RUIN & RULE – PURE CORRUPTION MC#1 by PEPPER WINTERS

“We met in a nightmare, loved in a prayer. We gave everything until both were laid bare.”

To say this lady is a phenomenal writer is an understatement. Pepper Winters awakened every one of our senses with the evocativeness of her words. We could see, hear, taste and touch every single stunning line she wrote, all the while making us the willing captives of her gripping and poetic prose.

Ruin & Rule was a cat and mouse story that had us trying to unravel conspiracy theories left, right and centre. This is set in a biker world where nothing is as it seems and where avaricious manipulative men vie for power. It’s a world where lies and treachery, secrecy and deceit reign supreme.

“I don’t’ know the word ‘decent.’ Life beat that godforsaken word out of me, along with the knowledge of forgiveness, gentleness, and right and wrong. “

Arthur “Kill” Killian is the current Prez of the Pure Corruption Biker Club. This man is shrouded in mystery from his past. He has a thirst for revenge and violence with vengeance and hatred running through his veins. He has a debt to settle and nothing will get in his way.

‘He had the manners of a gentleman all wrapped up in the cutthroat harshness of a criminal.’

Suffering amnesia, Sarah is a woman without a past who comes face to face with Kill when she unwittingly becomes part of a deal to be sold as a sex slave by the club. When Sarah first sees Kill, she feels an intense and unexplainable connection with him. There is something about his eyes; a recognition that sets off a trigger which sees her memory being recalled in small glimpses

“Don’t fear the truth around me….please don’t be afraid.”
“I’m more than afraid…I’m absolutely fucking terrified.”

Does Sarah know the unpredictable, violent Kill? Is he somehow a part of her past?  As Sarah’s memory starts to return we too learn her past as we relive it with her bit by bit. And so begins the journey of finding out who is who and what is what. Sarah’s scattered fragments of memory had us begging for more! We were eagerly awaiting those moments of realisation right along with her as we were drip fed the memories of the love she shared with a man she believes to be Kill.

‘I’d found him in my dreams and awoken to him in my nightmares.’

For Kill, this woman, who bears such a resemblance to the woman he had loved and lost eight years earlier, elicits painful memories he had left buried in the recesses of his heart. Who is this woman and was their meeting some kind of cruel trick? The pain, suffering and volatility of this man, who seemed to be holding on by a thread, could be felt through the pages.  He could be a right bastard, but he had loved a woman with all his heart and in the place of love, his heart had been blackened with pain and  the need for vengeance. Kill had become a heartless and fearless leader in Pure Corruption and seeing Sarah opens up old wounds  reminding him of the woman he had loved and lost and leaving him feeling vulnerable.

‘She made me want things I’d sworn never to want. She made me weak. She made me hate.’

There is no doubt about it, Pepper Winters captivated us with her writing; the execution was clever, the twists made our heads spin, the romance made our hearts race and the gripping end to this story left us open mouthed and needing the next book…now!  There were moments when felt the story tended to move a bit slowly and like Sarah we found ourselves getting frustrated and thinking…’just tell us’ but it all led to that crescendo that left us desperately wanting Sin & Suffer yesterday! Also, there  were times we were  left a tad confused at the somewhat choppy past/present jumps. But overall this book was a winner! For every answer there was a question and we loved that we were always kept on our toes in this engrossing, raw and passionate story!  We really loved this one and it’s safe to say we’ll be bumping up the other books we have on our Kindles from this very talented author!

 ‘Pain came in many forms. Loneliness. Betrayal. Sacrifice. But I’d found love to be the most painful of all. I was invincible when no other emotion controlled me. I was single-minded in my determination to deliver justice. I had a gift of blotting out the world.’