Tag Archives: Penelope Sky

Review: The Catacombs (Cult #2) by Penelope Sky

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Title: The Catacombs
Author: Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Hartwick Publishing 11/16/21
Length:  200 Pages
Series: Cult #2

Overview

This man is the only thing that keeps me safe.

The only thing that makes life worth living.

But I know he’s coming…

I know he’s out there.

And until Benton kills him, he’ll never really be gone.

My Thoughts

There are so many directions that this series could go in my mind, and so many extensions that we could see, yet I don’t know if any of that is in the works. Our amazing author Ms Penelope Sky needs to do us readers a solid and GIVE US MORE

We left off the first installment of this series with Constance and Benton being in an ok place. Where he really felt that she was an imposition before, we see real feelings grow between them. They are both still naught to admit what they are, and they don’t want to complicate things, but we can see what’s there. Benton appreciates all that Constance did to save Claire from the camp, but his loyalty ends there since he’s not sure why she needs to hang around. Until he opens his eyes one day and realizes that there’s something more that she does for him.

Constance on the other hand uses Benton for the safety that he provides. When he’s around, she feels safe, like Forneus can’t get her and when he’s gone, she’s afraid for her life. We know that Forneus isn’t giving up on getting her back, we know that he’s stalking her, but at least she has some comfort and security while benton is there.

The plot of this story gets a bit twisty in places. We have that main story line where we know that Constance is living on bought time, but we don’t know what can be done about that. She’s moved into this role of mother type figure to Claire, one that everyone truly loves, and she’s found her place in Benton’s bed which is nice for both of them as well. There’s the daily fear that Forneus will take her, and we see his attempts time after time. Some have wider implications to innocent people, and some attempts take the innocent on purpose.

Then there’s the story line between Benton and Bartholemew. We learn what started their friendship and we understand why there’s so much disappointment once Benton left. Benton does his job by being Bartholemew’s right hand to expand their business and territory, but we continue to see how that’s going to go awry. He’s got the same ambitions that Fender had in the first series, and we know how that has the potential to end. I mean….that’s how the camp was lost to Bartholemew no?

Fender makes an appearance in this story – but in a context that’s not his norm. That’s a nice tease, although nothing more really comes from it.

We have passion and heat. We have fear and security. We have revenge and lies. and we realize that what caused all the dominoes to fall in the first place was something done at the hand of someone that we should have trusted. There’s almost nothing that is salvageable at the end, but as a reader that has hope, we want something to come out of the ashes. We get closure as it’s needed, and I suppose that will have to do.

Personally, i’m itching for either a story on Bartholemew now or one about Benton’s brother Bleu since he played a big role, but I don’t know if that’s in the future for us. The Chateau series teased us with the Cult in the epilogue but no such tease was done in this one. So….on that note, enjoy!

Review: The Cult (The Cult #1) by Penelope Sky

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Title: The Cult
Author: Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Hartwick Publishing 9/14/21
Length:  268 Pages
Series: The Cult #1

Overview

I see his wicked smile in the theatre. I see it in the apartment across from mine.

I see it everywhere.

Before I can run, I’m taken.

And when I wake up…I’m in the middle of nowhere.

The man who’s taken me claims to be a demon.

And claims I’m his angel.

What happens when he finds out I don’t have wings?

I’m not the only prisoner in this forest. There’s a little girl too. Her name is Claire. She’s beautiful, happy, wonderful. It’s my responsibility to protect her–and I will give my life to accomplish that.

She says her father will save us both.

She says he’s powerful, formidable, that he’ll burn this entire forest to get to her.

I hope she’s right.

My Thoughts

WOW – that’s all I can say about this one – it’s a sick and twisted version of all that we love from Penelope Sky and i’m here for it. If you remember back to the Chateau series – we were in the Alps in a camp that was used to package and distribute drugs. Women were kidnapped and kept there to do the dirty work because they came at no cost- and their lives were held solely in the hands Fender and his brother.

