Tales-of-a-bookworm23: Elite Bratva Brotherhood Series

Showing posts with label Elite Bratva Brotherhood Series. Show all posts

Friday, May 3, 2019

Debase Review

Debase by Rachel Van Dyken

Synopsis: Provided by Goodreads

From #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Rachel Van Dyken, comes the final book in the Eagle Elite Series and the first new book in the Elite Bratva Brotherhood...

With blood on my hands, I held her.
With death in my soul, I took from her.
With the devil in my heart, I coveted her.

There're many definitions of Hell.
My list was exhaustive, my definitions tragic.
Tonight I was adding something new to the very top.
Girl number six thirty-two.

She arrived on my birthday, the same day, every year, I play Russian Roullete and pull the trigger.
She was my omen.
My end game.
She made it personal.
And for the first time in my life, I gave in.
A virgin mob boss with no soul.

My name is Andrei Petrov.
They call me the devil.
All I want is for the pain to end.
All she wants is for me to share it.

I am the last remaining heir to a dynasty that should burn in Hell.
And my last wish remains for it to die with me.

My Review:

Rating: 4 Stars

I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is the last book of the Eagle Elite series and the first book in the Elite Bratva Brotherhood Series. This book follows Andrei, the Russian Mob boss who works along side the Italians. This book was darker than the others and as Rachel grows as a writer, her books show that. I was hesitant to start this, because when I was reading the Eagle Elite series I was not a huge fan of Andrei. Rachel changed that. She creates these characters that you think are just jerks and shows the broken pieces of them that make you fall in love and want to protect. If you read Phoenix's book, Andrei is very similar to Phoenix with how broken he is. Seeing the trauma that Andrei went through I understood why he was the way he was and how much he hated that part of him. I love that the Italian men we have come to love play a big role in this book and even though it is the start of a new series I would highly suggest reading the Eagle Elite Series before you start this one to help you understand why they hate the DeLanges and just getting to know the Italian men. Andrei's friendship with the Italian men is hilarious and adds a lightness to this book that was needed.

Now the romance. The romance is not sugar coated, it's raw and real. "That's the thing about love. We don't fall in love with the perfect person; we fall in love despite a person's imperfections." Neither Alice nor Andri are perfect, but they are perfect for each other. Alice goes into the relationship with Andrei knowing that he is a beast and not a good guy. I'm glad Rachel didn't write Alice with her eyes closed to all the evils of the world because if she did Alice would not be the right woman for Andrei. Their relationship is intense and at times frustrating.

Overall, this was a great start to a new series and I can't wait to see where Rachel takes all these characters. She has set up the next book perfectly and I am excited to see what she has in store for everyone.

Debase Excerpt

Excerpt:

I slid my tongue into her mouth. I tasted, I took, I was greedy with each kiss. With blood on my
hands, I held her.
With death in my soul, I drank from her.
With the devil in my heart, I coveted her.
I wanted closer.
More.
My gloves felt too hot for my hands.
My hands too big to contain the weeping leather as I pulled away from Alice and stared into her
big blue eyes.
“You don’t want this,” I whispered.
She bit down on her swollen lip and reached for me, I stood still as her warm hands touched both
of my cheeks. “Lie.”
I let out a hiss of air at her touch. “Walk. Away.”
“Kiss me again.”

“I can’t do that.” I needed to stop doing that.
“Can’t or won’t?”
I told myself one more kiss, one more touch. I told myself it would be okay, that I was still in
control.
That I was above this.
That no woman had ever owned me.
No woman had ever taken everything.
My chest heaved as I stared at her mouth, unable to move, completely rooted to the floor.
Alice moved her hands to my jeans and slowly unbuttoned them. I didn’t stop her, I needed to
fucking stop her, but it was like I’d drank this paralyzing poison from her lips and couldn’t function,
could only watch her as my soul floated above my body, mocking my inaction, telling me that this would be the end of me.
The very end.
Letting her in.
Keeping her there.
I would give her everything.
And then I would lose control.
Lose my mind.
Lose my heart.
I would lose.
So would she.
“Alice…” My voice cracked. “I wish…” Her hands stilled on my jeans like she was ready to pull
them down. “I can’t. I wish I could. I can’t.”
How could she possibly understand?
How could I explain the gut-wrenching fear of looking in the mirror and knowing that one choice
kept me sane. One choice.
And that was sex.
He’d made that choice.
I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t.
I couldn’t trust myself, couldn’t trust it wouldn’t happen to me too, and hurt someone like her.

Someone so very… perfect.
Without blinking, Alice gripped my jeans, indecision etched on every pretty part of her face.
She was beautiful.
So damn beautiful.
I gripped her wrists with my hands and pulled them away from the very real temptation of getting
completely naked and sinking into her, feeling her clench around me, her tight heat.
Shit.
I pulled her into my arms, and she rested her head on my shoulder. Just because I couldn’t let her
touch me, couldn’t cross that line, didn’t mean I couldn’t make her happy, I would kill to watch her face in the throes of multiple orgasms.
I quickly gripped her by the hips and put her up on the cold granite countertop.
“Andrei what are you doing?” She looked down at me uncertainty in her blue eyes.
I moved my hands to her ass and pulled down the black leggings she’d been wearing, all the way
down to her ankles, right along with a pair of lacy underwear that were bright pink, and perfect.
“Andrei?”
“Yes?”
“Seriously, what are you doing?”
I gripped her knees with my hands and then spread them wide. “What’s it look like I’m doing?” I
smirked. “I’m feasting.”
Her eyes widened.
Never underestimate a virgin with an extremely vivid imagination and heightened sexual appetite.
I wasn’t a fucking monk.
I would like to think I knew more than most men, because I’d seen it all, watched it, inadvertently
studied it.
If someone gave me a diagram of a woman, I could point out over twenty-two ways to get her off
— with my tongue, a feather, my fingers, take your pick.
“You don’t have to—” She let out a gasp, gripping the edge of the granite, turning her hands
white.
I chuckled darkly against her right thigh and bit. “I’m sorry, what was that? I don’t have to?”
“I’ve never, nobody has ever… done. This.”
“Tell me,” I asked gently before I dipped my tongue inside her and flicked.

Her entire body jerked.
“Tell me he never touched you like this, tell me nobody has ever touched you like this.”
“Never,” she rasped. “You.” That word was like a gunshot going off in my soul. “Only you,
Andrei.”
“Me.” I flicked my tongue again, and gripped her by the ass, pulling her almost completely off
the counter while I sat beneath her and sucked her off in the most primitive aggressive way I knew how.
With every ounce of energy I had in my physical body.
With my soul.
I used every weapon in my arsenal.