Two Halves, One Brian

Book Stats

• ARC from Booksprout 🖤
• Book 1 of the Trustfall series
• Publication Date: 05/27/25
• Publisher: Dragonfly Ink Publishing
• Format: ebook
• Pages: 356
• Chapters: 36
• Narrator POV: 1st person, alternating between the FMC, Serena, and the MMC, Anton
• Available on Kindle Unlimited 🖤

Book Rating

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/ 5

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/ 5

Summary & Review

What do you get when you cross a rich bachelor looking for a rare coin and a poor archaeologist trying to get funds to complete the project she promised her father on his death bed that she’d continue? That’s right – Take Me Under, by Dakota Willink!

This story follows Anton, a poor kid who used his intelligence and skill with patterns to become a rich man, big in the crypto currency world. He had a traumatic childhood, enduring sexual abuse and living with a mother who was a prostitute that often forgot about him while she was servicing men and taking drugs. Now, as a powerful and rich man, he has the opportunities to acquire anything he wants. And what he really wants now is the extremely rare Brutus Denarius coin. His bodyguard and bestie, Zeke, found an article about an archeologist 5 years prior who stumbled upon several rare coins while digging in Rome. A Dr. Martinelli.

The story also follows Serena, a young archeologist whose family has a close friendship with a renowned designer. This friend, knowing Serena had tons of student debt and used all of her savings to try to continue funding the project her father obsessed over and worked on until his death, knew she needed a chance to wow some investors. So she gets Serena a ticket and a beautiful outfit to wear to the Met Gala, with the hopes that she can find some people interested in funding the project.

Well this is where our Anton and Serena bump into each other. Anton quickly learns the Dr. Martinelli he’s looking for is actually Serena. Then things take quite a turn.

Serena ends up sick and Anton takes responsibility for her health after seeing the run-down motel she was staying at. He took her home with her and let her sleep off the sickness. Then weird things start happening. There are strange symbols, ransacking of rooms, murders, and more. Anton is trying to learn more about Serena and he’s super attracted to her, so he strikes a deal.

One month of access to her mind and body in exchange for a years’ worth of funding for her project. Seems like a no-brainer, right? I mean, an attractive, rich man wants to shower you with affection AND fund your project? People don’t get that lucky in real life. 😂

Anyway, things continue to happen. We learn about what happened to Serena’s dad, her passion for art, and even experience some unexpected and sad character deaths. I won’t spoil, but it was definitely a gut punch.

And we end with the story unfinished. Obviously, book 2 cannot get here fast enough because I need to know what happens next!

This does have the insta-love/lust trope that I’m not a huge fan of, but I thought it was still a very enjoyable and intriguing story. There’s plenty of suspense and chemistry to make it a well-rounded read. 🖤