Once they abandoned the camp, someone came in to take the land over. Someone who believed in all that was good and perfect and beautiful in the world – Angels. Because they themselves were demons. The worst form of Hell and they needed Angels for redemption. And so, the history of kidnapping women and bringing them to the camp continues, in a new form, because Forneus and his men kidnap women that they believe are angels who can help get them forgiveness for all they’ve done.

We start this story with our leading lady Constance – she’s a ballerina and she’s just finished a performance when a man, Benton, walks in – holding up a picture of another ballerina who has gone missing. We don’t know the story there – but we know that he’s in despair. This is the night that Constance’s life changes forever.

Benton’s ex-lover has been kidnapped along with his daughter Claire and he’s trying to hunt them down. No one can help him find her and while he wants to find Beatrice, he wants his daughter more. Constance has this memory in her mind when she performs the next night and discovers a man, all in black, staring at her with a smile that is so creepy that she’s scared out of her mind. She goes home and discovers him in the apartment across the way staring at her, and then when the police won’t take her seriously, we know her moment is about to come. The next night at her performance, the man is there again, with an entire team of men dressed in black, with horns on their heads. The police won’t help her so she tries to find Benton, knowing that he knows she’s not lying.

She goes to him to try to get protection and that’s not enough – she’s captured and we now have no idea what her fate will be or the fate of Beatrice and Claire.

We then learn that Benton is connected to a man from The Chateau. Bartholemew and the Chaussers. The group that tried to overthrow Fender and Magnus and destroyed the camp in entirety. He’s able to find out about The Cult and what they are doing, and where they are. Be barters to get Beatrice and Claire’s freedom, by trading distribution help for Forneus and his team. (they deal in LSD). When Benton goes to retrieve his daughter, he’s told that she’s dead and handed a bag of bones. Once they realize that they’ve been crossed, the story takes another turn.

On the inside of the camp, the women learn that the cult, the demons believe that they are truly angels who will help save them from hell. Each demon has an angel and each demon has their own method of getting forgiven for their sins. Constance has Forneus who’s the leader – and he’s not resorted to harming her in any way which is a plus, but we haven’t figured him out yet. He’s terrifying and he even gives her the pill (LSD) in the hopes that she can lead him to being saved, but that doesn’t work.

Beatrice’s demon on the other hand is dark and mean. He gets angry when she’s not able to make her true wings come out and he cuts her back open to force them to come out. He allows another demon to try to do the same with Beatrice’s young daughter and Constance comes to her defense and kills the demon that goes after her.

we watch a transfer of power and authority here – the men are afraid of the angels, but they are even more afraid of Constance. She has a knife and she’s killed a demon, and for that, they cower. She’s not afraid of them and she protects Claire in that sense because she knows that she can’t be hurt. The question now becomes how can they break out and how can they get their freedom. We know that Benton tried and failed since he believes they are dead, but the tide will turn once he knows they are alive.

The story for the back half is a roller coaster. Benton some how manages to get Beatrice and Claire free and Claire won’t leave without Constance. Beatrice is on the brink of death after being tortured some more by her demon, and yet Constance has managed to keep Claire alive, happy and protected. So Benton has no choice but to bring her with them but he wants nothing to do with her once they are back in Paris.

Forneus believes that Benton has something that’s his – Constance. And he’s not willing to give it up. He finds her in Paris, hunts her down, and scares her even more. The only safe place for Constance to go is Benton’s house but he wants nothing to do with her. We are left at a point in this story where we know that Constance means quite a bit to a lot of people, but will she mean enough to the people who can save her. We just don’t know yet and that’s where we have to wait until November when book 2 comes out. So…on that note – please read this one. it’s sick and twisted in a way that none of Penelope Sky’s books have ever been and it’s a treat. Enjoy!

Review: The Palace (Chateau #4) by Penelope Sky

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Title: The Palace
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Hartwick Publishing 5/25/21
Length:  250 Pages
Series: Chateau #4

Overview

A line was drawn in the sand.

I made my choice.

I picked her over him.

But I begin to regret that choice, and when Raven wants to destroy the camp, I know I’ll regret it even more.

