Publication date: July 2016
Format: Kindle
ASIN: B01IPYQHH2
Amazon price: Read for free on Kindle
Rating: 4/5 stars
Trigger warnings: This is not a warm and fuzzy book. It will not make you feel good. I’m not even going to bother listing the trigger warnings. This is about a woman who was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery, and the man who rescues her from that abusive situation only to claim her as his own. Be careful about reading this if you’re sensitive to rape and abuse.
The Dollar series by Pepper Winter showed up on my Goodreads somehow and I decided to give it a try. Since I generally only skim over synopses long enough to decide if I want to read a book without internalizing much of what the series is actually about, I was a bit unprepared for how this was going to go.
The first book of the Dollar series, Pennies, opens on our heroine Tasmin in a hotel room. She’s been there for weeks, suffering beatings and limited food in order to prepare her for sale at a quarterly auction. Her only reprieve from boredom and fear is a stubby pencil she finds in her room, which she used to write notes to No One on her toilet paper. These notes form the foundation for saving her sanity once she is sent to the home of Master A, who viciously beats her in addition to using her for sex and sharing her with his ‘friends’. He also steals her identity and renames her Pimlico, or Pim, to further dehumanize her. One day, the mysterious Elder Prest arrives at Master A’s house to complete a business deal, and their mutual interest and attraction to each other gives Pim her first inkling of hope in two years that she might leave her prison before killing herself or being murdered by her master. But Elder doesn’t want to free Pim – he just wants to steal her for himself.
He’s scarred me, ruined me, and now, he’s sharing me as if I’m worth nothing. I’m worth everything. And I’ve finally had enough.
When I started in on this book I wondered at first if I would be able to finish. Once it became glaringly apparent what was happening to Tasmin, I didn’t know if I could stomach what was coming next. However, I can say I’m glad I stuck with the book because Pim’s story absolutely captivated me.
In her final act of defiance, Pim decides to never speak to her captor after telling him to untie her after her purchase. She remains silent for two years, only rarely emitting groans and screams when she is particularly viciously beaten. Despite holding on to her will to survive, she suffers greatly and learns that being submissive is the best way for her to survive. When Elder Prest first enters the scene, we get a look at Pim’s behavior from the outside – her automatic obedience to Master A’s commands, her understanding of what is expected of her at certain times, her carefully calculated movements with the understanding that a punch or kick could come at any time. Pim’s scars go deeper as her mind has been broken, causing her to have a panic attack when given clothes for the first time in two years – the collar of the shirt around her neck reminds her too much of Master A’s fingers.
Where you really connect with the characters is a prolonged scene between Elder and Pim, alone, without Master A. Pim doesn’t speak, but she gives plenty of clues with her body, which Elder can read like a book. This was incredibly frustrating to get through. Neither Elder nor Pim really understand what one wants of the other (or of themselves). But, the clear power play and the connection between them that arises has you craving for their time together to never end until one of them makes the decisive move that will change the course of Pim’s captivity.
The way he kneeled before me twined barbwire through my heart, making it bleed.
Pepper Winters did and excellent job with Pim’s character. I expect she must have done some extensive research into the psychological effects of sexual slavery and abuse in order to make Pim so vibrant and rich.
Elder Prest, on the other hand, seems like the general bad boy hero you see in other stories. The difference is that you really can’t be sure of his true intentions with Pim. He’s drawn to her for reasons he can’t explain, but at this point it seems more like a sexual curiosity than anything else. He does have his nuances – he wonders how Alrik (Master A) could truly think it’s possible to possess a human being, but by the end of the book is ready to claim Pim as his own property. He makes this clear to her – he frees her from Master A’s prison, but only to put her in one of his own making. Not to return her to the world.
This is the first book of a five-book series and I’m planning to move forward and read the next book then re-evaluate if I want to keep going at the end of each book. This is some heavy shit, but the excellent character building and desire to find out if Elder Prest can become a hero currently have me begging for more.
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