All Chained Up by Sophie Jordan Pages: 384
Series: Devil's Rock #1
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Source: Amazon
Goodreads
There are bad boys and then there are the men of Devil’s Rock . . .
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 . . .
“When the prison doors are open, the real dragon will fly out.”—Ho Chi Minh
All Chained Up is my first #COYER read for the winter! Go me! I love the forbidden romance twist of a convict and a prison employee. Its fascinating to me for some reason (I won’t explore that too much because I’m not sure I want to know why…) Knox is in prison for murder. He killed someone and he took responsibility for it, so its not like a “Oh I’m an innocent, good guy in prison”. Briar is a nurse who agrees to go into the hospital with her boss to help provide medical services to the inmates. She meets Knox on her first day. Terrified of the prison in general, she is intimidated by Knox. But, he is a hottie.
Knox gets paroled and runs into Briar in the real world. Both of them have been thinking about the other and Briar invites him back to her place for sex. Their relationship is pretty much him, showing up late a night for sex, then leaving, sometimes after saying something mean to push her away. That was pretty much the entire story. Knox couldn’t stay away, then got all ‘woe is me’ and says something hurtful, and the cycle begins again. It was irritating because Knox’s reasons were dumb.
I was pleased with how the story ended though. It was certainly a huge character growth moment for Knox. I was happy to see it and its well written. However, I wish it didn’t take so long to get there.
All Chained Up was a good start to the series. I will continue reading because I want to know what will happen to Reid and North! Overall, it was a good book, but nothing amazing.
- POV: 3rd
- Tears: no
- Trope: forbidden romance, ex con
- Triggers: View Spoiler »
- Series/Standalone: stand alone
- Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
- HEA: View Spoiler »
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A Pound of Flesh by Sophie Jackson, Ride Rough by Laura Kaye, Ruthless by Gillian Archer…then you will probably like All Chained Up!
All Chained Up
I actually JUST finished the last book in this series. Believe it or not, picking up THIS book was hard because of the forbidden romance. I thought, “how can this end well???” But I had faith in Sophie – I love her writing. I’m glad you picked this one up b/c you read so much romance, it’s great to get YOUR opinion!! If you continue, you might like the next one better… I did 😉
One of my favorite in anti hero romances was when the hero redeems himself. Glad that it happened in this story but sorry about the annoying circles in the middle. Yes, it’s irritating. Thanks for your honest, awesome review, Sam. ?❤️
I can see how it would be a little frustrating with the whole cycle with knox being back and forth and all. But it sounds like it ended pretty good. You’ve got me curious now. 🙂
Thank’s for the review. I’ve got this series on my TBR and I’ve read book 2 and found it enjoyable.
Glad you enjoyed this, Sam. This was one of my fave reads last year and I think because this book spoke to me on a personal level. Also, I’m a registered nurse and I was able to empathize with Briar as well. And I’m a sucker for hot bad boys.. LOL
One of the things that I liked about this book is how well Sophie Jordan handled the ex-con situation. This was one of my fears before I read the book.
If you want to continue with the series, skip the 2nd book. I didn’t like it as much. The third book features North Callaghan and it is a steamy but slow burn romance. The 4th book, Beautiful Lawman is coming out in a week and it is glorious! I’ve already read it.
I have Beautiful Lawman-I got the ARC from Avon and that is what prompted me to start the series. I am so glad to hear you loved it!