The Puppeteer

Reviews

• Cenigh

  Finished September 25, 2025

  I enjoyed their banter and the push and pull of their interactions. Both are struggling with their conflicting emotions towards each other; they feel one way and know they shouldn't (yet can't help it). I love how Cora can go off on him or hit him with no repercussions from Simon; he just allows it. If it were anyone else, he would cut them to pieces, literally. It seemed out of character for Cora to actually consider having everyone killed off in the circus (20 people) just in order she could go back to a life filled with pain and unhappiness. I’m proud of you, cupcake. Standing up to me like that…If they see you unafraid to face me down, no one will mess with you. I’m not upset. Dress me down all you want in public, because someday soon you’ll let me dress you down in private.” He placed a kiss against her cheek, just by her ear. Slow and sensual. Cora spends too much time wallowing in self pity and not accepting that this is her current situation now, and is often unaware/uncaring that almost everyone there has gone through the same thing. Simon is charming, dangerous, funny, flirty, sexy, manipulative & a crazy psychopath who could and probably will hurt her. Omg Simon's shadow was beyond adorable & sweet. Simon's shadow was so sad, lonely & dejected (until the dreams with her, he never could touch or be touched). When he was in Cora's dreams, I just wanted to hug him & hold him close (when he was doing pervy things while he was a shadow, not so much). I am looking forward to seeing where this series leads. Being haunted by a man-eating murder-circus, almost being turned into an inhuman and monstrous meal-via-porcelain-doll by an undead psychopath, and now being trapped inside said man-eating murder-circus with said undead psychopath. An undead psychopath to whom she was mildly attracted, but that was another stupid problem entirely. And something…felt weird, sitting next to him. Like she was supposed to be there. She had always been strangely drawn to him—he was beautiful, even with his wickedness. There was a sultry sinfulness to him, even if he was a murderous psychopath. But something had changed. It felt…like there was a pull. Like I have a piece of him in me, and it’s drawn to the rest of him. She shivered. “Don’t push your luck.” “I’m afraid that’s all I ever do.” He hummed. “But you’re hardly in the mood. I understand.” He tilted her head to look up at him and tutted. “I prefer you angry. I hate to see you like this.” With the pad of his thumb, he carefully wiped her tears away. “Never mind the terrible heartburn it gives me.” She should hate him. She should be terrified of him. He was only helping her in order to get what he wanted. But in those awful, frightening eyes of his, she saw more depth than that. She saw a man who had also lost everything. He was egotistical, snarky, sarcastic, and utterly self-centered, but he wasn’t miserable to be around. She found herself smiling at his jokes. Or sometimes even—the horror—laughing at them. There was a strange debonair flair about him. He was funny, and she couldn’t help it. He had a shockingly quick wit, and he was always ready with some clever comment. He kept her on her toes and was easily keeping her distracted from what she had gone through. That, and he was answering her questions. If she could believe his answers, at any rate. And he had held her while she cried. He had comforted her. It was only because he was trying to help himself and, by his own admission, he wanted into her pants. He could rocket between looking like a harmless cherub to the literal devil with the flick of a switch. She remembered his kiss. Something coiled inside her, far more treacherous than he was. Cora. She was so right about him. Yes, he had only started following her because of his stolen seity. About needing to protect her from the others getting too close. And that was still true. But he deeply enjoyed sparring with her, even if her insults were crude. Clever, but crude. She was a fiery thing. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear, though, Cora dear…nobody touches you but me. You can tell me no as many times as you want, every time I ask between now and when the sun burns out. But there’s a part of me there inside you. And if they defile you, they defile me, and we can’t have that.” She shivered. He placed another kiss against her finger, matching the first. “I can be very gentle, Cora. You might not think so. But I promise you—we can reclaim that part of your soul together. We can kill him and what he did once and for all, if you’ll let me. He tore you apart, and I will be the one to put the porcelain pieces back together. Only me, and no one else. I’m so very good at gluing shards of broken things together. Trust me…I’ve done it to myself plenty of times.”

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• Kinsey
  darkfunnymysteriousMedium-paced

  Started July 27, 2025 · Finished July 27, 2025

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