Between the Devil and the Sea by Chani Lynn Feener
✒️ Author: Chani Lynn Feener
🔗 Series: The Devil and the Sea, Book 1
⭐ Rating: 5 / 5 Stars
🌶️ Spice: 5 / 5. High, explicit, heavy, intense, and plentiful
👨❤️👨 Main Characters: Shadow “Shade” Yor & Apollo Orobas
🎭 Genre: Dark MM Romance, Sci-Fi Romance, Thriller
📜 Format Read: eBook and Audiobook
📖 Length: ~524 pages, and 12 hrs, 20 mins
🎤 Narrated by: Dan Levy
A dark MM sci-fi romance that left me unsettled, fascinated, and weirdly rooting for two men who absolutely should not work… and yet somehow do.
There are books that feel like entertainment, and then there are books that feel like emotional vandalism in the best possible way.
This one? Firmly the second.
I went in expecting a dark MM thriller with romance elements. I did not expect to spend several chapters whispering “Shade, babe… run” and then later, embarrassingly, whispering “Okay, but maybe also… stay?”
Welcome to my moral crisis.
The Setup
Detective Shadow “Shade” Yor is an empath who feels everything a little too loudly — guilt, grief, other people’s darkness, his own. He’s already stretched thin when he’s assigned to track down a serial killer whose crimes look increasingly personal.
Enter Apollo Orobas.
Apollo is the kind of character you don’t “meet” so much as survive. He is obsessive, brilliant, and morally black in a way that isn’t cute or quirky; it’s dangerous. And when the investigation goes sideways, Shade is kidnapped and pulled into a power dynamic that turns fear into tension, tension into something uncomfortable, and uncomfortable into something you can’t look away from.
It’s messy. It’s dark. It’s deliberate.
And the author never once flinches.
My Thoughts (aka the emotional aftermath)
I first read this book a year or two ago, and apparently, I wasn’t satisfied with the emotional damage the first time around, because I went back for the audiobook this year. And honestly? Hearing Apollo’s calm intensity and Shade’s unravelling out loud did something to my nervous system. It was like choosing to walk back into a haunted house because I wanted to check one more room. Ten out of ten would suffer again.
I closed this book feeling wrung out, conflicted, and a little bit haunted.
Honestly? That’s exactly what it set out to do.
Shade and Apollo are not designed to be safe characters. They’re jagged, traumatised, and constantly circling each other like two storms trying to decide whether to collide or destroy one another’s coastline. Their dynamic is uncomfortable in a way that feels intentional, like the author is saying, “Sit with this. Sit with what need looks like when mixed with power, guilt, and obsession.”
The early pacing is slow. I won’t lie.
But once the midpoint hits? Something shifts.
The story sinks its claws in and suddenly you’re inhaling chapters, desperate to see which line they’ll cross next.
I didn’t love every choice the book made, but I respect the commitment to its own darkness. It doesn’t soften edges for comfort. It trusts the reader to handle ambiguity, even when the characters can’t.
By the end, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hug them or throw my Kindle at the wall. And honestly, that’s how I know a dark romance has done its job.
Who This Book Is Perfect For
If you love:
- 💀 Dark romance with thriller edges
- 💀 MM romance with complex, flawed men
- 💀 Enemies-to-lovers (in the most unhinged, morally twisted way)
- 💀 Detective × Serial killer dynamics
- 💀 Power dynamics, obsession, and psychological tension
- 💀 Morally black MMCs, not morally grey, not even close
- 💀 Psychological manipulation as a plot device
- 💀 Alternate worldbuilding with light sci-fi elements
…this book will scratch that itch.
If you need your romance soft, safe, and tidy?
This is not your book.
Content Warnings (please read before diving in)
This is a dark romance story that leans into dark and emotionally heavy territory with several intense themes that may not be suitable for all readers.
Themes include:
- Non-con and dub-con sexual content
- Violence, kidnapping, captivity
- Psychological manipulation
- Trauma responses, obsession
- Torture
- Characters navigating low self-esteem
- PTSD and trauma
- Self-harm
- High-intensity explicit content
Please review the Author’s Note for the full set of warnings.
An HEA is guaranteed.
Final Verdict
Between the Devil and the Sea is dark, consuming, and deeply character-driven. It doesn’t try to redeem its men; it simply shows them as they are: brutal, broken, and bound to each other by something that defies easy labels.
It’s not a comfortable read.
But it’s a compelling one.
If you enjoy stories that drag you into grey (or black) moral spaces and leave you chewing on the emotional fallout, this belongs on your shelf.
And yes, I’m bracing myself for Book 2 in the series.
Links & Further Reading
Where to Find the Book
- Amazon (eBook / Audiobook / Special Edition Paperback)
https://www.amazon.com/ - Goodreads Page
https://www.goodreads.com/
