She has a secret.
I thought my life couldn’t get any more tangled in deceit and confusion. But I hadn’t met him. I hadn’t realized how far I could fall or what I’d do to get free.
He has a secret.
I’ve never pretended to be good or deserving. I chase who I want, do what I want, act how I want.
I didn’t have time to lust after a woman I had no right to lust after. I told myself to shut up and stay hidden. But then she tried to run. I’d tasted what she could offer me and damned if I would let her go.
One secret destroys them.
5 Utterly Destroyed Stars
His presence made me forget everything but him. He took over my world. He was an eclipse.
Oh. Wow. I don’t remember the last time I have felt so utterly enraptured by a story. This book ruined me. It destroyed me. I spent the last 25% of it ugly crying all over my damn kindle, and I’m not even ashamed to admit it. If this is what Pepper Winters calls a “Gray Romance”, I need to one-click all her Dark stuff because…DAMN.
Looking at that book blurb, I’m sure you thought it to be pretty vague. And I bet you’re hoping to read this review and get some hints into the story. Well hope springs eternal, my friends, but you will not be getting any hints here. I will try to review this without giving anything away because this is a book that needs to be experienced without any preconceived notions whatsoever.
What happens when a a man that is by all intents and purposes broken, meets the one woman that he thinks can cure him?
Obsidian Fox is emotionally and physically scarred. He’s broken, beyond redemption. He exists only for pain. Touch and emotion have all been effectively conditioned out of him; a product of a past that he never wanted.
Utterly incapable or being so much as touched without wanting to
Kill.
Sever.
Bleed.
Devour.
Violence and brutality are a constant presence in his life. A recluse in his mansion, he is the owner of a secret fight club where legal and not so legal things take place. His world is dark and he doesn’t have much hope of ever feeling the light, until he meets her…
Hazel has not had an easy life, but it hasn’t broken her. Her past is colored with pain and hardships, and her present is faced with a tragedy she’s unable to prevent. But she holds it together. She stays strong.
When Fox spots the beautiful brunette is his underground fight club, he’s immediately drawn to her. Never having felt a pull towards any woman, it takes him all of 3 seconds to understand that she’s different…to him. He must have her, even if he has to buy her.
Now I’ll admit, the first 20% of this book I was afraid that it was heading toward a very cliche and overdone plot. Boy was I wrong.
Pepper Winters takes a man that we should, by all accounts, absolutely hate. He’s beyond redemption, beyond saving, beyond mercy. I loved that this was written in dual first person POV. It gives you a peak inside the head of a man that you would otherwise think of as a monster. The author not only makes you understand him, she makes you fall for him, she makes your heart break for him and everything he struggles with.
He craves touch, but is completely incapable of bearing it. Hazel sees the struggle inside him. She wants to heal him. She needs to help him.
But can Fox truly let her in without destroying them both in the process?
The author trickle feeds you information from both their past, crumb by tiny crumb. My heart broke with every new detail inside Fox’s past. He’s a man haunted by demons of his past. But they’re not only a part of his nightmares, they’re very much their in his waking life. Hanging by a thread of sanity, any word or touch can set him off and shut off his humanity.
The writing is what captured me. It was almost lyrical, poetic, in a dark and sadistic way. Pepper has a true gift for words. You’re not simply reading a story, you get to live it through these characters.
Then came that last 30% of the book. Holy mother of feels, it fucking gutted me. I was a hysterical, slobbering, ugly crying mess. But here’s the thing; it was absolutely necessary in the story. There’s many authors out there that like to throw a twist in the story just for the shock value of it. This was not one of those things.
This was an inferno of devastation, but one that needed to burn in order for the story to rise like a phoenix throw the ashes of it. I knew it was coming, but it didn’t prepare me for it in the least. As much as it gutted me, Pepper stayed true to the story and the characters and I can absolutely understand it.
If you’re expecting hearts and flowers, this is not the book for you. If you’re expecting a perfect hero with a just a few defects, this is DEFINITELY not the book for you. But if you like tortured heroes, strong heroines, an emotional and dark story that will grip you by the heart strings and not let go until the last page, you need to read this book.
I loved every single page of it. How have I not discovered this author before is beyond me. But I plan on rectifying this immediately. Pepper Winters is an auto-buy now for me.
For those wondering if there’s a HEA (Highlight to view spoiler) YES. An incredibly satisfying one
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The thing about lines? They stop being dangerous the moment you cross them; they stop mattering too. And instead of admitting that, you just set another limit, raise the stakes, draw another boundary for your sins, and find a way to justify your actions.
