*~*Love Note: Q to Tess – Twisted Together Series by Pepper Winters*~*

Title:   Tears of Tess  (Monsters in the Dark #1)

Author:   Pepper Winters

Genre:   Erotic/Dark Contemporary Romance

Hard or Soft…Warm or Cold…Serious or Sappy…we continue to fall more and more in love with Q and we’ll take him any way we can get him…he’s just…amazing *sigh*

 

Keep reading to see the full Love Note!

Tess,

You’re my gravity, the force that makes my world tilt in the right direction.

I never thought I’d find another to share my life with, but you proved me wrong and I’ll always be thankful.

Thank you for being strong enough to let me whip you, fuck you, adore you in my own way.

Thank you for being mine.

Je suis a toi

Q

Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters

I am blown away with this debut novel by Pepper Winters. So freaking blown away. This book pulled me in from the beginning and didn’t let me up until the very end. I am in love with a fictional character that, if it were up to morals and values, I would probably despise. But I can’t. I just can’t. Q Mercer might be a monster, but I would gladly become one too just to share a bond with him. *Sigh*

Tears of Tess is a captivating story about need, desire, and finding all the things that you have been needing in your life at the hands of a depraved man. It is about always fighting, never giving up, and finding love in the most unlikely of places.

I hope my review can do this book justice because this is, honest to god, one of the best books I have read this year. I feel like I could write 84 pages worth of a review and it still wouldn’t come close to doing this book justice. Pepper Winters has set the bar high, in my opinion.

So with that said, here we go…

Meet Tess Snow.

“Three little words: I was sold.”

Tess might just be one of the strongest heroines I have ever read about. She is the definition of ’tiny but mighty’ and my god is this woman a fighter. She is unlike any other woman that I have read about that is kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. She fights, she fights hard, and she never stops fighting. Not when she is forced into cells with other women waiting to be bought, not when she is branded like an animal with her barcode tattoo, and not even when she arrives at her masters home. The girl is a force to be reckoned with and she may have just met her match. Or has she?

He was smooth water- effortless in refinement but just like still water, dangerous if you couldn’t swim. Deadly rips and currents lurked deep below the surface.

Q (Quincy Mercer)

Lord have mercy– this man is the devil, an Adonis, a monster, and a savior all in one. You really want to hate Q. I know I did. But, I just could not. I loved him. Even from the very beginning I absolutely loved this man. I could tell that there was just something underneath that hard exterior. Not necessarily soft but definitely something. You could feel his hurt. The man is so closed off but you just can’t stop yourself from wanting him to open up. Not just for Tess, but for himself, too. And so I refused to give up on Q. I knew he would be worth all the anguish and pain at the end.

So of course now you know that Tess has become Q’s slave. Or, since Q is French, his esclave. Now I know you are probably thinking, “His slave? You expect me to read a book about a woman being sold to man as his slave so that he can do whatever the hell he wants with her whenever the hell he wants to do it and however he so chooses?” The answer to that is easy: why yes, yes I do. Trust me on this one. So. Fucking Worth it.

These two actually have more in common than they realize.

Two souls from the same twisted desires, unable to fully be free until we found each other.

Tess basically has no say in anything that happens to her or around her anymore. She is a slave, a pet, and is longer “Tess”. Q makes that very clear. She no longer has any rights, any freedom or any power. Yet, as powerless as she is, the girls still fights. But not only does she learn that sometime its easier not to fight, she finds herself not wanting to fight anymore.

His hands showed a level of bliss I never experienced. On the floor of the shower, I was his pet. His. Through and through.

If you would like, I could go on and on and about Quincy Mercer but I think Tess does a way better job at than I do.

He fucked with arrogance and power. Every thrust reminded I belonged to him.

Then there were times where Tess really just wanted Quincy instead of Q. She wanted to figure him out just like the rest of us. I was right there with her. I felt like I needed to know why this man is the way he is. What makes him tick? What happened in his past, if anything? Who hurt him?

I’d give anything to follow him—to see if he lived in the dark or light.

