Tempting Venom by Rina Kent Review: Five Stars for Preston, Marcus, and My Emotional Destruction

Rating: ★★★★★

I was so excited for Tempting Venom, and let me tell you right now: it did not let me down.

This was the first Rina Kent book I listened to on audio instead of physically reading, and I was a little nervous about that at first. Not because I doubted the story, but because Rina’s books usually demand my full attention. Her worlds are intense, interconnected, messy, emotional, dark, and filled with characters who make me want to scream into a pillow one minute and protect them with my life the next.

But I had a very long work week, and I just did not have the energy to actually sit down and read. What I did have was plenty of downtime while doing tasks at work.

So I hit play.

And then Preston Armstrong and Marcus Osborn proceeded to take over my entire brain.

About Tempting Venom

Tempting Venom is an MM college dark hockey romance between Preston Armstrong and Marcus Osborn, two rival hockey players who are just as ruthless, unhinged, and emotionally destructive as each other.

Preston is chaos with a mouth. Marcus is controlled danger with teeth. They are rivals. They are enemies. They are both determined to ruin the other.

Naturally, that goes exactly as well as expected.

What starts as hatred, rivalry, violence, and obsession turns into something much more addictive. They are supposed to annihilate each other, but the more they collide, the more impossible it becomes for either of them to walk away.

This book can technically be read on its own, but I absolutely recommend reading Beautiful Venom and Sweet Venom first. Not only because the world makes more sense that way, but because Preston and Marcus have been lurking in the background like a problem waiting to happen.

And what a beautiful problem they are.

I Was Hooked From the Beginning

I already loved Preston and Marcus from the snippets we got of them throughout Beautiful Venom and Sweet Venom, so I knew I was going to be invested.

What I did not expect was for them to completely take over.

Their dynamic is electric from the start. They are vicious, funny, intense, competitive, and absolutely ridiculous in the best way. Every interaction between them feels like a fight, a flirtation, and a warning sign all at once.

They do not ease into anything.

They crash.

They provoke.

They push.

They hurt.

They want.

And somehow, underneath all that sharp-edged chaos, Rina Kent builds something that feels devastatingly intimate.

That is what made this book so good for me. It was not just that Preston and Marcus had chemistry. Of course they had chemistry. They had the kind of chemistry that makes you sit there blinking at the wall like, “Well, this is going to ruin me.”

But they also had depth. Pain. History. Trauma. Fear. Loneliness. A million sharp little pieces they kept pretending did not matter until they absolutely did.

Preston Armstrong Broke Me

I knew I liked Preston before this book.

I did not know he was going to destroy me.

Getting inside his head changed everything. He is reckless, mouthy, depraved, and completely unfiltered, but beneath all of that is so much pain. His mental health storyline hit me hard. Like, crying-in-the-breakroom hard.

There were moments where I had to stop what I was doing and just breathe because his inner turmoil felt so raw. Rina Kent does such a good job of showing how Preston uses humor, chaos, and provocation as armor. He makes himself loud. He makes himself impossible to ignore. He turns himself into the problem before anyone else can decide he is one.

And then you see what is underneath.

That is where this book got me.

Because Preston is not just an unhinged hockey boy with a filthy mouth and a talent for making terrible decisions. He is hurting. He is spiraling. He is trying to survive himself.

And Marcus sees him.

Not the performance. Not the mask. Not the weapon Preston turns himself into.

Him.

That wrecked me.

Marcus Osborn Was Everything Preston Needed

Marcus surprised me in the best way.

He is not soft. He is not gentle. He is not the sweet, patient love interest who fixes everything with a hug and a well-timed emotional speech.

Thank God, because Preston would have eaten that man alive.

Marcus is just as ruthless. Just as intense. Just as capable of playing dirty. He matches Preston’s energy in a way that feels almost dangerous, but that is exactly why their relationship works.

Preston does not need someone who flinches from him.

He needs someone who can stand in front of the storm and say, “Is that all you’ve got?”

Marcus does that.

He pushes back. He challenges Preston. He refuses to let Preston control every piece of the game. And somehow, in the middle of all that violence and rivalry and emotional warfare, he becomes one of the only people who truly understands him.

Their relationship is not neat.

It is not soft in the traditional sense.

It is messy, intense, sharp, consuming, and completely them.

I Laughed, I Cried, I Looked Unwell at Work

One of my favorite things about this book was the balance between emotional devastation and absolute chaos.

There were times I was holding back laughter because Preston and Marcus are genuinely hilarious. Their antics, their banter, their inability to act normal for even five consecutive minutes? Perfect. No notes.

Then there were moments where I was blinking back tears because the emotional weight came out of nowhere and punched me directly in the chest.

That is the Rina Kent experience, honestly.

One minute, I am laughing at something unhinged.

The next, I am standing in the backroom at work, pretending I am very focused on putting things away while actually trying not to cry over fictional hockey players.

Preston’s letter?

Forget about it.

I am so happy I was in the backroom when I listened to that part because I would not have been able to explain my face to another human being. That letter emotionally flattened me. It was beautiful, painful, vulnerable, and exactly the kind of moment that made the entire book hit even harder.

The Audiobook Was So Worth It

I usually love physically reading Rina Kent’s books because her interconnected world has so many details I want to absorb carefully, but listening to Tempting Venom was such a good experience.

The audiobook pulled me in immediately. It made the banter sharper, the emotional moments heavier, and the tension between Preston and Marcus even more addictive.

There is something about hearing their inner thoughts, especially Preston’s, that made the story feel incredibly intimate. His mental health struggles, his humor, his pain, his recklessness, and his vulnerability all hit so hard in audio format.

I was hooked from the beginning and stayed hooked the entire time.

Honestly, listening to this at work was both a terrible and excellent decision.

Terrible because I had to keep my face under control.

Excellent because it made the work week so much better.

Rina Kent’s Connected World Is Still One of the Best Parts

One of the most amazing things about Rina Kent’s books is how connected her world is.

Every series feels like it has its own identity, but it also fits into this much larger universe where characters, families, histories, rivalries, and emotional damage all weave together. It makes every book feel bigger than itself.

Tempting Venom reminded me exactly why I love that.

Yes, Preston and Marcus are the center of the story, and they absolutely deserve to be. But the surrounding world still feels alive. Characters from other books matter. Past events matter. Family names matter. Friendships, rivalries, and connections matter.

And some characters really took me by surprise in this one.

That is one of Rina’s strengths. She can make you think you know where you stand with someone, and then suddenly you are side-eyeing your own opinions like, “Wait. Do I like them now?”

The answer, apparently, is sometimes yes.

Final Thoughts

I loved every minute of Tempting Venom.

It was intense, emotional, funny, dark, addictive, and so deeply satisfying. Preston and Marcus had already caught my attention in the earlier Vipers books, but seeing everything from their perspectives made me fall for them completely.

Their rivalry was sharp. Their chemistry was wild. Their emotional connection was devastating. Preston’s mental health storyline broke my heart. Marcus became exactly the force Preston needed. And that letter?

I am still recovering.

This book gave me everything I wanted and then some. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me stand in a work breakroom emotionally compromised over fictional hockey rivals. Truly, five-star behavior.

Rina Kent delivered exactly the kind of dark, unhinged, emotionally loaded romance I was hoping for, and now I am even more excited to keep going in this world.

I need Crave the Villain immediately.

Five stars.

Preston and Marcus own me now.