Book: Kill to Love by Penny Sunday
Reviewed by Irene Leach (Irene's Dragon Nest)
Rating: 5/5
What a way to start 2026, this was the perfect first read of the year.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
ARC Review
Delphine De Astor has never cried, never truly felt, and has spent her life hiding her lack of emotion to avoid being labeled Soulless - evil, unlovable, disposable. When she’s deemed exactly that and thrown into the Execution Battle, she’s forced to fight for survival in a dystopian spectacle that’s as brutal as it is absurd (yes, complete with ad breaks). Pant-less, armed with sunscreen, and surrounded by cannibals, unhinged psychopaths (probably Geminis), incestuous lovers, and a man in a pink sequined crop top, Delphine’s world is pure chaos.
Enter Dig Graves.
A notorious serial killer with dark hair, heart-shaped sunglasses, and major golden retriever energy. He once tried to kidnap Delphine and now relentlessly hunts her through the Battle.
The banter was epic. From the very first chapter, I knew Delphine was not going to be a damsel-in-distress FMC. She’s sharp, sarcastic, and resilient, and Penny Sunday does such a good job of handling her trauma, especially her inability to be intimate, without ever losing sight of the fact that this is still a soulmate story. Even when her heart wasn’t thumping, everything about this connection felt intentional and fated.
And Dig? I love him. He is an absolute badass who will literally do anything...and I mean anything (Jane Austen fans, you’ll get it)...for Delphine… except take her without consent. His insistence on consent makes complete sense once you learn his backstory, and even when he loses control passionate moments, he refuses to let his past define him. That alone made his character hit so much harder.
There were a few moments where the banter went on a bit too long and could’ve been trimmed, and the Slash storyline felt slightly hastily wrapped up. But honestly? None of that stopped me from devouring this book in one sitting. I could not put it down.
Gritty, gory, darkly funny, wildly spicy, and emotionally satisfying. Kill to Love is feral soulmate romance done right, and I’m still thinking about it.
Thank you to Penny Sunday and Chloe Berry at the The Berry Agency for the opportunity to review this ARC before release.