The Nature of Cruelty by L.H. Cosway

Her name is Lana. She wasn’t dealt the easiest cards in life. She wasn’t dealt the hardest. She has an illness, but she doesn’t let it rule her. The first time she laid eyes on her best friend’s twin brother she fell in love at first sight. It didn’t last very long. He was a hateful boy who made her miserable. The happiest day of her life was when he moved away to London six years ago.

His name is Robert. He breaks the ones who love him. He’s always liked to play games with Lana, see how far he could push her. He once thrived on her pain, but no more. Now she’s coming to London to live with his sister for the summer and this time he plans on being her friend instead of her tormentor. But Lana is scarred by his past bullying. She doesn’t trust him, nor does she have any reason to.

When the two find themselves living under the same roof, they call a truce. This summer will change both of their lives, as they put their history aside and learn one another from scratch.

When fear takes over, we use cruelty as a mask. Robert and Lana’s story will see their masks slip away as the love they felt on the inside shows its true face.

**Not suitable for younger readers. Contains strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.**

Rhonda's Review:

How awesome would it be to come face to face with the tormentor from your adolescence, the one who was cruel with their words and hurt you unmercifully and completely destroyed your self-esteem, and then to let that person see the hottie you turned out to be ? 

That’s exactly the opportunity Lana has when she leaves her home in Ireland to visit her best friend in London for the summer, Sasha. To Lana’s misfortune, the tormentor from her past Robert who is Sasha’s twin brother has been kicked out of his place by his girlfriend and comes to live with his sister and Lana for the summer. As Lana and Robert find them selves under the same roof, old habits start to resurface but they start to know each other in a new way, and the walls of cruelty start to crumble. But can Lana move on from the past and forgive Robert and trust him with her heart? 

I’m going to go over the things I loved about this book, and the things I didn’t love . 
One of the things I’ve enjoyed about this author is her ability to develop her characters so well. However, I had a difficult time connecting with Lana, I just felt indifferent toward her. Even though she was raised by a single mom that is a cop and used scare tactics to keep her away from boys, she just seemed a little unreal to me, and a lot of the time especially toward the end, I was really irritated by her. 

The next issue I had is that the story seemed to drag a bit too long with unnecessary dialogue between the characters. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy getting to know my characters and this story was no different, but some of the dialogue did affect the flow of the story and my interest level. 

I enjoy making her miserable…seeing the ghost of pain flicker in her pretty blue eyes. -Robert 


Now moving on to what I loved about this story. 
L.H. Cosway has a wonderful voice which I enjoy very much and look forward to reading more from her. As I’m reading this story I see glimpses of brilliance with the character development of Robert, what a great character study! Robert is what held me to this story and I loved reading the parts in his POV. I also think Cosway did a great job getting him across to the reader even in Lana’s POV, but Robert’s direct POV was just the icing on the cake. I loved getting a look into his thought process. I loved that he’s a little dark, and flawed. I also liked that there wasn’t some great tragedy that happened to him that made him an “emotional sadist”. Yea Robert and Sasha come from a broken home, and his dad is an arse, but I don’t think that really has anything to do with Robert and Sasha’s make up. Does there need to be a reason? In my opinion, no. Some people are the way they are just because that’s who they are. Robert is very self-aware and I loved that about him too. No apologies or excuses and this is how I see Robert.

I wish she didn’t always look so hunted. More importantly, I wish I didn’t get off on being the hunter. -Robert 

This story contains some really great scenes, and well worth the read, so in no way should my 3 stars be a deterrent. And Cosway knows her way around the smexy scenes too. I loved Robert’s dirty talk, and the whole vibe that comes from him in this story. He’s also kinda pervy, but I mean that in the best way possible! I also loved the relationship and bantering between Sasha and Robert. I think Cosway also did a wonderful job in developing the secondary characters as well with Sasha and Kara. 


Thank you L.H. Cosway for the opportunity.