by Airika Phoenix
reviewed by Katy Grant
Release date June 4, 2024
Their lives had
been full of pain; they need each other to crawl free of the past.
Naya was the bargaining chip with which her parents intended
to use in order to gain the money to pay their debts and continue to live the lifestyle
they valued beyond their daughter. A son was to be valued a daughter to be sold
to the highest bidder. All her life Naya was controlled by fear and punishment,
never allowed freedom outside of her room and even there her mother held sway. Paraded
in front of those who came to her parent’s house for business purposes but
enjoyed the look and touch of a young beautiful girl. Until he came, Brixton was
the worst. A bargain made for her at fourteen, her body, her life bought and
sold. Without the help of her brother the man would have taken her then. For
six years more she escaped his revolting touch, mostly. On the eve of her wedding,
she was to be sent to him, but her brother had other ideas. He had an escape
plan. Sadly, it went wrong, and she ended up in the garden of the beast, from
which no one ever left.
Running from the man who was intended to set on the road to
a new life, Naya ran into the garden of silver roses but was quickly found by
her tormentor. Just as quickly Thoran and Cyrus found them both by the bed of
roses and called a halt to their struggles. Naya feared her escape was short
lived when Thoran pulled her into his arms heading for the house. No one ever entered the garden and lived to
tell of it. Except there was something that drew Thoran to her innocence.
Perhaps they could save each other. The tormentor was another situation, he
would die but not before he suffered for daring to touch this woman that the
beast thought of as his.
This dark fairy tale had the feel of the past, deadly curses
and a forced marriage, but was in truth set in the present encroached with mafia
style domination and business dealings. Thoran was a beast always in control devoid
of sympathy for those outside of a few. Naya
was a beautiful young woman whose only protection against her greedy perverted
parents was her brother. The draw that each felt towards the other was a crack
in the wall Thoran he had built around himself. He’d lived with the curse of
death the house promised all his life, he’d been betrayed by a friend and buried
five young women who had hoped to be his wife. It had left him without a heart or
compassion but somehow this slight beautiful young woman had made him want to keep
her with him, to protect her to touch her.
After the first few pages, I wanted to skip a chapter or two
to see if I would be able to continue. Somehow the story took hold of me and
wouldn’t let go, wouldn’t let me try to bypass the picture it painted in my
mind, I held my breath and continued. In the end, I realized this was the perfect
beginning to capture my attention, to let the story tell itself in its own way.
It let me walk through the pages, to be a voyeur who could look and feel but
not touch. The darker elements a reader will encounter are psychological child l
abuse, sexual harassment of a child, loss of beloved parents, forced marriage, mafia
type enforcement, and death. There is light under it all trusted friends and
family, love and protection, characters who change for the better, friendships
made and a spicy romance that will outlive the ages. In my opinion this story
needed both to make it one I will never forget, share with others and return to
read again. Check this one out, read a
few pages but don’t let the first few chapters put you off, it is a grand
story.
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