Callous Desire by Charmaine Pauls
Callous Duet Book 1
New York Underworld Book 4
Dark Underworld Romance
Release: April 20, 2026
His weapon is seduction, the battlefield between his sheets, and cruel betrayal the blade he plunges deep.
My mother raised me on knights in shining armor and happily-ever-afters. She groomed me to be the perfect mafia princess. It was only natural that I’d believe in fairy tales.
Only, I didn’t fall for the prince.
I fell in love with my father’s enemy.
I’ve never deluded myself about the man Dante is. Powerful. Cold. Ruthless. Brutal. Bad doesn’t come close to describing him. But when he held me in his arms in a rented room, he showed me that he could be good. Just for me. He always chained the monster when I was pinned beneath him, at my most vulnerable and exposed, in the most dangerous place I could be.
The darkness I glimpsed in him is embedded in his soul, coloring his heart and world black. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I lost myself to a callous man. I just couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that his seduction was only part of a cruel strategy and that I was nothing but the pawn he used for his revenge.
Note: Callous Desire is the first book in the Callous Duet and ends on a cliffhanger. Tatiana and Dante’s story concludes in Callous Love. The duet is part of the New York Underworld series (Books 4 & 5). You don’t have to read the other books in the series to follow this duet.
Available now direct from Charmaine’s store:
❥E-book: https://bit.ly/493q86R
❥ Audiobook: https://bit.ly/3NJ8jST
🎧Narrated in DUET style by Heather Firth & Christian Black.
Also available from your favorite vendor:
❥ Amazon US: https://bit.ly/4px4PQO
❥ Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3XMkgZr
❥ Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/44kM0Im
❥ Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3Kq4oJ6
❥ Apple Books: https://bit.ly/4ae4Api
❥ Google Play: https://bit.ly/455nyuB
❥ Kobo: https://bit.ly/4a6E7d8
❥ Nook: https://bit.ly/4oQx4ZM
Callous Desire by Charmaine Pauls
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
ARC/ALC Review
There’s a saying by Maya Angelou that goes something like “…people will forget what you said but not how you made them feel…” and every single story I have ever read by Charmaine Pauls has fallen within those parameters. I may not know the plot of every story I’ve read by her by memory, but I know how I felt thru every single one. She’s an author I never miss reading and trust 100% because she very rarely disappoints and even when she does, she’s still one of the best! Her stories are never easy but are always realistic. Her characters are flawed, just like you and me, and there is an intensity to the stories she decides to gift us with that enrapture and captivate from beginning to end! Another phrase that almost always comes to me when I sit down to review any of Charmaine’s stories is “beauty is in the details” because when it comes to her stories, details matter, so pay attention! If there was a way for me to stop everyone from reading reviews about Charmaine’s stories, I would 100% be on board to do it. Go in blind! As long as you know that she writes stories about people and circumstances that live in the shadows of society (for lack of a better term) and there are never rainbows and gumdrops, that’s all you need to know before you begin. #TRUST
Now, about Callous Desire … Well, I have nothing to say. But, you should know that this story is layered deep. Every layered that is peeled back ends up being yet another layer. Like an endless abyss of “hmmmmmmmmmmmmm”. There was a time I’d be anxious over this, but I’ve had 8 years of Charmaine greatness, so anxiety is not a feeling I get it any longer. Apprehension is more likely. I trust the story and the story is telling me that the best is yet to come. Every circumstance, twist and discovery that has unfolded in this story has meant something and has value. I hope you paid attention because you’re going to need those details to get thru Callous Love. #betme
🎧I did more of a listen than a read of this story and it’s the first time I have ever done that with one of Charmaine’s stories. Listening made the story come alive for me in a different way than reading it would have, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying one is best over the other. That’s a game I play with myself ever since I began my audio era. I’ve had a lot of experience consuming Charmaine’s words with my eyes, and I can say with 100% certainty that her storytelling skills are so profoundly good that you will not just ‘read’ her stories, but you will ‘feel’ them as well. Her style and voice bring stories alive with passion and intensity so if you’re not an audio ‘reader’, don’t worry about a thing, you will still feel this story to your soul. #trust
I haven’t had a lot of experience listening to 🎤Christian Black in the past, so I wasn’t sure before I began to listen how I’d feel about his performance, but his voice had a rich, deep, velvet-like tone that was perfect for Dante’s character, and I enjoyed his performance very much. I’ve had a little more experience listening to 🎤Heather Firth in the past and I have enjoyed her performances, and her performance of Tatiana was incredible. I really felt like she captured all the different emotions and circumstances that Tatiana goes thru in this story very well.
Callous Love is already queued up for me to begin so I will see you guys in a few days with an update on this captivating story that I honestly have no idea how it will ultimately unfold.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Charmaine loves to write dark and edgy romance that will melt both your e-reader and your heart. She’s a mom of two teenagers, an adorable dog, and a dominant cat. Her country of birth is South Africa where many of her stories play off. Her French husband kidnapped her to the south of France where she currently lives with her family. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her in the kitchen baking cakes or in the gym lifting weights (because … all those cakes!).
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