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Review

3.5 stars

I’m a huge fan of Callie Hart’s Blood & Roses series, and I was so excited when she wrote a spinoff series that tells us the story of Rebel and his Sophia. These books are set before the Blood & Roses series, and while you could read these books first, I’d recommend starting with B&R. The events of these books lead up to the main B&R storyline, and contain spoilers for those books which I think would be best discovered as part of the original story. So be warned, this review will also be a little spoilery.

Alexa is walking alone on a street one night when she witnesses a brutal murder. Terrified and traumatised, she is whisked away by the killers and soon finds herself in the hands of a dangerous cartel, renamed ‘Sophia’, and being sold to the highest bidder as a sex slave. The highest bidder just happens to be Rebel.

Rebel is the President of the Widow Maker’s Club, with a reputation as being a violent and ruthless badass, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. His reasons for buying Sophia aren’t nefarious, but instead are all about vengeance, and it’s clear from the very beginning that neither of them are what the other expected.

Rebel makes an effort to put Sophia at ease and convince her that she is safe, and she surprises him with her bravery and her attitude. They find something in each other that they didn’t realise they needed

“For the first time, I see her. Fucking Sophia. I don’t see her as a means to an end … I see her. I see her as a woman, and she is beautiful.”

“I can see into him, and I feel like I recognize him. Like he’s the piece of me that’s been missing all this time and I never even knew it.”

This isn’t a wham-bam-thankyou-ma’am situation. There is a slow building sexual tension that simmers for most of the book as Rebel and Sophia get to know each other, and as they open up to each other, real feelings start to develop.

“He’s staring at me, so intense and focused, as though I’m the only thing he sees or cares about in this moment. I already know, deep down in my bones, that being looked at like that by him will be an addiction I won’t be able to shake.”

But it’s all about the chemistry, and Rebel is a totally sexy dirty talker and oh, holy God, he’s hot!!!

“The moment you give yourself to me, it won’t be because I’ve bought you. It won’t be because you’re afraid of me, or because you want something in return. It’ll be because you need me. Because you need me inside you. Because you can’t stand this torture a second more. Then, you won’t be afraid of what comes next. You’ll be begging for it.”

I really enjoyed this book. I loved being back in Callie’s dark and dirty world, and I loved the chance to get to know these two characters better. Going into this book I wanted to know Alexa’s motives for the decisions that she made, and I like that we got to experience her shift from total terror to acceptance (but still with a bit of fear) at her situation. But most importantly, I just wanted to get to know Rebel. He is such a complex character – a guy with a reputation as a ruthless badass, and though he’s definitely an unforgiving outlaw, he is highly intelligent and has a huge heart underneath all of those tattoos. There are still questions I want answered, but I already feel like I have a better understanding of them as individuals, and their relationship, and I like where it’s heading. This book finishes off just they get together, and with secrets about Rebel’s past revealed and things with the cartel heating up, there is a lot more story to come.

While, for me, this book didn’t have the intensity and ‘holy shit this is awesome’ feeling that I got while reading B&R, I still really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to continuing on with the series.

3.5 stars.