Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Review: A Pound of Flesh, by Sophie Jackson


Synopsis
Orange Is the New Black meets Jennifer Probst’s New York Times bestselling Marriage to a Billionaire trilogy, featuring a strong-minded prison tutor who discovers that her sexy bad-boy student is far more than he appears to be.

Haunted by nightmares of her father’s street murder fifteen years ago, Kat Lane decides to face her fears and uphold his legacy of helping others by teaching inmates at a New York prison. There she meets arrogant Wesley Carter, who’s as handsome as he is dangerous, as mysterious as he is quick-witted, and with a reputation that ensures people will keep their distance.

As teacher and student, Kat and Carter are forced to leave their animosities at the door and learn that one should never judge a book by its cover. As Carter’s barriers begin to crumble, Kat realizes there’s much more to her angry student than she thought, leaving them to face a new, perilous obstacle: their undeniable attraction to one another.

When Carter is released and Kat continues to tutor him on the outside, the obstacles mount. Can they fight the odds to make their relationship work? Will Kat’s family and friends ever accept her being with someone of his background? And will Kat’s discovery of Carter’s role on the night her father died force them apart forever...or unite them?


Review
5 out of 5 stars

This is one of those books where the title alone drove me to request this book without even reading the synopsis.  When the ARC finally arrived on my Kindle I dove into the story knowing very little about what I was about to read.  What an awesome surprise to be whisked away on such an incredible journey.  A Pound of Flesh is the epitome of what I would consider a romance novel.  I literally couldn't have asked for anything more when the last page was turned and I am so nervous the next book I read won't live up to the quality of this story.  Sophie Jackson has set a truly high bar.


Since the night of her father's death Kat Lane has been searching for a way to fulfill a promise she made to him of giving back to society.  It's in teaching inmates at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility she finally finds her purpose while also facing some of her deepest fears.  Unfortunately she is met with little support from her mother and her friends who worry this isn't the best place for her to be spending time.  Wes Carter, an inmate who not only challenges Kat but whom she also finds herself inexplicably drawn to, could just possibly be the one who can help Kat move on from her past but what will happen when the truth of Carter's past is finally brought to light?

When I first started this book I found it hard hearing the story from a narrative voice.  Many of the books I read are told from the male/female perspectives, but in this story it is as if you are a silent third party observer.  To be honest I wasn't sure I liked the narrative dialogue, but the more I read and the further into the story I got I realized this was the absolute perfect way to tell this story because it allowed me to assess the characters and the emotions of their situations without bias while still providing an accurate picture of exactly what was going on.

A Pound of Flesh is a love story but it's also so much more.  It's about watching two broken people face their fears, find healing and forgiveness while becoming the person they were always meant to be.  It's about paying debt, and I'm not talking money, and fighting for the person who is your soulmate.  It may have started out as a forbidden romance but it's obvious fate put these two on course for one another many years earlier.  Kat and Carter's story from start to finish is perfectly paced without any ridiculous or unnecessary drama, the things these two face feel like real obstacles and they handle them as a team, as adults who know what they want and work together to make their dreams come true.  Warning, this story is addictive, it will consume you and when you finish you will have a book hangover, but isn't that what we all want when we pick up a book?  To be completely satisfied in the telling of a beautiful story.  Don't think about it, just one-click A Pound of Flesh, you won't regret your decision!

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