Lilith by Willow Aster

Release Date: 12.26.2017

Synopsis:

Beautiful, intelligent, independent, strong-willed, wealthy—Lilith Fontenot seems by all appearances, to have it all. But that’s not how the highest paid prostitute in New Orleans sees herself.

A stain on society. A scourge. A waste. Outsider. Prisoner…

Any idyllic dream of the normal life she may have once imagined, Lilith buried long ago. Her only plan now is survival.

But mob boss Nico Santelli and community center owner Soti Christos have not given up on Lilith. Each has his own very specific, very opposing, plans for her, and neither will rest until it becomes a reality.

LILITH is a singularly bracing take on an ancient tale of tireless love, betrayal, and the possibility of redemption.

Review:

I liked this story really much.

Lilith is thrilling and engaging,I held my breath for the last 30 % and I just couldn't go to sleep before to finish it.

Lili is a good heroine,she always finds the strenght to go on even if her future appears dark and hopeless.Soti is a kind and beautiful man inside outand you cannot not to fall in love with him at first sight.

"All of us are just fragments trying to grasp onto the next broken piece, trying to be a little more complete." 

Willow Aster is one of my favorite author and I find her attempt to a more suspenseful storytelling really convincing and captivating.

Excerpt:

I take a sudden deep breath and my breasts brush against his chest. The contact surprises us both. I do it again, intentionally this time, trying to gain control in the only way I know how. His neck flushes and he takes a step back. I enjoy the rush it gives me, knowing that I affect him too.

“Hey, would you like to come around the corner with me to—”

I swallow my surprise and shake my head, holding my hand up before he says anything else.

“Please,” he says louder.

“What’s your name?”

“I am Sotirios … Soti.”   

“Soti, what makes you think you know anything about me?”

He tries to make eye contact, but I focus on a spot just past his left ear.

“I just want to help you…” His words trail off.

The wind blows my hair forward, a sheet of black coming between us until I smooth the long strands down on either side. I gaze down the street and see a blurry little girl with black hair down to her waist in middle school, standing shy and hopeful in front of a group of girls.

“We know what you are,” they said. They hurled spit and names on her and she stood there, taking it, until the teacher came and helped her.

Help only got me so far.

“You listen to me, okay?” I say so softly he leans in to hear me. “I was born for this.”

When my eyes finally land on his again, I know his face will haunt me forever. He looks as bleak as I feel.

I clear my throat. “Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

With that, I loop my hand through the arm of my next income source, calculating how I can get the most money out of him for the least amount of time. It takes every ounce of willpower I own to not look Soti’s way one more time. Once we round the corner and I know he’s out of sight, all the adrenaline leaves my body, and I’m actually glad to have someone to hold onto.

I avoid my reflection as we walk back to the house. I don’t want to know what the rest of the world sees when they look at me.