Raze by Tillie Cole

6 janvier 2015

To take back life, one must first face death...

One man stripped of his freedom, his morals...his life.

Conditioned in captivity to maim, to kill and to slaughter, prisoner 818 becomes an unremorseful, unrivaled and unstoppable fighter in the ring. Violence is all he knows. Death and brutality are the masters of his fate.

After years of incarceration in an underground hell, only one thought occupies his mind: revenge...bloody, slow and violent revenge.

Revenge on the man who lied.

Revenge on the man who wronged him.

Revenge on the man who condemned him and turned him into this: a rage-fueled killing machine. A monster void of humanity; a monster filled with hate.

And no one will stand in the way of getting what he wants.

One woman stripped of her freedom, her morals...her life.

Kisa Volkova is the only daughter of Kirill ‘The Silencer’ Volkov, head of the infamous ‘Triad’ bosses of New York's Russian Bratva. Her life is protected. In reality, it’s a virtual prison. Her father’s savage treatment of his rivals and his lucrative and coveted underground gambling ring—The Dungeon—ensures too many enemies lurk at their door.

She dreams to be set free.

Kisa has known only cruelty and loss in her short life. As manager of her father’s death match enterprise, only grief and pain fill her days. Her mafia boss father, in her world, rules absolute. And her fiancé, Alik Durov, is no better; the Dungeon’s five-time champion, a stone-cold killer, the treasured son of her father’s best friend, and her very own—and much resented—personal guard. Unrivaled in both strength and social standing, Alik controls every facet of Kisa’s life, dominates her every move; keeps her subdued and dead inside...then one night changes everything.

While working for her church—the only reprieve in her constant surveillance—Kisa stumbles across a tattooed, scarred, but stunningly beautiful homeless man on the streets. Something about him stirs feelings deep within her; familiar yet impossibly forbidden desires. He doesn’t talk. Doesn’t communicate with anyone. He’s a man beyond saving, and a man she must quickly forget...for both their sakes.

But when weeks later, out of the blue and to her complete surprise, he’s announced as the replacement fighter in The Dungeon, Kisa knows she’s in a whole lot of trouble. He’s built, ripped and lethally unforgiving to his opponents, leaving fear in his wake and the look of death in his eyes.

Kisa becomes obsessed with him. Yearns for him. Craves his touch. Needs to possess this mysterious man...this man they call Raze.

Dark Contemporary Romance. Contains explicit sexual situations, excessive violence, disturbingly sensitive and taboo subjects, offensive language and mature topics. Recommended for age 18 years and up.

My review :

How do i start? With all the teasings thanks to Tillie Cole, Raze was one of the expected books i was dying to read. The day of its release i immediately purchase it!

Raze is not a usual romance, but a magnificent story about a man who was seeking for revenge, stripped of his freedom, humanity, life. His goal : a man,Brooklyn, New York, REVENGE. KILL.

This book was tough for me to read, but strangely, I was so mesmerized by Tillie’s writing that I had the need to read it until the end, read how far Raze was into his journey for revenge. Once you started Raze, you knew that you would be catch into a whirlwind trip that no one would escape unscathed.

Let me tell you a story:
Once upon a time, a girl named Kisa was happy, with her family and the boy who supposed to be her forever, then a tragedy happened and she lost not only her brother that day but also him.
Started a long journey, through pain, sorrow, emptiness, and violence. She was abused sexually and prisoner of her prison glass made by his fiancé. This beautiful flower curled up and was dying little by little inside, leaving each day a piece of her soul.
Simultaneously, a boy was trapped into a prison, where violence was the motto, where you lost all your humanity, turning into a killing machine, addicted to death and the thrilling of fights.

One day, the two of them met, and these two lost souls recognized in each other.
It was a powerful, transcendent attraction, connection between them. How could two people so different could have anything in common? Why Kisa was attracted to him like a magnet, for a man man she didn’t know anything about? What about this constant need, craving for him? All radiated in him first was this intense, rage, that could make you shiver. He was disconnected from the life outside, that everything was new to him; opened to him a world full of colors, instead of the underground, dark prison he used to live. Raze is animalistic,lethal, dangerous, forbidden.

In this world of violence, rage, hatred, they found in each other a light in their dark world, where being together being right, natural. But Raze had his revenge to plan and the man who had send him there, in this « Goulag » had to die. All he knew was the darkness, the fights, the killings, death.

But life wasn’t easy on Kisa, she was also trapped in her life, and abused so many times that It made me hurt so many times, seing her not able to control it. How could she endured all of this along all these years? She is a survivor!!!
Kisa couldn’t have the life she wanted, because everything was taken from her and her family’s obligations could make her a target. She had to be careful and not let her guard down. I love how different they were at first sight, they were so alike, like two pieces fitting perfectly together.
An oh my, the two of them endured many harshness to ensure their freedom, get through a lot a pain that nobody should experienced in a lifetime!
They suffered, falling in love, keeping having faith when they were together. Their love was epic, defying everything.

Tillie, my heart was ripped so many times, that i thought i was becoming crazy. You me pushed my limits, constantly challenging the addicted reader I was, to experience this book.
Thank you again for this amazing, stunning, surprising writing, like you said was so different from all you’ve ever written, but never took away that magnificence of Kisa and Raze’s story. So yes I was « Razemerized » by all of this! A MUST READ!