REVIEW: Quintessentially Q by Pepper Winters

December 26, 2013 Julie Reviews, Teaser, Tour Promo 1 ★★★★★

Quintessentially Q

Series: Monsters In The Dark

Published on December 15th, 2013

Genres: Adult, Adult Suspense, Dark, Erotic Romance, Romance

“All my life, I battled with the knowledge I was twisted… fucked up to want something so deliciously dark—wrong on so many levels. But then slave fifty-eight entered my world. Hissing, fighting, with a core of iron, she showed me an existence where two wrongs make a right."

Tess is Q’s completely. Q is Tess’s irrevocably. But now, they must learn the boundaries of their unconventional relationship, while Tess seeks vengeance on the men who sold her. Q made a blood-oath to deliver their corpses at Tess’s feet, and that’s just what he’ll do.

He may be a monster, but he’s Tess’s monster.

REVIEW:

Monsters in the Dark is an aptly named title of this series because these two books are dark. This is probably the darkest erotica I’ve ever read, bearing in mind I don’t read a lot of it, but I’ve read my share of the captive books. In Tears of Tess, Tess is unsettled in what seems to be a perfect relationship with her boyfriend Brax. He’s very vanilla. Like, he’s the most boring vanilla guy who ever existed, so really, I can’t blame her in that respect. She needs a more adventurous sex life, but she thinks she loves Brax, so she’s hanging in there. While on a special trip to Mexico she’s kidnapped and falls into the hands of a brutal human trafficker.

Q becomes Tess’ new owner later in the first book and I have to be honest, it took me the entire book to actually like the guy, and then only because Pepper Winters threw in some terrific twists to the story.

In the second book, Quintessentially Q, we get a lot more of Q, so he was much easier to like. I have to say though, this is the only book I’ve ever read that had a true, one hundred percent, sadomasochist relationship. Yes, most BDSM books have the man as a dominant and the woman as a submissive, but this relationship thrived on violence. That’s not something I really find all that attractive sexually, so I wavered the entire book on whether or not I actually liked Q.

I did like Tess. Tess, my God, the things she endures in this book are just horrific. I won’t go into the plot too much, but good lord. She is one strong woman. Tess is one hundred percent survivor and I admire almost all her characteristics.

Q, however. I was disappointed in Q. To me, Tess seemed like yeah, she enjoys his way of life (meaning the sexual violence) to a point, but in the end she’s only doing it to get his love. He does love her, Q moves heaven and earth for Tess in this book. But his needs overpower her completely. She wants him to be tame and gentle and although that might happen in the last book of the series, it did not happen in this one. I was so hoping he’d change a little by the end, but although he did make himself more vulnerable to Tess, he really stayed the same.

Q was powerfully written and I was immediately sucked into the story. It kept me attention the entire time and the plot, while slow at the beginning, really picked up in the middle and was very original.

I’d recommend Monsters in the Dark if you like original dark erotica with a human trafficking theme.

TEARS OF TESS
Book One
Monsters in the Dark

A New Adult Dark Contemporary Romance, not suitable for people sensitive to grief, slavery, and nonconsensual sex. A story about finding love in the strangest of places, a will of iron that grows from necessity, and forgiveness that may not be enough.

“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?