My Thoughts

It’s great that we get to see the full story play out from both sides – watching Raven’s story evolve first with Magnus and then now seeing Melanie and Fender. The crux of the story is still the same, however this version has a different approach and connection.

We know that in the first installment of Melanie’s story, we watched Fender first lay eyes on her and fall in love with her in a way that no one expected of him. He was patient and refused to take anything from her that she wasn’t willing to give and that’s something that he’s never allowed of anyone. We watched how his long standing butler Gilbert took issue with Melanie being in his life and then realized that it was a losing battle to have problem with.

So all in all, we felt that this was a story on the right path. The challenge of course is that even though Melanie developed deep feelings for Fender and that all he wanted in return was to give her the world, there was still the looming issue of Raven – her sister. Who wanted nothing more than to take down everything that Fender and Magnus had built, just on principle. She refused to believe that there was more to either man in the sense of what they could or couldn’t do and even at the back story of it all, and that really played out to the worst extent when Raven forced Melanie to choose. Her for Fender. And she chose Raven.

We start off this second bit of the story with Melanie and Raven living in Paris, ‘free’ from the camp and all that it was, trying to rebuild their lives. Melanie is heartbroken of course because Fender was the perfect man for her but she couldn’t choose him over family. She tries to move on with her life in the sense of getting a job and finding purpose, however she knows that she’ll never find a man to take his place. Raven goes through the process of getting back to her life – dating and getting back into things, but she still wants revenge and we know how that goes.

They sneak back to the camp, burn it down and in return, they get a new level of hatred for both of them. While Magnus helped free Raven before, she’s his most hated person now. Fender takes this as a personal slight and that results in Raven being captured and Melanie being shunned.

From that point on, we watch Melanie realize that her life is empty without Fender and she tries all that she can to get back into his life. To try to gain his trust and his love back. It’s a tough battle since he’s not one to let those walls down again, and we watch her try her best to make that happen. At the same time we also watch Melanie do what she can to get Raven’s freedom but that’s a losing battle.

The sub plot here that we remember from the previous installments is that Fender wants to make his empire bigger and more powerful. He wants to bring in a partner Napoleon who we know Magnus has doubts on and we know how this will end. I was expecting to see more of an interaction there to better understand why Fender was so adamant about having Napoleon as his partner, but sadly that doesn’t come. Instead we just watch the demise of everything that they’ve built, and watch the massacre that takes everyone at the camp, and causes dire damage to Magnus and Fender’s health.

The culmination of this series in this last installment gives us the flip side of the story – the romance of it, the side of a woman who wants to be valued for more than her beauty and cherished above all. It’s an uphill battle but one that is meant to be since she’s truly strong and a force to be reckoned with. She believe in change and she pushed that belief on someone else and as a result, we saw the story turn a corner.

The epilogue was quite interesting though – taking us to the camp – and the hands of an unknown person. There’s a fear now in my mind of what’s to come next and the short blurb at the end of the story introducing ‘The Cult’ makes me scared for what will find its way to that area. It was bad before with the drug trade and I have shivers thinking about what’s next. Now I just have to wait a few months for that story to come out. So…on that note – Enjoy and let’s be patient for the next story to begin.

Review: The Boss (The Chateau #3) by Penelope Sky

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Title: The Boss
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Hartwick Publishing 3/23/21
Length:  290 Pages
Series: The Chateau #3

Overview

It’s complicated.

Am I allowed to say that?

Am I allowed to use that as an excuse to feel something toward the man that runs this place, is the reason I’m here in the first place, as well as my sister Raven?

They call him The Boss. I call him Fender.

And he calls me Beautiful.

I can tell myself I’m just using him to get what I want.

But we both know that’s not true.

My Thoughts

The first two installments of this series were about Magnus and Raven – we watched how the actions on an ill-fated night by Melanie ended up getting them captured and sent to a camp to help a drug lord. We watched Raven’s never ending quest for freedom, and Melanie’s guilt for getting the captured, how she follows Raven where ever she goes, but at the same time we watched how the Boss – Fender took a liking to Melanie, and this is what we get in the second half of the series.

