Sweet Venom
Rina Kent
Vipers #2
Cover and Synopsis
Sweet Venom Cover & Blurb
Can I outrun his merciless obsession?
I accidentally witnessed a brutal murder.
I froze, pretended I saw nothing, hoping I could leave it behind.
But my plan backfired, and my life spiraled downward.
Now, I’m the target of cold-blooded revenge.
Jude Callahan isn’t just a hockey god—he’s a devil no one dares to cross.
My existence disrupts his stardom, prestige, and possible serial killer career choice.
And he’s set out to make me pay for that moment of silence.
No matter how much I run or hide, he finds me, watching from the shadows.
Like a predator.
I thought he’d stop at the stalking.
Or even better, he’d kill me and finally end my misery.
But Jude has other plans.
He says I can’t die. I have to pay for my sins.
And just like that, he drags me into his depraved world, kicking and screaming.
Book Information
Vipers
Published December 2025 by Bloom Books.
Audiobook narrated by Teddy Hamilton & Mackenzie Cartwright.
Genre : Dark Romance
Pages :464 pages, Paperback
Sweet Venom Trigger Warnings
Contains references to mental illness, depression, suicidal ideation, and emotional abuse, including parental neglect and child abuse. It includes graphic violence, murder, torture, stalking, attempted child sexual abuse, the death of a family member, and mentions of multiple abortions and drug use/overdose involving non-main characters.
Sweet Venom Tropes
Dark Hockey Romance
Stalker MMC
Public Play
Revenge
Secret Society
Sweet Venom Kinks
Consensual non-consent and somnophilia.
Review
Sweet Venom by Rina Kent
Someone’s watching me. Constantly. Overtly.
I was on the fence about reading Sweet Venom by Rina Kent. I didn’t particularly like Beautiful Venom last year when I read it. The two main characters were annoying and lacked depth. I did like the subplot about Violet, I’m a sucker for a good mystery.
I heard the audiobook for Beautiful Venom was good and since I was in the mood for an audiobook I decided it was time to unravel the mystery behind Violet and dive into Sweet Venom. I mean, duet style narration gets me every time.
As always, the list below likely contains random out of context spoilers. Skip down to my final thoughts to avoid them.
- Can’t Daliah just clear all this business about his mother?
- Well at least we are getting this mother business out of the way early. I’m just going to go with me not remembering details correctly from Beautiful Venom.
- Number seven on his “you watched my mother get stabbed and did nothing” kill list. How many people watched again? Twenty? *she was stabbed twenty times.
- Wait, she did call the cops?
- Jude’s dad is a fucking dick. Is he still alive? I hope he dies.
- Damn, did you ever just cum on your stalkers tongue girl.
- Awe. He loves her lasagna.
- Not the boot. Sweet baby unicorns.
- Dahlia feels.. Different?
- Is this before Beautiful Venom? *It is.
- Preston is super unhinged. Chopping up the mayor’s aide. I love it.
- Wait.. what does Jude’s stepbrother know about his mother’s death?
- Beautiful Venom starts sometime after 18.
- I got some questions too Jude. Like wtf dear old brother Julian is up to.
- I love that she communicates her wants and needs through the journals he then reads.
- Girl you are not becoming a sex addict.
- Not on the bike.. In public.
- Family dinner is killing me.
- The friends-dinner was definitely better.
- Julian is still up to something.
- I love that Preston calls Daliah everything but Daliah.
- Grandfather!!! This must have something to do with who has been trying to intimidate Violet.
- A protective Marcus coming for his man.
- I mean, this is a farce by Lawrence for sure…right? Or someone. Unless the third book overlaps book 1&2, but that cant be right…
- Girl, I think you are part of this family.
- I love Preston’s will.
- Or my aunt!
- Marcus is extra unhinged with the loss of Preston.
- Under the umbrella! Oh my.
- I’m not a ghost.
- Fucking Julian.
- Tell me all about how you made granny scream. I’m dead, Preston kills me.
Sweet venom by Rina Kent Review
Minor Spoilers
My stalker has a name and it’s Jude Callahan.
Sweet Venom is the second installment to Vipers-a dark hockey romance with a side of secret society, interconnected standalone series by Rina Kent. This is my third time reading Kent and it is by far my favorite. Regrettably that is solely because of the duet narration. Teddy Hamilton & Mackenzie Cartwright do an amazing job at bringing Jude & Violet to life. They brought substance and personality to some otherwise bland and hollow characters.
I find Kent’s characters have little to no nuance to them or character growth. They are dull and unremarkable. When I read Beautiful Venom I had trouble differentiating between Jude and Preston. They were basically the same person to me. Which is actually one of the reasons I chose to use my ears this time around. Sweet Venom is a story about Jude and yet it was Preston that stood out. His personality out shined Jude and Violet. He stole every scene he was in and and I chock that up to Hamilton’s performance.
Kent can tell me until the cows come home that these men fit the dark romance mmc archetype but she does very little to show me they are. For a dark romance series none of it feels very dark romancesque and none of these men are winning dark romance boyfriend of the year awards.
I read Sweet Venom purely out of curiosity about Violet’s coma and Jude’s involvement in it. I should have just asked someone. The elements were there, the idea was great. But it was all so very underwhelming. There was no emotional weight behind Violet’s decision because of Kent’s insistence on not showing. Not showing us the turmoil Violet is going through over being stalked by the son of the woman she witnessed with a group of people getting murdered leaves her decision to escape him by going into a coma medically induced by said stalkers untrustworthy step brother who she doesn’t know is lack luster at best.
Not only is it emotionally unbelievable it’s dumb af. Kent tells us Violet is intelligent but the girl would willingly get into a white nondescript van for some candy.
The first eighteen chapters of Sweet Venom takes place before Beautiful Venom and could have easily been narrated through inner monologue or dialogue. Although with Kent’s writing style I doubt that would have been any better. Even after Violet wakes up it is all unsurprisingly tell not show. The chemistry between Jude and Violet felt nonexistent even though some of the scenes were hot af. There are some sweet moments but none of it feels end game if you will. I did like the twist about Violet’s mother & father but it falls flat when you don’t like or connect with the characters involved.
Sweet Venom will be the last book by Rina Kent that I read. I’m not a fan of her characters or her writing style. If you are, I’m sure you will like it. Rina Kent is just not for me.
Quotes
Sweet Venom Quotes
Spice
Sweet Venom Spicy Chapters
12, 16, 22, 25, 29 & 35
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