Right there with ya, sister!

Okay so without giving the best part of the book away, I will start to wrap things up here. If you are expecting and wanting a ”heart and flowers” book then please, I am telling you now, this is NOT the book for you. This is not an ooey gooey, melt your heart romance novel. It is dark, deep, twisted, and as you all know, my favorite kind of book. The more fucked up the better in my opinion!

I will tell you this though. If you can step out of the little fairytale, mushy, romance box and open your mind to something a little deeper, I think you can definitely enjoy this book. And if you are like me and love these kind of books, then I think you will enjoy a particular ’dungeon’ scene. This particular scene had me turned on, mad, sad, and scared to death. But holy shit, so worth it!

Q may make my soul weep and tear itself into pieces but he made it operatic with joy, too. My soul didn’t just sing, it rejoiced.
I finally found a place where my twistedness belonged.
In Q’s arms.

That’s pretty much it everyone. All I know is that I loved this book. From start to finish, I loved it. Was it easy to read? Hell no. Was it worth reading? Hell yes? Am I absolutely DYING for book 2: Quintessentially Q. Fucking YES!

If you would like to learn a little more about Q and Tess, head on over to the blog and check out mine and Lisa’s interview with the two monsters 😉
Q & Tess Interview at True Story Book Blog
We got them to open up a little and share some nice details!
I will leave you with my favorite quote from the entire book.

“I’m offering you my pain. My blood. My pleasure. I’m offering you the right to whip and fuck. To debase and harm. I’m offering to fight your needs with my own. I’m willing to join you in the darkness and find pleasure in excruciating pain. I’m willing to be your monster, Q.”

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Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4.5 “Esclave” Kisses

Is it possible to fall in love with a monster? Is it wrong to crave the attention of a beast? Is it smart to desire a man that you should fear? Ummm….well if it is, it’s too late because after Tears of Tess, my mind doesn’t care which way is up. I’m hooked on Q Mercer with no cure in sight. This book is a mind fuck…heads up now because there is no warm and cuddly in sight in this sucker…and strangely enough, I still got butterflies. Go figure.

Tess Snow…Tessie…Esclave…Ami…she has many names. 20 years old…blonde…grey-blue eyes and I can describe her in one word – a fighter. Her parents didn’t want her, yet she fought to keep her head up regardless of their lack of love and attention. Her boyfriend didn’t understand her, yet she fought to keep ahold of the one person in her life that did love her. Her freedom, her spirit, her desires are taken away from her on a vacation that was supposed to be an escape, and yet she fought to keep every scrap of herself in tact. Regardless of the shame, the fear, the turmoil she was going through, she fought tooth and nail. Tess Snow is an amazing fighter. She’s also smart, resourceful, talented, passionate….and a little dark and twisted.

‘I’d gone my whole life thinking I was timid, brow-beaten, and unwanted by my family, only to find I was a lust-filled dancer, with so many dark desires. This trip would allow me to inspect who I truly was, to be honest, and find the real me. To stop being Tess, the girl who hadn’t stood up for anything in her life – the girl who morphed into what others wanted – and evolve. I’ll find the true Tess. ‘

Q Mercer…Quincy…Master…Stone cold and hard as a rock behind pale jade green eyes. He is the perfect example of the ‘strong and silent’ type. He’s full of mystery and intrigue and so much desire and pent up rage. Q is very complex and I feel like we only get a brief glimpse into his very dark and mysterious past. He seems so closed off but the little pieces that Tess is able to chip away at really speak volumes. What else do I love about Q…I loved that he communicated to Tess thru music…I loved how protective he was of her…his possessiveness….I loved what Tess brought out in him, the monster. He is the dark and twisted master to Tess’s dark and twisted soul.

“You are no one’s but mine. Do you understand?” Eyes flashed with excitement as he spoke, as if he loved the idea. Of course, he loved the idea. How many other women did he ruin?’

