ARC Review: The Boy and His Ribbon (The Ribbon Duet #1) by Pepper Winters

Title: The Boy and His Ribbon
Author: Pepper Winters
Series: The Ribbon Duet #1
Genre: dark, new adult

“What do you do when you meet your soul mate? No wait…that’s too easy. What do you do when you meet your soul mate and have to spend a lifetime loving him in secret? I’ll tell you what you do. You lie.”

REN

Ren was eight when he learned that love doesn’t exist—that the one person who was supposed to adore him only cared how much he was worth. His mother sold him and for two years, he lived in terror. But then…he ran. He thought he’d run on his own. Turned out, he took something of theirs by accident and it became the one thing he never wanted and the only thing he ever needed.

DELLA

I was young when I fell in love with him, when he switched from my world to my everything. My parents bought him for cheap labour, just like they had with many other kids, and he had the scars to prove it. At the start, he hated me, and I could understand why. For years he was my worst enemy, fiercest protector, and dearest friend. But by the end…he loved me. The only problem was, he loved me in an entirely different way to the way I loved him. And slowly, my secret drove us apart.

Amazon US | Amazon UK

SANDY’S REVIEW

*4.5 Ren Wild stars*

Talk about surviving a book which stole my heart, broke it into pieces, robbed me of breath, made me a crying mess and yet I can’t stop thinking of it!

“I'm a living proof that a heart can be broken a thousand times and still function, still keep you alive— desperately hoping that it won’t happen again, all the while knowing it will.”

This was such an unconventional poignant story, I’m quite not sure which category this belongs to? Was it dark? Was it a love story? A taboo? Coming of age? Or was it a survival story? Now since I’d plenty of time to process the story I can fairly say that this book is all about LIFE! The Boy and His Ribbon has to be Ms. Winters best-written story by far. If her previous stories had a riveting storyline this was all about human emotions and unbreakable connection born out of perseverance and necessity.

This is a story about of a boy named Ren and his Ribbon named Della. That’s all I’m going to say about the story because blurb doesn’t exactly reveal anything about the story and it rightly shouldn’t. This is mainly a character driven story in a literal sense, we are introduced to Ren and Della at a very tender age and this story is about their journey in a most unpleasant yet stimulating way. We get to see these two grow, nurture, survive against all odds, forming an indestructible bond that just resonant in your heart. Their passion, devotion, and commitment manifest into a beautiful and intoxicating relationship that will have to stand the test of time. And trust me when I say this, ‘The Boy and His Ribbon’ requires an empty and an open mind before you get involved.

Pepper Winters has a magical ability to bring her characters to life. I don’t know how she does it but right from the first page till the end, I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath and calming my racing heart. She is not just a powerful story-teller, she casts an unbreakable spell on her readers, captivating us, destroying us and the same time showing the bitter reality of life in a most alluring way. Her writing is flawless and lyrical, her characters are raw, very much real and complicated beyond measure. They invaded my thoughts, resided in my heart and now it became a part of me. How I wish to hold them, hug them tight and assure them they will be okay, they are Ren and Ribbon, they have to find their way back

“She was every hope and dream I’d ever had and the fabrication of every future I’d hoped for, and If I had to say goodbye to that… Fuck”

There were certain scenarios that frustrated me while some absolutely gutted me, I for once am desperate to see how certain ungrateful ‘person’ is going to redeem themselves in their concluding book The Girl and Her Ren

*ARC kindly provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, for an honest review*

P.S: for those who have survived this book, can you please tell me how to make this heartache go away?! *sobs*