God of Malice

God of Malice is a standalone dark romance that Rina Kent published through her own imprint, Blackthorn Books, in 2022. Kent began as an indie writer on reading platforms and built a readership around campus-set fiction in which the male lead is neither reformed nor apologetic, and this book is one of the titles that carried that approach into the physical bookshops of the following years.

Killian Carson is introduced as a villain rather than a difficult man: manipulative, careful about his reputation and entirely comfortable with the damage he does. The girl who notices him has no social protection on campus and no evidence that anyone would believe, which is what makes her decision to leave the situation the only sensible plan in the book, and what makes his pursuit of her a threat rather than a courtship. Kent writes in first person and alternates between the two of them so neither the obsession nor the fear is hidden from the reader.

The novel belongs to the darker edge of contemporary romance, and the publisher's own notes send readers to a content warning list before they begin. It is written as a standalone, and it sits with the school and college romances rather than with the romantic comedies on the same shelf.