DEN OF VIPERS

  

Ryder, Garrett, Kenzo, and Diesel—The Vipers.

 

They run this town and everyone in it. Their deals are as sordid as their business, and their reputation is enough to bring a grown man to his knees, forcing him to beg for mercy. They are not people you mess with, yet my dad did. The old man ran up a debt with them and then sold me to cover his losses.

Yes, sold me.

 

They own me now.

 

I’m theirs in every sense of the word. But I’ve never been meek and compliant. These men, they look at me with longing. Their scarred, blood-stained hands holding me tight. They want everything I am, everything I have to give, and won’t stop until they get just that. They can own my body, but they will never have my heart.

 

The Vipers? I’m going to make them regret the day they took me.

 

This girl? She bites too.

 

 

QUICK INSIGHT

 

Author: K.A. Knight

Genre: Romantic Suspense / Erotica

Traditional or Self-Pub: Self-Pub

Pages: 643

Cover art: 3/5

Cover by: Celin Graphics

Overall Reading Experience: 2/5

Trigger Warning: Violent sex scenes featuring questionable consent.

First 5 Chapters: Not going to lie. I was on the edge of my seat curious as to see where this story would take me. Roxxane is self-reliant and hell bent on setting herself free after she’s sold to the mob in return for forgiving her father’s debt. I totally was rooting for her to be the destruction of her kidnappers, but that quickly changed after five chapters in. 

Reasons to keep reading: Spicy scenes. And what I mean is this book is 95% rated R spicy scenes. 

Get it Here: Den of Vipers

 

WRITING!

First off, the plot, that was hardly there, was trickled in between tons of sex scenes. And when the plot tried to seep back in it seemed forced, or in better words made me cringe. 

Second, were the characters British or American? At first Roxxane starts off with American lingo and then randomly she starts to say knickers, cuppa, and whatnot. This just shows poor character background and character development as well as reflects the consistency in the book, or lack thereof. 

And lastly the monologues! Oh how did they repeat the same thing over and over again, but in different POVs. This drove me nuts. I got so used to skimming and searching for the good bits.

 

 

HOT or NOT?

 

In some ways this book was hot. Mainly the rated R scenes, but it also felt so wrong to read as there were some violent acts being played out. And I believe there isn’t a warning in the beginning. 

Roxxane, the main female lead, disappointed me in several ways. She endured so much childhood abuse from her father only to get kidnapped because of her father’s debt. But instead of overcoming her abusive background and escaping, she falls into new and more toxic relationships. 

Which brings up another issue I had with this book: consent. After she engages in violent sexual activity with one of her kidnappers, they later discuss it, and the guy says “Well, did you say no?”

This rubbed me all kinds of wrong, as you don’t verbally have to say no for it not be considered rape. And if I remember correctly in the scene where they were engaging in this type of activity, she never once said ‘no’ or ‘yes’, instead she threw punches and kicked and basically fought against the guy. While, yes, since we are in her POV in this scene we know the activity she’s participating in does turn her on and she mentally gives consent, this doesn’t mean she ever actually gave the guy her consent. And I think punching usually means ‘no.’

Also, I was expecting A LOT more from Roxxane. From the moment she is kidnapped she is threatening that they will regret ever taking her away from her life. But yet she gives into their lifestyle. Honestly, I was expecting a badass female, which she is, to make all four brothers fall in love with her and then use that to her advantage and kill them all to take over the mobster empire. THAT would be a better book than the one I read. Instead she falls in love with all four brothers. 

Speaking of the brothers, one of them, named Diesel, is certifiably insane. He loves killing and slicing for fun. Someone looks at him wrong, BAM, murdered. But yet it’s excused because of the mobster lifestyle he is in and of course because he had a terrible childhood and this is how he copes which makes it okay. Right? But not only does he like slicing and dicing, he loves it during sexual activity which Roxxane participates in. Which makes me feel so wrong for reading these parts.

Kenzo, I would say he’s the least problematic of the brothers but he was the one that thinks consent is anything as long as you are not saying no.

Ryder, he was one of the better brothers. His only role was being the face of the mobsters. And I did like the spicy scene with him. 

And Lastly Garrett, again he didn’t really have anything wrong with him except his crazy ex girlfriend. 

I would have rated this book less than what I did, but I really wanted to commend the author for keeping so intrigued that I stayed till the last page. 

 

As always, I do recommend forming your own opinion, so there is a direct link to the book up above. And I always welcome feedback on my own critique as I’m not always right.