⭐️ 5/5
🌶️ 3.5/5
The word “dark” in dark romance is there for a reason, but for some reason dark romance books are often the most beautiful books there are. Paved in Fire is not an exception.
Please remember to read the content warning for this book before you start reading if you have any triggers. This book is not quite as dark as the other books in the series, but it is still plenty dark. 🖤🖤
Plot Summary
What Alina feels for Matvey started out as a young-girl crush. But instead of those feelings lessening as she grew older, they intensified.
When she finally turned eighteen the forced him to stop thinking of her as just his best friend’s brother and to see her as a woman.
It worked.
They were happy.
But then she was taken.
Matvey’s heart was broken and for two years he was consumed by the pain of losing her. He as his brothers did everything they could to find her.
Now they know where she is, they just have to go get her. And then make those who took her pay for what they had done.
My Thoughts
The men in this entire series are really nothing but sweethearts when it comes to their women. But it was different in this book.
I think the fact that Matvey and Alina had known each other since childhood inevitably made the dynamics of their relationship much different than the other couples in the story.
I also believe that because both of them lived the same tragedy just from different sides of the fence and that they are both broken played a huge roll in how they operate as a couple.
It is really beautiful to see how both of them rise from the ashes and become much stronger people than they were before.
Where to Read?
You can get Paved in Fire by Sonja Grey on Amazon. If you buy it using my link, I’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
You can read it for free with a Kindle Unlimited trail.
There is an audiobook of Paved in Fire, you can listen to it for free with an Audible Premium Plus trail.
Series or Standalone?
Paved in Fire is not a standalone. In fact, it is very far from it.
In this series each book features a different couple, but they all work towards the same common goal. Save Alina. Bring down the trafficking ring that took her.
If you don’t read the books in order you will get some major spoilers.
Tropes
Paved in Fire doesn’t move quite as fast as the other books, but not slow burn in the least.
It is a bit of an age gap romance between a girl and her brother’s best friend whom she’s had a crush on since she can remember.
Micro-Tropes
Here are some of the micro-tropes that you’ll encounter in this book.
- Trauma
- Strong FMC
- Badass FMC
- Protective MMC
- Found Family
- Broken Hero
Pet Names
Matvey calls Alina malishka which is Russian for “baby girl” or “baby”.
Quotes
“I’ll give you anything you want, Alina.” Her response is immediate. “I only want you.” “You have me.” “Then I have everything.”
– Matvey and Alina
Sometimes a beautiful memory can tear your heart out when you’re experiencing the worst kind of pain. It’s just too damn much—a bright light that has no place in this dark hell I’m living.
– Alina
“Is it weird that I missed you this much when you weren’t even gone that long?” “Is it weird that I only felt like I could breathe again when I saw you in front of me?”
– Alina and Matvey
“It kills me that I can’t take it away from you and make this better. I want all your pain and fear. I want to take it all from you and keep it for myself, because you shouldn’t ever feel anything except safe and loved.”
– Matvey Melnikov
“I will never be without you again, malishka,” he whispers, pressing his forehead against mine. “If you go, I go.” “Matvey,” I start to say, but his forehead slowly rolls against mine with the soft shake of his head. “Don’t bother arguing with me. There’s no changing my mind. Your last breath will be my last breath. My heart stops with yours.”
– Matvey and Alina
“I love you, malishka, and I’ll gladly remind you every day for the rest of our lives that what we have is beautiful and special and so fucking perfect.”
– Matvey Melnikov
“You’re the only woman who’s ever known me, the real me, and you’re the only one I’d ever show all my scars to. I would never share that with anyone but you.”
– Matvey Melnikov
“I am your home, Alina, just like you’re mine.”
– Matvey Melnikov
“Loving you is a part of me, Alina, so deeply embedded that I couldn’t survive without it. It’s like breathing or the beat of my heart.” I rest my forehead against hers. “It’s who I am, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s you and me, baby, always, no matter what.”
– Matvey Melnikov
“I love you, Alina. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, the only woman I will ever love, and all I want is to spend my life with you. I want to love you and protect you and care for you. I want a family with you when you’re ready, and I want to grow old by your side.”
– Matvey Melnikov
“You are everything to me, and you’re all I want. In this life and in however many come after, I will always find you, because you and I are meant to be together. I can’t breathe unless you’re taking in the same air, and my heart doesn’t beat unless yours beats with it.”
– Matvey Melnikov
“Sometimes you can rise from the ashes and be even better than before. Fire doesn’t always have to end in death, and our tragedies don’t always have to define us.”
– Alina Melnikov
“My family is everything, and I’ll do anything to protect them.”
– Matvey Melnikov
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