Kiss the Villain Audiobook – Villain, Book 1

I pressed play on Kiss the Villain by Rina Kent late one stormy Saturday night, headphones on, rain streaking my windows—a perfect match for a book that thrums with chaos and dark electricity. If you’re someone who enjoys having your heart yanked in impossible directions while feeling deliciously uncomfortable, then this audiobook is basically a direct shot of adrenaline to the soul.

From the first scene, I was reminded of those moments in life when you know you should look away but can’t. The story throws us headlong into Carson’s fractured world: he’s sharp, privileged, outwardly put together—but inside? There’s this constant undercurrent of rage and self-destruction I couldn’t help but recognize from times I’ve struggled with perfectionism or hidden parts of myself out of fear they’d be “too much.” Rina Kent captures that duality so well it hurts; she writes messy people for messy listeners like me.

And then comes Kayden Lockwood. Oh boy. When he showed up as Carson’s new criminal law professor after their nightmarish chance encounter—let’s just say my jaw might have actually dropped. Kayden is cold and coiled with danger—so different from any fictional villain/antihero I’ve listened to lately—and the way his past and present bleed together makes every classroom scene spark like live wires near water.

What sets Kiss the Villain apart isn’t just its intensity (though trust me, it has plenty); it’s how unflinching it is about toxic attraction. This isn’t a love story where wounds heal cleanly or lines between right and wrong resolve themselves by dawn. It’s manipulation layered over obsession atop power plays—with sexual tension thick enough to fog up my living room window more than the Portland rain ever could! Sometimes I found myself clutching my mug so hard during certain scenes (especially when nothing was being said outright) because even silence feels dangerous here.

The narration deserves huge applause—the full cast brings Carson and Kayden alive with such ferocity that at points I forgot these were actors at all. Stephen Dexter’s take on Kayden is so chilling yet magnetic; there are undertones of both menace and vulnerability in every word. Grayson Owens gives Carson an edge that teeters perfectly between unraveling panic and biting arrogance—it honestly made me ache for him even as I recoiled from his choices.

That said, this book isn’t going to work for everyone—and frankly, shouldn’t try to! There are times when consent gets tangled beyond easy reassurance; power imbalances loom large over everything, making some scenes hard to stomach if you crave comfort reads or healthy relationship arcs. But if you love stories about broken people recognizing each other in their mutual destruction—well… buckle up.

As someone who loves academia as a setting (and once spent far too many nights lost in philosophical debates rather than sleep), I adored how law school discussions wound through Carson and Kayden’s battles—not just giving intellectual heft but echoing real questions about morality versus survival instinct.

My only real dislike? Sometimes—even for me—the toxicity felt relentless without reprieve; there were points when darkness crowded out hope almost entirely, making it difficult not to need some emotional distance afterward. Still: Rina Kent is masterful at keeping things compulsively listenable—I wanted desperately for something good to break through all that pain (even knowing better).

If raw energy, moral ambiguity taken to extremes, brilliantly flawed characters—and performances dripping with emotion—are your thing? Don’t walk… run toward Kiss the Villain. And please DM me afterward because there is SO MUCH TO PROCESS!