Where this third installment picks up is the first time that Fender sets his eyes on Melanie at the camp. He’s been snared by her beauty – and even though he’s always surrounded himself with beautiful women, there’s something about Melanie that soars above and beyond. He wants to give her comforts at camp that he’s never given to any other woman that was brought there. He wants to take care of her and wants to ‘own’ her in a sense, but he won’t do it unless she’s willing. so we spend much of the front half of this story watching how this slowly begins to happen.

Melanie on the other hand is stuck in this limbo of truly doing what’s right given the situation, and yet fighting what her body is telling her. She’s afraid of him, yet Fender continues to remind her that he won’t hurt her or force her to do anything. She wants to get her freedom back and she more than anything wants Raven’s freedom. If only her sister didn’t constantly cause trouble….maybe that would be possible.

Over time we watch the relationship develop between Melanie and Fender. There’s still.a significant gray area around what they are and what they can be, but we see that there’s something that’s starting to grow here. Fender continues to share nothing about himself, and broods and is angry all the time, yet Melanie has patience.

Fender takes her back to Paris with him when he leaves camp, and makes it clear that Melanie is his – that she’s not going to go free, but she will have the life that she deserves. We watch the transformation come over Melanie once she’s under the guidance and care of Fender’s household. We see the role that Fender’s butler plays – both with Melanie and with Fender since the relationships there are so complicated.

If you’ll remember from the first two books, there’s the drive and need for Fender to amass more. to be the biggest and the best distributor and he’ll stop at nothing. Magnus was the voice of reason throughout those first two books, but we saw that it didn’t matter. Now we’re getting the chance to see how that played out from the other side, knowing that Fender was stubborn and that nothing good could come out of what he’s trying to do .

If you’ll also remember from the first two books, Magnus managed to help Raven escape the camp and brought her back to Paris. They also went to Fender and asked for Melanie’s release. Fender didn’t think that Mel would actually go, so he allowed it and that’s where we ended this first book of Fender/Melanie’s story. We see what was starting to be an intense romantic relationship come to a crashing halt – and we can only imagine the implications that will result knowing that Fender doesn’t take well to people who lie to him, cross him and take things that he deems to be his. I can’t wait for the next installment to come along since I really need to see how this plays out from a different angle. Enjoy!

Review: The Camp (The Chateau #2) by Penelope Sky

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Title: The Camp
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Hartwick Publishing 1/5/21
Length:  329 Pages
Series: The Chateau #2

Overview

She betrayed me. 

After everything I did for her. 

Now I’ll have to suffer the consequences of that mistake. 

But then I’ll get the revenge that I deserve. 

My Thoughts

We have the continuation of Magnus and Raven’s story and we know that it’s going to be insane. When we left them in the end of The Chateau, everything was blown up in their faces. Literally.

We saw a really tender and sweet relationship develop between these two in the first book and only had the best things to hope of their future. Magnus protected her from everyone in the camp, managed to help her escape and even managed to get her free from the camp forever. Raven though, had more on her agenda now than ever. The strong willed woman that she is, we knew that she’d never settle for just her freedom which resulted in her return to the camp to liberate all the women, to set it on fire and get everyone out. What happens though is almost the unthinkable.

She loses her freedom and is recaptured. Her sister Melanie has to go back to Fender (which may or may not be a bad thing). Magnus gets crushed under a burning building and Raven saves him. But life has once again returned to the misery of the Camp and Raven’s life has now gotten so much harder. Magnus hates her. Wants her to suffer now that he’s lost the respect of the guards, and his brother is beyond angry and what’s transpired.

This second book as a huge theme of redemption in my mind. Mangus has to find a way to get back into better standing with his brother. We learn more and more about their past and how they came to their current empire, and we learn that as he reveals more and more to Raven.

