SADISTIC (Raiders of Valhalla MC: New Blood 4) by Elizabeth Knox-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 15, 2025

I’ve been planning my escape since I was fifteen.

Revna

Law school. A career. A life where my choices are my own. Not bargained away before I was even born to cement an alliance between criminals.

But when old enemies resurface with blood on their minds and vengeance in their hearts, I make a choice that shocks everyone—including myself.

I agree to marry Doran Volkov. The bratva prince who’s been waiting five years to collect what was promised.

Dark, dangerous, and too controlled for his own good. He looks at me like I’m a business deal, another step in his plan to build an empire. He thinks he’s getting a compliant bride. He’s wrong.

I’ll be his wife in name. I’ll stand beside him in public. I’ll even share his bed when the heat between us becomes too much to deny.

But I won’t be owned. Except Doran has other plans. The moment I say “I do,” something shifts in those cold green eyes.

Business transaction? That’s what we agreed to. But the way he watches me and touches me…

That’s not business. That’s possession.

••••••

REVIEW: SADISTIC is the fourth instalment in Elizabeth Knox’s contemporary, adult RAIDERS OF VALHALLA MC: NEW BLOOD erotic, Mafia / MC romance series , set in the RAIDERS OF VALHALLA world co-authored by Elizabeth Knox and EC Land, with characters crossing over from the author’s The Mackenzies Series. This is Bratva heir Doran Volkov, and MC princess / law student Revna’s story line. SADISTIC can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion. SADISTIC takes place approximately five years after the events of book three MORTIFY.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Revna and Doran) SADISTIC focuses on the arranged marriage between our story line couple. Five years earlier, in return for a favor, Revna was promised in marriage to the heir to the Bratva Doran Volkov but our heroine struggled in the face of potential betrayal, all the while having no idea that what to expect from a man she believed could destroy her life. Five years of waiting, two weeks to prepare, and our couple are caught in the middle of a potential Mafia war. Determined to remain independent, Revna struggles with her future, a future Doran is willing to accept in return.

The world building follows the preparations for a wedding, and the fall-out of a friendship, years in the making. Revna battles between head and heart with her attraction to Doran, while Doran knows that Revna is the only woman he will ever love but someone else is taking aim, and Revna is about to have a target on her back.

The relationship between Revna and Doran is an arrange marriage. Doran has waited ‘impatiently’ for the woman that calls to his heart but a woman he has ‘stalked’ and ‘protected’ for close to five years. Revna demands her independence to the point of dangerous actions but Doran is always one step ahead of the woman with whom he has fallen in love. The $ex scenes are limited but passionate and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

The secondary and supporting characters are charismatic and energetic. We are introduced to Doran’s parents Greer and Aleksandr Volkov (Corrupted Love: The Mackenzies 2), his sister Rhiannon; Revna’s twin Dalla, and their parents Fern and Raiders of Valhalla MC president Erik aka Runes (Sinister #2 by EC Land); Doran’s right hand man Mikhail; Cartel head Bembe Reyes; and Revna’s ex Njal. The requisite evil has many faces.

SADISTIC is a story of power and control, betrayal and vengeance, mental illness and struggle, secrets and lies, family and relationships, acceptance and love. The character driven premise is intriguing and captivating; the romance is fated and seductive; the characters are desperate, determined and dynamic.

Reading order and Previous Reviews
Manic
Scornful
Mercy
Mortify

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy