Book Review: Ruin & Rule by Pepper Winters (Pure Corruption MC #1)

"'We met in a nightmare. The in-between world where time had no power over reason. We fell in love. We fell hard. But then we woke up. And it was over . . .'

She is a woman divided. Her past, present, and future are as twisted as the lies she's lived for the past eight years. Desperate to get the truth, she must turn to the one man who may also be her greatest enemy . . . 

He is the president of Pure Corruption MC. A heartless biker and retribution-deliverer. He accepts no rules, obeys no one, and lives only to reap revenge on those who wronged him. And now he has stolen her, body and soul.

Can a woman plagued by mystery fall in love with the man who refuses to face the truth? And can a man drenched in darkness forgo his quest for vengeance-and finally find redemption?"

The story opens with a scene from possibly my worst nightmare – six women have been kidnapped and are being transported to who knows where! Bound and blindfolded, our female protagonist, who at this stage is unnamed, is terrified. Having reached their destination, the girls are ushered out of their mode of transport and then lead through what appears to be bushland when suddenly, out of nowhere, there is an exchange of fists, knives, gunfire and shouting men. When our protagonist is finally unbound and unveiled, she finds herself at a motorcycle club where a transaction is about to go down but it’s the sexy President and his emerald green eyes that she can’t stop thinking about.

Arthur “Kill” Killian has only ever let retribution, hate and pain overtake his life. He’s never gotten over the young girl that he fell in love with and then lost in the most callous way possible and since then has punished himself no end – for him, there is nobody that can take his lost love’s place, ever!

What follows is a story of how this woman attempts to uncover her past and her lost memories while Kill will find himself facing a number of truths that threaten to crush him.

As most of you know, I don’t often review Erotica, the reason being that it so often leaves me frustrated because of its lack of depth and characterisation. Dark Erotica is one sub-genre I’ve also never enjoyed because of the dominance aspect so, when I received the request to review this one, I was almost hesitant to accept although the blurb got my attention because of the fact that not much is alluded to and I was told by the publicist that she had no doubt I would enjoy it.

Due to the fact that the female protagonist remains unnamed for the majority of the novel and the reasons for her being kidnapped is part of the plot, it’s somewhat of a difficult book for me to review for fear of giving away spoilers and taking the joy of discovery away from other readers.

I will say though that she suffers from psychogenic amnesia and, for most of the way through, because of her condition, so much of the story is only revealed through her memories and flashbacks which are both poignant and nostalgic.

Although there isn’t much in the form of biker club activities, Pepper Winters has captured the essence of a "bikie" along with Kill's all-consuming grief for a woman that he lost eight years before. Even though Ms Winters has chosen to narrate the story from the POV of our female protagonist only, she nonetheless draws Kill as a complex character with a genius IQ by allowing him to open each chapter with a few thoughts of his own while his dialogue assists in revealing his motives and anguish, thus allowing the reader to make a connection with him.

And then there’s the sex! While it is scorching hot, I was so thankful that it didn't take over the plot, but instead added to the emotional depth and growth of her characters.

Quite obviously, Ms Winters has meant for this book to be the prelude for everything else that is to come in this new series, setting the scene for what happens to these characters next and leaving the reader questioning many things but, in doing so, she has created a dark, intense, raw and vengeance-filled world taking us on a deep and murky journey into another – one where we can only hope there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

I wish to thank Hachette Australia for providing me with a hard copy of this novel for review.

About the Author

Pepper Winters is a NYT and USA Today International Bestseller. She 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.

After chasing her dreams to become a full-time writer, Pepper has earned recognition with awards for best Dark Romance, best BDSM Series, and best Dark Hero. She’s an #1 iBooks bestseller, along with #1 in Erotic Romance, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary, and Erotica Thriller. She’s also honoured to wear the IndieReader Badge for being a Top 10 Indie Bestseller, and recently signed a two book deal with Hachette. Represented by Trident Media, her books have garnered foreign and audio interest and are currently being translated into numerous languages. They will be in available in bookstores worldwide.

She loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby who puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends.