Review of Alpha by Jasinda Wilder

Synopsis: The first time it happened, it seemed like an impossible miracle. Bills were piling up, adding up to more money than I could ever make. Mom's hospital bills. My baby brother's tuition. My tuition. Rent. Electricity. All of it on my shoulders. And I had just lost my job. There was no hope, no money in my account, no work to be found. And then, just when I thought all hope was lost, I found an envelope in the mail. No return address. My name on the front, my address. Inside was a check, made out to me, in the amount of ten thousand dollars. Enough to pay the bills and leave me some left over to live on until I found a job. Enough to let me focus on classes. There was no name on the check, just "VRI Inc.," and a post office box address for somewhere in the city. No hint of identity or reason for the check or anything. No mention of repayment, interest, nothing…except a single word, on the notes line: "You." Just those three letters.

If you receive a mysterious check, for enough money to erase all your worries, would you cash it?

I did.

The next month, I received another check, again from VRI Incorporated. It too contained a single word: "belong."

A third check, the next month. This time, two words. Four letters. "To me."

The checks kept coming. The notes stopped. Ten thousand dollars, every month. A girl gets used to that, real quick. It let me pay the bills without going into debt. Let me keep my baby brother in school and Mom's hospice care paid for. How do you turn down what seems like free money, when you're desperate? You don't. I didn't.

And then, after a year, there was a knock on my door. A sleek black limousine sat on the curb in front of my house. A driver stood in front of me, and he spoke six words: "It's time to pay your debt."

Would you have gotten in?

I did.

It turns out $120,000 doesn't come free.

4 Stars

Review: Kyrie St. Claire is at the end of her rope. She has just been fired from her temp job, and as she had to break her pervert boss's nose, I'm guessing it is without any kind of reference. She is trying to finish her college degree, which it has taken her several years to do because her mother mentally checked out after her father was murdered, and her younger brother is also in college. So, imagine her surprise when she rifles through all of her unpayable bills to find an envelope with her name on it. Inside, there is a check for $10,000 - enough to pay all of her current bills and stay in school. She is hopeful, but certainly surprised, when she receives a similar check the next month, the next, and so on - until a year has gone by. Then, the day comes when a man shows up to collect her - something that she basically knew was a possibility, but seems to have hoped would never happen.

Kyrie is collected and taken to the home of a man that has her blindfolded for the first several days. He lets her know that she belongs to him, but he will not force anything on her. He basically challenges her at that point that she will beg him for anything that she wants to happen between them. From there, the story is one hot interlude after the other. I think I expected it to be this way, so I was not disappointed. This man, whom I will not name so that the reveal is not ruined for anyone, basically provides everything for Kyrie - clothes, a home, food, etc - and all he asks is that she remain with him of her own free will. This was definitely a steamy read, although, I think I was a little disappointed in the back story as to why Kyrie had found this man's interest. There was a lot of detail about things that happened in the past and how they impacted Kyrie's future with this man, but some of it was a little hard to swallow.

If you are in the mood a little bit of mystery - both past and present - as well as some definite heat - this book is a good one to try.

Jessica