I absolutely love Sophie Jordan. She has written about dragons, college co-eds, tortured heiresses and brave princesses. So, the broody convict is a new one. A new AWESOME one. I'm so excited to kick off the All Chained Up blog tour, organized by Irish Banana Tours. Check out my review, and enter to win one of three finished copies All Chained Up.
All Chained Up (Devil's Rock #1), by Sophie Jordan
Publish Date: March 29, 2016
Publisher: Avon Books
Format: Digital ARC, provided by the publisher
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4 STARS
(Synopsis) Some men come with a built-in warning label. Knox Callaghan is one of them. Danger radiates from every lean, muscled inch of him, and his deep blue eyes seem to see right through to Briar Davis’s most secret fantasies. But there’s one major problem: Briar is a nurse volunteering at the local prison, and Knox is an inmate who should be off-limits in every way.
Knox feels it too—a shocking animal magnetism that drives him to risk his own life to protect Briar’s. Paroled at last, he tries to resist her. She’s too innocent, too sweet, and she has no idea what Knox is capable of. But a single touch can lead to a kiss—and a taste . . . until the only crime is denying what feels so right . . .
I honestly didn't know how even Sophie Jordan could pull off a prison romance. I should've had more faith.
All Chained Up was rather dark and sad at times. If ever there was a noble reason for going to prison, it was Knox's. I was hoping that would be the case. When you learn the hero of a story is a criminal in prison, you have to wonder how you could love him and want him to come out on top. Again - should've had more faith in Sophie.
Knox did exactly what he was convicted of and sentenced for. And he feels horrible about it to a certain degree. He and his brother were convicted together for the parts they played in their crime, and I think one of the biggest regrets that Knox has is that his younger brother now has a record because of something that was Knox's idea in the first place.
As a result, Knox is weighed down HEAVILY by some serious guilt and self-loathing. He's willing to do his time, but doesn't want anyone to be tainted by what he feels is a worthless existence. That is, until Briar crosses his path in the prison's health center. She's the first thing he's dared to want in a long time, and I think it's because she's a light in his otherwise dark existence.
Briar is a bit of a contradiction. She's very mousy and timid. She has no desire whatsoever to work in a prison, but sort of felt pressured into doing it. When faced with a half-naked Knox, she can barely touch him for how affected she is by his very commanding presence. She makes no effort to hide her dislike of the environment and the men she has to work on.
But when an event puts Knox back in her path under a different situation, we see a very different Briar. Who knew that under that doormat exterior lay a wild sex kitten who is woman enough to handle a convicted criminal? Not only that, but she is capable of bringing it when confronted by her very opinionated and protective sister. It's almost like Briar was a different person in the first part of the book from who she was in the second part.
I loved part two Briar the best. This was a woman who was driven to overcome her fears - and she had A LOT of them. Between the fear of becoming like her mother (which is not a good thing), and the fear of working in a dangerous environment with dangerous people, and then later the fear of not being able to hold on to the one good and exciting thing she found in the most unlikely of places.
All Chained Up was a great start to this new series. I applaud Sophie Jordan for working with a new crop of "bad boys." From what I can tell from the introduction of the side characters and the lead in to book two, the rest of the series will be no less exciting and intriguing.
A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature - teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.
In less than three years, her first book, Once Upon A Wedding Night, a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominee for Best First Historical, hit book shelves. Her second novel, Too Wicked To Tame, released in March 2007 with a bang, landing on the USA Today Bestseller's List.
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