3 1/2 stars!! 
 Dark. Dark. Dark. Those were my first thoughts upon finishing Raze. I love a good dark and gritty romance and Raze fits the bill. This book is filled with intense drama and brutal scenes of torture so be warned. I have a very strong threshold for dark reads, but there was an extra element that didn't quite sit well with me. That being said, this book has an incredibly creative storyline and some hot, steamy, passionate and over-the-top sex scenes that are alone worth reading the book for. 
 This story is told in flashbacks. Raze was brutally ripped from his home as a teenager and subjected to all kinds of physical and mental abuse at the hands of an underground fighting ring. He loses his memories of his family and his childhood and literally turns into a fighting machine, bent on revenge against the monster who put him away. These scenes in the underground are difficult, tough and gritty. 
 Raze has the vaguest memories of a girl who is Kisa, the daughter of a New York Russsian mobster. She, too, is condemned to a live of confinement as the fiancee of Alik, a sadisitic, brutal and controlling fighter. The stage is set for her past and her present to collide. Will she able to save Raze from almost-certain death? Will Raze ever remember Kisa, the only girl he ever loved? 
 "I've seen too many bad things with these eyes. This, I will feel in my heart." 
 There are scenes of incredible beauty in this book along with scenes so brutal they are difficult to get through. But all in all, this story kept me turning the pages to see where these characters' journeys would take them. I was cheering for Kisa to stand up to Alik and rooting for Raze to be able to find the peace he so desperately needed. If you like gritty fighter stories, then Raze is the book for you!