Tabs’ review of Reap (Scarred Souls, Book 2) by Tillie Cole
Contemporary Romance published by St. Martins Griffin 10 Nov 15
I picked this up because the cover copy waved a red flag in my face with all of its talk about “dark romance” but with no qualifiers whatsoever. I don’t usually like to read what I think of as “dark” themes (non-con, child abuse, rape, extreme violence… etc) but I got totally swept away in a “You’re not the boss of me! I do what I want!” moment. It happens to the best of us. After reading it, I would classify Reap as a mafia romance with extreme graphic violence. I wouldn’t, personally, use the term “dark romance,” because nothing about the actual romance is particularly dark.
This is totally a “beastly hero saved by angelic heroine” romance. 221 is a man who has been stripped of his name, imprisoned, tortured, and brainwashed, since the age of six, by a psychotic asshole. He’s been turned into a killing machine and drugged to be obedient and murderous. He has vague memories of being an actual person and having a family, but it’s been so long that he doesn’t even understand what they mean.
221, a.k.a. Zaal, is rescued by another former prisoner. Luka, the hero of the first book in this series, is dealing with some intense PTSD and is plagued by guilt for his involvement in the death of Zaal’s twin brother. He goes against his family’s intense objections to rescue Zaal. A lot of the action here ties into his book, Raze. I didn’t read Raze and was able to follow along, but the two books are definitely coupled together. So if you aren’t a “read in any order maverick” like myself, then reading in order is probably preferable.
The heroine, Talia, is Luka’s sister. She’s also a mafia princess who is experiencing some mafia princess burnout, so she takes an extended vacation at the family house in the Hamptons. In a freaky time-share-shenanigans-twist, her heir-apparent brother needs the basement of the Hamptons house to store the incoherent violent man he just “rescued.” Why she stays in the house with a murderous dude chained in the basement when she could just as easily peace out and go on vacation literally anywhere else is a mystery. Talia has more than one TSTL moment in this book. Instead of running as fast as her feet can take her, she becomes obsessed with basement dude, convinces herself that she can “save him,” and things proceed as you’d expect from there.
This book is… odd. There’s a great deal of extreme violence and though most of it wasn’t sexual in nature, there is one pretty brutal scene. I can’t say that I enjoyed it. I can, however, say that I was definitely engrossed in it and couldn’t put it down until I had finished. I’ll also probably read the next book. I am really intrigued by the identity of the heroine, but I am also superbly nervous that the sexual violence will ramp up and I don’t know if I can handle that. I haven’t been brave enough to go back to the first book for the same reason.
Grade: B-
Summary:
Raised as a prototype for the Georgian Bratva’s obedience drug, 221 fails to think, act, or live for himself; he’s his master’s perfectly-crafted killing puppet. Standing at six-foot-six, weighing two-hundred-and-fifty pounds, and unrivaled in to-the-death combat, 221 successfully secures business for the Georgian Mafiya Boss of NYC, who rules the dark world of the criminal underground. Until his enemies capture him.
Talia Tolstaia dreams to break from the heavy clutches of Bratva life. She dreams of another life–away from the stifling leash of her Russian Bratva Boss father and from the brutality of her work at The Dungeon, her criminal family’s underground death-match enterprise. But when she stumbles upon her family’s captive who is more monster than man, she starts to see the man underneath. A powerful, beautiful, damaged man whose heart calls to hers. But sacrifices must be made–blood for blood…life for life…souls for scarred souls…
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
