January 08, 2015

Review: Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole


Even salvation can be delivered through the love of the damned…

Beauty can be a curse.

Faith can be a cage.

Only love can set you free.

A few long weeks after being reluctantly ripped from the comforting embrace of her sacred prophet’s religious commune—the only life she has ever known—a terrified Delilah is thrust into a world enveloped by evil and swimming in sin.

Steadfastly devout in her faith, and retaining the deep belief that her soul is innately tarnished as a branded ‘Cursed woman of Eve’, Delilah is determined to find her way home to her people in The Order and away from the corrupt and damned outlaw motorcycle club—The Hades Hangmen—who hold her at their secluded compound for her protection—a 'protection' she strongly resents.

Delilah yearns to return home, convinced that only amongst her own people, and under the holy guidance of the Lord’s revealed prophet, can her Satan-spawned soul be truly saved. Conditioned her entire life to believe she is a witch... a life-long temptress… the devil’s whore... Delilah increasingly resents her beautiful face, her shapely body and her sensuous effect on men. But when a man of the motorcycle club—a deeply sinful yet stunningly beautiful man—is charged with her care, Delilah begins to see that this dangerous and moralless sinner from the 'outside' may offer her something she did not know could truly exist: unconditional love.

Kyler ‘Ky’ Willis loves his life: a daily abundance of brotherhood, liquor, the freedom of the open-road and—best of all—his pick of hot women. Raised a biker brat and now VP of the most notorious MC in the States, Ky has no shortage of club sluts warming his bed; a situation he takes full advantage of… until a certain blonde enters his life… a gorgeous pilgrim-blonde he can’t get out of his head… a pilgrim-blonde he and his club recently-rescued from some backward religious cult… and a pilgrim-blonde he’s been ordered to keep the hell away from and his whorish hands off.

When yet another in a lengthy line of drunken blunders forces Ky to reluctantly take charge of the pilgrim-blonde’s care, he realizes that there could be more to this woman than just supermodel looks and a stacked set of tits. He begins to see that she could be the woman who could do the impossible—tame his wild ways and capture his reluctant heart.

But the unyielding bonds of Lilah’s past are strong, her ‘people’ determined and, with a new Prophet in charge and hell bent on revenge, they are mightily reluctant to let her go...



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








MY REVIEW


Heart Recaptured by Tillie Cole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 gut-wrenching STARS



“Then it was all worth it,” I admitted and really truly meant it.“Every single second of my life... because it eventually led me to you. It led me to fall so deeply in love with you, Ky... the man who recaptured this bruised and battered heart.”


Tillie Cole is really rolling out the big guns. WOW, just really WOW.

The second instalment of the Hades Hangmen tells the story of Lilah and Ky. One of the 'cursed' women the Hangmen rescued in It Ain't Me, Babe and the Vize President of the MC.
While the first book already was a dark and gritty read this one really went to town on the psychological aspect of the brainwashed minds Mae, Maddie and especially Lilah are left with. And it wasn't easy to read. It wasn't easy at all.



After the big raid on the commune at the end of the last book Lilah and Maddie live with Mae in Styx's apartment above the Hangmen's clubhouse. For both girls being 'freed' is more like trading one cage for another, guarded by the 'devilish men dressed in black leather'. The cultural shock is so hard to adjust to that both of them stay in their room and only leave there for prayer.

We get to see how twisted Lilah's mind is and how deep her believe is rooted, even though she was abused since she was a little girl nothing can shake that world view.

The most disturbing thing is that Lilah wants to be rescued; she wants to be back with her people and have a chance at salvation for her cursed soul. Crazy stuff. The poor girl is conditioned beyond imagination.


Ky on the other hand is a man-whore and there are no two ways about it. That's what he was thought and that's how he lives his life.

“Pussies are to be licked good and fucked hard - never worshipped.”


Yeah. And he has a creative way with words as well.

His most redeeming quality is probably his interest in Lilah, although to be honest he just desperately wants in her pants...or dress. Bottom line, from the first moment he put eyes on her he was under her spell. Question is can he change his ways for this scared and damaged woman.

It gets interesting after a little incident involving Ky, Lilah and way too much liquor. In the aftermath Styx assigns him to teach Lilah the ways of the real world. It's all a bit odd, but what happens next is really interesting to see. Sometimes beautiful, but mostly just heartbreaking.

And his ways of teaching are interesting to say the least.

“Lesson two, there is more to life than being caged in a protective bubble. You had it at that cult; now you’re locking yourself away here. Gotta take life by the balls at some point and squeeze those fuckers with the skill of a whore.”


That man is unique, no doubt about it.


I'm not going to lie to you, reading Heart Recaptured was difficult and painful. Especially the flashbacks to her childhood were hard to stomach and in the beginning I had to force myself to read on. The religious nonsense happening in Lilah's head is torture. It's hard to even imagine a silver lining for her. Not to mention when you put a man like Ky into the mix everything just gets a bit hard to comprehend. Oil and water have nothing on Lilah and Ky.

But I'm happy I pulled through. The story is really well woven together, extremely well written and the drama as usual is at a maximum.

Just one question left. Can you save someone who doesn't want to be saved? Someone who doesn't even understand that everything she knows and wants is unbelievably wrong.

“She thinks the devil is luring you in through her. She believes a man will never truly love her for herself until she is rid of her curse, of her temptress nature.”



A few more side notes:

Mae and Styx are still very much in the middle of things and play a big role. I really appreciated that. Seeing how they evolve and how their relationship carries on.

There are a few returning outside characters that play a bigger role. Prophet Cain...also known as Rider and his people play an integral part, as well as the KKK.

The story really is a continuation and I don't think the books can be read as a standalone.

And with that I'm done for now. Really looking forward what's in store for Flame the crazy bastard and Maddie.


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