Reviewed by Cheryl K
TITLE: Beat the Rich: A Dark M/M Supernatural Romance
AUTHOR: Sionnach Wintergreen
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 270 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2025
BLURB:
An undercover agent, posing as a bodyguard, falls for a “client” with secrets of his own.
The Great Depression hasn’t touched Marius Fontaine. A wealthy industrialist, he lives a life of leisure. There’s only one problem—he’s possessed by a demon who tortures him if he so much as thinks about love, compassion, or empathy. He can only contain it through a different kind of pain.
Enter Jack Kendall. Pretend bodyguard. Actual federal agent. His mission: investigate the millionaire’s involvement in a plot to assassinate FDR, the newly elected president. His problem: his desire for his mysterious target arouses his darkest fantasies.
If Marius is involved with the plot, he could face the electric chair. He doesn’t know his handsome bodyguard is trying to put him in Old Sparky.
For Jack, getting too close to Marius could mean incurring the wrath of one of the most powerful law enforcement agencies in the United States. And he knows nothing of the dangers lurking in Marius’s world.
Contains BDSM, characters that grow, and violence. Please read the content warnings.
Loosely based on the Wallstreet Putsch.
REVIEW:
I am always intrigued by historical stories, especially MM stories possibly based on a true story. This one intrigued me also, because it has a paranormal slant to it, another one of my jams. As mentioned in the blurb for this story, this story was loosely based on the Wallstreet Putsch. I imagine you, like me, are wondering what the Wallstreet Putsch was. Well, it this small part of history, where a group of bankers decided to remove Franklin D Roosevelt from the office of President of the United States. Which in all honesty, has never been proven to actually have happened. But what a wonderful backdrop for a story. Mr. Wintergreen is a new author to me and the blurb really reeled me in… I will say this, please read the trigger warnings before choosing to read this book. I was fully aware of the BDSM elements that are written about in this story. Although I am really not an expert on the BDSM lifestyle, I have some concerns about how sane and consensual these elements were for these characters. Which probably colored my impressions of this story.
All that being said, I found the world building to be decent. I always like overly detailed backgrounds in my stories; I want to be sucked into the world being created by the author. And this story gave me the bare minimum. I feel this story had so much potential and I struggled at times to continue reading this story, let alone finish it. I persevered though, because I had to know how the author was going to resolve all the plot lines.
The character development was good. We have Jack, our undercover law enforcement agent and Marius our demon possessed member of the group plotting to overthrow the President. There was just enough depth of detail for these characters to get a feel for who they are. But this depth was limited to the main characters and very little detail was given to the important side characters.
Overall, I found this to be decently crafted story, but for me it was not as fleshed out as I would’ve liked. Which of course is on me and another reviewer, might thoroughly enjoy this story. I can’t pinpoint what it was exactly that left me feeling disappointed in this story, as I’ve read a lot of paranormal, BDSM, and dark romance stories over the years, but this one was a struggle for me. I see great potential in Mr. Wintergreen’s writing though, and I am definitely curious to see what he comes up with next.
Till next time…
RATING: 
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