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Title: Destroyed
Series: Stand-alone
Author: Pepper Winters
Genre: Dark (Lighter) / Romance (Grey Romance)
Release Date: March 7, 2014
Tour Organized by: As the Pages Turn
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.
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I thought I could save him.
Just like I could save my daughter.
I was wrong.
Destroyed is my very first Pepper Winters book, and it certainly won’t be my last! Destroyed is intense and crazy and heart-pounding, and had me engaged from start to finish. The main characters, Hazel and Roan, are two extremely flawed people who have so much baggage, and yet they’re perfect for each other. I highly enjoyed reading Hazel and Roan’s story so much–I didn’t LOVE it, but it’s a unique book that’s not easily forgotten.
No one had made me feel like Zel. No one held me hostage like Zel.
She’d successfully done in ten minutes what I’d tried to do in two years.
She brought me back to life.
I loved Hazel and Roan’s relationship… not that they have much of one in the beginning. They are very fierce about one another, but something they’re even more passionate about is keeping their pasts hidden. For Hazel, she keeps quiet about the love of her life–her precious daughter, who is unfortunately very, very sick. I had so much admiration for Hazel for being the most incredible single mother ever. Everything Hazel does, she does for her daughter, and their relationship is so beautiful and precious to read. Roan, on the other hand, is hiding a tragic, scarred past. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say that Roan’s story broke my heart so much. I honestly couldn’t believe the horrors this poor man went through as a boy. Pepper Winters did a tremendous job painting the picture of Roan’s past. My heart ached so much for him.
I didn’t connect much with either Hazel or Roan, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy their story, because I did, very much! I was sucked into their story–there are so many secrets surrounding Roan that had me intrigued. It took me a while to warm up to Roan himself though–he’s every bit the alpha-male you can expect, but his past has such a profound effect on him that he can’t have a relationship with anyone, because he’d be dangerous to him. It’s only until Hazel comes in that the bleak future he always imagined starts to turn into something… better.
I really liked how much Hazel stood up to Roan. He’s not someone who is easily defied, but Hazel can match him and go head to head with him, despite the dangerous aura Roan has. Roan and Hazel don’t have an easy road ahead of them–in fact, their story is one of the most pain-ridden and heartbreaking to read. Destroyed will have you feeling every emotion–Pepper Winters has created such great characters with depth in Roan and Hazel. We get both of their POVs, which I enjoyed immensely.
Despite the amount of pain and ugliness that Roan and Hazel have to overcome to reach a HEA, there’s never a shortage of hope and redemption for them. I loved how much the characters had to work to overcome their pasts and find some semblance of a happily ever after with each other. Despite everything, Hazel and Roan were truly meant to be.
“No matter how you fight me, I will never stop. Every day, I’ll try again and again. Every hour, I’ll touch you, just to prove I’m willing to be everything you need and deserve. You’ll never be free of me because of I can’t live another day without you in my fucking life.”
I can’t say I loved every second of Destroyed, but it was certainly an unforgettable read! It’s dark and gut-wrenching, but there’s also so much hope for Hazel and Roan. I was very impressed with Destroyed, and can’t wait to read more from Pepper Winters!
Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.
My eyes flared. “Why on my stomach? A vital part of my anatomy isn’t useable unless you intend to teach me how to dry hump a mattress.” I tried to joke, to dispel some of the tense anxiety between us, but Zel’s lips only twitched. I’d mistaken any sense of relief when she secured the padlock—she hadn’t relaxed at all, shaking with tension.
“I want to do something.”
Fuck. She wanted to touch my back. She wanted to look deeper at the tattoos, see beneath the ink to the lash marks and countless other scars hidden beneath the Ghost designs. –ROAN
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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Pepper is offering up the following goodies below. Giveaway is international and ends at 11:59 PM CST 03/24/2014.
1 x signed copy of Destroyed
2 x signed Destroyed swag packs
5 x eBook copies of Destroyed
2 x eBook copies of Tears of Tess
2 x eBook copies Quintessentially Q
1 x signed swag pack of Monsters in the Dark
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Bella Jewel is an Aussie girl through and through. She spent her life in Western Australia, growing up in many different areas of the state. She now currently lives in Perth with her husband, children and mass amounts of pets. She’s crazy, fun, outgoing and friendly. Writing is her passion, she started at the young age of 18 but finally got the courage up to publish, and her first novel Hell’s Knights was released in August 2013.
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