Shantel Tessier's craft in the dark romance space has built a loyal readership that treats the Lords series as a reliable escalation machine. The audiobook of Sabotage, narrated by Gabriel Spires across seven hours and twelve minutes, is the fourth volume in that series, and it arrives with an explicit trigger warning from the author at the start, a list she asks readers to engage with before proceeding if they have concerns, or to skip if they prefer to go in without preparation. That authorial transparency is characteristic of how the dark romance genre has developed its reader contract: the darkness is promised, not hidden, and the warning exists precisely because Tessier takes the implicit agreement with her readers seriously.
What We Made of It
The central dynamic is between Colton Remington Knox and Raylee Lexington Adams, stepsiblings who have been running a mutually destructive cat-and-mouse game for long enough that the hostility and the desire have become impossible to separate. Colton has systematically sabotaged every relationship Raylee has formed. Raylee has her own arsenal. When Colton escalates by posting a video of her online, Raylee responds not with retreat but with escalation of her own. The book's dual POV structure is essential to this dynamic: both characters are fully inhabited protagonists with their own motivations rather than one being the other's foil, and Tessier maintains that balance throughout.
One reviewer called the book "filthy, twisted, soapy, and consuming" and noted that it "pushes all the limits," which is an accurate characterization. The content includes explicit sexual violence in the author's own classification, degradation dynamics, branding, and the full range of dark romance content markers that the more negative reviewer confirmed in detail. Tessier is not writing subversive commentary on these dynamics; she is writing dark fantasy for readers who engage with this material on its own genre terms. That framing is not an endorsement or a criticism but a descriptor. The genre has its readers, and this volume will satisfy them.
What distinguishes Tessier's execution from less accomplished dark romance is her commitment to character consistency. Colton's behavior is extreme, but it is consistently extreme in ways that reflect the character rather than appearing when the plot requires it and disappearing when it doesn't. Raylee's defiance is equally consistent. Both characters operate by their own internal logic, and the dynamic between them has the internal coherence that makes dark romance satisfying to its audience rather than merely transgressive. The reviewer who found it polarizing acknowledged that the writing maintained its own internal logic even while pushing past their personal comfort threshold.
What Makes Sabotage Worth Hearing
Spires's dual narration is the main audio-specific consideration. Dark romance in dual POV lives or dies on whether a single narrator can credibly differentiate two antagonistic perspectives, and Spires manages it. Colton's chapters carry a particular controlled menace in his delivery, while Raylee's maintain the sharp edge of someone who refuses to be subdued. The distinction is not just tonal but rhythmic, the two characters speak and think at different paces, and Spires tracks that difference without making the transitions jarring.
The audiobook format also suits the book's soap-opera escalation structure. Tessier writes in a high-stimulation register that pairs well with listening rather than reading, the pacing is relentless enough that the ear catches the momentum naturally, and the plot's many reversals arrive with the impact of live performance rather than text-on-page surprise. For readers who find dark romance easier to process in audio than in print, because the listening experience provides slight interpretive distance from the content, this is a meaningful consideration.
The series continuity also functions in the audiobook's favor. While "Sabotage" is described as a standalone, it shares characters with previous Lords books, particularly "The Ritual" and "The Sinner," and familiarity with those characters makes the crossover appearances land harder. One reviewer noted that the Colton-and-Raylee dynamic specifically is something Tessier has been building toward across the series, which means the tension in this volume has historical weight for longtime readers of the Lords world.
What Might Not Land
The trigger warning is real and the author takes it seriously. The content classified by Tessier and confirmed by reviewers includes sexual assault as a plot element, graphic violence, substance use, degradation dynamics, and the specific kink and content markers that have become standard disclosure practice in dark romance. This is not a book that can be recommended without that framing, and listeners who engage with dark romance at a lighter heat level should note that reviewers specifically identify this as operating at the series' most extreme register.
The polarized reception is also worth acknowledging directly. The reader who loved "The Ritual" and found "Sabotage" disappointing by comparison identified the dynamic between Colton and Raylee as falling flat relative to earlier Lords couples. That response exists alongside enthusiastic five-star reads. The Lords series has a consistent audience, but not every volume works equally for every reader within that audience, and volume four is the entry most likely to generate strong reactions in both directions.
Who Should Listen to Sabotage
This audiobook is for readers already inside the dark romance genre who have either read previous Lords books or are comfortable entering at volume four with character crossovers from earlier entries. It's a solid fit for Tessier's existing readers who have been waiting for Colton and Raylee's story specifically, the dynamic has been developing across previous volumes, and this audiobook delivers the full confrontation.
This is explicitly not for listeners who are new to dark romance and unfamiliar with the genre's conventions and content expectations. The author note at the start of the audiobook provides the appropriate framing, and Tessier asks that listeners engage with it before proceeding. That request should be taken literally. New readers to Tessier's work should also consider starting with "The Ritual" rather than volume four.
A Few Questions About Sabotage
Does Sabotage function as a standalone audiobook, or do I need to listen to the previous Lords books first?
Tessier describes it as a standalone, and the core Colton-Raylee story is complete within this volume. However, characters from The Ritual and The Sinner appear, and their histories inform the dynamic in ways that reward familiarity. New readers can follow the plot without prior context, but longtime series readers will get substantially more from the character crossovers.
How explicit and dark is the audiobook content in Sabotage compared to other dark romance?
Reviewers classify this as operating at the extreme end of the dark romance spectrum. The author provides a trigger note at the start of the audiobook listing specific content including sexual assault elements, graphic violence, degradation dynamics, and explicit sexual content. Tessier herself invites listeners to review this before beginning. The book is darker and more explicit than mainstream romance, and even within the dark romance genre it sits toward the high end of intensity.
Is this audiobook recommended for readers who found The Ritual too mild but The Sinner about right?
Sabotage is consistently described by reviewers as operating at the most intense level in the Lords series. If The Sinner felt appropriately challenging, this volume will push further. Reviewers who found the series just right through the first three books have had mixed reactions to volume four, so expectations should be calibrated accordingly.
