Pepper Winters
Publication date: April 1, 2018
Series: The Ribbon Duet #1
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance
"What do you do when you meet your soul mate? No wait...that's too easy. What do you do when you meet your soul mate and have to spend a lifetime loving him in secret?And slowly, my secret drove us apart.
I'll tell you what you do.
You lie."
REN
Ren was eight when he learned that love doesn't exist--that the one person who was supposed to adore him only cared how much he was worth.
His mother sold him and for two years, he lived in terror.
But then...he ran.
He thought he'd run on his own. Turned out, he took something of theirs by accident and it became the one thing he never wanted and the only thing he ever needed.
DELLA
I was young when I fell in love with him, when he switched from my world to my everything.
My parents bought him for cheap labour, just like they had with many other kids, and he had the scars to prove it.
At the start, he hated me, and I could understand why.
For years he was my worst enemy, fiercest protector, and dearest friend.
But by the end...he loved me.
The only problem was, he loved me in an entirely different way to the way I loved him.
I often found my
heart swelling with warmth for my young, tiny friend and cracking in pain
knowing this life we shared couldn’t go on forever. She would eventually need
more. She would eventually outgrow me. - Ren
Ren was a complex character. Selfless, protective,
willing to do anything to provide for Della and do his absolute best by her.
But he is also a product of his past – sold by his mother for a paltry sum,
bought by a sadistic man for labor, forced to fight for his very survival – and
that past has left its mark on Ren. Knowing he was unwanted and unloved,
experiencing only cruelty and abuse, he understandably trusts no one (beyond
Della), is suspicious of everyone, and feels unworthy of love or even simple
kindness. Ren was always happier removed from society, away from people,
surrounded by nature in the woods. But for Della, he sacrificed even that.
She might have
upset me, messed up my mind, and ruined my trust, but nothing could change the
fact that where she was, I was happiest, and she was all I needed. - Ren
Told in dual points of view, The Boy and His Ribbon spans
more than 15 years and follows the evolution of Ren and Della’s relationship
from children to young adults and, in Ren’s case, adulthood. Their bond is close,
their loyalty is unmatched, and their feelings change over time and morph into
something beyond friendship, beyond companionship and beyond innocence. The
boundaries of their relationship are tested and stretched - and they both
suffer for it.
How many times do
you think a person can survive a broken heart? I would like to know because Ren
has successfully broken mine, repaired it, shattered mine, fixed it, crushed
mine, and somehow glued it back together again and again. - Della
Ren and Della’s story required a certain suspension of
disbelief. (Because really, could a 10 year old boy really single-handedly care
for a baby and raise her on his own? Could he provide food and care by himself year
after year?) And at times the prose drifted into melodrama. But neither of
those things stopped me from falling for their story. Whether the focus was on
their day to day existence in the woods or in an abandoned building, or on
their ever-changing dynamic and how it was impacted by other people in their
lives, I was hooked. Ren and Della are not ordinary characters and their story
is not a typical story. It was emotional and angsty, sweet and heartwarming,
forbidden and heartbreaking. Winters never took the easy way out, didn’t
hesitate to make her characters hurt, and when I thought I knew what direction
the story was going to take, she threw in a twist that I didn’t see coming.
How could you not
fall in love with a boy like Ren Wild? How could you not fall in love with a
boy who puts you first in everything, protects you at all costs, worships the
ground you walk on, gives you things you didn’t know you wanted, who can hear
your thoughts and see your fears? A boy who sacrificed so much without even
telling you, leaving you heartbroken when you’re old enough to figure it out
for yourself? - Della
4/5 STARS
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. This does not my opinion of the book or the content of this review. I received no compensation and my review is voluntary.
