The Pawn (Endgame #1): 4 Stars

Author: Skye Warren
Length: 314 pgs.
The Pawn is the first book in Skye Warren’s Endgame series, and it’s available for free on Amazon. I picked it up after seeing good reviews of other books in the series and later added the audible narration for $1.99. Most of the time I get to my audiobooks much quicker than my kindle books, so if I’ve had the book for a while and the narration is cheap I’ll add it on.

After mulling over a few options from my Kindle Unlimited library when trying to decide which audiobook to start two days ago, I scrolled through my cloud and saw this title in my library. It was pretty short at 5 hours and 49 minutes, so I started it on my drive home from work. I was immediately hooked!

We’re introduce to the book’s heroine, Avery James. Everything in her life seems perfect – her father is rich and important, her future is secure, she has a doting boyfriend, Justin. Time quickly shoots forward and we find Avery begging for financial assistance from a notorious “businessman”, Damon Scott. We learn that Avery’s father was found guilty of fraud and they lost everything except for their house. Additionally, her father was severely beaten by a group of men who we assume were striking back after finding out that he stole their money. So now Avery spends her days trying to keep the bill collectors at bay, make ends meet, and take care of her father, who’s bedridden and needs assistance with the normal activities of daily living. It’s quite the social fall from grace and Avery has no one to turn to, her mother having died when she was younger.

Damon Scott and and his cohort, Damien Miller, decide to “help” Avery by auctioning off her virginity. She’ll make enough-hopefully-to save her childhood home and of course, Scott and Miller take a percentage. She’ll live for one month with the man who purchases her, and be subject to their every whim. It’s not a question of if she’ll lose her virginity but when and to whom. Unfortunately this may not be the super solution Avery hopes it will be.

I won’t spoil the rest but I enjoyed going down this twisted rabbit hole with Avery. The only thing I’ll say is that the book leaves off on a MAJOR cliffhanger. The next book in the series is The Knight and I can see how smart it is to have the first book available for free download. I definitely got sucked in to this one. Won’t be jumping into #2 right away but will definitely keep my eyes peeled for other Skye Warren book deals and keep it on my TBR.