Review, Interview & GIVEAWAY - Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters

Tears of Tess

By

Pepper Winters


*Don't Forget to Enter the Giveaway Below!!*

Blurb:

“My life was complete. Happy, content, everything neat and perfect.
Then it all changed.
I was sold.”


Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility.

For their two year anniversary, Brax surprises Tess with a romantic trip to Mexico. Sandy beaches, delicious cocktails, and soul-connecting sex set the mood for a wonderful holiday. With a full heart, and looking forward to a passion filled week, Tess is on top of the world.

But lusty paradise is shattered.

Kidnapped. Drugged. Stolen. Tess is forced into a world full of darkness and terror.

Captive and alone with no savior, no lover, no faith, no future, Tess evolves from terrified girl to fierce fighter. But no matter her strength, it can’t save her from the horror of being sold.

Can Brax find Tess before she’s broken and ruined, or will Tess’s new owner change her life forever?

PEPPER'S WARNING:

 

If you didn’t know yet, this book has sex. Lots of it. It dances with grief, slavery, and has a whole bunch of mind-fuckery. If you’re looking for a sweet, Young Adult romance, do not read, this will make your eyeballs bleed.

For all of you who love dark, erotic tales with tortured alpha males, read on…

 

ADDICTED2B00KS WARNING:

 

This book is Dark - like sick and twisted dark. It takes BDSM + Dom/Sub to the top level. It is pain inflicted for pleasure but on top of this there is also just straight abuse, rape, torture and depravity.

 

Do not go into this with your eyes closed - please read the warnings and take heed before jumping in.

 

Having said that - If you like this sort of thing, you will LOVE this book - it is so beautifuly written!

 

Review:

"Three little words.

If anyone asked what I was most afraid of, what terrified me, stole my breath, and made my life flicker before my eyes, I would say three little words."

This is the hardest book I've ever had to review. It is the darkest, most depraved novel I've jumped head first into and I honestly don't know how to untangle my feelings about it to do a review justice.I was asked to review this for a BlogTour (for the Lovely Lori at SheReadsNewAdults) - I didn't think I'd have time to fit it in my reading schedule but I decided to have a sneaky read at work meaning I had to find a novel I had on PDF format. That novel happened to be Tears of Tess.
 
We meet Tess right at the beginning of this book. Her partner Brax has surprised her with a trip to Mexico and she is thrilled at the prospect of spending time alone with him. Their sex life is somewhat lacking oomph and she plans on telling him exactly what she wants from him.

 

"I blinked, putting the impossible together. I needed Brax to be rough because I needed to be

claimed.

Oh, my God, am I that screwed up?"

 
 
Brax is too Goody Goody for her in the bedroom but she loves him regardless. Their trip gets off to a rocky start. On their first day, they take a scooter ride around remote Cancun and stop at an isolated bar for some water.

Que your heart to be beating out of your chest because you can see, hear, feel and just sense the impending doom that lies ahead. Brax is beaten and Tess is kidnapped.

"His eyes fell on mine; I froze.

It was like looking into a predators gaze: empty, hungry, black, and evil. It sucked my soul, amping my fear to a full forest fire."

She is beaten, left to starve, forced naked and "tagged" - all through pure brutality. It is horrible to read about because somewhere in the back of my head, I know it is happening for real somewhere.

Then she is sold.

"This was it. My new beginning. My new ending."

At first, she is unaware who she has been sold to. She was taken there under the cover of darkness. But she is determined to fight.

 "I tried. I failed. I tried. I failed.

It repeated, over and over.

Don’t give up. Next time, you could win. Next time, it might work."

I can't go into much more of the story without giving too much away so, instead, I'll tell you what words spring to mind when I try to describe the story to someone.

 

Dark

Disturbing

Depraved

Horrific

Hurtful

Shame

Tears

Irritation

Anger

Sorrow

 

I could go on and on but I'm guessing by now that you have got the picture.

 

This book tore me apart, and to be honest, didn't put me back together again. It was a Stunningly written novel, truly, I don't think I've read such a wonderful collection of words from the one person. If I was rating on the writing alone, it would get 5+++++ Stars. Unfortunately as I have to rate on the story as well as the writing, I have to bring it down a bit.

 

It was just too dark for me. I had to take so many breaks reading this as it was just too much. Please, please take the warning seriously - this book made me feel sick on occasion. I have quite a strong stomach and can read most things but Tears of Tess made me feel like a little kid who needed comforted.

 

5++++++ Star Writing

4 Star Story

 

Levelling out at...

 

**4.5 Dark, Captivating, Erotic Stars**

 

Author Info:

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.

Her debut book Tears of Tess will be followed with Quintessentially Q. You didn’t think Q could stop so soon, did you?

Author Interview!!

What inspired you to start writing?

 

I've always been an avid reader (I used to get grounded when I was younger for reading TOO much) but I suppose I started writing seriously about 4 years ago. Up till then I'd only played around with the idea :) Words are a true passion of mine.

Who is your favourite author/what are your favourite books? Both of all time and of the moment.

 

Liani Taylor is my fav author for her writing style. I love it.

Do you have a writing ritual? If so, what is it?

 

Write as much as possible and to set myself crazy hard deadlines lol. I need to stop doing that though as writing Tears of Tess in 7 weeks meant I ignored my hubby completely.

What writing support network do you have?

 

Hubby keeps me fed and I have beta readers that I trust. I know my stories wouldn't be as strong without their input.

What are your most loved and loathed moments of writing/publishing?

 

I love writing, hate editing. I love good reviews, try and ignore the bad. As much as I love being online, I also need to back away as it's a time sucker lol

Tears of Tess Questions:

 

Where did the story come from?

 

No particular place. I just had an idea for Tess but she constantly surprised me and grew into a character a lot stronger than I thought she would be. And Q kept popping into my head until I started to write so I suppose they inspired me :)

How did you pick Tess & Q as your lead character names?

 

I've always liked the name Tess and Q was chosen as it's mysterious and so simple, but a strong name at the same time

How did you go about researching for the story?

 

A lot of reading on the slave trade--which was hard to read. There is so much in the world it's sick. I also had fun reseraching the BDSM lifestyle :) That was fun.

Were you able to disconnect from the story whilst writing or were you immersed in rape, torture etc for the entirity of writing it?

 

Yes, I'm fairly good with keeping my mind in the story but the moment I finish it's over. I distance myself quite well, which is good as I don't know if I could've written this if I couldn't.

Why did you choose France as the setting for the latter part of the story?

 

I LOVE France. I just love that Q is french and I felt it fit him perfectly :) No other reason :)

Quick Fire Round:

 

Tea, Coffee or Hot Chocolate?

 

None. Coke Zero

Real Book or Kindle/EReader?

 

Both. I devour books on my kindle but if a book really connects with me I have to own it in paperback

Thriller or Romance?

 

Romance with thriller aspects :)

SciFi or Drama?

 

Drama

Love or Money?

 

Love

Beach Holiday or Action Holiday?

 

Beach

Summer or Winter?

 

Summer

Dogs or Cats?

 

Cats

Vanilla or Chocolate?

 

Vanilla (creme brulee. YUM)

 

Purchasing Link(s)

Amazon

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