Scan barcode
A review by thebritishbibliophile
Dark Truths by Rebecca Royce
5.0
‘Dark Truths’ is the second book in the ‘Kiss Her Goodbye’ series by Rebecca Royce. If you haven’t read book one of the series, please do so now as this review will contain spoilers and a continuation review from where we left off in book one, and my review on it.
Please be advised once more, that my review will contain spoilers so if you don’t wish to know what happens throughout the second book, please turn back now. Thank you.
In book one, we were happily subject to whatever was to come our way with the storyline, Everly, the ‘letters’, the storyline and character development, as we were getting to know every aspect of how Rebecca wrote the introductory book to the series. There we learned what and why Everly was kidnapped for, who the ‘letters’ were, what their plan was, what was next for Everly and just how dark a world she never knew her father was a part of, existed. We were plunged head-first into a world of depravity, death, dodgy-dealings and danger. Gripping you with both arms behind your back, book one was just the set up for ‘Dark Truths’, where in fact, Everly’s world gets a whole lot darker.
Picking up where we thought we’d left off, we join Everly in the dungeon/basement where it turns out, she’s been kept, beaten and abused for the last six months. In an unexpected turn of events from the outset, one of the Alliance members thought to be against her, helps Everly escape where she’d been taken by Benjamin Grey (Ben), after he’d knocked her out at the former home she was being held at by the ‘letters’. Under once more, Everly wakes up in a clinic/facility, where she’s right to be cautious after she’d been told that she was safe from Ben’s torturous cruelty.
Things continue to move quicker as after she falls unconscious after her many ordeals in the past six months, Everly wakes up only to find herself back in the self-same house she was first kidnapped to by the Letters. Trace, formerly known as ‘T’, is the first Letter she comes across, meeting a few of the others as she’s getting used, somewhat, to being back in a ‘safe’ place. It’s made known to her that the woman who she once thought was warning her for her own safety, was the very woman who tipped off Ben to come and get her. One of the former house-helpers, Constance. Traumatised by everything that’s happened to her, Everly attempts a shower only to be thwarted by a more than painful memory of part of her time in her torture capture. Shortly taken care of by one of the oddly-caring Letters, the house is once more plunged into chaos as men attack it with the aim of taking out the girl who got away.
Once more, Everly’s mind is forced back to factory settings in order to preserve some semblance of what remains of her mind and her sanity, trying to piece herself back together and grow stronger. She finds this a hard task to do, as she’s still learning just what the five men are up to, and how to cope with her new mind-set. Seeing that she was struggling and needing to break free, Trace takes Everly on a walk where on that walk, they have an easy conversation about all the issues on her mind, leading to a long-awaited and much needed kiss between the two. Finished their walk, they head on back to the house where they’re informed they’d be leaving for pastures new soon, much to Everly’s confusion. Attempting a second shower of the day, she successfully concludes it without letting painful memories overcome her, and is surprisingly rewarded with Kade giving her pleasure when she’s out of the shower.
Derrick is the first to take her away from the house, while the others continue formulating their plans. During their moments alone together, they fall into a new pattern of easy communication, where upon Everly learns that Derrick had a sister. Emphasis on the ‘had’. As she’d untimely passed when she was 9 to non-Alliance-related circumstances. When alone in Derrick’s rather impressive mansion home, he is the next to succumb to Everly’s invisible temptations and alluring physical ones, making him the fourth out of the five letters to have successfully made love to her. Four down, one to go. Soon after their passionate night together, she takes it upon herself to get her to a gynaecologist, who puts her on the pill which will be fully active in one month, so she’d be able to swap from one man to another, without any barriers in the way. Of any kind.
Their time however, did not end there. After being put on the pill, Everly is made aware that she now has money, thanks to Warden’s smart investing. Her once measly $250 is now $250,000, with a promise of it being a cool half a million dollars by Christmas. Stunned at this news, Everly plans to confront Warden about his shrewd investments at a later date.
Everly’s attempt at re-booting her life continues in the form of a makeover, where her chopped hair from her time in imprisonment is fixed into a new style, on top of being taught how to handle a gun, all under Derrick’s intense gaze. After a rather normal night of movies and pizza, Derrick informs her that he plans to kill ‘Josh’ tomorrow and she’s to watch. Much to her surprise, she’s not 100% opposed to this idea as she would’ve been six months ago.
The last of Everly’s time with Derrick comes to a chaotic halt after she manages to convince him to get his deviated septum fixed, under the hands of trusted non-Alliance men. Being told that he was in recovery and spending time with him while he’s out of it, two men arrive at the clinic/facility fully intent on taking her out. Only, the opposite happens. She takes them out! Later she’d discover that her actions were watched by some of the men after she’d hit the emergency ‘help’ contact on her newly acquired phone. At the time, Everly is more concerned about Derrick when trusted friends of Warden’s arrive to take her, with Derrick following, to Warden’s house where she’s once more guaranteed that she’d be safe. If there was such a thing for her anymore.
