Review: Hellion (Hellbound Brotherhood #1) by Shannon McKenna

Title: Hellion

         The Hellbound Brotherhood 1

Author: Shannon McKenna

Release Date: February 7, 2020

Published By: Shannon McKenna

Category: Contemporary – Romance – Suspense

Type: Digital – Paperback

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Shannon McKenna Website

Blurb: 

He’s a ticking bomb…

Eric Trask is counting the days before he blasts out of Shaw’s Crossing forever. He and his brothers were raised at GodsAcre, a mysterious doomsday cult deep in the mountains, and are the only survivors of the deadly fire that destroyed it. The townspeople see them as time bombs just waiting to blow, but Eric’s going to prove those bastards wrong. He’s an ex-Marine, fresh off a tour in Afghanistan, working three jobs and barely sleeping. Utterly unprepared for Demi Vaughan’s dazzling green eyes, lush pink lips and sexy curves. She’s the town princess…he’s a dangerous outcast. It was a sure recipe for disaster.

But the closer he gets to Demi, the more impossible it is to resist…

Forbidden fruit is the sweetest…

Demi Vaughan has big plans for life post- college, and Eric Trask, notorious bad boy with a complicated past, is not part of them. So when he saunters into the sandwich shop where she works she tells herself he’s just tall, ripped, smoldering eye candy, nothing more. Eric was damaged. Marked by violence and tragedy. He’d be the ultimate bad boyfriend, and right now she was too busy even to shop for a good one. But his hot eyes and hard body, his sensual smile and that rough, sexy voice of his shook her resolve. After all, she was leaving this place forever. A little taste of heaven…what could it hurt?

But Shaw’s Crossing has deeper, darker secrets than Eric or Demi could guess. The evil that destroyed GodsAcre is lying in wait...and it will stop at nothing to keep Eric and Demi apart…

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hellion, Book One, ends on a cliffhanger, but it leads right into HEADLONG, Book Two, Demi and Eric’s continuing story, dated seven years later and available for preorder now! The other titles in The Hellbound Brotherhood are a connected series, but each book features its own couple and has its own HEA.

 By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, please exit this site.

Favorite Lines:

Aw, shit. He could still hear his better judgment back there, trapped in the trunk. Howling, kicking out the taillights, trying to be heard. But he just couldn’t listen to it.  ~  Eric

His hands burned to touch and handle every flare and dip and swell and shadow of her. Delve inside all the tender inside places. He wanted to know it all. Claim it all.  ~  Eric

“I don’t want to miss a second of this feeling,”  he said … “Like I could do anything,” he said. “Move mountains. Fly to the moon. Any fucking thing I could imagine.”  ~  Eric

Excerpt:

