Orange Is the New Black meets Jennifer Probst’s New York Times bestselling Marriage to a Billionaire trilogy, featuring a strong-minded prison tutor who discovers that her sexy bad-boy student is far more than he appears to be.
Haunted by nightmares of her father’s street murder fifteen years ago, Kat Lane decides to face her fears and uphold his legacy of helping others by teaching inmates at a New York prison. There she meets arrogant Wesley Carter, who’s as handsome as he is dangerous, as mysterious as he is quick-witted, and with a reputation that ensures people will keep their distance.
As teacher and student, Kat and Carter are forced to leave their animosities at the door and learn that one should never judge a book by its cover. As Carter’s barriers beg
in to crumble, Kat realizes there’s much more to her angry student than she thought, leaving them to face a new, perilous obstacle: their undeniable attraction to one another.
When Carter is released and Kat continues to tutor him on the outside, the obstacles mount. Can they fight the odds to make their relationship work? Will Kat’s family and friends ever accept her being with someone of his background? And will Kat’s discovery of Carter’s role on the night her father died force them apart forever…or unite them?
I really liked the premise of this book: wide-eyed young woman with a heart of gold teaching inmates Shakespeare? Come on! The story could go in any number of directions!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it even though I could tell it was going to end with a happily ever after. The author has a way of shaping her story to make me want to keep reading. Sophie Jackson is just a wonderful writer. I think any story she chooses to tell is going to be fantastic because that is just her style.
First, we meet Kat. She’s had a tough go of it; her father being murdered at a young age was tough enough, but Kat was with him when it happened. Still, she manages to grow up and become a productive member of society.
Then there’s a Carter. Wesley Carter, actually. He’s smokin’ hot with a ginormous chip on his shoulder, only it’s not one of those unattractive “the world owes me something” type of chips. It turns out to be sort of legit, which I appreciated.
When I read a book–especially one that is tagged as Twilight fan-fiction, my standards are going to be extra high. The reason being that you bite off of someone else’s idea. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the obsession. I loved the Twilight books. I love Rob Pattinson. But I wouldn’t bite off Stephanie Meyers characters and write a book about them. If you are blessed with the ability to write, make up your own characters.
That’s what I loved A Pound Of Flesh. I mean, Carter is nothing like Edward. Kat is definitely NOT Bella. (The real selling point might have been that they aren’t vampires.) It might have been developed as fan-fiction, but the characters are totally Sophie Jackson’s.
There were parts to the story that felt like red herrings, certain characters in Kat’s life whose devilish ways could have been much more harmful then they were. But maybe that is the authors way of leaving the story open, so she can go back and write these characters again. I would definitely read that.
There are some steamy scenes in this book, so reader beware. But they are beautifully written for the most part. There isn’t as much foul language in this as I expected, which was nice. I mean, when considering the setting and characters involved, you expect some language. The story was strong. The pacing was just right. I was not left feeling like anything between the characters happened too quickly. In fact the way the story was structured and developed, I expected it to go a lot faster, and was still pleased when it didn’t.
If I could change one thing about this book, it would be Austin. I wanted him to play a slightly bigger part in the overall plot. The way that plot line played out felt a little too easy.
Oh, and the cover. I would take it away from this book and slap it on one of mine because it is freaking awesome!
This one gets 4 out 5 stars!
engaging. stories 