Which of course mans that Raven’s managed to get back into his heart again. Like there was ever a question right? She takes a knife in the stomach for him when one of the guards comes after him and that endears him a bit more to her and we watch from there as he realizes that she’s not acted with malice in any of this but instead doing what she felt was necessary. That in itself gives her a bit of redemption in his eyes and we get to see what that can evolve to.

Magnus claims Raven as his and as such, she’s got protection in the camp. He takes her with him when he goes back to Paris each month and we see how their lives turn into something more. Something with a different tone and purpose. He slowly realizes that she’s only there for him. She’s got no other motive and not other intentions and that’s what slowly builds trust. But with trust comes and ultimatum, one that really proves to be impossible for Magnus to uphold.

In this story, we see so much transpire. Magnus comes to terms with what they’ve done, and pushes his brother to change his ways. Fender is driven by greed and a need to always have more that he makes decisions that Magnus tries to sway him away from. Decisions that have catastrophic impact and the world they know will be changed forever.

There’s marriage, love, death, despair and maybe a glimmer of hope in this story and it’s really sweet. We also get this story entirely from Magnus’ perspective whereas the first book was from Raven’s. I think that’s a really good way to extend the story a bit more – a way to see how things are far from black and white. At the end of this story, we see that there’s a third book coming out, I believe now from Melanie’s eyes. That’ll be a nice change since her experience was intensely different from that of Raven and Magnus. I can’t wait for that one to come out. Enjoy! I

Review: The Chateau (The Chateau #1) by Penelope Sky

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Title: The Chateau
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Hartwick Publishing 10/27/20
Length:  299 Pages
Series: The Chateau #1

Overview

There’s a fine line between right and wrong.

And Magnus is on both sides of it.

I don’t know much about him, but he’s the only reason I’m still alive. I’ve been taken by a group of heartless men and forced into a labor camp, and even though there’s no way out, I still have hope.

I have hope because of him.

He’s the only reason I’ll escape this place.

Even though he’s the villain who works in this camp, he’s my hero.

And I know he’ll be the hero to everyone else too.

Because that’s the price to be with me–and he’ll pay any price to be with me.

My Thoughts

I’m a huge huge huge fan of Penelope Sky and just about every series that i’ve read and this one continues on that same path. We’re in a completely different world unrelated at all to the Italy stories that it’s a welcome change. In the end of this story – our author tells us about how she’s poured so much of herself into this series in a way that’s new from the others, and it’s really clear to me as I read it.

We start off a moment in the past where a boy goes home after a night out with friends only to discover that someone’s in his house, murdering his family. He’s not able to save his mom or 2 of his siblings, but he’s able to get his brother out of the house only to see that the killer is his father. they run, and that’s all we learn about them.

Then we find ourselves in Paris, with our leading lady Raven who’s American and is studying in France. She’s always been responsible for her younger sister so going to Paris was a chance to get away, and yet we find ourselves with her sister visiting. When one day Raven notices a man watching her apartment and watching her sister, she gets on edge, and at a night out she sees the same man talking to Melanie. She’s not comfortable with this and all for good reason because her sister decides that she needs to go with him and his friends, and she of course has to follow. They end up drugged and kidnapped and that’s how our story evolves.

They’re not trafficked but instead brought to a camp in the Alps where there’s a cocaine operation that kidnaps women to pack and process the drug for distribution all across Europe. Raven is confident that she’ll find a way to escape with her sister, but quickly learns that it’s all but impossible. They are so remote that there’s no real chance of getting to a village. It’s the dead of winter so they won’t survive the weather, and the guards there will hunt them down faster than even imaginable. Raven tries anyway, and fails.

The only reason she’s still alive is Magnus. The guard that’s been assigned to her. He’s frightening of course and powerful, but he clearly has a different sort of power and authority in the camp because he has freedoms and access that the others don’t have. We never quite get it but we know that there’s something interesting there. Magnus protects her as much as he can, brings her things to make her time there more comfortable and we see an odd sort of friendship develop between them. Every time Raven is almost hung, or beaten, or accused of doing something that she’s likely done, he gets in the middle in order to save her.

