Book: Until I Die by Diedra Duncan
Reviewed by plotdrunk
Rating: God Tier
I wish I could give this six stars. This book made me stay up half the night reading, and I picked right back up to finish it the next morning. It is definitely a DARK dystopian romance, and anyone reading should absolutely check the trigger warning before diving in.
It is epic. It is traumatizing. It is deliciously fast paced. The enemies to lovers setup works because they are ACTUAL enemies that turn into ACTUAL lovers, and they are put in an impossible situation throughout the entire book. He is a colonel in the military that overthrew the government, and she is a military medic for the rebellion trying to take the country back. The tension felt real because neither of them trusted the other for very good reason, and as they slowly opened up to each other, they began to fall for each other in a very believable way.
The FMC can be a bit repetitive and in her head, although it does make sense within the story. The MMC though? Chef's kiss. He is exactly the kind of morally grey hero that I love. He did many terrible things without regret to protect the people he cared about, but also turned traitor to help the rebellion as vengeance for his sister. The dichotomy of his character really worked for me, and his tilted moral compass was delicious.
The world made sense because it is more or less present day, but the worldbuilding still did a good job of explaining the state of the country, the Defiance headquarters, the totalitarian regime, etc. The side characters were a bit flat and one dimensional, and Theo in particular never made a ton of sense to me. However, all of that was so overshadowed by the fast-paced plot and the romance that I didn't mind. Bonus points for a standalone!