Synopsis
I own you. I have
the piece of paper to prove it. It’s undeniable and unbreakable. You
belong to me until you’ve paid off your debts.”
Nila
Weaver’s family is indebted. Being the first born daughter, her life is
forfeit to the first born son of the Hawks to pay for sins of ancestors
past. The dark ages might have come and gone, but debts never leave. She
has no choice in the matter.
She is no longer free.
Jethro
Hawk receives Nila as an inheritance present on his twenty-ninth
birthday. Her life is his until she’s paid off a debt that’s centuries
old. He can do what he likes with her—nothing is out of bounds—she has
to obey.
There are no rules. Only payments.
A modern day Dark Erotic Romance
Review
If you don’t do dark romances, then turn away, right now! Pepper Winters is the queen of dark erotic romances, I became a fan as soon as Q entered our world. [ I’ll keep going with my warnings. ] If you want butterfly and rainbows, keep looking, you won’t get them here. There’s no fairytale, it’s pretty much your worst nightmare come to true! Can’t say that I didn’t warn you, this book is not for the faintest of hearts.
Ah yes, Pepper Winters at it again with her crossing the boundaries in this new series called Indebted. A 600 year old debt is to be paid and it lands on poor Nila Weaver’s doorstep. And the ever dominating Jethro Hawk is the man you’ll hate, right away.
Nila is no longer in charge of her life, but I love how she holds onto every little bit of what she can. She’s a little firecracker and I absolutely admire her for it. With the little freedom that she has, she’s not afraid to fight back, or speak her mind. Granted it tends to get her trouble all the time, but it gives the readers some kind of hope to hold onto. The only way out of this is death, but she won’t go down without a fight.
Jethro Hawk … A-S-S-H-O-L-E …excuse my language, but he really is. Don’t get me started on his family because they’re in the same category as he is. He’s next in line to carry on his family’s curse, his family doesn’t call it that, but I will. Nila belongs to Jethro and he’ll make sure that NO ONE touches her.
One thing is evident, there is some type of attraction between the two. And it brings out some serious inner turmoil. Nila’s mind is not where her body is, where Jethro is involved, her body betrays all the time. And you can definitely say the same about Jethro, it actually makes me happy that he really struggles with that. You’ll see Nila evolve rather quickly from beginning to end. Being over-protected by her father and brother, she has that naive-shy persona in the beginning. And by the end, she’s a lioness and her claws are sharp and ready. She doesn’t show her fear, but it shakes her entire being on the inside. As I’ve done with all of Pepper Winters book, I’ve always started off hating the male lead. Then she manages to get me to love them somehow; ’tis a true gift!
As much as I want to give this book a 5-star rating, I just can’t … [ Please don’t hate me ] I’m sure I’ll kick myself later on when the series is ended, but I can take it! The relationship between Nila and her brother was very weird to me and skated on the line of incest. I also got that weird vibe between her and her father, that’s just a big no. As steamy as some of the scenes were between Nila and Jethro, that was nearly all the romance you’ll get in this first installment. And of course, that was to be expected, but sometimes you can sense a glitter of hope in the beginning. I was left with none and now I’m just sitting in a puddle of zero hope and wondering how the hell will Pepper make this work out in the end. It was constant domination in this book from Jethro and he made it known, possibly a bit too much for my liking.
I know that I’ll be blown away as the series goes on, I’m expecting plenty of twists and turns, and I will get my HEA. It wouldn’t be true Pepper Winters fashion, if we didn’t get our HEA. You’ll go through every single emotion possible and question (several times) how can any type of happiness come out of this. And that’s what she does, her writing will intrigue her readers and you’ll be thrown in the life of her characters. You’ll be surprised by how you haven’t passed out by how overwhelming it will be. She puts her characters in extreme situations, where it teaches them to grow and evolve into something else. When you only see the ends of something, she’ll turn shit around and open a whole new door.
I have no idea what’s to come, but I know that there is still plenty of obstacles that Nila and Jethro will have to face before we see any major changes in their “relationship”. I’m interested to see how the next book will go and can’t wait to get my hands on it. Well done, Pepper, you’ve done it again … you’ve created another man that I’ll love and hate at the same time.
MY RATING (3.75-4) :
Pepper Winters wears many roles. Some ofthem 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.
