“Compulsion” Book Review: Dark Romance, Obsession, and the Power of Healing

• Author: Julia Sykes
• Release Date: April 1, 2025
• Genre: Dark Romance
• My Rating:
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
• 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

💚Compulsion is book 1 in Favorite Malady Trilogy. Please check the trigger warning before reading this book. The very first page is where the darkness starts so be prepared. I wasn’t sure how this book was going to play out but I was pleasantly surprised. I absolutely loved this book. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! It gives dark MMC and sunshine FMC vibes but the FMC also has some darkness in her

Spoilers Ahead

I’m not sure if I want him to rescue me or ravage me.

💜 I felt a connection to our FMC Abby, working through her trauma after going through that very traumatic opening of the book. We see her going through the emotions trying to understand why her body responded the way it does and why certain taboo things make her feel right but the outside world would probably judge her for it. She needs a community like ours where we don’t yuck other peoples yums!

I’ve known my own diagnosis long before I completed my medical degree: psychopath.

But my craving for this woman is the closest thing to human emotion I’ve ever experienced.

I want more

I want her 

Body, heart, and soul.

Abigail Foster is already mine. She will accept the truth soon enough 

💚Stalker, possessive, obsessive, tall, built, English accent, muscular man, smart, a doctor and some BDSM what more could a girl want? His name you may be wondering is Dane, our MMC who treasures Abby like no one else. He is the only one who sees her for who she is, even the darker parts of her that she hides away from the rest of the world. He would do anything – and I mean anything- to protect her, make her feel safe like she is being saved by a white knight. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

I let the mask fall away entirely. I’m fully myself for the first time in my adult life: cruel, powerful, and vicious.

And it’s all because of her

⁉️QOTD: Would you want to be saved by the White Knight or devoured by the Dark God?

Favorite Scenes 

“But I want you to text me when you get home.”

My brow furrows. “Why?”

He blows out a soft sigh, and that indulgent smile curves his delicious lips. “It is so difficult to accept that I want to know you’re safe? I want to take care of you Abigail. Let me.”

My heart tugs with longing. No one has taken care of me in years. Possibly ever, if I examine the truth too closely

This! I love this! Even if he is a little stalkery, I love that he wants to take care of her and wants to keep her safe.

“You lied to me when you faked your orgasm,” he says, “But I wasn’t being myself, either. I think it’s time for us to both be honest about what we want.”

“And what is it that you want?”

“You. All of you.”

Favorite Quotes

I’m more determined than ever to win her over so that I can learn all of her secrets

Deep in my soul, I know that this is where I belong: alone in the dark with my shameful secrets

Has anyone else done this? No? just me? That’s fine. It’s probably why I felt a connection to Abby, someone else to have a dark secret that you are ashamed of. Or when your own brain turns on you and all the worst things decide to make an appearance, you’re frozen in place not knowing how to get out.

Something squeezes in the center of my chest, and I can’t draw breath until she offers me absolution. I need her approval more than I need oxygen, and I’m bizarrely cold in the absence of her sunshine.

I could easily see myself falling to my knees for this man. Worshipping his perfection like he’s my own personal god

I want this woman. All of her. Body, heart and soul

The compliment bolsters me. My dashing prince values me for who I am. My dark god wants all of me, and he deems me worthy of him

Favorite Malady Trilogy

• Compulsion
• Redemption
• Absolution

✨💜Tropes💜✨

• 🖤Obsessive
• 💚Possessive
• 💜Stalker
• 💕Dual POV
• ⛓️BDSM
• 🙈Master/Pet
• 🔪Touch Her and ☠️
• 🎠White Knight
• 🖤Dark God