending and appreciate everything being summed up in one book. K.M. Moronova is quickly becoming a must read author for me!

This was my second time reading Leave Me Behind and honestly? It still hits just as hard as the first time. If anything, rereading made me appreciate just how dark, brutal, and beautiful this story really is.

The tension and chemistry between Nell and Bradshaw are unmatched explosive, messy, and impossible to look away from. Their dynamic is pure enemies-to-lovers chaos, filled with hate, heat, and moments that somehow manage to break your heart and put it back together.

What makes this book stand out for me is how unapologetically raw it is. The emotions, the pain, the violence, the vulnerability it doesn’t hold back. And yet in the middle of all that darkness, there are these sparks of resilience and love that shine so much brighter.

Even knowing what was coming, the twists still gutted me, (That time jump still gets me iykyk) No matter how many times I read it, I don’t think I’ll ever be over it. This book is unforgettable, and it’s absolutely staying a 5-star favorite for me.

I don't normally read dark romance but this one I read in one setting! it was engaging, very good pacing, so emotional, but loved the happy ending.
The writing style is really good, keeps the reader engaged and the characters were well developed. Will be reading more of this author!

This. THIS. This is how I needed to start my 2025. Leave Me Behind is a dark and twisty, highly suspenseful dark romance with one of the best anti-hero’s I have read ♥️💀🥹

I LOVED this book. I was hooked from the start and could not put it down. There was always something happening. I did kind of guess the twist but not to its full extent. I didn’t fully blown cry but I did tear up. I feel like I needed more. I didn’t want it to end. I’ll definitely be rereading this one in the future!

4.5/5 Stars - Rounded up to 5 Stars

This is my first K.M. Moronova book and I absolutely devoured it! It got me out of what was becoming a serious reading slump. This was my first military-romance book and was suprised at how engaged I was throughout.

I really enjoyed evolution of Nell and Bradshaw's relationship - going from potential lovers to enemies to friends and back to lovers. Both had equally tragic backstories and as the story progressed, more layers to thier story unfolded and was well done as the story progressed.

Bradshaw is the literal definition of a morally grey man and his growth throughout the book was so well done that I couldn't help but want more as the story was ending.

“What God? Tonight, you only scream and cry for me. No God will bear witness to what I make of you.”


Nell is in a secret Dark Forces military group when her squad Riot is assigned to a difficult operation with another team, Malum, they’re supposed to meet at a checkpoint to help each other out with they don’t show up. She is only survivor in her squad and 3 years later she’s assigned to Malum, the team that lead to the death of everyone she knew.

Bones is the Dark Forces squad called Malum, three years ago he was supposed to meet a squad, Riot, to take out an enemy, but they never showed up and he lost someone he cared about.

A beautiful, dark, bloody enemies to lovers romance.
I couldn’t put this book down and stayed up way too late to get to the halfway point. I was on the edge of my seat until the end of the book. Masterful.

Thank you Bloom Books, NetGalley, and K. M. Moronova!

Disclosure: This book was first published in 2024 by the author. The author is now with publisher Bloom Books. It is going to be re-released under the new publisher, I believe as part of the Dark Forces Series.

Review:

So, I suggest you read the synopsis as it does a really good job summarizing the book without giving away, well, anything really.
I had never read any of the authors other series, but was intrigued when I was invited to a “Buzz Books” panel featuring their latest book with their new publisher. As they are both set in the Dark Forces world, I wasn’t sure if they could be read as standalone’s or if there would be crossovers.

I had not, up until this point, read any Dark Military Romance books. I think one of the things that drew me to the book was its beautiful, haunting artwork (drawn by the author). This is also one of the few books I have read that includes a playlist, that I actually did listen to while reading the book. Thank you to the author, as it did add another layer to the story.

There are a lot of trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. Heed the warnings. This is not an easy book to read. That being said, the scenes in the book, which are included in the trigger warnings, I feel played an important part of character development or a glimpse into who the characters are now and who they are becoming now that they are forced into close proximity where the outcome is unknown. They also felt like an integral part of the story and in my opinion, were not introduced simply for shock value or salacious reasons.

