Wednesday, March 3, 2021

BOOK REVIEW- Exiled Duke (An Exile Novel #1) by K.J. Jackson

   

He’s the key to her future and a brutal ruler of the underworld. She’s the only woman to have ever cracked into his cold heart. Now he’s determined to force her exactly where he needs her to be…exiled.

A desperate woman trades everything for a chance of escape.
Penelope Willington is an innocent—innocent to a fault—and she never should have stepped foot into the rookeries, much less sought out the man that had once been her whole world—when she was ten. But that was a long time ago. Desperate times call for extraordinary actions, and Pen can’t afford to miss her one and only chance to find a future free of the vile man determined to force her under his thumb and into his bed.

Her survival depended on his cruelty.
After his parents died, Strider Hoppler was forced to exile the one other person in the world he loved—Penelope Willington. He did it to save Pen, did it cruelly, and he never once looked back. Not until sixteen years later, when she strolled into his lair in the heart of the East End of London.

A cold ruler of the underground.
She entered a world she had no right to be in—his world—a world she should never know for its monstrosities of humanity. No matter that she needed his help. Try as he might to get rid of her, she’s stubborn and before he knows it, Strider is helping her untangle the web of her past.

The more time they spend together, the more Strider finds it impossible to resist the inexplicable draw between the two of them. But is it even possible for this hardened rogue to find the one thing he destroyed long ago—his heart?  AMAZON LINK

5 STARS

What a good story ! This story grabs the interest and emotions right from the Prologue.   It also has plenty of depth not only in the plot but also the main characters.

You could almost feel the despair that Strider and Penelope (Pen) dealt with after the death of their parents.  It was Strider's mother and father but Pen had been unofficially adopted into the family too.   But the terrifying fear and hunger was almost a grinding thing.  But they had each other.  Until they didn't. 

I came to agree with Strider that the Flagston family that took Pen in were a bloody deranged family.   And that's before he even knew how much she has been at the mercy Percival.  It was bad enough that she was treated as an unpaid servant.  She was forced to be rigid and calm without any real freedom of her own.  And she was hounded by the lustful Percival on top of everything else.

 There is plenty of danger and secrets and all the while Strider is trying not to care about Pen.  He recognized that she was his weakness and he knew weakness could get you killed.  Besides, he had to live a life of such darkness and Pen was all light.  

The story comes to a good conclusion with an equally good Epilogue as well. 

 "I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

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