Two Mini Reviews: Pennies and Dollars by Pepper Winters (spoiler free)

Hey everyone! So I’m back! I hope you all are well. Today I am bringing two mini reviews from the same author in the same series!

This series isn’t a happy dandy love story. This is about sex slavery and it has a lot of Trigger Warnings for rape, sexual assault, psychological abuse, physical abuse, sex slavery, emotional abuse. Although the books do not go into explicit detail about the rape, we go through it all with the main character’s experience.

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Title: Pennies (Book 1)
Series: Dollar
Author: Pepper Winters
Genre: Dark New Adult
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Format: eBook
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Tasmin was killed on her 18th birthday. She had everything planned out. A psychology degree, a mother who pushed her to greatness, and a future anyone would die for. But then her murderer saved her life, only to sell her into a totally different existence. 

Elder went from penniless to stinking rich with one twist of fate. His lifetime of crime and shadows of thievery are behind him but no matter the power he now wields, it’s not enough. He has an agenda to fulfill and he won’t stop until it’s complete. 

But then they meet. 

A beaten girl and a richly dressed thief. Money is what guided their separate fates. Money is what brought them together. And money is what ultimately destroys them. 

She was poor. 
He was rich. 
Together…they were bankrupt.

Review:

I feel like the synopsis is way too nice for how dark this book is. Tasmin is just your average girl ready to start her life with college when at her mothers party she get’s stolen and that’s when the down spiral starts. She’s kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder at an auction. This first book is all about Tasnim (Pimlico is her new name once she gets sold) with her master for two years. Pepper Winters takes us through the physical, mental, and emotional torment of the main character. And many times my eyes got teary, and many times it was hard to swallow. However, I couldn’t put the book down because Tasnim (Pimlico) was so strong and she never gave that awful man the one thing he wanted, her voice.

We meet Elder, the “savior” which I thought was a blatant asshole. Funny thing was that before the book starts, the author wrote the readers a note about the triggers and explaining to us what to expect which I’m thankful for. But she also ask us the readers if we were ready to fall in love with Elder. I have read two books out of this 5 book series and I DO NOT LOVE HIM YET!!! Elder is an asshole and a thief. And he takes what he wants when he wants, no questions asked. I completely understand his character but when we meet him I was like “what is happening?” Which was why I couldn’t put the book down.

Elder and Tasnim (Pimlico) meet through a business deal with her master, she meets him and he’s intrigued by her. Her master even offers her to him but instead Elder decides to play a game with this man. A very dangerous game. And things are about to get a lot worse.

Pepper Winters slightly explores Elder and we see that he has a secret past but she teases us with it. Which has me really intrigued to ask “who is Elder?”

I feel like the author tackled this really well. Writing about sex slavery must be hard and going through the motions with the main character, Pepper Winters excelled wonderfully. The writing was easy to get through and very few characters were mentioned who were all messed up.

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if you haven’t read this, then please do not read on.

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Title: Dollars (Book #2)
Series: Dollar
Author: Pepper Winters
Genre: Dark New Adult
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Format: eBook
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:

“I should never have asked for a night with you. This would never have happened if I’d had more willpower.” 

A thief met a possession and did what he did best.
Now, he has to live with the consequences. 
Including the girl he claimed. 

Pimlico was stolen and sold all before her twenty-first birthday. 
Two years with a master who almost killed her is over. 
She has a new master now. 
A master who demands everything, expects everything, and requires ultimate access to her mind. 

Elder broke countless rules when he took the girl who wasn’t his. 
She confuses and bewitches him, but his fascination won’t save her from his desires. 

He wants to know her.
She wants to forget. 
Together…they’re doomed.

Review:

Still not in love with savior Elder here, nope not at all. Yes, Pimlico was saved by Elder but he’s very controlling as well. In this book we see two different sides. Elder his usual controlling self but he’s trying really hard to be good to Pimlico. And we also see Pimlico very cautious about everything.

I appreciate that Pepper Winters doesn’t give it to us easy in this book when it comes to Pimlico. We still see her struggle every single day and second, even with her freedom. She doesn’t have that freedom mentality, she tip toes with everything. Especially with Elder because she doesn’t know what he wants half the time since he’s such a prick. We see some of the same Master-Slave tendencies in this book. After 2 years of so much abuse, she’s mentally not okay and we see that it will be a long time before she has some type of stability.

This book was much more easier to read, I say this in the sense of graphic scenes. We don’t go through the violence, rape, and physical torment like in book one. Yes, Pim relives some of the memories in her mind in Dollars. However, it’s not as much like in Pennies.

I really liked this book because both characters go through all of it together but grow. Elder wants Pimlico to simply get over everything but he is also struggling with himself to be kinder and think of her. Pimlico is struggling with herself and Elder. In the end, Pepper leaves us with this total cliff hanger that had me looking for answers all over the place!!! I look forward to the other books in the series.

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