At the house and surprisingly calm despite killing two men, her first kills, Warden and Kade arrive at Warden’s home, where the three of them soon end up giving into a hidden desire the three of them never knew was within them. A steamy ménage-et-trois. Shortly after, Judson arrives to join those who were currently at Warden’s house, learning of the three of theirs’ night together, promising yet demanding that his turn would be next with Everly and he planned to take her out to dinner. The dinner, when finally underway, goes off without a hitch. During which, Everly agrees to go through making love with the preferences Judson once revealed that she was too uneducated in and the very next morning, the two put into practise his kinky preferences and make love with her hands bound by a sensuous silk ribbon. Judson is the last to fall happy victim to Everly’s charms.
Though this happy moment wasn’t meant to last, as we continue on the rollercoaster that is her story, until a happy completion is found. A flashback of a bad memory when she’d been kidnapped sets her back mentally once more, resulting in her working out her pent-up frustration within the gym situated within Warden’s house. Soon, she’s joined by the man in question along with another one of the Letters, where not even in a house that was supposed to be safe, is she able to enjoy a workout in peace. A rain of bullets pelt at the house, shatter the glass and almost take Everly out, if she hadn’t had bent down to scratch a more than thankful itch. After which, plan are made to take them all to Boston, minus Derrick who’s gone off solo. Hopefully this time, it will be the last nail in the coffin, and Everly can get back to her ‘normal life’. Of course, this was a wish too good to be true even to the most hopeful of dreamers.
Happily situated on the plane not too long later, they’re Boston bound. Only they would be, if not for the pilot mysteriously falling ill and passing away at the controls. Suspected to be the work of Ben and his lackeys, Kade jumps into action much to everyone’s surprise, and manages to land the plane safely at their destination. Though this safe landing does nothing to quell Everly’s bubbling anxieties within. Every time she’s told she’s safe, something happens. Everything within her is telling her that maybe after all, she might not be safe anywhere ever again when around these men, who once promised to always keep her safe. Coming to this conclusion, Everly comes up with a unconceivable and irrational-like-her plan to kill Ben, posing that she’d be the bait. After a brief discussion with the others, they agree with it and their new plan is set in motion.
Checking into the go-to hotel they always use, the five men treat Everly as if they can’t wait to get rid of her. All a ruse in case anyone should be watching. Though she struggles with both sides of their acting coins, she continues on with the plan and manages to make a convincing scene later on at the bar, throwing a drink straight into Trace’s face. Though she thought he’d be mad at this, he had nothing but praise for how well their plan worked. Tired and more than worn out, Everly has had enough and heads to bed where later on, she’s amusingly joined by all of the men who sleep in various positions on her bed, all fighting non-verbally to be as close to her as humanly possible.
In a surprising turn of events, Everly is told her father (who so happens to be at the hotel too) wants to see her. Agreeing albeit reluctantly to a meeting, she meets with her father where upon concluding her business with him, she decides to put him behind her and walk on ahead on whatever path was currently taking her. Specifically, a path with five men at her side.
All appears to be too calm when she returns to the hotel room, as Ben shows up after hacking the system the men are using to keep their position secret, with two men at his side. With one of the five men elsewhere, Everly is once more thrown right into the fray and is forced to fight quite literally for her life. Her training with Derrick soon comes to fruition when managing to get her hands on a gun, as she shoots some of the thugs dead, along with Ben and not at all to plan, her father.
Done with it all, Everly comes to a decision she never saw herself ever making since she knew being with them was what her head wanted. Leaving them to clear up the mess, she packs what little of her things she currently owns, says she loves them all and is leaving. She’s broken, tired and so, so done. Her surprisingly cool yet dramatic exit comes just as Judson is stepping out of the elevator, leaving him confused as Everly heads down into a world she no longer sure she fits into or will survive in.
‘Dark Truths’ is a gripping sequel to a thrilling series which is well worth the investment and time to get personally attached to and involved in. Where this second book in the series may not seem as ‘dark’ as the first, there are plenty of points within to keep you happily fed within that theme.
This book however, personally I believe promises you more excellent quality content from an action-adventure perspective, slipping in moments of character development/connectivity, bed-rocking passion, topped off with a soupçon of mystery that will add to the thickening plot you’ll have yourself aching to solve before the conclusion is reached in a crescendo of a climax.
We were warned from the beginning of book one, that it might take a book or two for Everly to reach her happy ending, and I personally can’t wait to continue into book three to see just how her happily ever after is reached. Maybe even who with.
