Lords of Mercy by Angel Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I came back to Forsyth and agreed to be their Lady for two reasons: protection and revenge.
I put up with the abuse, the degradation, the humiliation, and bided my time. I wanted vengeance and I took it. The Lords give as good as they get and the consequences were fierce, but there’s one truth when it comes to Killian, Dimitri and Tristian.
They keep what’s theirs.
They wanted to break me, but instead, they molded me into their perfect weakness. They fought for me. Bled for me. Championed for me. I was put through the gauntlet and came out stronger. I earned the title of Lady.
Then they became my weakness.
I agreed to sleep under their roof, but on my terms. No more rules, no more punishments, no cameras or dress codes or sneaking into my bedroom. In return, I’ll give them a chance to earn the title of Lord.
Building trust takes time, but with all the threats nipping at our heels, that’s a luxury we don’t have. We have to rely on one another despite our complicated pasts—to find a murderer, a stalker, and a traitor.
This new life of pain, wrath, and mercy is a confusing maze of twists and turns. Fortunately for us, there will always be one fixed constant, guiding us home:
The Royal we.
WARNING: This book is a DARK/BULLY romance. It contains graphic content that some readers may be particularly sensitive to. If you have triggers or are even remotely unsure, please heed the note at the beginning of this book.
Lords of Mercy
Best of the three books, but the trilogy was too long in general!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🤎🖤💜💚❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: ☺️🥲😚🥰
The heroine: Story Austin – she is the “Lady” to the Lords of Forsyth University. Traditionally being the Lady means the girl will basically do anything the Lords want her to. She has basically signed away her free will for the time that she is the Lady. Though now, Story has enacted her own demands. She has agreed to stay the Lady, and live with the three Lords, but under her own terms. Which means no more punishments, no more cameras in her room, no more stepbrother coming into her room each night and watching her sleep. Sex has to be on her terms when she is ready and willing.
The Heroes: Killian “Killer” Payne, Tristian Mercer, and Dimitri “Rath” Rathbone – They are the Lords of Forsyth University, they are powerful and manipulative.
Killian – He is the stepbrother of Story and is the QB of the football team at Forsyth. He likes to spend his nights in Story’s room, taking advantage of her in her sleep.
Tristan – He is a tan, blond, blue-eyed hunk of a man who shows a charming façade to the world, while inside he is able to plan and scheme with the best. He likes to know what Story is doing at all times, watching her through video feeds, making sure she is always safe and taking care of her.
Rath – He is a music major, who was humiliated by Story in a revenge plot, he is also dark and broody, ruled by his emotions. He is also dangerous and calculating. He can be sweet and gentle one minute and devious the next. He loves to manipulate, and he gave up something to rescue Story from a bad situation.
The Story: Story and the guys have gotten to the bottom of some of their problems, especially those with her stepfather who turned out to basically be a human trafficker, but they still don’t know who Ted, her stalker really is. I liked all these characters quite a bit in the two previous books, though I was hoping the guys would stop bullying Story and that all of them would start working as a team a lot earlier in this trilogy. This book was the one where they all came together so I was excited to get to this point in the story. Though it didn’t start right away in this book either, they were already moving that way.
I do like the way that Story had these three guys chomping at the bit with her new rules and terms. They were roaming the house like caged beasts, while they were waiting for her to be ready to let them back in. Just the thought of these three tough guys who at one point just wanted to use her, now were basically going crazy waiting for her to give them a bit of attention is so awesome. I loved the way she took back her power!
“You use your body every day to get ahead, be it out on the field, or over in South Side, muscling your way around, showing off your tattoos, trying to look so big and tough. But you—all three of you—look down your noses the second a woman tries to do it.” Shaking her head, she gives a low, humorless laugh. “God, you’re all unbearable hypocrites.”
I hated the fact that the Lords and their Lady were still under the thumb of the Kings, especially Killian’s father Daniel who was about the biggest piece of trash and someone I would never want to meet in a dark alley. Though I have to admit, it did make things interesting for a good part of the book.
There were a few differences in this book than in the last few. For one, the guys called Story “little sister” quite a lot, since she was Killian’s stepsister. They didn’t do that nearly as much in the first two books, and I am not sure I liked that as a nickname. Also, this book was much funnier than the other two. I swear I was highlighting so many funny passages, I had to stop myself. I liked that the guys were so protective of Story, but also that she was a badass on her own as well.
Though I did like this book the best of the three, I think the total trilogy was just a bit too much for me and I was ready to be done with the story of these individuals. The first book was 350+ pages, the second was over 400 and this one was well over 500 pages. That is just too much for me. I found myself taking my time with this one and doing other things in between like watching television, which is unusual for me when reading a book. It totally wasn’t because this one didn’t have great storylines, just my overall boredom with the characters. I don’t think I want to start in on the next set of characters for a while. Though I do want to eventually see what happens between Pretty Nick and Lavinia Lucia.
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