From New York Times bestseller, Pepper Winters, comes a new Dark Romance Series, Goddess Isles.For those who loved Monsters in the Dark, Indebted, and Dollar Series, you’ll LOVE this one!“There was a boy once. A boy who wasn’t strong enough to save me when I was taken.”There was a girl once. A girl called Tess Snow who sat with me in the dark, waiting to be sold.There was an … waiting to be sold.
There was an owner once. An owner who bought me, entrapped me, and made me his unwilling goddess.”
Eleanor Grace is a naïve dreamer. Trusting and young, she believes her travel-loving boyfriend can save her when her freedom is snatched and sold. Squirrelled away to an island at dawn, delivered to a man even darkness won’t touch, she’s bound by a contract.
Sullivan Sinclair is the giver of fantasies. Any wish, any desire–he is the master at quenching any appetite. His private paradise and perfectly trained goddesses are there for one purpose: to ensure every guest is extremely well satisfied.
He bought her.
He trapped her.
She belongs to him.
Dark Romance
First book of the Goddess Isles
75,000 words
Pepper has again singled herself out as the Queen of Darkness and Suspense.Wanton Book Lover Blog
Once A Myth needs to be on your e-reader, in your hands, and being read as soon as it is LIVE. As a dark romance lover, I highly recommend it! Chris
I believe one of the best series of a dark and twisted tale of 2020. And yes, I’m predicting that after just reading book 1. Sassy Southern
I’ve loved Pepper’s work since Monsters in the dark and all the in between work and let me tell you this is one of the best work she’s ever done. Dangerously in love with books
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Boy oh boy will this book take you for a ride. So much happens in this book in a relatively short amount of time. You will find yourself begging for more when this is over with the cliffhanger we are left with. I will definitely be getting the next in this series.
Narration is fantastic! A perfect pairing with these two.
Once a Myth
By: Pepper Winters
Narrated by: Sarah Puckett, Scott Rider
Series: Goddess Isles, Book 1
In the mood for a dark romance? Once a Myth is the book for you. Eleanor Grace is kidnapped, and sold to Sullivan Sinclair. Sinclair is the genius behind his sexual Fantasy Island. Buying women and keeping his clients happy is what he does. But there is something about Eleanor that is different. Will he be able to let someone else touch her? Pepper Winters is the master of dark romance. I don’t know where she gets her ideas, but no matter what, her antihero is one that I secretly fall for and can’t get enough of. I know I want to dislike Sinclair. After all, he objectifies women, and lets them keep his client pleasured for the right price. But there is something about the man that draws me to him. Is it his charisma? The seductive qualities he has? His money? I am not sure. Eleanor is a fantastic character. I love her tenacity, her never ending spirit and her inexplicable attraction to Sinclair. These two are enough to keep me engaged and ready to listen to the next book.
Sarah Puckett and Scott Rider narrate this series. This first installment wowed me. I love Puckett, but am used to hearing her in dramatic, angsty roles. When I saw her listed I was not sure about the casting, but boy did she show me her range of talent. Her versatility shines through and brings Eleanor to life with her own underlying darkness as we slowly find out her story. This is my first narration by Scott Rider and I was blown away. Perfectly cast, he has an element of class in his voice for Sinclair with that edgy evil undertone. I loved this team and can’t wait to see what happens next.
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This is book 1 in the Goddess Isles series and it’s off to a phenomenal start!
Seductive, intense, and provocative, this unique story was exactly what I needed to escape and forget the sad realities of current life events.
Flawlessly written, and well paced, Sully and Eleanor’s story was full of mystery and intrigue.
The build up, and push and pull I couldn’t read fast enough just to see how the story would unfold.
Nothing is what it appears.
The ending well…
Must read and find out!!
OMG What an utter priviledge it has been to have been able to read this book !!
This author never fails to blow me away and this book has yet again super exceeded and blown away all my expectations.
Welcome to the dark side !!! and I absolutely love it !!