If there is such a thing possible left for Everly.
There’s only one way to find out. Book three. Bring it on!
Please be advised once more, that my review will contain spoilers so if you don’t wish to know what happens throughout the second book, please turn back now. Thank you.
In book one, we were happily subject to whatever was to come our way with the storyline, Everly, the ‘letters’, the storyline and character development, as we were getting to know every aspect of how Rebecca wrote the introductory book to the series. There we learned what and why Everly was kidnapped for, who the ‘letters’ were, what their plan was, what was next for Everly and just how dark a world she never knew her father was a part of, existed. We were plunged head-first into a world of depravity, death, dodgy-dealings and danger. Gripping you with both arms behind your back, book one was just the set up for ‘Dark Truths’, where in fact, Everly’s world gets a whole lot darker.
Picking up where we thought we’d left off, we join Everly in the dungeon/basement where it turns out, she’s been kept, beaten and abused for the last six months. In an unexpected turn of events from the outset, one of the Alliance members thought to be against her, helps Everly escape where she’d been taken by Benjamin Grey (Ben), after he’d knocked her out at the former home she was being held at by the ‘letters’. Under once more, Everly wakes up in a clinic/facility, where she’s right to be cautious after she’d been told that she was safe from Ben’s torturous cruelty.
Things continue to move quicker as after she falls unconscious after her many ordeals in the past six months, Everly wakes up only to find herself back in the self-same house she was first kidnapped to by the Letters. Trace, formerly known as ‘T’, is the first Letter she comes across, meeting a few of the others as she’s getting used, somewhat, to being back in a ‘safe’ place. It’s made known to her that the woman who she once thought was warning her for her own safety, was the very woman who tipped off Ben to come and get her. One of the former house-helpers, Constance. Traumatised by everything that’s happened to her, Everly attempts a shower only to be thwarted by a more than painful memory of part of her time in her torture capture. Shortly taken care of by one of the oddly-caring Letters, the house is once more plunged into chaos as men attack it with the aim of taking out the girl who got away.
Once more, Everly’s mind is forced back to factory settings in order to preserve some semblance of what remains of her mind and her sanity, trying to piece herself back together and grow stronger. She finds this a hard task to do, as she’s still learning just what the five men are up to, and how to cope with her new mind-set. Seeing that she was struggling and needing to break free, Trace takes Everly on a walk where on that walk, they have an easy conversation about all the issues on her mind, leading to a long-awaited and much needed kiss between the two. Finished their walk, they head on back to the house where they’re informed they’d be leaving for pastures new soon, much to Everly’s confusion. Attempting a second shower of the day, she successfully concludes it without letting painful memories overcome her, and is surprisingly rewarded with Kade giving her pleasure when she’s out of the shower.
Derrick is the first to take her away from the house, while the others continue formulating their plans. During their moments alone together, they fall into a new pattern of easy communication, where upon Everly learns that Derrick had a sister. Emphasis on the ‘had’. As she’d untimely passed when she was 9 to non-Alliance-related circumstances. When alone in Derrick’s rather impressive mansion home, he is the next to succumb to Everly’s invisible temptations and alluring physical ones, making him the fourth out of the five letters to have successfully made love to her. Four down, one to go. Soon after their passionate night together, she takes it upon herself to get her to a gynaecologist, who puts her on the pill which will be fully active in one month, so she’d be able to swap from one man to another, without any barriers in the way. Of any kind.
Their time however, did not end there. After being put on the pill, Everly is made aware that she now has money, thanks to Warden’s smart investing. Her once measly $250 is now $250,000, with a promise of it being a cool half a million dollars by Christmas. Stunned at this news, Everly plans to confront Warden about his shrewd investments at a later date.
Everly’s attempt at re-booting her life continues in the form of a makeover, where her chopped hair from her time in imprisonment is fixed into a new style, on top of being taught how to handle a gun, all under Derrick’s intense gaze. After a rather normal night of movies and pizza, Derrick informs her that he plans to kill ‘Josh’ tomorrow and she’s to watch. Much to her surprise, she’s not 100% opposed to this idea as she would’ve been six months ago.
The last of Everly’s time with Derrick comes to a chaotic halt after she manages to convince him to get his deviated septum fixed, under the hands of trusted non-Alliance men. Being told that he was in recovery and spending time with him while he’s out of it, two men arrive at the clinic/facility fully intent on taking her out. Only, the opposite happens. She takes them out! Later she’d discover that her actions were watched by some of the men after she’d hit the emergency ‘help’ contact on her newly acquired phone. At the time, Everly is more concerned about Derrick when trusted friends of Warden’s arrive to take her, with Derrick following, to Warden’s house where she’s once more guaranteed that she’d be safe. If there was such a thing for her anymore.
