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Audiobook details
She messaged a stranger. He was never a stranger.
Violet's anniversary ended with her boyfriend partying in Vegas with someone else. Her response, aided by wine and her best friend's encouragement, was to send an anonymous email to The Ghost, a vigilante hacker known for dismantling predators online, describing a fantasy she never intended anyone to act on. By morning, she had mostly forgotten the details. The Ghost had not. He replied with a phone number, and the conversation that followed was not the one she expected.
In the daylight, Violet is trying to manage a PhD internship under a boss who treats professional boundaries as optional, a dead laptop full of irreplaceable files, and the uncomfortable presence of Cade, her ex's older brother. Cade has always kept his distance. He is steady and familiar in the way of someone who has spent years not saying what he is thinking. Now that Violet is single, the silence between them has a different weight.
The two threads pull in opposite directions and toward the same point. Sweetly Unhinged is the first book in Kira Cole's Devoted in Darkness duet, a dark romantic comedy built on hidden identity, forbidden tension, and a cliffhanger that leads directly into Beautifully Ruined. Narrated in duet by Zoe Black and James Cassidy across 10 hours and 15 minutes, released April 21, 2026.
Sweetly Unhinged is funnier than most dark romance is willing to be, and that is what makes it work. The setup is chaotic in the best way: anonymous fantasy email, vigilante hacker, dead laptop, predatory boss, and the ex's older brother who has always been a little too present. Kira Cole holds all of it without dropping any of it.
Violet is a protagonist who earns the reader's patience because she is not passive. She is dealing with a genuinely awful work situation with limited options, navigating the wreckage of a relationship she probably should have ended earlier, and somehow also corresponding with an anonymous hacker who knows more about her than she intended. Her decisions are understandable even when they are not sensible, which is the correct ratio for this genre.
The hidden identity structure is handled better than most. The tension between what Violet knows about Cade and what she does not know about The Ghost is maintained consistently across the full runtime. Kira Cole does not cheat the reveal by telegraphing it too early or withholding it past the point of credibility. The dramatic irony is calibrated: the reader understands the situation before Violet does, but the gap is never so wide that it becomes frustrating.
The stalker-adjacent elements are played with the specific tone of consensual dark fantasy rather than genuine threat, which is the correct call for a book subtitled A Dark Rom-Com. The line is clear and Kira Cole does not blur it accidentally.
James Cassidy is the right voice for Cade. There is a controlled quality to his performance that works for a character who has spent years keeping something in check. The moments where that control slips are handled with precision. Zoe Black's Violet is quick and dry, which suits the comedic register of the book without undercutting the darker stretches. The duet format earns its keep here because the split perspective is the entire structural premise: two people keeping secrets from each other while the listener holds both. Ten hours and fifteen minutes and the pacing never drags.
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Sweetly Unhinged by Kira Cole opens the Devoted in Darkness duet with Violet, a PhD intern dealing with a harassing boss and a recently ended relationship, who drunkenly emails The Ghost, a vigilante hacker, describing a fantasy she cannot quite remember sending. He remembers. What follows is a dual-identity slow burn in which Violet is simultaneously falling for an anonymous stranger and spending more time than she planned with Cade, her ex's older brother. They are the same person. She does not know that yet.
The free trial, cancellable at any time, gives you immediate access. Zoe Black and James Cassidy narrate in duet across 10 hours and 15 minutes, with Black bringing quick wit to Violet and Cassidy giving Cade the controlled restraint of someone who has been waiting a long time. The hidden identity structure is exactly the format the duet narration was built for.
The audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. The free trial also opens access to thousands of other titles with no commitment required. Start listening now.
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