COME OUT COME OUT

By Alexia Onyx. Pub Date 8/26/25

Rating 3.5*s

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

“She’s creeping slowly toward death. He’s determined to keep her alive.

Aiden

My little wraith torments herself in a desperate attempt to escape from the pain that runs deep in her veins. I could be that escape if she’d only let me. I will own her pain, her suffering, and her pleasure. I just need her to see me.

Skye

Every day is a burden that pushes me closer and closer to my end. I always found the notion of death romantic; I never could have predicted how right I would be.

Contains mature themes.”

REVIEW

I was pretty psyched to receive this audiobook as an ARC. Grayson Owens is one of my top masc audiobook readers. I also read that this was a super dark romance with a thick lady main and I’m all about that representation.

The premise was interesting, the narration was great, and the story was very spicy. I saw the pattern for Aiden’s corporeal visiting hours almost right away. I also like Skye, though there is a good reason for the self harm trigger warnings, so if they bother you I advise either skipping this one or proceeding with extreme caution.

I am into the cat and mouse thing that has been a recent trend in erotica romantic fiction and this story had plenty of that in it and Aiden’s obsession with Skye was at the exact right pitch. It was mostly fantastic.

I really enjoyed this up until the very last scene, which left me in existential crisis mode a little. It was super great until that point, but it kind of felt like it was trying to one-up similar books and sort of overshot it from enjoyable and hot f*##$% up to disturbing. Again, I loved it up until the end. It was so nice having a bigger body represented in one of these obsessive romances, but I feel like the HEA could have ended better. I wish I could say more, but I don’t really want to spoil it. Some people may find it to be very Romeo and Juliette coded, so if you’re into that you would probably really like this, but R&J has never really been my cup of tea. I will definitely be going back to listen to a few scenes again because it is good and although I didn’t like the ending, the rest was worth the listen.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Media for the advanced audiobook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.