At the house and surprisingly calm despite killing two men, her first kills, Warden and Kade arrive at Warden’s home, where the three of them soon end up giving into a hidden desire the three of them never knew was within them. A steamy ménage-et-trois. Shortly after, Judson arrives to join those who were currently at Warden’s house, learning of the three of theirs’ night together, promising yet demanding that his turn would be next with Everly and he planned to take her out to dinner. The dinner, when finally underway, goes off without a hitch. During which, Everly agrees to go through making love with the preferences Judson once revealed that she was too uneducated in and the very next morning, the two put into practise his kinky preferences and make love with her hands bound by a sensuous silk ribbon. Judson is the last to fall happy victim to Everly’s charms.
Though this happy moment wasn’t meant to last, as we continue on the rollercoaster that is her story, until a happy completion is found. A flashback of a bad memory when she’d been kidnapped sets her back mentally once more, resulting in her working out her pent-up frustration within the gym situated within Warden’s house. Soon, she’s joined by the man in question along with another one of the Letters, where not even in a house that was supposed to be safe, is she able to enjoy a workout in peace. A rain of bullets pelt at the house, shatter the glass and almost take Everly out, if she hadn’t had bent down to scratch a more than thankful itch. After which, plan are made to take them all to Boston, minus Derrick who’s gone off solo. Hopefully this time, it will be the last nail in the coffin, and Everly can get back to her ‘normal life’. Of course, this was a wish too good to be true even to the most hopeful of dreamers.
Happily situated on the plane not too long later, they’re Boston bound. Only they would be, if not for the pilot mysteriously falling ill and passing away at the controls. Suspected to be the work of Ben and his lackeys, Kade jumps into action much to everyone’s surprise, and manages to land the plane safely at their destination. Though this safe landing does nothing to quell Everly’s bubbling anxieties within. Every time she’s told she’s safe, something happens. Everything within her is telling her that maybe after all, she might not be safe anywhere ever again when around these men, who once promised to always keep her safe. Coming to this conclusion, Everly comes up with a unconceivable and irrational-like-her plan to kill Ben, posing that she’d be the bait. After a brief discussion with the others, they agree with it and their new plan is set in motion.
Checking into the go-to hotel they always use, the five men treat Everly as if they can’t wait to get rid of her. All a ruse in case anyone should be watching. Though she struggles with both sides of their acting coins, she continues on with the plan and manages to make a convincing scene later on at the bar, throwing a drink straight into Trace’s face. Though she thought he’d be mad at this, he had nothing but praise for how well their plan worked. Tired and more than worn out, Everly has had enough and heads to bed where later on, she’s amusingly joined by all of the men who sleep in various positions on her bed, all fighting non-verbally to be as close to her as humanly possible.
In a surprising turn of events, Everly is told her father (who so happens to be at the hotel too) wants to see her. Agreeing albeit reluctantly to a meeting, she meets with her father where upon concluding her business with him, she decides to put him behind her and walk on ahead on whatever path was currently taking her. Specifically, a path with five men at her side.
All appears to be too calm when she returns to the hotel room, as Ben shows up after hacking the system the men are using to keep their position secret, with two men at his side. With one of the five men elsewhere, Everly is once more thrown right into the fray and is forced to fight quite literally for her life. Her training with Derrick soon comes to fruition when managing to get her hands on a gun, as she shoots some of the thugs dead, along with Ben and not at all to plan, her father.
Done with it all, Everly comes to a decision she never saw herself ever making since she knew being with them was what her head wanted. Leaving them to clear up the mess, she packs what little of her things she currently owns, says she loves them all and is leaving. She’s broken, tired and so, so done. Her surprisingly cool yet dramatic exit comes just as Judson is stepping out of the elevator, leaving him confused as Everly heads down into a world she no longer sure she fits into or will survive in.
‘Dark Truths’ is a gripping sequel to a thrilling series which is well worth the investment and time to get personally attached to and involved in. Where this second book in the series may not seem as ‘dark’ as the first, there are plenty of points within to keep you happily fed within that theme.
This book however, personally I believe promises you more excellent quality content from an action-adventure perspective, slipping in moments of character development/connectivity, bed-rocking passion, topped off with a soupçon of mystery that will add to the thickening plot you’ll have yourself aching to solve before the conclusion is reached in a crescendo of a climax.
We were warned from the beginning of book one, that it might take a book or two for Everly to reach her happy ending, and I personally can’t wait to continue into book three to see just how her happily ever after is reached. Maybe even who with.
If there is such a thing possible left for Everly.
There’s only one way to find out. Book three. Bring it on!