{Book Review} A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1) by Sophie Jackson (@SophieJax @GalleryBooks)

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...

Katherine Lane’s life was changed on a cold New York street when she was just nine years old.  Her father was brutally murdered right in front of her and it was on that day that she vowed to keep his memory alive by helping others. 

Taking a job teaching in a prison is a far cry from what her overprotective mother ever wanted for her daughter.  But Kat knows that this is where she can make a difference in someone’s life.  And she never though she would meet anyone like Wesley James Carter.

“You know a lot about debt?”

“I do,” he answered. “Do you?”

“I know what it’s like to give your word to someone,” Peaches said after a moment. Her eyes rested on the play, opened at Shylock’s most infamous speech. “I know what it’s like to pay that word off because you have no other choice but to see it through because you love that person so much it would be a tragedy if you didn’t.” And that’s when it happened.

Carter couldn’t help himself. It was as if his body was working of its own accord, drawn to her, desperate for her touch. She just seemed so damned sad. His hand moved slowly toward her hair before he tucked it behind her ear. He could barely breathe as his fingertips touched the soft skin at the back of her ear, at the line of her jaw.”

Carter is far from your typical resident at Arthur Kill.  He’s highly educated, well spoken and disturbingly gorgeous.  There is an instant spark between him and the fiery Ms. Lane.  So when she offers to continue to tutor him as a condition of his parole, he more than welcomes the chance to finally get her alone. 

The attraction between them proves impossible ignore and being together puts them both in harm’s way.  They can try to hold the world at bay and overcome any obstacle in their path.  But when greed and deceit come looking for them – they can only hide away for so long.

“Peaches?” At the sound of Carter’s voice around her pet name, two large tears fell onto her arm. “Do you wanna get outta here? Go somewhere?”

She wiped at her face. “Where?”

He shrugged and smiled. “I don’t know.”

Kat smiled back.

“You want to?” he asked again. “Just you and me?”

She agreed without hesitation, knowing she wanted nothing more than to just be with him, away from all the fuckery going on around her.

“Good.” He stood determinedly, pushing his chair back with his legs, and walked to Kat’s side. He held his palm out for her and waited with patient eyes.

As soon as Kat’s palm touched Carter’s, she was better, calmer, freer. It was the strangest sensation, but she had the sudden urge to tell him so, to tell him she was home with him. To tell him it was the simplest gestures of his that had the largest effect on her heart. Carter pulled her up and cupped her cheeks in his hands. “Just you and me,” he repeated in a soft whisper. His eyes roamed across her face while his fingers stroked a piece of her hair.

“For one day. Let’s just forget all of the bullshit, and be you and me.”

Kat looked up into Carter’s open face and saw everything she’d ever wanted or desired.

I want you. I want to be with you. I need you so much. I think I love you.

Closing her eyes at the warmth of that realization, Kat pressed her cheeks into Carter’s palms and smiled. “You and me.”

Now THIS is an epic romance!  Sophie Jackson has masterfully created the perfect hero in Wesley Carter.  Yes, he’s gorgeous and mysterious.  But he’s also so openly honest and real that you can’t help but fall utterly and completely in love with him.  

With a powerful story and equally powerful characters, A Pound of Flesh is a phenomenon that you won’t want to miss…

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