Pepper Winters gives us Dark, Intelligent, Devilish, Delicious men, unique men, and this time she has outdone herself !!
Sully is a man … sexy and sinful, and runs and own is own island of sin for those rich enough to afford his unique way of giving them their fantasies !!
Eleanor is a vivacious, sassy young woman, kidnapped and sold… I adored her, she will take none of it lying down and will rebel each and every way she can against this life she’s been tossed into.
I have to say, Sully isn’t a nice man, infact at times i really did fear him and yet at the same time you are so drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He’s a little bit ocd and always has to be in control, but at the same time he’s like a man unhinged, unpredictable, his morals, well what can i say? He feels that His Goddesses are his property to do with as he wishes and he is justified, infact he is giving them a good life full of luxury! He is determined to break Eleanor and yet at the same time he is drawn to her like he has no other !!
Eleanor will fight Sully all the way, she isn’t scared to speak her mind or put him in his place, She’s stuck in this place with a monster, a monster she can’t get out of her head!!
OMG THIS BOOK!! I am not at all sure i can give this author’s talent justice with this review. She takes us to places that we would never want to visit and yet she makes us want to stay there !! She gives us Men that we would run from, yet she makes us want to stay close to them even though she makes us fear what they are capable off !! She hits your emotions and brings out thoughts you never imagined you could think or wonder and leaves you desperate for more !!!
WOW!!! I couldn’t get enough the characters keep you on your toes and it is exhilrating and exciting my heart was in my throat as we enter this dark and scary world. I love the darkness she brings out the best characters and descriptions at her best.
I am obsessed with this book! „Once a Myth” is more crazier, more darker, more sexier and more everything book than all of Pepper Winters books! I was waiting to read this story a long time, but when I started it I didn’t put it down until I saw the last page of this book!
It could be the best time in Eleanore’s life. Could is the „key word”. She was kidnapped from the trip with her boyfriend Scott. When she was on the sale in dark and dirty place, she meets Tess who was kidnapped too. In the end of illegal auction Eleanore Grace was send to tropical island, where her buyer lives. She was sold to be a sex slave like many women in this Goodness Isle.
This book blow my mind! I was in this story for the first page until to the end and still I can’t get myself together.
Sullivan Sinclair is a rich child of two owners of pharmaceutical company. He has more than one island in his hand. One time he made a thing. A lust elixir. He is a God on his island. He takes money from a rich mens and gives them the girls to unforgetable hours in theirs lives.
When he met Eleanor, he knows that with this girl will be a lot of troubles and he had right.
Because his cold and godness heart mets somebody who can warm this ice around it.
This won’t be a suprise that I have this book on a podium, when I speak about Pepper Winters books. I love „Once a Myth” even if this book is so brutal, dark and tough. The desire between Eleanore and Sullivan was something that I felt on my skin when I was reading this book.
I love how Winters creates her heroes. Eleanor is a strong girl, she always must say everything what she thinks about something. Sully is a charismatic antihero, but let’s not fool ourselves, all of us will love him so much. Pepper Winters knows how to write a dark story with emotions and tension.
I need the second book of this story now!
OMG!!! I thought I was prepared for this one but once again Pepper has outdone herself. Sully?!?! He’s every book boyfriend Pepper has created rolled into one. I can’t take the level of hotness this story has taken me. Good gahhhhh all I want is more and dying for the next one.
Buckle up! This is one ride you’ll want to hang on until the end.
Dark Pepper Winters is my favourite and this series is certainly starting out to be dark and sinister. What is real, what is an illusion, does this all start in the same place as another series? You will certainly have to read to find out, but I promise you will not be disappointed. Is Sully good or bad, evil or kind, I am not sure but am very excited to find out. Will Eleanor be able to keep herself or will she succumb to the desires of the Islands? I really enjoy how both Sully and Eleanor are strong characters, but each with a softer side. I am so looking forward to seeing where this all leads and what is reality and what is an illusion.
Oh wow.
I’m so glad i went in blind, all i knew was his name was Sully.