          Yes, folks, Eric Trask had entered the building. 
          Even if she didn’t look around, the effect on her was the same. The ambient temperature shot up ten degrees, whoosh. The earth shifted on its axis, ka-chunk. 
          Crap. Blushing again. Rosy red right down to the edge of her tee-shirt. Her damn cleavage was blushing. 
          Stop this bullshit. He’s a cute guy. Eye candy. Not earth-shattering. 
          The frozen yogurt overflowed the cup and glopped out onto her hand. 
          Demi cleaned up the mess and sidled over to the crushed Oreos and colored sprinkles without turning around. She was playing it cool. She had no idea he was there. Who? She didn’t even notice him. Why should she? She was working. Busy, busy Demi. Working toward her goals. She couldn’t be bothered with this nonsense. She had no time to waste with—ouch. 
          She’d smacked her hip on the corner of the ice-cream toppings table. 
          Eric Trask loomed in her peripheral vision as she deposited the frozen yogurt on the tray full of sandwiches. She made change and smiling chit-chat, having no idea what she was saying. Executive function in her brain was totally AWOL. 
          He hung back from the counter, ostensibly studying the sandwich board while he waited until she was free to wait on him. Kaia and Tammi leaned over the counter, their boobs practically spilling out of their shirts in their eagerness to take his order. 
          “Can I help you?”Tammi sang out. 
          “Still thinking, thanks,”he replied, eyes fixed on the menu. 
          Ahhhh. His deep voice was scratchy and rough. More smothered giggling from Tammi and Kaia. Grow the fuck up, ladies. 
          Demi finally allowed herself to look. She had to work up to it slowly, the experience being a full frontal assault on her senses. 
          He was ridiculously tall, to start with. At least six-three. Broad, too, but lean and tapered. He looked dusty and hot, his tee-shirt stretching deliciously tight over the defined muscle bulges. She loved the way his sleeves strained over the swell of his biceps. She wanted to run her fingers over every contour. Nature’s ultimate sculpture. 
          Hoo boy. It was a struggle to keep her mouth firmly closed. 
          His dark blond hair had sported a jarhead buzz-cut before, as befitted a Marine recently back from his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, but it was starting to get a little shaggy on top. His face still had that deep, weathered desert tan. His eyes were a piercing pale gray against his sun-browned skin, like glints of shining chrome. The eye-crinkles around them made him look older than his twenty-four years. Two years older than her. 
          His eyes had always made him look older. She’d noticed it back in high school, from the first moment she laid eyes on him. He’d been sixteen, she’d been fourteen. He hadn’t noticed her. He’d seen too many things he was desperate to forget. The GodsAcre story was blood-chilling, and people never got tired of chewing over it. 
          That sadness in his eyes had given her a hot, shaky feeling even then. It had made something inside her chest become soft, achy. Made something melt that should have stayed solid. 
          She wasn’t the only one melting for the Trask boys. With their muscular good looks, daydreaming about them became a widespread recreational pastime for all the girls at Shaw’s Crossing High School, in spite of the stories about the crazy mountain cult where they grew up. According to the gossip, GodsAcre had been a hotbed of drugs, brain-washing, sex orgies, Satanism. It was even whispered that the Trask brothers were psycho killers trained by Delta Force soldier Jeremiah Paley, GodsAcre’s leader, also known as ‘The Prophet.’ That the three brothers had set the fire that had destroyed GodsAcre themselves. 
          So. There were possible mass murderers, sitting right there with the rest of them, taking notes in AP Chemistry or Spanish or English class just like normal teenagers. 
          Normal aside from the fact that they were considerably hotter, that is. 
          Her granddad had been horrified when his old Marine buddy and longtime friend, Police Chief Otis Trask, had announced his intention of taking in the GodsAcre boys. They needed a home, Otis had argued. They needed to stay together. It was dangerous to leave them to themselves, and Otis didn’t see anyone else stepping up. 
          Bad idea. Everyone said so. Those boys belonged in a reformatory. Granddad had tried so hard to dissuade Otis, anyone listening would have thought the three boys were fire-breathing demons from hell. Demi remembered him ranting about how damaged and maladapted they must be. How irresponsible it was for the school to let them mix with normal kids after their bizarre upbringing. How it was begging for disaster. 
          But Otis held firm. The boys moved in with him, and enrolled in the high school. 
          Crazy rumors hadn’t stopped her from staring at Eric whenever she got the chance. His cheekbones, his broad shoulders, his strong jaw, his sensual lips. He was even handsomer now than he had been back in high school. Bigger, taller, thicker, harder. 
          His gorgeous smile had become a grin. His teeth were so white. Deep smile grooves cut into his lean cheeks. Like dimples, but longer. 
          “…everything okay?”He sounded like he was repeating himself. She could feel the heat coming off his body. Damn. That mind-wiping storm wind of testosterone was putting her into a fugue state. She forced herself to breathe. Air helped. 
          “Ah…ah, yes. Of course. I’m fine.”She smiled back at him. “What’ll it be?”She hoped that she hadn’t already asked him that. Perhaps even gotten an answer. 
          That grin widened. “Surprise me.”
          “Is that a challenge?”
          “Yeah.”
          She looked down her nose at him. A neat trick, at five-foot-four. It took lots of attitude, tiptoes, and hiking her chin way up high. “Game on.”
          Kaia sidled past Demi as she grabbed a couple of slices of rye bread and headed to the sandwich bar. “Surprise me?” she said under her breath. “I’d surprise that guy right out of his clothes. Any time, any place.”
          “Make that sandwich really tall, girl,”Tammi cooed as she swept by with a drinks order. “And don’t skimp the sauce. You want it really juicy, so that that thick wad of hot, salty meat can slip right down, you know what I’m talking about?”
          “Shut…up!”Demi whispered savagely. 
          “What do you think, Kai?”Tammi said to Kaia. “Mayo? Or herb vinaigrette?”
          “Oh, ranch, for sure. Long, strong squirts of it.”
          “Piss off, both of you,” Demi snapped. “I’m busy.”
          “I just bet you are, you lucky girl.”
          Demi blocked them out of her consciousness by concentrating on making the sandwich for the ages. One worthy of fueling a body that gorgeous. Rye bread, grilled in herbed dill butter, piled with pepper rolled roast beef and thick slabs of melted pepper-jack cheese. A few draped pieces roasted red pepper, juicy slices of crimson heirloom tomatoes, some tender green Bibb lettuce. A towering stack of home fried potatoes and a scoop of her own specially tweaked coleslaw. A bottle of an herbal tea and fruit infusion. 
          “Don’t forget the pickle, girlfriend,” Tammi sang out. “A nice, fat one.”
          Demi gave her the finger over her shoulder as she bopped the swinging door open with her hip and carried out the tray with her creation on it. Not blushing this time, oh no. She’d been slaving over a hot griddle. She got that tomato-red color from honest toil and no one could say she hadn’t. 
          She laid the sandwich down in front of him. “Here you go. A Demi Vaughan special. Billed by the till as a roast beef and cheese, but I tarted it up for you. And a green tea, lime and goji berry cocktail to wash it down. It’ll balance your heart chakra, flood you with antioxidants and replace lost electrolytes.”
          His silver-chrome eyes flicked up and down her body. “Looks incredible.”His deep, throaty rasp brushed tenderly on every nerve. “Thanks for keeping it special. My heart chakra is getting all excited just from looking at it.”

