Before you read this review, make sure you have read the first book, Tears of Tess, since this contains spoilers from the first novel.“This is a story of eroticism, horror, and sweet tragedy. It contains graphic scenes, but there’s always light in the darkness.”           

Pepper Winters absolutely blew me away with the second novel in the Monsters in the Dark series. If I could give this novel a thousand stars, trust me, I would. But five has to do, even though I believe it should be way more.           

“I was a prisoner with a monster who was my master. A man who didn’t trust his own self control.”In the first novel, Tears of Tess, Tess is kidnapped while on a trip with her boyfriend in Mexico. She’s quickly beaten, almost raped, and sold into the sex trade. She ends up at Q’s house, where his goal is to rehabilitate her and send her back home. Neither of them expected to become deeply entangled in one another.After Q returns Tess to her boyfriend in Australia, he struggled with himself. He didn’t understand the feelings he had. When Tess returns to him, he struggles to find some semblance of self-control.

“Maybe you should be scared of me. I’m the worst you’ll ever be with. No one else will come near you as I won’t allow it.”

Tess revels in the promise that no one will hurt her as long as she is with Q. That all changes when she’s found and taken back to where it all started. Beaten, drugged, ordered to hurt other women, Tess fights her demons as she struggles to stay alive.

“Tied to a rack or down on my knees, it’s you my master I long to please. Own me, take me, you can never break me…”

Q does everything in his power to find Tess. He realizes his feelings for her and will do everything in his power to find her and kill the bastards that took her.

Pepper Winters is a phenomenal writer. She writes with such passion, such emotion, that it is impossible to not get captured into the story. As stated in the beginning of the book, this novel has scenes that are gruesome, horror-filled. It is not for the faint of heart or those that have any qualms regarding rape, beatings, or violence. It is most definitely written for those that are at least the age of 18.

Quintessentially Q is a dark, dark read. It is also the second novel in the Monsters in the Dark series and the first, Tears of Tess, should be read first. Pepper Winters, I absolutely love you. I love your writing, I love the characters, I love the story. I was absolutely entangled in this story. I am anxiously awaiting the third novel that continues the story of Q and Tess.

Pepper paints a picture of light in the darkness. Her words create such erotic and emotional images. Every word she writes is filled with emotion. This novel flows together so well. There is quite a bit of suspense, since every other chapter the points of view switch. I almost wanted to skip chapters just to see what happened. Pepper knows how to capture her readers. She has done it twice now.