Pepper Winters has this power over me that it doesn’t matter who they are I’ll always fall head over heels in love with her characters.
From the very first book to every book that is written after.
I’m not going to go into detail about the book because i really believe you’ll enjoy it so much more going in blind like i did.
Just know it’s amazing, like every other Pepper Winters books.
Pepper Winters’ dark romance series, Indebted, owned me in a way that a series of that many books never has…and while Jethro and Nila’s story was by no means an easy read, the way that Winters crafted the world and created such multifaceted characters who could not be solely defined by their words and their actions showed me that there was no such thing as good guys and bad guys…that there was a gray area where many resided, indicating that no one is unequivocally corrupt or innocent, cruel or compassionate, right or wrong. So, with that idea in mind, I ventured into book one of Winters’ newest series, Goddess Isles, ready to fall down the rabbit hole, once again, prepared to take this new journey with my eyes wide open and my mind focused on the idea that there is more to the characters than what readers are privy to and that the only way we’ll get answers is if we follow Winters’ various plot lines and hold all judgments until the final book is read.
Like most first books in a series, there are a number of components that need to be expounded on, setting up the basic story by introducing the central conflict and the players involved, which is why Once a Myth begins with Eleanor Grace’s abduction and the path she takes to arrive on Sullivan Sinclair’s isle of pleasure. That journey is abysmal and it’s strewn with the non-stop tears, the overwhelming emotions, and gut-wrenching fear that these kidnapped women must deal with while they’re sold to the highest bidder.
For much of book one, Eleanor locks down her emotions and works to stay in control of her reactions, refusing to give her captors the upper hand when it comes to what they take from her, but while she remains steadfast until she arrives at her final destination, once there, she succumbs to the dynamics of the situation, which is only further exacerbated by what she’s given as she becomes Goddess Jinx.
Sinclair is quite the contrary man and entrepreneur; the service that he provides is immoral, illegal, and unequivocally reprehensible, but he doesn’t see it that way, and it’s those beliefs that should make readers despise him, make them not want a single positive thing to happen to him or the men who visit his isle and his ‘kept’ women. Sullivan is truly a man of many tastes and talents, and I feel like Winters has only scratched the surface of who this guy is, why he does what he does, and why his new ‘goddess’ has cast her own spell on him, even though he’s supposed to always have the upper hand. It will be interesting as the series continues just how many details readers learn about his past and the reasons for the creation of this secluded paradise.
There’s still so much to unravel in this story line, and I know that with each revelation and each explanation, more questions are likely to come, which means that the answers to those will not be fully revealed until Winters and her characters want them to be, which is the perfect way for the author to keep readers on their toes, ensuring that they pick up the small clues that she provides along the way, with the understanding that nothing is to be taken at face value and both looks and behaviors can be deceiving.
Bring on book two!
4.5 Poison Apples
From Q Mercer to Jethro Hawk and now Sullivan (Sully) Sinclair Ms Winters sure knows how to dish up dark, handsome, intriguing main characters.
The start is hard hitting and straight to the point with just how young and naive Elenor Grace is and how her life is going to change
Sully Sinclair is the deliver of fantasies, the ruler of paradise and a many woman’s wet dream.
My eyes plowed through every dark, delicious, depraved word that propelled Sully and Elenor’s story. The angst was electric, the tension tight and the deviousness of the story absolutely delicious.
The ending had me going wow, just wow. I was blindsided by it. Bravo Pepper Winters you have peaked my interest tenfold. Bring on book 2.
4 taunting stars!! The tension in this book is off the chain!!
This is book One in the “Goddess Isles” series. I don’t believe these can be read as a stand alone as this ends in quite a cliffy.
This book is off the chains a bit. It grabs you at the beginning and you want to find a happy place. I think you finally get to a spot where you think the light is shining in and then “BOOM”, it all goes black.
I for some reason did not connect with some of the book. I felt it was too much. There is that gray area where those of us like dark usually straddle and sometimes if it’s not just right I tend to jump out. But the last few chapters had me falling hard. I need the next book, I need to know what Sullivan does!