Highlight:

          Otis indicated the chair with a commanding air. “Sit,” he said. “We need to talk about a phone call I got last night from my old friend, Benedict Shaw.”

          Eric’s eyes closed with a hiss of dismay. “Oh fuck.”

          “Language,” Mace chided. “Your mindless idiocy is showing. But I can’t really blame you for it. I’ve seen Demi Vaughan, and she has got one sweet set of plump, pointy-tipped—”

          “Shut up,” Eric snarled. 

          “Mason!”Otis scolded. “Show some respect for the young lady.”

          “Oh believe me, I’ve got nothing but respect for a pair of tits like—ow!”

          Anton smacked Mace in the back of the head, knocking his face into the table, all without looking away from Eric’s face. Cups rattled, and Mace cursed and squawked but Anton didn’t appear to notice. He was too busy staring right into Eric’s brain. 

          Anton’s dark gaze had a strange, almost hypnotic quality. Since he was a kid, when he stared at a person, it was like he saw inside them and could just poke around in there, opening cupboards and drawers, turning over rocks, rifling through anything he pleased. 

          He saw things Eric didn’t even know about himself. Then he churned it through some mysterious processor in his head, deducing things he had no business knowing. 

          Anton shook his head. He looked almost pitying. “Dude,” he said. “You’re done for. It’s all over your face. You’ve drunk from the sacred well. Kiss your ass goodbye.”

          “Oh, God.” Otis put his head in his hands. “Say it’s not true. Damn idiot.”

          Eric could not say it wasn’t true. He kept his eyes averted and his mouth shut. 

          Mace could always be counted on to break an uncomfortable silence. “Whoa! Look!”he crowed, holding up a box of condoms that he’d fished out of Eric’s backpack. “Bad intentions? The seal’s not broken yet, but it won’t be long now! Here, I’ll do the honors for you.”He ripped open the box. 

          “Get your paws out of my shit.”Eric jerked the box away from him and the string of condoms tumbled down onto Otis’s coffee mug, slid off and came to rest on the table in all their glory. 

          Otis rubbed his forehead as if it pained him. “For the love of God,”he said. “You said you wanted to work like a bastard and put aside some money for your future, and now you’re diddling Henry Shaw’s granddaughter? That’s insane. That girl is off-limits.”

          “Her limits are her own to decide.”Eric folded up the condoms and shoved them roughly back into the box. “She’s not a child. It’s not up to her dad, or granddad, or you, or anyone. And it’s nobody’s damn business what we do.”

          Otis muttered under his breath, shaking his head. 

          “Sorry. I have to go,”Eric mumbled, slinging his bag over his shoulder. 

          “We’ll discuss this when you get home,”Otis said. “Tonight’s your night off from the care home, right? You and your brothers can all help me clean out the storage shed.”

          “Uh…”Eric hesitated. “I’ll be home late. I got something going on after.”

