ABSOLUTION
Genre: Dark Romance
Author: Keri Lake
Release Date: January 8, 2018
Absolution is part of Wanted An Outlaw Anthology.
According to canon law, it is forbidden for a priest to betray the penitent for any reason. Even murder.
The consequences?
Excommunication.
For years, I’ve listened to your confessions. I know your darkest secrets, and have swallowed your sins in silence. In return, I’ve offered you forgiveness in His name. But behind the partition that separates us, I’m nothing more than a man who has long questioned his own faith.
Your contrition is my invitation: to mete out the kind of justice you pray will never come. I’m neither pious, nor merciful, despite what you see. I’m an imposter, an abomination to all I represent. A quiet executioner who’s kept below the radar.
Until her.
She’s seen what I’ve done. She knows the man beneath the cloth and my every mortal sin. She has witnessed the uncontrollable vices she hopes to use against me in order to get what she covets most.
Yet, I know her sins, too. Ones she doesn’t bother to confess. The kind, for which, there is no absolution.
C’mon, pécheresse, let me hear you scream.”
“Oh, God!”
“There is no God here, Ivy. Only me.”
Bless me, father, for I have sinned. Oh how I’ve sinned! I’ve sinned So. Freaking. Hard. And I’m not even a little sorry. Absolution was a deliciously thrilling ride that skirts the edge of propriety and was so good, it was downright sinful!
If you’ve never read anything by the immensely talented Keri Lake, then this is the story you need to start with to get a good taste of her addicting story telling. And if you’re a fan of taboo romance, that you definitely need this book in your life!
Father Damon is not all that he seems. There’s a dark undercurrent to this man of the cloth and a history riddled with demons that have followed him into his present. When a man steps into his confessional to describe a crime that’s horrific beyond words, it sends Damon into a tailspin of repressed anger and vengeance. Then a a beautiful woman with her own dark secrets puts his faith to a true test.
Absolution is a sizzling story full of grit and a dash of darkness with a heavy layer of taboo. It was a page turner from beginning to finish. A high paced thrill ride of vengeance with a deliciously sizzling romance.
Ivy is a character that I wasn’t sure I’d like at first but boy did she grow on me as the story progressed. Her reasons for getting to Damon aren’t exactly altruistic. This is a woman with a hidden agenda, but one made out of utter and complete helplessness. She’s desperate to get away from a demon of her own past and she’ll do anything to escape him. Even make a sinner out of Damon…
With plenty of mind-blowing twists and turns that I’ve come to love and expect from this author, Absolution was one unputdownable read that I recommend for any fans of gritty taboo romance.
BALLISTIC
If you’ve read any book by Keri Lake, then you already know that the woman can write a dark, gritty and captivating story like no other. She has this amazing ability to suck the readers into the dark abyss that are her books and keep them at the edge of their seat from beginning to finish. She’ll throw twist after twist your way until you don’t know which side is up. But one thing you’ll know for sure is that you didn’t just read a book of hers, you experienced it.
CHURCH.
Holy hell. I mean holy hell! These might be the most fucked up characters I’ve read in a long while. Or ever. I’m still trying to figure out how I felt about them. But what I do know? Is days after finishing, I’m still thinking about it. And that certainly stands for something.
I don’t want to tell you too much about the plot or the characters, because I don’t want to ruin the suspense of it. And let me tell you, this book is full of it. It’s twisted and full of twists with an undercurrent of something so dark, you’re almost afraid to name it. It’s like Charles Manson meet Natural Born Killers sort of twisted.
VERONA BLOOD
Well…hell. That was certainly…something.
DEVASTATE 
Holy.
First of all, while this book introduces a different couple, I really don’t recommend it out of order. A lot of the backstory would simply be lost on you. Do yourself a favor and read the series in order. Trust me. Tate is a character that I first became intrigued with in 
Lucia was this eerie combination of strength and pain. You want to judge her for who she is and what she does, yet it’s impossible. There’s so many layers to both of these characters, that by the time you’re done peeling them all back, you’re completely sucked into their story.
REAPER
Holy.
Cross the MacKenna syndicate, and you’ll find yourself in front of The Reaper. He’s the man that handles all of the delicate and painful jobs. When someone needs eliminating, they find themselves in Ronan’s basement, their screams forever becoming a part of the cement walls. A brutal upbringing that knew only pain, Ronan doesn’t function like any other man. He’s numb. Unfeeling. He only feels rage and breathes punishment. There’s only one person that ever stirred a different reaction in him, but she’s forever off limits to a man like him.
Sasha hasn’t had an easy life herself. Taking care of her ailing mother and protecting her younger sister put her in the crosshairs of a man that changed her life irreparably. Forced into a life she never wanted and doing whatever she can to survive, she’s tired. All she wants is to leave, move to a different place where no one knows her or her past. There’s just one problem with that; Ronan is not about to let her go.
I loved this gritty and sexy dark mafia romance. The story was completely unputdownable and the characters vivid and unforgettable.
THE PRINCE
You’re probably like, “Wtf with the mermaid gif?” WELL, you should read the book to find out wtf :).
THE KNIGHT
*shivers*
“Sinfully sexy and darkly beautiful, The Pawn will play games with your heart and leave you craving more!” – Laura Kaye, New York Times bestselling author
TAKE ME WITH YOU
What.
Take Me With You is dark, twisted and immoral. It’s violent, crude and dirty. The characters are so far outside typical comfort zones and the norm, they may as well be in a different dimension. It was also phenomenally written, completely unputdownable, and utterly unforgettable.
RETRIBUTION
I had one plan, one goddamned thing to do. Break the girl. That was all.
Retribution marks my second book by this author and it definitely confirmed what I knew after the first; I’ll definitely be reading all her future books. The woman can write one hell of a tortured, brooding, anti-hero alpha. This was a dark and twisty tale of revenge and pain and second chances. It was gritty, violent, and erotic as hell!
The writing was engaging and the story was fast paced, yet somewhere around the 25% mark, it began to lose some of the intensity for me. Adam starts off so strong, but soon enough becomes almost wishy washy in his drive for vengeance. He wants to make her pay, yet his conscience gets the best of him. I suppose I just didn’t feel as much connection to his character to truly understand the why’s of it.