One day ‘the boss’ shows up and takes interest in Melanie – which is no surprise to Raven given that she’s beautiful and has always gotten attention. Raven’s scared for her safety since we all know what’s likely to happen to her, and that’s even more motivation for Raven to find a way out.

A few failed attempts later, Magnus realizes that staying in the camp means death for Raven and he offers all the help he can to get her out. He tells her how to escape gives her resources an a map and a location to go to so that she can wait for him to come and get her, and we realize that their relationship could mean something more. There are emotions and chemistry between them and it’s intense given that they are both in incredibly unconventional phases of their lives.

From that point on in the story, Raven’s eyes are opened up. She realizes that there’s more to Magnus than she realized, specifically in money and power. She also learns something interesting about the boss and what that relationship is. What she doesn’t learn though is how to keep her feelings in check and not give too much of herself to Magnus since that’s a relationship that’s going to be 1000000% impossible.

She’s free now, as is her sister, but that’s not enough. She insists on freeing all the other women in the camp so she sets out to do that. The problem though is that when she goes there, she’s destroys everything that could have been good and when Magnus sees her, he wants to kill her. So, we’re left on a cliff and sadly I have to wait until the end of January to see who falls and who’s still alive. I have such high hopes for where this story will go and to see how the past brings itself to the present.

We have complex and engaging characters. We have romance and chemistry that sizzles. We have a story that’s unique and all that together makes for an amazing book 1. Enjoy!

Review: Truth (Betrothed #10) by Penelope Sky

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Title: Truth
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Penelope Sky 7/30/20
Length:  198 Pages
Series:  Betrothed #10

Overview

I had no idea she was going to tell Damien.If I did, I would have stopped her.I would have told her the truth myself.Now I’m afraid I’m going to lose her…and there’s nothing I can do about it.

My Thoughts

Well, that summary was lack luster, but at least we knew that the story ahead would be a good one given the up and down roller coaster. There are so many forces trying to push this couple apart, that even Cat is letting it happen since she’s not willing to give up her family.

We watched this couple fall in love, and we watched them try their best to make things right with Damian in order to be together. When he reveal more to Catalina about Heath than she knew, more background on the situation, she realizes that she’s never going to get his approval and she walks away from him. Damian thinks he’s won, knowing that Heath won’t kill him, that he uses this to his advantage and captures Heath. Which we see play out just in the same way that Cat’s initial capture played out. Heath is put in a cage, yet this time Damian beats him to within inches of his life.

He’s somehow saved – I guess the power of love truly is stronger, and we see how this creates an interesting predicament as the story continues. Catalina has made her decision on what she wants, even if it means the demise of her family. She tries and tries to make things right, and that doesn’t work. Balto steps in and picks up the slack with the Skull Kings while Heath can’t even move and that puts a new set of challenges at the forefront since his wife is pregnant. We watch that one play out and it makes us anxious.

In all of Ms Penelope Sky’s books, we see dark men who really don’t deserve to be saved. Yet they want to be saved by the right woman once she walks into their lives. We’ve watched it time and time again, and this isn’t any different. Heath is willing to give EVERYTHING up for her if that would help and while it works for some, it does’t for others. It’s only when Heath meets her father and they have a chat that we see that there’s more to the family history than anyone knew – and I have to admit, I actually toyed with the revelation in my head before it came.

Secrets that were never meant to come out are shared and they have both a healing and a destroying power. We watch Vox take his vengeance out at any length, forcing folks to go on the run, be prepared for a shootout and know that some characters that we’ve come to know well aren’t going to come out of this story alive. I feel like this is well set up for the culmination of this series, yet i’m sad to see that it’s over. We get an ending that’s right for this story – but there’s so much more that we could actually get into if our author decides to write it. So on that note, i’m off to find something new and i hope you enjoy this one!

Review: Secret (Betrothed #9) by Penelope Sky

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Title: Secret
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Penelope Sky 7/7/20
Length:  158 Pages
Series:  Betrothed #9

Overview

She saved my life.

She promised she wouldn’t intervene, that her loyalty was to her family, not me. But she did it anyway.

