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Two rivals, one fire neither can put out
Preston Armstrong has built his entire identity around being the worst thing that ever happened to whoever crosses him. On the ice and off it, he takes what he wants and leaves the wreckage for someone else to clean up. Then Marcus Osborn shows up, captain of the team Preston has sworn to destroy, and refuses to play by any of the rules Preston has spent years perfecting.
What starts as a feud meant to end one of their careers turns into something neither man saw coming. Every hit, every insult, every late night spent trying to outmaneuver the other only pulls them closer, until the line between hatred and obsession stops meaning anything at all. Preston tells himself this is still a war. Marcus stopped believing that a while ago.
Set against the brutal world of college hockey and the secret society pulling strings behind it, this is the third chapter in the Vipers series, a story about two people who were never supposed to want each other and can no longer pretend they don't. Listeners who followed Beautiful Venom and Sweet Venom will recognize the stakes. New listeners will simply get pulled under fast.
I went into Tempting Venom expecting another solid Rina Kent entry in the Vipers world, and what I got instead was the most chaotic, electric dynamic she's written in this series so far. Preston and Marcus do not ease into anything. They collide.
Preston is exactly the kind of narrator Kent does best, vicious, self-aware, and weirdly funny in the middle of his own destruction. He knows he's the villain of most people's story and has made peace with it. What I didn't expect was how quickly Marcus would match him beat for beat instead of softening him. Their rivalry never reads like a setup for romance, it reads like two people who are genuinely dangerous to each other, and the tension builds from that honesty.
The hockey backdrop gives the book a physical edge that a lot of dark romance skips over. The games aren't filler, they're where Preston and Marcus actually communicate, through hits that land harder than they should and confrontations that keep spilling past the rink. The secret society thread from the earlier Vipers books is still there, simmering under everything, and it gives the rivalry a sense of consequence beyond the two of them.
Where the book really earns its place in the series is the shift in the second half, when the hatred starts cracking under its own weight. Kent doesn't rush it. Preston resists the realization for as long as he physically can, and watching him lose that fight is honestly the best part of the listen.
On the narration: with four narrators voicing the cast, including Teddy Hamilton and JF Harding handling the leads, the back and forth between Preston and Marcus lands with real friction. Their delivery makes the antagonism feel lived in rather than performed, and the shift in tone as the story turns is handled with a lot of control. This is a full cast production that knows exactly how to use that format.
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Tempting Venom by Rina Kent is the third book in the Vipers series, a dark MM hockey romance built around two rival captains who set out to ruin each other and end up unable to stay away. The story leans into rivalry, power, and the kind of tension that doesn't resolve quietly.
Take advantage of the free trial, cancellable at any time, and let Teddy Hamilton, JF Harding, Emma Wilder and Siren Dixon bring Preston and Marcus's collision to life through full cast narration that keeps every confrontation sharp and immediate.
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More Audiobooks by Rina Kent
US-based editor & staff writer focused on audiobooks. Honest reviews, curated “best of” lists, and practical guides with an accessibility lens.