This is a dark, beautiful, intensely intimate look at a relationship between two very broken people, with dark tendencies and dark backgrounds in an even darker environment.

Each character has their own reasons for wanting to go on an upcoming mission and each character has reasons for not trusting the other one at all. Actually an entire squad doesn’t trust the FMC, as she was the only one left alive from her last mission.

If you are a fan of dark military romance with a lot of red flags but a really good storyline, this may just be a book you would enjoy. I personally couldn’t put it down, despite some of the deeply disturbing (to me) scenes. I would like to thank SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Bloom Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and my review is voluntarily given. I have listed the trigger warnings below.

From The Author Trigger Warnings ⚠️:

“If you are sensitive/easily offended to any of the below subjects, please do not read this book. This book includes the following: physical violence, explicit sex scenes, pain kink, blood play, morbid humor, explicit gore, death, explicit language, extreme bullying, harassment, sexual assault, non-con, dub-con, sexist behavior, war trauma/aspects of war, PTSD, mention of rape and home intrusion, murder.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. One reviewer did say the ending came too fast and I wish there was a few more epilogues or explanation on how they did it (no spoilers here).

Nell meets Bradshaw and they have a one night stand together. Then she finds out that he is her new partner in the Dark Forces, an underground military force. He hates her and she is still mourning her old love/partner who died in the field, as is he.


Facebook took me on a wild ride. It was dark, messy, sexy, and very hard to put down. I’ve finished this book over a weekend. If you like dark romance, I would recommend this book. This is the first book. I’ve read by this author, but I know I will definitely be reading more.

4.5 stars

Content warnings are listed at the end of this review. 

As a mood reader, the romance genre offers me so much. Mr. Darcy's gentle glimpses from a distance... "Wear the hat, ride the cowboy" in Western romance. Deeply emotional or feral mate bonds in fantasy romance. The humor in fairy tale retellings, or just the escapism in contemporary romances. All comfort zone reads that I know will make me feel good. And then there's the unexpected in dark romance. The latter is a genre in its own right, offering a wide array of stories varying from hinged to unhinged, and it continues to stretch boundaries, push limits. What I like about the genre especially, is that I do like a happy ending - but gah, I love a challenge and complexity in characters.

My latest dark romance read is by an author who's been on my radar for a while. K.M. Moronova's Leave Me Behind (the title alone!) features one of my favorite romance tropes: an unforgettable, life-altering night of passion shared between two anonymous people who then find themselves entangled with each other again in real life, forced to deal with basically knowing what they could have if they just give in again. But Moronova added a little something extra to her trope: Nell's one night stand turns out to be Bones: her ruthless, deadly new partner in their underground dark military unit, Malum - who blame her former unit (Riøt)... blame her... for the death of the man she's replacing. "It's complicated" doesn't even BEGIN to cover this mess.

I loved how Nell and Bones meet and how their hook-up unfolds. My reference notes about that include the phrase "Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Kings and all the cattle", so there's that. Bones is so interesting. As a stranger to her in this moment, she sees his possessive, dominating personality, but also witnesses him open up, which surprises even him. There's a tenderness in how he regards her. When he finds out who she is, he really goes through it. Given the extreme nature of their situation, the push and pull between them is also extreme. How do you reconcile having fallen for the one person you believe at least shares the responsibility in getting someone else you cared about deeply killed? How do you reconcile that in a life or death situation where you need to TRUST this person to have your back? It gave me whiplash, but I understand the point of it all.

Bones takes extreme measures to try to dictate the direction of their relationship, attempting to push away Nell by extreme bullying, but Nell is a strong character who has her own mission to achieve: the day Malum lost one of their own, she lost her entire team. She suspects Malum's upcoming mission will give her answers and the chance to avenge her own. So she won't let Bones and his men deter her, and remains a constant reminder to Bones of what he lost (his partner) and what he could have (something more with Nell). The push and pull does go on for a bit too long though, but it does make sense, with the first few chapters establishing them as very compatible and both of them feeling that.