Now everything is different. I can feel it with every kiss, every time she’s underneath me. This isn’t a meaningless fling anymore.

It’s so much more.

I know it…and she knows it.

My Thoughts

I love everything that our author writes and this continuation of Heath and Catalina’s story just adds to my love fest. We saw this couple come together as part of a scheme to get at Damian for falling in love with a woman that ‘belonged’ to someone else, and we watched how their uncommon circumstances turned into a really amazing relationship – unexpected and intense, and so good all at the same time. Until it wasn’t.

Throughout this ninth installment in the series, the second for this couple, we remember where we left off – Heath was going to collect the taxes that Damian owed, and Damian had a plot to kill Heath and his men since he felt that he was unfairly being taxed. Catalina knew about the plan, and while she said she’d never go against her family, she realized that Heath meant more to her, and she warned him at the last moment. Saving his life, and resulting in a shift in the dynamic of just about everything from then out.

The way that their bond strengthened and changed was amazing. We saw that their ‘fling’ – their short term thing became love, even when they didn’t admit it to one another. In the moment that Cat called Heath to warn him, he saw right through what she wasn’t willing to admit and as a result, his own feelings became clear to him as well. Their relationship turned to something concrete. They had open entry to each other’s house. They were part of each other now, and even when Cat tried to fight it, fight Heath on it, she realized that she would always lose.

We spend most of this story watching how they are happy together and how they have something special. The only issue that they truly faced was the notion that Damian and Heath had a pure hatred for one another and as a result the two parts of her life could never meet. When she tried to make that change – she learned more about the past than she ever wanted to know, and that rips her and Heath apart. The things that he did to her family in the past was truly too much and the lies that he kept meant that she was now numb to him.

This brings pleasure to Damian of course because it now opens the door for him to take Heath down, and that’s exactly what happens. We see Cat torn – she’s numb, and she’s standing by her family, but of course life and love are never that easy. The end of this ninth / second book leave us at a crossroads of where Cat will be knowing that she’s vowed never to choose against her family but her future was already chosen by that same fortune teller in Morocco that directed everyone else’s lives in this series. So….I now have to wait until the next installment to see how this plays out. Enjoy!

Review: Lie (Betrothed #8) by Penelope Sky

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Title: Lie
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Barnes & Nobles Press 6/2/20
Length:  198 Pages
Series:  Betrothed #8

Overview

Why did I let her go?

I can’t answer that. How do you expect me to answer that when I don’t even know? I’m the Skull King. I never let ANYONE go.

When I see her at the bar six weeks later, she’s still the feisty handful that I remember. She owns the room in that tight dress and that fire. Now that she’s not dirty in a locked cage…she’s stunning.

She cleans up good.

I decide to say hello…and see what happens.

My Thoughts

I love how we were introduced to Catalina’s story and what it ultimately means is that things are going to get very complicated very fast. We knew there was some type of connection between them when Heath realized that she was more than he first thought – and seeing their ‘relationship’ evolve throughout this story shows us that there’s much more than meets the eye.

When we first met Heath, youll remember that it was in Balto’s story and there wasn’t much that Heath had to redeem himself. He was rough around the edges, didn’t really have a sensitive notion at all in his being and even knowing the story around who Cassini was both to Balto and outside of him, there wasn’t much that made you want to like him. We saw him do things for his brother to help when needed and as a result, when. Balto stepped down as the Skull King, Heath stepped in.

He’s not the typical king and we saw that through his interactions with Damian. Sure, he was out for the money piece of things since that’s how the Skull Kings made their business thrive, but he also had vendettas and revenge to deal with. He also has Vox in the back of things to make life miserable. Vox being the Skull King that felt that he was next in line to be king and will take whatever opportunity he can to take the throne.

Catalina on the other hand is exactly as we remembered and is exactly how all other leading ladies are in Penelope Sky stories. We see how independent and strong she is. how she is able to take care of herself and needs no one, yet has this idea in her mind of how her life should be. She’s made the mistake of seeing the gypsy as well and feels like she’s got to follow that premonition to a T since the prophecies have played out for Hades and Damian.