          Mace chuckled under his breath. “Oh, I just bet he’ll get something going on. Something as juicy and sweet and silky soft like a ripe—”

          “Shut up!”Otis and Eric yelled. 

          Eric locked eyes with Otis. Not blinking, since he had nothing to be ashamed of. 

          Otis shook his head wearily. “After the hell you went through, the people who hurt you, the people you lost. You’d think someone who got through all that and lived to tell about it wouldn’t be so goddamned innocent.”

          “I’m not innocent,” Eric protested. “I’m just minding my own business.”

          “Not according to Shaw. Ben Vaughan is nothing but a dumbass tool, but he’s still Henry Shaw’s son-in-law and Henry owns this town in every way that counts. If Shaw decides to mess with you, you will be messed with. I can’t help you. He made that clear to me last night. You’ve got your head up your ass. So damn stupid.”

          “Not exactly stupid,” Mace broke in helpfully. “Cum-poisoned. Different cause, same effect. Much higher fun factor. But hey, if you’re going to ruin your whole life and get flattened by Fate, at least make it count, bro, am I right?”

          “Zip it,” Eric said, through his teeth. “I’ll be late for work—”

          “You’ll lose the work,” Otis said. “All of the work. No Shaw’s Crossing employer in their right mind would go against that girl’s granddad. I guarantee it.”

          “I hear you,” Eric growled. “Don’t flog a dead horse.”

          “So don’t kill the damn horse!”Otis retorted. “You need that horse!”

          Eric backed toward the door. “I have to go,” he repeated. 

          “Eric.”Otis’s voice stopped him. “I said this years ago, but it looks like I need to say it again. If you get into trouble, or hurt someone, or run with garbage and get blamed for their smell, whatever it is, know this. If you end up on the wrong side of the law, I will cut you loose. No explanations. No excuses. No bail. No lawyer. You’re on your own, twisting in the wind. Do. Not. Blow it.”

          “I understand,” Eric said. 

          Otis, Anton and Mace came out onto the porch as Eric wrangled the Monster into gear. He disliked turning his back on Otis like an ungrateful, disrespectful shithead. 

          But he couldn’t explain himself, or defend himself. It was a done deal. He was taking Demi to a secret place to pleasure her beyond her wildest dreams. That was the plan, and he could not turn back from it. No one could ask him to. It just wasn’t an option. 

          The roar of lust in his head was louder than any voice of reason could yell. 

           A cold fist clutched his belly as he drove away, watching the worried faces of his family getting smaller and smaller in the cracked rearview. It felt almost like fear. 

          The lust was stronger.

Review: 

Demi is suffocating. Tired of the façade her parents throw out to the community, she’s shunned the family business and moved forward with plans to make her own way as a restaurant owner. When super sexy Eric shows up at the sandwich shop day after day, the sparks fly. He’s definitely off-limits and hooking up would likely give her parents aneurisms. But what the hell? Might as well indulge while she can, so she does. The connection is undeniable and before too long, Demi starts to envision a future following her dreams with Eric a part of it all. But her family has deep connections in town and when they get wind of her relationship with Eric, they threaten her with the only thing they can. But will it keep Demi away from him or drive them closer?

Eric has come from a brutal, violent past. Described as a ticking bomb, he has made sure he’s kept his nose clean, keeps his head down, and works harder than anyone he knows. But Demi proves irresistible and as soon as he lets go with her, he basically commits small-town suicide. With her family’s influence, it doesn’t take any time at all for Eric’s bleak future to turn to crap. But Demi is worth it. He’s always known his own mind and he knows he wants her forever. But in reality, Demi doesn’t know him all that well so when lies about Eric run rampant, Demi begins to believe them. Eric is suddenly thrust into a desperate situation and takes hold of the only tentative thread he has to keep from returning to the darkness he came from. But will his love for Demi be enough to convince her to stay?