But many other things are harder to parse. For instance, the bullying escalates to (upper body) sexual assault, which is justified by having Nell turned on by the pain inflicted simultaneously. Furthermore, Moronova makes sure there's regret and redemption later on, so the romance survives this. I knew to expect this because Moronova included a sexual assault content warning. But I didn't love it for this story. What I did love, is that Nell comes out on top, regardless of everything. She does whatever she wants (some things may be a little questionable... IYKYK... I was rooting for her in that moment, sorry not sorry) and her actions show she is a formidable opponent, rebel and eventual match for Bones.

The plot, meanwhile, is in flux and very thrilling. Sure, we have to take things with a grain of salt, but we're reading dark romance, not a literal military strategy report. A huge element to the plot is predictable from the start, but methinkst Moronova did that on purpose, to make us more attentive to any references involving that aspect. Giving us some precognition of sorts. Good, because towards the final 25-ish percent of the story, the turn does one hell of a table which didn't... OK, my stomach definitely bottomed out when this plot twist took off, and it was painful to read. It definitely took me some processing to come to terms with how this particular part unfolded and continued and ended. (But look at how much feeling it evoked! This is what I want from dark romance - the shock.)

Reading between the lines, Moronova has written Nell clearly enough throughout the book to come to a logical explanation, but the last part was still too rushed. I think if she'd added more insight into Nell and her thought processes in those final chapters, it would have been a more satisfactory reading experience. It could have been a mention in the epilogue.

(Trauma bonding stems from a power imbalance in an abusive relationship, with variation in reward and punishment (intermittent reinforcement). The victim begins to see themselves in the image of the abuser; their identity is basically created and controled by the abuser. Victims tend to blame themselves for an abuser's violence. As a coping mechanism, victims tend to cognitively distort the actual nature of the relationship into having a positive view of it by rationalizing or negating the abuse and trauma. It is hard to permanently leave the relationship. When the relationship is trauma-coercive, there is additional social isolation, the victim is unable to leave. Kindness and love shown (the rewards) then become all the victim has to hold on to. It's there... but not all readers will recognize it.)

Bones similarly also deals with trauma and very clearly suffers from PTSD, which affects his job as well as how he sees other people and how he reacts to Nell (...also leading to him doing... questionable things, IYKYK). His PTSD and trauma is more blatant compared to Nell's, recognized by others in Malum. I appreciate that his complexity is not just written off as "he's just morally gray" but as something more deeply psychological. It never justifies his actions, but it helps him redeem himself as well as truly see and love Nell through it all.

All in all, this one did a number on me and I doubt I'll forget the experience. I didn't love some elements, but the author managed to intrigue me, shock me, nauseate me, anger me, teach me and she made me believe in the couple in the end, despite everything. Moronova has shown herself to be imaginative enough to come up with stories that are dark and erotic and will be to my liking, and guaranteed to be entertaining and thrilling, so she's absolutely an author I'll read again.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebook, Bloom Books for generously providing me with a copy of this book; all opinions expressed are honest, voluntary and 100% my own.

Author provided content warnings:
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Physical violence, explicit sex scenes, pain kink, blood play, morbid humor, explicit gore, death, explicit language, extreme bullying, harassment, sexual assault, non-con, dub-con, sexist behavior, war trauma/aspects of war, ptsd, mention of rape and home intrusion, murder.

A Dark Forces Military where two rival soldiers are paired up and forced to work together..

A brutal romance. the relationship between Bunny & Bones is dubious at the start and brutal once they give in, but also so wholesome for them both! I love the resistance they both put up towards each other. The stories between the two MC's were beautifully woven together and farm more intertwined that I could have believed! The whole last third of the book just blew me away!

This is definitely a dark book so read the trigger warnings before picking this book up.