This book has triggers. This book has dark . This book is sexy.
**I received this book as an ARC and in return gave my honest review**
4*
Eleanor grace isn’t expecting her backpacking holiday to end the way it does taken and owned by someone “Sullivan Sinclair”.
Sullivan Sinclair prides himself on looking after his goddesses but Jinx certainly tests him.
A story of control, and every man’s fantasy.
I couldn’t wait to start “twice a wish” to continue with Jinx’s story.
* AUDIOBOOK REVIEW *
I’m equally exited and terrified when it comes to dark romances, I love it and hate it.
Sully is a true antihero and Jinx is a strong women but how can they survive this…..
No unnecessary descriptions of surroundings
Good dialogues
The suspense is killing me
I feel like it’s a dream listening to this it’s so surreal but at the same time the feelings is realistic
The characters is developed in to personalities that I both love and hate.
I knew it was a cliffhanger but it still makes me unhappy, I have to listen to the next……
Narrators:
Clear pronunciation and read with feelings, these two can make me forget the world around me listening to them.
Excellent performance
5 stars overall with a little minus for the cliffhanger.
Phenomenal! I love how the story draws in characters and references from her other books. I love the push & pull from the main characters I can’t wait to follow their dance through the rest of the series
Oh jeez, I don’t know where to start!!!!….
But I do know that I’m itching for more!
Instantly I was glued to my screen! What starts as a guessing game – who was it, what’s happened, what’s going to happen, what about *** …..you get this jist, yes? Well, I was pure addicted!
I can’t say much regarding the actual storyline – spoilers are the devil’s work! But I can say that the characters intrigued me, I want and need to know more, the place has me mesmerised, the circumstances have me on the edge of my seat and I seriously can’t wait for more!
Hats of to ya Pepper, a definite 5 star beginning so excited for the following books!!!
Well one thing I’ll say is that this book inspired strong feelings in me. Unfortunately, not all of them were good ones. Overall I thought the story itself was captivating in that “Can’t look away, even if you want to and darn well know you should” way. It is an intense, dark, twisted and often disturbing tale that seriously pushes boundaries. As for Eleanor and Sully, they are complex characters. I thought Eleanor was spunky and I felt for her and the situation she found herself in. Sully for me was where things got to the breaking point. There are great book boyfriends that simply leave you swooning and the bad boy anti-heroes you love-to-hate and hate-to-love that make your heart beat faster and tempt you to walk on the dark side but Sully is none of these. I can forgive plenty of sins when I read. Do you lie, cheat, steal, bully or stalk? I’m sure if you just open up to me I’ll understand. Murder or kidnapping? I’m sure you had valid reasons and were totally justified in doing so. However, I don’t think you will ever make me feel that human trafficking and sexual slavery is right in any way, shape or form. Sully is in my opinion the worst type of human being and if this author can find a way to redeem him, it will be an epic miracle. Also, just so you know this book ends on a huge cliffhanger. #Audiobook Obsession
I loved the concept of this dark romance,it’s definitely a twist on the kidnapped into sexual slavery. Eleanor is strong capable character fighting to hold on to who she is,while Sullivan is a complexity to be revealed. The hot factor is a five. Overall a very worthwhile story, maybe just a little less internal thoughts from the characters.
Once Upon A Myth (Goddess Isles, Book 1) is the beginning of a new series told in dual pov with a cliffhanger and cameo appearances of characters from her other books. This begins with diving into the plot without any prologue. The world building descriptions and settings could be more detailed oriented. Characters are compelling and fully fledged. A dark story with intrigue and suspense putting you on pins and needles waiting to find out what’s next. I hope to be able to listen to the next audio in this series.
Narators Sarah Puckett, Scott Rider duet narration was flawless. Loved the naration.
Audiobook Obsession
OH MY GAWDDDD!!! This book was unbelievable!! I was sucked into a world of angst!! Incredible!! Pepper has truly outdone herself!! Freaking phenomenal!!