Oh! My! Gawd! I could kick myself for not fully reading the warning prior to beginning this book. I loved the blurb, acquired the book from a tour, and read it without ever noticing a warning. Let me just say – for those of you who missed it like I did – CLIFFHANGER! I flipping hate cliffhangers! I cannot stand them! When I realized I was done with the book and it would continue into the next installment, I about had a panic attack! It ended at a horrible place! Granted, it was actually appropriate, but I was nowhere near ready to end my time with Demi and Eric, so for me … gut-wrenching! This is definitely not a happily ever after … yet. It could be in the next book. I am not sure, but I sincerely hope it is. Actually, I might die if it isn’t. I was able to read the beginning of book two, HEADLONG, at the conclusion of HELLION, which helped assuage my bereft state just a bit. But not much. This book is like nothing I have encountered. Eric has a very bad past and if I’m being honest there was very little actually explained about it. Snippets of some of the things the brothers went through are revealed, and another person plotting against Eric mentions the brothers can never return to the scene of the horrific events. But that’s really all we are given. I keep feeling like some crazy paranormal element is going to eventually rear its ugly head. And oddly enough, that might actually help explain a lot. However, I will have to wait until. The Next. Book. *sob*

Initially, I really liked Demi and her spirit and willingness to push back against her controlling, shitstorm of a family. Seriously. Eric may have come from some twisted stuff, but Demi really isn’t in much different of a situation. However, because of the family’s standing in the community, much is hidden. What happens behind closed doors isn’t revealed to anyone. Even when a bit of what Demi could face as a consequence is eluded to in front of the Sherriff, he just leaves and pretends he has no business being part of such a family "discussion". Corruption, much? In any case, Demi was extremely likeable from the get-go. Eric is a bit over-the-top, but he knows what he wants and he goes after it. Due to his violent past, he is fully aware that time is not something to be wasted. Hence his crazy work ethic. And when he realizes the depth of his connection and feelings for Demi, he doesn’t hesitate. She, on the other hand, isn’t ready for the heavy, so she puts on the brakes to an extent. Eric is fine with giving her time, but will not back down on letting her know how he feels. My biggest annoyance is that given her family’s behaviors and the fact that she isn’t blind to some of the things that have been occurring, she is pretty damn quick to believe the worst of Eric. That made me so fricking mad I nearly threw my Kindle across the room. I was fuming at her behavior. It also made me feel much more empathy toward Eric, willing him to pick himself up and prove everyone wrong. He seems to be innocent and nothing more than a victim of his circumstances; attempting to make something of the bad hand he was dealt. How do you fault that? Based on the glimpse into book two, I would say he does just that. I just wish I realized I would be continuing this journey without some sort of HEA at the conclusion of book one. Alas, I will survive. And I will be reading the next book as well. I can’t leave things unfinished and I definitely feel that there is much more to discover within this Hellbound Brotherhood. Honestly, the crap Eric endures is stupid and the fact that Demi isn’t privy to any of it is a bit off. But I suppose she doesn’t truly have anyone in town she can trust other than Eric – and she isn’t even really sure about that yet.

There were a few editing errors present. They weren’t bad, but another read-through would be beneficial to this book. While my biggest issue with this book is the cliffhanger, that vital piece of information being missed is entirely my own fault, so will not affect my review score. Given what I gleaned from this book and the brief introduction into HEADLONG, I suppose I cannot fault Ms. McKenna for the emotional state of grief she has left me in. The separation seems to have been absolutely necessary for the success of both Demi and Eric. And things seem to have shifted quite a lot between the end of HELLION and the start of HEADLONG. I did have one other complaint and I am unsure if it was just me or something unclear within the book … but I had a hard time picturing Demi and Eric as adults. Eric is described as having been in the Military as some sort of special forces unit. But for whatever reason, I kept picturing them as fresh out of high school. Eighteen to twenty at most, when they should have been at least mid-to-late-twenties if I am not mistaken. I am curious if anyone else had that problem, or if I just misrepresented these two in my mind somehow. Regardless, I did not like them any less in relation to my mind’s visual. I do have to say that the attraction that Demi and Eric share darn near sizzles off the pages. Their several sexual encounters are ridiculously hot. There is also a fair amount of bad language. This is not a book for the tender-hearted. This story is raw and emotional. The main characters are surrounded by corruption so deep, they aren’t even truly aware of how bad things are. One thing is for sure. The town and people of Shaw’s Crossing are holding terrible secrets that they are desperate to keep buried; even to the point of murder. I absolutely cannot wait until I can sink my teeth into HEADLONG. There is so much left uncovered and I look forward to both the journey toward the truth and being able to spend more time with Demi and Eric – and hopefully their HEA next time around.

Kindle version provided by Expresso Book Tours/Author in exchange for an honest review.