So, once upon a time, there was an author who came up with a shared world around the Morellis and the Constantines. And all the stories are based around interpretations of fairy tales. We’ve seen K Webster’s Cinderella story on the blog, and now we have Alta’s Alice in Wonderland themed tale, King of Spades. I will warn you that this is the first book in a trilogy, so plan accordingly.
Lyriope is the bastard daughter of Bryant Morelli, who is the head of the Morelli crime family. He fucked her mom, and Lyriope and her brother were the results of that affair. She has spent her life hidden away like a dirty little secret, and not claiming her Morelli blood at all. She hasn’t contacted the family at all and wouldn’t be in contact with them at all if it weren’t for her cousin finding her. She didn’t contact them even when it would’ve helped her out, like when she needed money to bail her mom and stepdad out of trouble, again. Instead, she went to a Russian mob family and borrowed from them. She doesn’t have the money to pay them back, and that is bad, very bad.
Now, she’s at a party surrounded by the rich and corrupt. Her cousin snuck her into a Morelli party, and Lyriope is busy hiding when Nick walks in and their eyes meet. Nick isn’t the only one to walk in who could change Lyriope’s life. A Russian mobster is there, and she’s pretty sure that she isn’t going to survive the night.
Lyriope ducks into a room to not be found, and it turns out that Nick is there. Nick is powerful himself. He is an information broker and he has a popup VIP club called Wonderland. That’s where he gets all his information and he brokers agreements there. They are invite only, and very, very, very exclusive. Nick is also hot as fuck, and he intrigues Lyriope. They talk for a minute, and he tells her that he knows that she’s supposed to die tonight and why. He also tells her that he made a deal, and she’ll be safe for tonight, because he wants to fuck her before she dies.
That is an absolutely ballsy introduction, right? But it really fits Lyriope and Nick. He knows what he wants, and he’s going to do everything he can to get it. She will fight him when she can and fake it until she can make it. Lyriope may not be as strong physically as Nick, or as powerful, but she can damned well do everything she can to appear as strong as he is. Or at least as strong as possible. And she really is strong. She has spent her life having to be the one in charge and having to be strong. Her mother is a complete waste of genetic material, I don’t know that her father actually knows she’s alive, but he wouldn’t acknowledge her if he does, and her step-father is a conman who keeps expecting Lyriope to bail him and her mother out, and then dumps her like a hot turd when he does. And I do mean dumps her. After Lyriope borrows from the Russian mob to pay off his debts, he and her mother decide to just leave her high and dry and run off to somewhere warm and safe. She’s homeless and looking over her shoulder so that she doesn’t buy the farm.
I really was involved in this book so much. And it’s hot as fuck, especially when Nick and Lyriope sign the contract. Whee doggies, that was smokin.
Like I said, this is the start of a trilogy, so I cussed Alta when I got to the end. At least the next one is coming soon.
That’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 