Wednesday, June 10, 2015

BOOK REVIEW - A Pound of Flesh by Sophie Jackson


A Pound of Flesh by Sophie Jackson
Synopsis –
Lose your heart to your new bad boy book boyfriend. Wes Carter - sexy, edgy, behind bars, with emotional scars as permanent as the ink on his skin, just waiting to be healed by love...
Fans of Samantha Young, Jodi Ellen Malpas, Jamie McGuire, Katy Evans and Prison Break will find this powerful love story utterly addictive and unforgettable.
Their love is forbidden. But won't be denied... Can true love heal the deepest scars?
For Kat Lane, teaching inmates at a New York prison is her way of upholding the legacy of her beloved father, murdered fifteen years ago. But when new student Wes Carter walks into her classroom, she's shaken by the strength of her attraction to him. Carter is as handsome as he is dangerous, as mysterious as he is quick-witted - and he ensures people keep their distance. Yet vibrant Kat bypasses his defences and challenges him to reveal the real man behind the intimidating reputation. As their emotional barriers crumble, their inescapable but forbidden feelings cannot be ignored. But will Kat's discovery of Carter's role on the night her father died force them apart...or bind their hearts for ever?
A Pound of Flesh is a tale of loyalty, redemption and all-consuming love against the odds, introducing an irresistible bad boy hero...



KLAIRE'S REVIEW 

The cover to A Pound of Flesh initially drew me towards this great looking read, flip up the synopsis and it piqued my interest even more. I was so ready for something different, something unique, and something that would hold my attention. This didn’t exactly disappoint and threw into the mix that coveted book boyfriend title. I don’t have them, but I know many do and I don’t hesitate to add that Carter will undoubtedly become one very quickly. 
At 50 odd % this was looking to be a stellar 5 star read for me, however by the time I had finished and thought about plot lines, characters and other such things I realised it wasn’t quite at the 5 star mark. I say that with a heavy heart as this book really is good, in fact it’s brilliant but one or two things let it down in the end. I’m going to start with those negatives then rave about the rest later.
There’s a taboo element in here, the teacher/student one but it’s one that is a little more unconventional that what we would normally read. It steps out the box a little in its genre, however, taboo it is. Wes Carter is an inmate, doing time for a crime he took the blame for. Kat Lane teaches inmates at the correctional facility, her pound of flesh she promised her father the night he was murdered. Here’s the taboo element, she signed a non-fraternization clause in her contract. Clearly the pair starts something that they can’t stop and here is my first gripe with the plot. The threat to Kat’s job seemed like it held no weight in this story. It wasn’t developed enough for my liking and almost seemed an afterthought. Of course she worries about it and it’s there in the story but it should have been a bigger part of it. In fact, a few plot lines that ran through this novel were just like that, including Carters relationship with Max and his interactions with his cousins and the business. They were, to me, very big plot lines that kind of paled in significance when really they shouldn’t have.
What does that leave the reader with then? It leaves us with the story of Kat and Carter and that in itself is really quite something extraordinarily beautiful. The passion just screams at you from the way that Sophie Jackson has written this. I had many moments where I needed to catch my breath, I wanted to soak it all in and get lost with them both. Carter’s attitude and aggression is extremely volatile at the beginning and I found myself wondering how it would pan out. Could Kat tame the beast that is Wes Carter? Sophie writes a mesmerising tale of one woman and how she brought a man to his knees and quite simply broke him. I found a love story in here that could rival the best of them. What I didn’t like so much was watching the change in Carter. The author took one character and made him something else by the time she was finished. I wasn’t convinced this was the right way to write Carter, he lost his bad boy edge; his rough calloused attitude dwindled the more he fell for Kat. Whilst Kat kind of rose from the ashes. Both change in their journey with each other, both break and show their vulnerabilities. They both hit rock bottom then set about the process of building each other back up. They fight for what they believe in, struggle to come to terms with their feelings. But boy do they get there.
I wouldn’t consider this an ugly cry but there are certainly some scenes in here that can bring the reader to their knees. I use the word soppy lightly, but there are a few scenes that I would class as that. It’s not really my kind of thing in all honesty, however the way in which Sophie weaved her magic words enabled these scenes to work and fit right in. I wouldn’t say the authors writing is flawless, as I did encounter an overused word or two but it did sweep me up and enticed me to continue to the end. Engrossed is a word I would use to describe my feelings. There’s so much emotion in this book and the reader feels it from start to finish. It’s there in bucket fulls. The reader is taken on one hell of a ride in terms of their relationship. There’s no second guessing what’s going on with them either. You’re never really waiting too long for a plot twist or a skew in the story. It just is, I often enjoy reading this way. It flows better and leaves your head clear to just simply enjoy the story as it unfolds. There are some clichéd moments in here but I’m a believer that these days it’s a norm in a book and they by no means mar the story what so ever.
It upsets me greatly to leave a 4 star review for this piece of work, but I have explained what I felt were its short comings. This book will not disappoint, far from it actually. I’m so excited to see more of Sophie Jacksons work in the future, and definitely Maxs story which comes to us next year. I’m also eager for the novella, a continuation of Kat and Carters story as they put one foot in front of the other and navigate their lives. Highly recommended!


Buy  links 

Amazon US - http://amzn.to/1TbA93G

UK -http://amzn.to/1F6apeg
B&Nhttp://bit.ly/1dJ3QsW


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