This first real installment of their story is one that’s rough. We see that Catalina continues to avoid Heath, push off his advances because of what he has against Damian as well as what he put her through when she was kidnapped. It doesn’t matter that there’s an insane attraction between them, it’s still something that’s never going to work out.

Heath of course is persistent and we see walls come down. We see what could be between them and we see how there are still far too many obstacles to make it work as it should. It’s not until Catalina is trafficked that Heath comes to her rescue, and there’s a chance for whatever it is that they want to make their relationship to become.

If only Damian wasn’t an issue and he didn’t continue to come at Heath every chance he could get. We know that it can’t possibly end well for everyone and when we watch Catalina get put into a position where she’s devoted to her brother and yet wants to protect Heath, someone’s going to die and that’s not good for anyone.

We’re left off watching a plot go wrong, and then we don’t get to see the after affects. – that’ll come in the next installment which i think i have to wait a month for. So…i’ll be patient, try to find something else to read in the meantime and enjoy this nice weather. Enjoy!

Review: Forever (Betrothed #7) by Penelope Sky

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Title: Forever
Author:  Penelope Sky
Publisher/Year:  Barnes & Nobles Press 6/2/20
Length:  204 Pages
Series:  Betrothed #7

Overview

She’s mine once again but she’s practically a ghost. 

She’s just using me…not that I mind. 

But her indifference is suffocating. I mean nothing to her…less than what she used to mean to me. Admissions of regret and apologies aren’t enough to fix it. 

I have to return to the gypsy…and hope for the best. 

My Thoughts

I don’t think that the summary really does a good job here in describing what your’e going to read. In this 6th book of the series, it’s not that Anna is indifferent to Damian, but she’s in a tough spot still. She’s made her decisions in life because that’s what she felt was the best thing at the time and yet she’s miserable. Everyone’s miserable.

We spend much of this next installment watching everyone go through the motions knowing that they have to bide their time in order to get what they want. Liam continues to be a problem, he’s got this hold over Anna that makes no sense to anyone, and yet it’s still there. He doesn’t yet realize that Damian is the man that holds Anna’s heart until he actually does figure it out and then we watch the downfall of everything. He’s out for blood, Anna won’t let Damian kill him, and that means that someone’s going to die and the who dynamic of our characters will shift.

If that weren’t enough, the Skull King Heath is in the mix yet again. He continues to have this vendetta against Damian and that means that he’s not going to give up his quest for torture and revenge and insane need to just make the poor guy miserable.

Throughout this series, we’ve always felt that Hades and Damian could figure out how to get through anything, how to pull in the right resources to get what they need done, yet in this book, that’s not going to happen. Heath and Liam are on the same side. Bones is out of the game, and while Hades will always be there for his best friend, he’s got a family to think about and that means he’s not as ready to put his life on the line.

There are moments of despair when we see that Liam can’t seem to keep it in his pants and Anna learns about his infidelity again. We hope that it means that she can finally be with Damian, but that’s too easy. She’s too moral and wants to put time and space between any decision that she makes. Damian is patient, but that also means that he’s suffering.

At the same time, we watch Liam realize that Damian is the guy that has come between them and that means that he’s out for death. He comes after Damian time and time again, and it’s not until he breaks into Damian’s house and there’s a gun battle that the story changes and not in a good way. Where that one resolves is the expected way yet the path that they take to get there is unorthodox.

Then there’s the involvement of Heath in all this. Liam engages him to kidnap Catalina in order to get under Damian’s skin and what we always knew about Catalina is that she’s tough and she gives them a run for their money. She’s not the kind of girl who will give up easily and we watch that one with sheer enjoyment. The way that her involvement is used in this story gives us a direct and clear path to see what book 8 will be and i can only imagine how poorly all this will go down since there’s nothing good that can come out of where i think this story will go.

So on that note, i can’t wait to dive into the next book since this story keeps getting better and better. Enjoy!