Monday, July 25, 2016

Review: Pennies - Pepper Winters

Pennies (Dollar #1)
by Pepper Winters
Published: July 18, 2016
Genre: Dark Romance

Blurb:
At eighteen years old, I was murdered.
I wish my tale ended there.
However, my killer resuscitated me and sold me to the highest bidder, sentencing me to a world worse than Hell.
For the past two years, I've lived a life of torment as a man's property. I suffer in silence and wish for freedom, but I never break.
I can't.
I won't.
But then he arrives.
The first stranger since I was killed.
Elder Prest, a thief with a heart as black as his soul, arrives as a guest in our twisted home. He has business with my owner, but his interest lies in me. He pretends not to notice my bruises and hides his knowledge of what I am, but the way he watches me makes me feel more human than possession.
As his eyes tear through my walls and his voice demands answers, he challenges my owner for one night with me.
I've survived two years of torment because I no longer believe in hope, but Elder is the only man who promises me pleasure instead of pain.
Trusting him is dangerous, wanting him is deadly.
Is he my ticket to safety or my ultimate end?

Whoever he is, whatever he wants...I can't say no.



Rating: 5 Stars

"You're worth pennies, but I'll make you worth fucking millions."

Tamsin Blythe has died at the young age of 18, no one knows what happened to her except for the man she naively trusted one fateful evening. She doesn't know if they ever started looking, but now Tamsin is gone and they've brought her back as Pimlico. Purchased by Ulrik Asbjörn and turned into a slave to his every whim, Pim's only escape is her secret diary. Master A has the kind of eyes you don't want to look at, they're the evilest thing she's ever seen, but they help her read him and she's learned to survive the pain as she seeks a way to get her revenge and freedom.

Elder knows what poor is like, how it feels to sleep behind dumpster, to be a thief for the bare necessities, but he's not that boy anymore. Now millions richer he wields more power than he needs, but that doesn't stop him from seeking it out. His methods of making money may not be legal, but it allows him everything he could possibly want or need. Then he sees Pim and no matter what he does, or how wrong it is, he can't get her out of his mind. She's filthy, damaged, someone else's, but he wants her and he's going to have her.

Now Pim's future is unknown and there's no telling if Elder's wealth will bring her safety or more harm.

“You think I’m a nice guy who will treat you with more respect than the men that marked you?”

It took me a bit to get into Pennies, because it's dark from start to finish, but once I got a glimpse at the real girl behind Pim I was hooked. Like couldn't put it down, one hour late to my plans, kind of hooked. Pennies is a psychological story like no other, the plot is unknown by the main character or by the reader, neither of us know what is coming. Told initially in first person POV and later alternating POV's, Pepper Winter's places the reader in the character's mind. We process the horrifying events alongside Pim, though we do not see or experience all of them. We see her deterioration, her occasional glimpses of stubborn hope and devastating moments of depression. Pim, though a simple character due to circumstances, is strong, determined, and so resilient. She's silent, yet her thoughts are so very loud. When the handsome Elder sees her, he sees all of that beneath the bruises, the scars, and the harsh words Master A throws at her. The story builds overtime, giving us glimpses of the past and present, and builds dramatically upon the entrance of Elder. However, not everything is as it seems and the reader is privy to the dubious nature of Elder's desires while Pim is in the dark. She's observant and questions things, but cannot see what is coming. I loved the constant development of the story, the dialogue and inner thoughts, and I even loved the unknowns. I cannot wait to see what comes next, this is the kind of cliffhanger I love!

“We didn’t speak. Just stared. Me standing like some fallen from grace goddess and him like some devil worshiper doing his best to find the light.”

Pepper Winters has once again stunned me with her talent, her words bring to life a world I would never have imagined on my own. It's dark and complex, but the series promises to be incredible.

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