My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I never claimed to be a good girl, but I definitely never asked for this.
Killian, Tristian, and Rath.
These three men are a part of my past–one that I’d rather never look in the eye again. In high school, they knew my secrets and I knew theirs. They had power and I had nothing. The night everything fell apart, my stepbrother allowed his two best friends to take their rage out on me while he watched. While they laughed.
But what happened that night wasn’t my biggest secret. So I ran, planning on never coming back.
Three years later I’m standing on their doorstep like a stray. They’re more powerful than ever now, having risen to the rank of Lords at Forsyth University. But I’m still on the run and there’s another monster chasing me down.
What could bring me back into their lives, their homes, and ultimately, their beds?
Fear.
Shame.
Desperation.Killian, Rath, and Tristian aren’t the only ones who want me. There’s someone far more dangerous out there who’s been stalking me since I left town the first time. Someone who makes the evil I know feel less dangerous than the evil I don’t.
But being their Lady is more than just fancy clothes and reputation.
I might be under their protection, but I’m also at their mercy.
And there’s nothing a Lord loves more than taking control.
Lords of Pain
Terrifically dark and twisty!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🤎🖤💜💙
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: ☺️🥲😚🥰😳
The heroine: Story Austin – she lived in a small two-bedroom apartment on the wrong side of town until her mother married Daniel Payne and moved them into a seven thousand square foot mansion. She also had to deal with a stepbrother who wanted nothing to do with Story and wanted her to stay away from him and his friends. Until one day when he and his two friends had been drinking and caught her in the laundry room and used her for their own entertainment. Story had already had an escape plan, she had wanted to run away because of other problems she was having, this just upped her timeline, and she was able to talk her mom and stepdad into sending her to boarding school.
The Heroes: Killian “Killer” Payne, Tristian Mercer, and Dimitri “Rath” Rathbone – They were kings of their high school and three years later are now Lords at Forsyth University.
Killian – stepbrother to Story, he is now star quarterback of the Forsyth University football team. He has a bit of a deviant in him and likes to give a little pain to get off with a girl. Something is off about him; he might be a sociopath and is definitely dangerous.
Tristan – he puts on a charming façade. Girls think he is sweet and nice and can’t see the brutality behind his mask.
Rath – he’s dark and quiet and into the music scene at college. He is ruled by his emotions, temperamental and fierce but also cool and calculating.
“The Dukes have their Duchess. The Counts have their Countess. Even the Princes have their Princess. We’re dragging ass with finding a Lady. Makes us look weak, Killer.”
The Story: Lords are the highest tier fraternity on campus and the most infamous. Each year all the frats on campus play a vicious game full of different challenges for points and the Lords always win. There is a lot riding on the games such as careers, big money and reputation. The Lords also get a Lady that is hand selected by the previous year’s winners.
Killian, Tristan and Rath planned to take over the Lords by senior year and they did it by the time they were juniors. They got a killer brownstone with individual rooms, a personal assistant, a housekeeper and cook. Now all they needed was a Lady. Though the Princes treat their Princess like she was made of glass, the Lords are not so delicate with their Lady
“A female college student is hand-picked to live in the house and provide for our needs—all of our needs—as we see fit. In return, she gets special status on campus, free room and board, and the badge of honor of surviving a year with the most merciless guys on campus. It takes a special kind of woman to handle a Lord. It takes even more to handle three of them—especially when those Lords are Killian, Tristian, and Rath.”
Little did the guys know, that the one girl all of them had never stopped thinking about was one of the applicants for their Lady. She was back and this time she was desperate. Story was running from a stalker that found her online, then found her in real life, sending her emails, messages, photos, videos and gifts that grew more menacing, obsessive and disturbing at her lack of response. When she finally ran away and he still found her, she figured that the Lords were her only chance to be protected.
What Story doesn’t know is that the Lords have started a new game. Since they won the game with all the Frats, they now have a new game between themselves, and it involves Story. This is the perfect setup for a bully romance. Though I have to say I really liked how much Killer wants Story. He thought of her as his from the first time they met and was playing a long game with her when she suddenly left, and he has a lot of rage about it all. The guys play a lot of mind games with Story throughout the book.
I actually like all the characters in this book. They all have their own issues that they are dealing with and are all realistic individuals. Though the guys are definitely using Story and playing a game with her emotions, there are parts of them that are good, and Story does often call them on their crap. I also like the fact that they are ready to stand by her and protect her when they are out in public. The story got extremely interesting in the last quarter and of course, it ended on the edge of a cliff. I can’t wait to read the next book.
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