Author: Penelope Douglas
Release Date: November 17, 2015
Organized by: As the Pages Turn
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
I was told that dreams were our heart’s desires. My nightmares, however, became my obsession.
His name is Michael Crist.
My boyfriend’s older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He is handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me.
But I noticed him.
I saw him. I heard him. The things that he did, and the deeds that he hid…For years, I bit my nails, unable to look away.
Now, I’ve graduated high school and moved on to college, but I haven’t stopped watching Michael. He’s bad, and the dirt I’ve seen isn’t content to stay in my head anymore.
Because he’s finally noticed me.
Her name is Erika Fane, but everyone calls her Rika.
My brother’s girlfriend grew up hanging around my house and is always at our dinner table. She looks down when I enter a room and stills when I am close. I can always feel the fear rolling off of her, and while I haven’t had her body, I know that I have her mind. That’s all I really want anyway.
Until my brother leaves for the military, and I find Rika alone at college.
In my city.
Unprotected.
The opportunity is too good to be true as well as the timing. Because you see, three years ago she put a few of my high school friends in prison, and now they’re out.
We’ve waited. We’ve been patient. And now every last one of her nightmares will come true.
***Corrupt is stand-alone dark erotica
I enjoyed the fright of not knowing what was coming and from where.
“When we used to wear the masks,” Michael said, dropping his voice to a near whisper, “you liked it, didn’t you? It scared you, but it turned you on.”
I raised my hesitant eyes and tried not to let out a laugh. What was I supposed to say? That the fact that they’d looked like monsters got me hot?
I shook my head clear and stood up, saying in a quiet voice. “I’m going to bed.”
I grabbed my phone and took a step, but Michael’s voice stopped me.
“Come here,” he said softly.
I turned my head, narrowing my eyes. Come here?
He sat up, resting his forearms on his knees and waiting, while I shifted on my feet.
He was always playing games. I didn’t trust him.
But the temptation to engage was too great. He was right. I was getting good at it, and I kind of liked it, too.
I took slow steps, holding up my chin to steel myself.
When I reached him, he placed a hand on my hip and pulled me in between his legs. I gasped as he fell back against the sofa again, pulling me in with him. I shot my hands out, planting them on both sides of his head on the back of the couch, keeping myself upright as I leaned into him.
“Say it,” he breathed out, holding my hips with both hands now. “It turned you on.”
I closed my mouth and shook my head, looking down at him with a challenge.
“I know it did,” he maintained, a fire in his eyes. “Did you think I couldn’t see how tense your body would get or how your nipples got hard through your shirt when you saw me wearing it? You’re a little twisted. Admit it.”
I folded my lips between my teeth, turning my head away.
But then he tipped his chin up and caught my nipple between his teeth through my tank top, and I closed my eyes, letting out a small cry.
Oh, God!
The heat of his mouth swooped into my stomach as he released my nipple and then snatched it up again, dragging it out between his teeth.
“I’ve got the mask upstairs,” he taunted, kissing and nibbling on me through my shirt. “I can get it if you want me to.”
No. No, I wasn’t like that.
I pushed away from him, but he held me firm.
“Michael, let me go.”
But then I felt my phone vibrate in my hand, and I quickly glanced at the screen, seeing no name with the number. Reading the number, though, I noticed that it was his mother’s. That’s strange. I thought I had her number saved in my Contacts.
But I let it go, remembering that my mom was with her. I needed to take this call.
Planting my fists on Michael’s chest, I shoved him away. “Get off me. Your mom’s calling.”
All he did was laugh, though, and my face fell.
He grabbed my arm and threw me down onto my stomach and came down on my back, pinning me to the couch.
I breathed hard and fast, feeling his cock press against my ass as he snatched my phone out of my hand.
I stared wide-eyed as he placed it a few inches in front of me, his finger hovering over the green Answer button.
“Michael, no,” I rushed out, panic making my lungs ache.
But he swiped the screen anyway. The ringing stopped, and I heard silence as she waited for me to say something.
“Say hi,” he whispered in my ear.
This is one of those books that will wow and awe. It made my jaw drop, it made me quire, it made me uncomfortable. But I have to say that's what made it wholly magnificent. Corrupt is in its roots dark gritty, and flat out nasty. There are lines crossed and I will admit, at times I almost wanted to stop reading. However, this author is one near and dear to my reader heart and I knew she wouldn't let me down. And she didn't by any stretch of the imagination. She quite simply took her readers on the scenic and terrifying route to the end. However, that made it thrilling, and my heart rate and blood pressure will proabably never be the same.
Corrupt is one of those books that you have zero idea about what is coming at you. I mean NONE. You think you know, but there there's about a million twists, and you feel like you're in wonderland with hot guys and a woman that finds her guts and stands up for herself. Erika is my kinda of heroine. She may seem meek and timid, but you push her just enough and she's going to come back at you like a bulldozer. Then there's Michael. I spent equal time hating and loving this man. By then end there was obviously a bit more love involved, because holy hell does this guy know how to redeem himself, but he almost lost me a few times. As for the other guys, I'm still on the fence. I hope and pray there will be more stories to shed light on them. I have a vivid pro/con list in my mind for Will, Kai and Damon, and with one wrong move they could settle permanently in one column.
Corrupt is a whirlwind that will leave you head spinning for days to come. But in all of its dizzying spell binding there is a one of a kind, superb story that will leave you breathless. This is without a doubt a MUST READ!
Happy Reading!
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for and honest review*
Meet Penelope:
Penelope Douglas is a writer and teacher in Las Vegas. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she is the oldest of five children. Penelope attended the University of Northern Iowa, earning a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, because her father told her to "just get the degree!" She then earned a Masters of Science in Education at Loyola University in New Orleans, because she hated Public Administration. One night, she got tipsy and told the bouncer at the bar where she worked that his son was hot, and three years later they were married. To the son, not the bouncer. They have spawn, but just one. A daughter named Aydan. Penelope loves sweets, the show Sons of Anarchy, and she shops at Target almost daily.
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