Reap (Scarred Souls #2) by Tillie Cole

Raised as a prototype for the Georgian Bratva's obedience drug, 221 fails to think, act, or live for himself; he's his master's perfectly-crafted killing puppet. Standing at six-foot-six, weighing two-hundred-and-fifty pounds, and unrivaled in to-the-death combat, 221 successfully secures business for the Georgian Mafiya Boss of NYC, who rules the dark world of the criminal underground. Until his enemies capture him.

Talia Tolstaia dreams to break from the heavy clutches of Bratva life. She dreams of another life--away from the stifling leash of her Russian Bratva Boss father and from the brutality of her work at The Dungeon, her criminal family's underground death-match enterprise. But when she stumbles upon her family's captive who is more monster than man, she starts to see the man underneath. A powerful, beautiful, damaged man whose heart calls to hers. But sacrifices must be made--blood for blood...life for life...souls for scarred souls...

Oh,man! I so wished for a cliffhanger!

I'll take a cliffhanger over a  rushed ending at any time! 

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I'm gonna start my review with the down sides of the story.

Oh, Talia, girl! What have you done? You are even more interesting than Kisa. Your beginning with Reap is unlikely to happen. I don't know...it's just that.... the first part of the book gave me an odd feeling that Talia was high on something and she imagined the entire steamy scene. 

Why was she portrayed as a desperate woman in heat? Why? I'm really having a problem with the lack of heroines in these books.Where are the strong, determined mob girls?

Not every day your brother brings home a prisoner (who happens to be your family's worst enemy) and locks him up into the basement .Not every day you decide to rebel against all of your bodyguards , your morals and rules and go down into that basement and sexually molest a dangerous criminal.

All jokes aside.

You just lost me.

You lost me when Talia decided to go visit the stranger and her guards told her not to, but she did convinced them in the end as long as the surveillance cameras were on. Yet , Talia switched them off and took her time to clean up Reap, stroke him , wash his hair and try to communicate with him as humans. It took a while, no? 

The guards were so worried that they...did nothing. They didn't bother to go check on Talia and see if she is ok, because she was in a room with a monster controlled by a serum and God knows what other mixed drugs. They just had a disapproval frown on their faces when Talia got back up stairs. 

Or maybe their disapproval wasn't because Talia turned off the cameras. Maybe they 

had another camera hidden somewhere and they saw the whole thing. ..those sick bastards.  

I wonder if Talia remembered to switch off the cameras the second time when she and Reap....

Some parts of the story just don't make any sense to me.

I easily understood Kisa and Luka's bond but I can't feel any connection between Zaal and Talia. Nothing beside physical attraction . Feelings and emotions are starting to build up only after the drama ends. That is how I felt. She mentioned his broad shoulders and long thick....,you know, far too many times.

And speaking of Kisa and Luka (because, yes, their story continues) Luka feels trapped , he can't find peace, he can't find his place, he loves Kisa and doesn't want to disappoint her, but the truth is that he feels caged, trapped in this marriage. He is not happy at all. 

And , my God, I slapped Kisa far too many times in my mind. You cannot expect a man to turn into a prince and behave like one when he was raised as an animal. Someone tell me that she didn't expected THAT to happen over night.

Luka was having a hard time fighting his two personas , he felt more like Raze than Luka, fighting and killing was all he knew. And every time he was fighting his rage and frustrations off, Kisa was like :

No wonder why Raze was so unhappy.

But Kisa is a smart girl and she finally understood that if she truly loves him she will  have to let Luka be Raze and cut the leash off. Kuddos to her! 

Now, who is 221? You're in for a big surprise. Finally Luka, I mean Raze, is able to  keep his promise to his only friend, the one who freed him from hell. The rest is up to you to discover.

So why it deserves 4 stars when I made such a long rant about it?

Because long rants are a good sign. Because it means that the story got my attention and put me on an emotional roller coaster . I'll admit that if it wasn't for Reap's intriguing background the rating would have been lower. It saved this book , both Reap and Raze saved the story.

In conclusion :  it was an enjoyable reading despite my annoyance with the female characters. 

I'm ready for the  next Scarred Souls  book !

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Raze (Scarred Souls #1) by Tillie Cole

To take back life, one must first face death...

One man stripped of his freedom, his morals...his life.

Conditioned in captivity to maim, to kill and to slaughter, prisoner 818 becomes an unremorseful, unrivaled and unstoppable fighter in the ring. Violence is all he knows. Death and brutality are the masters of his fate.

After years of incarceration in an underground hell, only one thought occupies his mind: revenge...bloody, slow and violent revenge.

Revenge on the man who lied.

Revenge on the man who wronged him.

Revenge on the man who condemned him and turned him into this: a rage-fueled killing machine. A monster void of humanity; a monster filled with hate.

And no one will stand in the way of getting what he wants.

One woman stripped of her freedom, her morals...her life.

Kisa Volkova is the only daughter of Kirill ‘The Silencer’ Volkov, head of the infamous ‘Triad’ bosses of New York's Russian Bratva. Her life is protected. In reality, it’s a virtual prison. Her father’s savage treatment of his rivals and his lucrative and coveted underground gambling ring—The Dungeon—ensures too many enemies lurk at their door. 

She dreams to be set free.

Kisa has known only cruelty and loss in her short life. As manager of her father’s death match enterprise, only grief and pain fill her days. Her mafia boss father, in her world, rules absolute. And her fiancé, Alik Durov, is no better; the Dungeon’s five-time champion, a stone-cold killer, the treasured son of her father’s best friend, and her very own—and much resented—personal guard. Unrivaled in both strength and social standing, Alik controls every facet of Kisa’s life, dominates her every move; keeps her subdued and dead inside...then one night changes everything. 

While working for her church—the only reprieve in her constant surveillance—Kisa stumbles across a tattooed, scarred, but stunningly beautiful homeless man on the streets. Something about him stirs feelings deep within her; familiar yet impossibly forbidden desires. He doesn’t talk. Doesn’t communicate with anyone. He’s a man beyond saving, and a man she must quickly forget...for both their sakes. 

But when weeks later, out of the blue and to her complete surprise, he’s announced as the replacement fighter in The Dungeon, Kisa knows she’s in a whole lot of trouble. He’s built, ripped and lethally unforgiving to his opponents, leaving fear in his wake and the look of death in his eyes. 

Kisa becomes obsessed with him. Yearns for him. Craves his touch. Needs to possess this mysterious man...this man they call Raze.

The blurb of the book sums up pretty much the story.

I've purchased a total of 6  books from Tillie Cole all of them recommended by my readers. If the rest of the 5  are as good as this one, then I will proudly add a new  favorite author on my list ! I'm high on emotions right now, where do I even begin with this one?! 

This book is a twisted , dark one and its not for the fainted hearts!

The characters (except Kisa) were so real and raw, the plot was so insanely extreme and sick!

The plot twist was kind of predictable , but very enjoyable !

My only little problem was with Kisa, she was too passive for her own good. She  is the Bratva princess, daddy's little girl , she knows that her father is ready to kill whoever lays one finger on Kisa or mistreat her in any way- yet she is struck into an abusive relationship and keeps getting raped by Alik. She never loved Alik, in fact he was abusive his entire life and she feared him ever since they were kids. Something was off with him and Kisa was aware of it the entire time. Then  again something might be off with Kisa too.

 She could escape but she chose not to until Raze showed up. She is just going with the flow.Very weak as a character.

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