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The Hunter…
Dare O’Shaughnessy had the world in the palm of his hand. A man known and feared for his ruthlessness, his word was law. The last word he ever expected to hear was no. Until he met her.
The Prey…
Aya Smith despised the ruling class who looked down on hardworking people like her. Sick of being treated unfairly by laws that protect the wealthy and punish the poor, she takes a stand but soon realizes, she might have crossed the wrong man.
The Game…
Created as a government program to assist in the repopulation of the country when an untested drug wipes out millions of women, The Run eventually evolves into something much more sinister. Now played for the amusement of the super rich, women down on their luck find themselves the prizes of sadistic masters.
Aya is forced to volunteer for The Run, and Dare, the most sadistic of all, places her in his crosshairs.She will belong to him, body and soul. But when he catches her will she succumb to his mastery, or will he find more trouble than he bargained for?
For not being a fan of dystopian reads,
this book sure captured my attention and interest quickly. I found myself
following along with the plot, cheering for Aya and all her stubborn attitudes
and wanting to kick Dare in the nuts for his egotistical attitude of being
holier than thou. Such a contrast between the two characters confirmed to
me I was in for one heck of a ride with this story and the author did not
disappoint me at all.
Living in a world where the rich
control the population and over half of the women were killed by an untested
cancer drug, Aya and her Uncle were forced to do with what they had and make
the money they earned from their bar last as long as possible. With the
shortage of women, it isn’t safe for Aya to look like a female so she wears
baggy clothing and has her hair cut very short. That doesn’t
distract Dare when he sees her being taken away by the enforcers after her
pride and mouth gets the best of her. When he stumbles across her again
at her uncles bar, he is determined that she will be his new play toy and no
one was going to stop him.
After many tricks, Dare had Aya
isolated and in search for credits (money) to survive and save her uncle.
The only option she had left was the Run, which was controlled and managed by Dare
himself. The Run was set up for women to be chased on a piece of property
by men and if the men tagged the woman she would become his for whatever
purpose he saw fit. Some women escaped and found they had to return once
again for the next run to get the credit they so needed, some were used and
then set free. Most women were never seen again. This was Aya’s
future but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight and this is where the
story really took off for me.
I loved how the author made Aya a fighter;
she never backed down even when common sense was screaming at her to let it
go. Dare had no clue as to the spit fire he was determined to tame and
the back and forth battle left me on the edge of my seat at times. I
wouldn’t say this was the darkest read I have ever encountered but it certainly
isn’t a soft book for enjoyment purposes. There are a lot of twisted
events that had me cringing and wanting to turn my head but I couldn’t put it
down. It was clear that the world and communities in this book were far
removed from what we know today but the human elements and emotions were
consistent and I found I could not only connect to the characters but also
invest my heart and emotions, especially with Aya. She is my freaking
hero because she never let go of who she really was, even when she found out
the truth about her mother and was forced to apply for jobs that would kill a
normal woman’s soul. She was able to rationalize every event and come out
with the attitude of survival. This was a concept that Dare respected but
rarely ever seen. Women and men would bow down to this authority and he
knew he could control and railroad anything in his way.
I would recommend this book to fans
that are not faint of heart and can stand some dark and twisted
plots.
Aya took a deep breath as she made her way to the bar being careful not to look directly in the direction of the jerk supreme. As she poured his drink, she was tempted to spit in it. With each move she made, Aya could feel his heated gaze on her. She wasn’t naive about men like him. They acted like they owned everything they saw. He was toying with them and threatening their livelihood because he could.
She used as much time as she dared to fix his drink before walking toward him, still refusing to make eye contact. Aya forced herself not to slam the glass down in front of him. “Will that be all, sir?” she asked through gritted teeth while she kept her gaze planted on her feet.
“Look at me.”
Aya didn’t want to stare into eyes so deep a green they were almost hypnotizing. They were her favorite shade and she resented the hell out of him for that. Thoughts of her uncle forced her to comply. Slowly, she raised her head until she met his gaze full on. That cruel smirk curved his lips.
“If there’s nothing else, I need to see to the needs of the other customers.”
“I was under the impression from the proprietor that you don’t deal with customers. Which one of you is lying?”
She bit the inside of her lip to hold back an angry retort.
The bastard had the nerve to chuckle. “No need to answer. I can see he was just protecting what’s his. I can’t say I blame him. What are you to him?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Fair enough.” He picked up his drink and took a sip all while his gaze roamed the bar. After placing the glass down, the smirk returned. “How much do you think a place like this would cost if someone wanted to invest for the purposes of tearing it down and rebuilding?”
The blood pounded in her head and she dug her nails into her palms. “He’s my uncle.”
He nodded in seeming approval. “Have a seat, Aya.”
She didn’t like how he used her name as if he had the right but she complied. “Look Mr. O’Shaughnessy, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but we don’t want any trouble. We’re sorry if you haven’t found the service to your satisfaction but we just want to be left alone. Please.”
“You seem like an intelligent woman. I would have thought it was fairly obvious what I wanted.”
She folded her hands in her lap and clinched them tightly together to keep herself from trembling. This couldn’t be happening. There had to be a way she could get herself out of this. She opted to play dumb. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I think you do. In fact, I know you do. So, let’s not play games. You can make this really easy on yourself. You and your uncle will be taken care of for as long as I want you. And when I no longer do, you’ll be well compensated. You’ll be under my protection.”
She fought back the urge to attack him. The arrogant son of a bitch. “And what if I don’t make things easy on myself?”
“I don’t think you want to know. But the end result will be the same. I will have you.”
USA Today Bestselling Author Eve Vaughn has always enjoyed creating characters and stories from an early age. As a child she was always getting into mischief, so when she lost her television privileges (which was often), writing was her outlet. Her stories have gotten quite a bit spicier since then! When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, Eve is reading, baking, traveling or kicking butt in 80’s trivia. She loves hearing from her readers.
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