REVIEW: Axe and Grind by Taylor Hutton

Axe and Grind by Taylor Hutton: In this decadently dark romance, a virtual dating experiment spirals into something far more dangerous. Josie Greene is an eternal optimist, but after a brutal breakup leaves her broke and barely holding it together, even her tarot cards warn that chaos is coming. Enter Axe MacKenzie — a reclusive tech CEO with a secretive new project and a proposition she can’t afford to refuse.

Axe is developing a simulator designed to create the ultimate “Perfect Match,” and Josie becomes the test case when he asks her to fake date him to help launch his groundbreaking AI app. What begins as controlled, steamy role-play quickly blurs into something real as Axe’s carefully separated worlds collide. Pulled into a web of obsession, power, and buried secrets, Josie must decide whether she can trust the man who built the ultimate illusion — especially when her life may depend on it.

Themes

• Obsession & desire
•  Technology vs. reality
• Secrets & hidden pasts
• Power, control & trust
• Fate, choice & survival

Tropes

• Tech billionaire romance
• Fake dating
• Dark secrets
• High-stakes attraction
• Morally gray characters

This book is perfect for readers who love dark, high-tension romances, tech-meets-romance twists, morally complex characters, and stories where desire and danger are impossible to separate.

Book Info:

Publication: Published: January 6, 2026 | Berkley |

In this decadently dark romance, a virtual dating experiment spins into a deadly web of obsession, greed, love, and passion.

Josie Greene has always been a glass half-full kind of girl. But after a messy breakup, she’s broke, betrayed, and barely getting by. Even her trusted tarot cards point to chaos in her future. And they’re right: Axe MacKenzie needs her help.

As part of the tech CEO’s latest covert mission, Axe has been developing a simulator to create any user’s “Perfect Match,” and bubbly Josie is the ideal woman to test his product. When the gorgeous, reclusive billionaire makes her an offer—fake date him so he can launch his groundbreaking AI dating app—Josie’s in no position to refuse.

But Axe’s two worlds collide as the criminal underworld corrupts their experimental fling. What started as steamy role-play quickly spirals into a very real threat, leaving both Josie and Axe no choice but to uncover their well-buried pasts. With her life on the line, Josie will have to trust the man who has created the ultimate virtual illusion—and who might be hiding the most sinister truths of all…