{"id":16411,"date":"2016-01-28T08:36:25","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T13:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=16411"},"modified":"2017-01-15T06:13:41","modified_gmt":"2017-01-15T11:13:41","slug":"review-rebel-dead-mans-ink-1-by-callie-hart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=16411","title":{"rendered":"Review: Rebel (Dead Man’s Ink, #1) by Callie Hart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\r\n <\/div><\/div>\n
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Review<\/strong><\/h3>\n

3.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a huge fan of Callie Hart\u2019s Blood & Roses<\/i><\/a> series, and I was so excited when she wrote a spinoff series that tells us the story of Rebel and his Sophia. These books are set before the Blood & Roses<\/i> series, and while you could read these books first, I\u2019d recommend starting with B&R<\/i>. The events of these books lead up to the main B&R<\/i> storyline, and contain spoilers for those books which I think would be best discovered as part of the original story. So be warned, this review will also be a little spoilery.<\/p>\n

Alexa is walking alone on a street one night when she witnesses a brutal murder. Terrified and traumatised, she is whisked away by the killers and soon finds herself in the hands of a dangerous cartel, renamed \u2018Sophia\u2019, and being sold to the highest bidder as a sex slave. The highest bidder just happens to be Rebel.<\/p>\n

Rebel is the President of the Widow Maker\u2019s Club, with a reputation as being a violent and ruthless badass, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. His reasons for buying Sophia aren\u2019t nefarious, but instead are all about vengeance, and it\u2019s clear from the very beginning that neither of them are what the other expected.<\/p>\n

Rebel makes an effort to put Sophia at ease and convince her that she is safe, and she surprises him with her bravery and her attitude. They find something in each other that they didn\u2019t realise they needed<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time, I see her. Fucking Sophia. I don\u2019t see her as a means to an end \u2026 I see her. I see her as a woman, and she is beautiful.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI can see into him, and I feel like I recognize him. Like he\u2019s the piece of me that\u2019s been missing all this time and I never even knew it.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This isn\u2019t a wham-bam-thankyou-ma\u2019am situation. There is a slow building sexual tension that simmers for most of the book as Rebel and Sophia get to know each other, and as they open up to each other, real feelings start to develop.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s staring at me, so intense and focused, as though I\u2019m the only thing he sees or cares about in this moment. I already know, deep down in my bones, that being looked at like that by him will be an addiction I won\u2019t be able to shake.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But it\u2019s all about the chemistry, and Rebel is a totally sexy dirty talker and oh, holy God, he\u2019s hot!!!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment you give yourself to me, it won\u2019t be because I\u2019ve bought you. It won\u2019t be because you\u2019re afraid of me, or because you want something in return. It\u2019ll be because you need me. Because you need me inside you. Because you can\u2019t stand this torture a second more. Then, you won\u2019t be afraid of what comes next. You\u2019ll be begging for it.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I really enjoyed this book. I loved being back in Callie\u2019s dark and dirty world, and I loved the chance to get to know these two characters better. Going into this book I wanted to know Alexa\u2019s motives for the decisions that she made, and I like that we got to experience her shift from total terror to acceptance (but still with a bit of fear) at her situation. But most importantly, I just wanted to get to know Rebel. He is such a complex character \u2013 a guy with a reputation as a ruthless badass, and though he\u2019s definitely an unforgiving outlaw, he is highly intelligent and has a huge heart underneath all of those tattoos. There are still questions I want answered, but I already feel like I have a better understanding of them as individuals, and their relationship, and I like where it\u2019s heading. This book finishes off just they get together, and with secrets about Rebel’s past revealed and things with the cartel heating up, there is a lot more story to come.<\/p>\n

While, for me, this book didn\u2019t have the intensity and \u2018holy shit this is awesome\u2019 feeling that I got while reading B&R<\/i>, I still really enjoyed it and I\u2019m looking forward to continuing on with the series.<\/p>\n

3.5 stars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dead Man’s Ink series<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Rebel (#1)<\/strong>
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Rogue (#2)<\/strong>
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Ransom (#3)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Dead Man’s Ink Boxset<\/strong>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Vice<\/strong> (Cade’s story)
\nA spin-off from Dead Man’s Ink
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

This series is a spin-off from the Blood & Roses<\/a> series<\/strong><\/h4>\n

See our Callie Hart Author Spotlight<\/a> for details on more books set in this world, and other work from this author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback Review 3.5 stars I\u2019m a huge fan of Callie Hart\u2019s Blood & Roses series, and I was so excited when she wrote a spinoff series that tells us the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,47,9,29],"tags":[140,573,48],"class_list":["post-16411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bikers","category-dark-gritty","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-callie-hart","tag-dead-mans-ink","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Rebel.jpg?fit=150%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-4gH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}