I get why this book was controversial and I don't blame people for not wanting to read about it if the subject is triggering or upsetting for personal reasons, but I also don't necessarily believe that historical romance should always be safe or easy history wasn't.ħ. It's a very morally complex romance that touches upon a lot of serious subjects you don't normally encounter in historical romance. Initially her plan is to kill him or sell him out for revenge. The heroine, Evony, is initially disgusted by Reinhardt, and it takes her a while to begin to feel anything tender towards him at all. I felt like the author did her best to show the horrors of what it was like working and living under a post-Hitler Germany, and the grim fugue of guilt and poverty that hung over people who did terrible things not realizing (or not wanting to realize) the effects their actions had on those who were especially vulnerable to the Nazis. He did work in the Nazi government but not in the SS.

It is actually set during the Cold War, and the 'hero' is a Stasi officer who arrests the heroine as a potential traitor. This book was quite a controversy when it came out because people were (mistakenly) saying it was a Nazi romance that romanticized Nazis. Also, this book is translated from Italian so there are some unusual word choices that some may find offputting but I found endearing. It works though because it ends up becoming a toxic character study where two damaged people find redemption against all odds, but man, is it grim. There is one hell of a groveling arc, and enough angst to drown an entire island of cuddly bears, but the hero is very cruel in the beginning. Heads up that this book is brutal and the hero does rape the heroine.

When Anna, a headstrong wallflower, offends his honor, she taps into that dark, boiling part of him he tries so desperately to hide, and it becomes a game of revenge between them. Christopher is a tortured man with a dark past who has come seeking revenge. Not really sure how to describe this book except it's like if you took the plot of Hana Yori Dango and drop-kicked it into a regency romance setting.

Ariana nash goodreads