I cannot explain Tess and Q…Maître and Esclave…their relationship and connection defies words. They are two perfectly twisted souls that belong together. Two people so damaged they thought they would never truly find the person that understood their deepest darkest needs. The part that makes them monsters…the unlovable parts…the parts they hide from and try to blot out and forget. But the parts they absolutely cannot deny when they are together. I know this sounds like some deep and perverted love affair but seriously it was hypnotically beautiful.

“What will you do with me?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“That is none of your concern.”
“You don’t think my future is any of my concern?”
“No. Because your future is mine.”

The entire book is from Tess’s POV (until the end…but I will come to that)…and it is done with painstakingly perfect precision (like that alliteration – yeah it was a complete fluke! But I’m going with it!) There is a lot of physical violence, tons of mental anguish and you feel every ounce with Tess. There were a lot of points where it was really hard to disconnect because you are so in tune with what she is experiencing. I can’t even say it was a rollercoaster because while there were some high’s, they aren’t your ‘classical normal contemporary romance’ kind of highs. The fact that your excited for her that she is experiencing the pleasure and connection that she has longed for…from someone who world normally be considered a monster…and her pleasure is because of pain…you can see where the mind-fuckery just ran amuck with my brain!

‘“Fuck, tu me fais chaud partout.” Fuck, you make me hot. His voice throbbed, making me ache, yearn.
My heart broke a little more. He owned my sense of hearing, as well as my sense of smell. I couldn’t ignore the baritone of seduction, or the overwhelming need to obey.’

I’m good with pleasure/pain – I’ve read enough BDSM and Dom/Sub books, I’m totally cool with it. Can’t lie – this is a pretty high level. It’s…dark. And I cannot explain the in’s and out’s of why or how it works…but it does. Some people may not like Q…and that’s fine – but even in all his fucked-upidness (I may or may not have just made up a word) he gives Tess a piece of something she needs and craves…more than just on a physical level. The kind of serenity they give to each other, each fulfilling desires they never thought would be satisfied…that’s peace you cannot even fathom.

‘Q dropped his head, biting my collarbone, making me hiss between my teeth. “Only think of me and what I’m doing. There is intimacy in pain, esclave. Let me make your pain my pleasure.”’

Yeah…Q did a number on me. He’s not a BBF. He’s a different breed…you don’t love Q because he gives you love and affection…because he doesn’t. He quenches a dark, crazy thirst you never knew existed. He’s a creature of his environment…a product of a fucked up father who scarred him too early on in life. The poor guy never had a chance and retrained himself from a fate he knew was sealed when he was 16. Now…even though his…tendencies lean towards the extreme, that does not mean he is completely without heart or emotion. It’s there…it’s hidden…but Tess brings it out in him. Once again, that damn connection – you can’t deny it.

‘Q took everything from me, but he didn’t so much as steal it, as I gave it willingly. By allowing him to rule, he gave me something tangible. He allowed me to be me. To be real.’

So this book is not for the faint of heart…if you’re not okay with a lot of deep, dark, horrible things that unfortunately do happen in real life, such as kidnapping, human trafficking, being violated, all of your rights as a human being taken away from you, slavery, rape, murder….all those joyful little things you hear about on the news and watch on Law and Order: SVU….then this is not going to work out well for you. I can’t lie, parts of this book were hard to read…but I knew that going in. Some of the stuff made me want to vomit and hurt things. But…that means the author did a very good job painting a very ugly picture of a very real reality.

“You may not be mine, but I’m fast becoming yours.”

Yeah…this book made a mental mess out of my brain…but I liked it! These are not easily forgotten characters, which is a good thing because their story isn’t over! Quintessentially Q has the potential to completely send me over the edge and I’m so excited about it. The ending that I mentioned before…the epilogue is completely in Q’s POV. OH wow…yeah, that’s just a place I need to spend more time in. Peaking behind the curtain and getting a taste of the beast has barely whet my appetite and I’m desperate for more. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

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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 puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends. 
Her debut book Tears of Tess is followed by Quintessentially Q and Twisted Together. You didn’t think Q could stop so soon, did you? Her other two titles, Last Shadow and Broken Chance will be coming soon.