Title: Destroyed
Author: Pepper Winters
Genre: Dark (Lighter) / Romance (Grey Romance)
Release Date: March 7, 2014
Tour Hosted by: As the Pages Turn
Synopsis
She has a secret.
I’m complicated. Not broken or ruined or running from a past I can’t face. Just complicated.
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.
Review
How do you write a review without giving anything away?! I sat on this review for days wondering to myself what and how I was going to say it. For once, a book completely stunned that I had no idea what I was going to write. After finishing Destroyed that is pretty much how I felt, the book completely ruined me.
In the beginning, we start off in Hazels mind, she joins her best friend, Clue, at Obsidian, which is an underground fight club that not everyone can get into. And that’s THE place where she locks eyes with the owner – Obsidian Fox. And it’s that very day that her life completely changes.
Hazel has secrets of her own (one that will completely shatter her life), her life wasn’t perfect, but she never showed that. She was strong and she made it known. I loved how fierce and how much of a fighter she really was. She was very protective and it was definitely in her nature to be that way.
Fox – he was served the worst card I could have ever imagined. Actually it was beyond that, it just never existed in my mind. He’s had a sick, demented, brutal life that started when he was young. And all of it has burdened him, his entire life. He’s the perfect definition of damage, and utterly & completely BROKEN. He wishes he could live a normal life, but he knows he’ll never get and refuses to believe it. He’s been programmed to obey and kill, and a simple touch can trigger and set him off.
Hazel and Fox are completely drawn to each other and it’s pretty damn powerful. And he goes and buys her off for what he needs/wants for a month. Hazel’s little secret is part of the reason why she accepts his offer, but the other part is well … she wants him too. Can Hazel be the one bring some sort of normal to his life? Will Fox be able to accept Hazel’s touch without trying to kill her?
This book was like a waiting game, I never really knew what was coming and that just captivated me more. I went through different phases with Fox. For majority of the book, I completely loathed the man, he sickened me and it was very hard to feel sorry for his upbringing (does that make me a bad person?). I’ve just never been in the mind of a man who had so many dark/brutal/bloody thoughts. It would leave me speechless a lot of the times. But eventually, I softened up for the man and I absolutely LOVED witnessing the development of his character. I learned to love this man by the end of the book. And it made me cry.
And Hazel, she wanted to help this man that fell into her life. But it was like a war between the two of them. It was back and forth (and back and forth), they couldn’t stay away from each other, even if it was maybe better for them to be separated. I love Hazel, she was a strong character and I gave her so many props for what she had to endure, not just from life, but from Fox as well. Stuff that would make me run away, she faced them head on, guns blazing.
I’ve never really been one to read dark books, but Pepper Winters is my reason for reading them. Her ability to write about broken souls and have them find their happiness (even if it may seem a little skewed), it all works. It’s perfect, it’s all in unison. And I might be obsessed with Hazel and Fox; their characters are just broken … and you can’t feel nothing but pain for the both of them. And you ask why they were served this in their life?
This book will make you have all sorts of feels and you’ll just wonder “how could this happen”, “why is this happening”. wHY … WHYYYY?!
I am completely enamored by this book and everyone needs to read it. Pepper, I am forever a fan and I can’t wait to re-read this book.
MY RATING (5-Stars):
Excerpts
Fox made a sound in the back of his throat, tightening his fingers. He glared, looking ready to murder me. “Who are you?” His eyes darted over me as if looking for an answer.
When I didn’t respond, he swiped his face with his other hand. His forehead furrowed while his expression turned pissed and stormy. “You think I didn’t see you watching? You had your eyes all over me. Answer me. Who the fuck are you?” His deep, accented voice stiffened my nipples even as a thrill of fear jolted through me.
My temper gave me false courage. “I’m not in the habit of answering such rude questions.”—HAZEL
Excerpt #8
My eyes fell to her breasts, rising and falling rapidly. “This could’ve been so simple. I’m not asking to hurt you. I’m asking to give you pleasure while taking my own and pay you a handsome sum.” I licked my lips loving the tightness in my belly and pangs in my cock. “I need to fuck you and the more you fight the worse it gets.”
I moved forward and captured her chin, holding her tight. The intense spark between us returned like a lightning bolt, whizzing and searing, turning my fucking thoughts to mush.
Goddammit, I wanted her. –ROAN
Excerpt #9
It was the best kiss I’d ever received, but also the worst. It sparked lust and need in every inch of me. My lips wanted more, my tongue wanted savagery. My skin wanted to bruise because he needed to touch me so badly.
All my thoughts disappeared as I nipped at his bottom lip. He flinched, but a second later he copied, his sharp canines piercing my oversensitive flesh.
I moaned.
I couldn’t take it.
My hands flew up and gripped his shirt. Yanking him toward me, fireworks whizzed in my fingertips; my heart galloped toward exploding with lust. I’d never been so drunk on someone before.
Then I landed flat on my back.
The crack of my skull jangled my teeth. The thick carpet did little to cushion me. My eyes flared wide and I grunted in pain. Fear, hot and terrible, swamped my lust in a dampening wave.
“Top rule. Unbreakable rule. Don’t. Ever. Touch. Me.” Fox kneeled on one knee beside my head, breathing hard. His hand noosed my throat, pressing my spine into the carpet. His eyes were cold and lifeless, looking like a hunter intent on blood. –HAZEL
About Pepper
Pepper Winters wears many roles. Some of them include writer, reader, sometimes wife. She loves dark, taboo stories that twist with your head. The more tortured the hero the better and she constantly thinks up ways to break and fix her characters. Oh, and sex… her books have sex.
She loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby (who speaks French—hot!) who puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends. She loves to hear from her readers so hit her up at pepperwinters@gmail.com
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