Corrupt: 1 (Devil's Night) Paperback – 13 November 2015

Synopsis:Rika can't wait to get out of her sheltered life and start a new one at Meridian City. Away from Trevor Crist, her childhood friend and ex, away from everyone who doesn't let her be…But, there is Michael, a famous basketball player, and Trevor's intimidating older brother, and Rika will be staying close to him again. And when Michael is there, the other three of the four horsemen won't be far.Review:I always love a good risqué story and this is my first read by Penelope Douglas. Alternating between Rika and Michael's past and present in Thunder Bay, where she and the Crists grew up, both belonging to powerful families, Corrupt tells their story in the dual first-person perspective. It is a patient and interesting wait as one by one the events of the past unfold."I’d seen that look in her eyes long before I even noticed her face or her body. That look of something being contained and wanting to claw its way out."The events that unfolded involved the four horsemen, befittingly named, one of which is now twenty-three-year-old Michael. From the first few pages, there is a sense of mystery, which gets heightened as one turns the pages.There are masked men, threatening notes, and an act of revenge that is three years in the making. Revenge for the incarceration of Will, Kai, and Damon."There were things we wanted, impulses we felt, but acting on those desires brought consequences we weren’t always willing to accept, either. And maybe they were consequences we shouldn’t have to accept, but they existed nonetheless."Corrupt is such a corruptible read, of course, depending on how you take it, and especially where Thunder Bay's crazy youngsters are concerned with what all they get away with on Devil's Night. But there is a certain thrill in reading about everything, okay, mostly everything, that they got away with, especially the harmless pranks, that I'd never think of doing, not even in my dreams.It was amusing to see Michael warring within his mind about whom to go after, and whom to side with, his friends who deserved justice (or did they get what they deserved?), or Rika, for whom he may be starting to feel more than he thought he would."I would always circle her. It never stopped. … If she moved, I wanted to move. If she left a room, I wanted to follow. My body was always aware of where she was. And it was the same for her."The book is as scary as it is hot, and there is erotic ménage too, even though it involves friends who are like family instead of family. Now, the way the story progressed, I certainly expected it. This is the second time I'm reading erotic ménage and all I can say is that it takes a certain flair to write it in a way so as not to gross out the reader. And Penelope Douglas definitely maintains the class in her writing.The four horsemen are beyond any doubt, outlandishly crazy. Consisting of Michael Crist, son of a real estate developer; Damon Torrance, son of a media mogul; Kai Mori, son of an influential socialite and banker; and William Grayson III, grandson of Senator Grayson; these four always have something up their sleeves.Even if they are not always model citizens, Michael and his insecurities were like any other human's. And when you have such a demented family as these four do, how are you even supposed to cope, how are you supposed to be "normal?"In the end, the story is all about breaking free, doing what you want, taking your power into your own hands, not looking at everything like it's black and white, and just pushing your boundaries. I loved how it came back full circle, with a beautiful ending, and an insight into how it all really started, which was a complete surprise since I was not expecting anything like it.P.S. The "girl power" is unparalleled though, the way Rika comes out as a strong character, building up on her strengths as the story moves forward, is well worth a mention.

Scene where guys terrorize rika and confrontation seemed off, I actually felt rage to burn guys alive ,I get the logic but no I would have loved to read Erika killing everyone ,cause the scene is Red. I actually played various scenarios, on how to kill them how to make them suffer what tiny details to add .

This book just corrupted me. And destroyed me, and this put me on a reading slump. This book just took a piece from me. too good!

I like the damon the most and was shocked to hear what happened, this was so long im just glad I didnt skip any chapters, peace

The only reason I picked this book up was the boyfriend's big brother trope ! Before reading this book, I had only read the fall away series by Pen., so I knew I could pick this book without any hesitation and it didn't disappoint even the slightest.Characters; Michael Crist is handsome, and the star of his college basketball team.He is sometimes arrogant and refuses to give Erika any attention at all.Erika Fane is innocent, beautiful, and strong. She is like Michael in so many ways, and just like him she doesn't like anyone telling her what to do or not."𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑾𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆’𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓."Story: Three years ago, Michael and his friends had to go to prison because of Erika Fane. And now that they are all out , the feeling of revenge is going wild day by day.So when Erika graduates from high school and moves to the same city as Michael, he and his friends are waiting to strike, and bully her. Not only that , but they also try to scare her every chance they get. But Erika won't go down without a flight. She is Michael's younger Brother's girlfriend and has grown up around his house almost every time."𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌.”There is so much suspense and turns in this book. This is book one in the Devil's Night series and there are more to come. This book can be read as standalone, no cliffhanger but if you are gonna read any book from this series then I highly recommend you read prior books before. Because they all are somehow interconnected.Michael and his three friends, all known as the horsemen, all four have their own book. And I can't wait for you to read all of them. Especially Kill Switch.P.S: Damon is my most favorite!

it was very interesting, the plot also kept you on ur toes, and just my style. it may seem cringe to some ppl but i feel like it’s one of the best couples i’ve come across. rika and michael just have that connection like soulmates j would recommend this book

This was actually the first book I read and a huge thanks to the person who recommended me this book.I really loved this book and enjoyed reading it. I actually fell in love with reading, realising that reading is so much fun.

I had such a ball through this entire book! Simply awesome! Such great strong characters so dark! Rika and Michael’s chemistry is sizzling 😍 but Michael is MINE lol! I’m keen to skip and go to Damon’s book, very intrigued to read how this brilliant author tells Damon’s story.

I thought I wasn’t going to love it as much as I did, I read a lot of reviews about it, but it’s actually a really good book, I wish she would play hard to her more, instead of giving in so quick, I HATE TREVOR and Damon, well I hope he’s character develops in a good kind of way.

Very good book I like Michael but I loved him in the #4 book

Já queria este livro há muito tempo e fiquei imediatamente apaixonada não só pela história mas também pelo produto que chegou. Está em perfeito, sem nenhum estrago e super bem impresso.

Wow! I don't know the last time I gave a book 5*'s. Well I'd say 4.5 as compared to the best book it wasn't as long and complex and all-encompassing but it was pretty damn close! At times it was pretty hard to read for me, (not because it was badly written) because my heart was pounding, I was scared, angry and sad. I haven't read a book that got all my emotions buzzing and so heightened in a long long while. Lately the books are usually- boy meets girl, he's a grump/beast and treats her bad then her love wins the day, they leave their old lives and all turns out well and they live HEA. In essence this is the same but the difference is the journey! Oh, this is one helluva journey! I'm not so sure I could have the ending they had, not sure I could move on from what happened from the culmination of events and I almost gave up so far through because my heart couldn't take the sadness. I'm glad I didn't give in to my fear however because the layers woven in to the story and its characters that are revealed make the gut wrenching fear, despair and heartache worthwhile. At one point I just wanted Rika to kill everyone, all the men in her life, because her life was just that of a pawn in men's twisted games. In the end she still was a pawn to some extent but she had enough guts to strive for what she wanted.!!! LITTLE SPOILER ALERT !!! Tiny excerpt below, avoid if you wish but it's not too monumental a spoilerI loved when he said he'd held her as a baby and loved her from the moment she was born! And how he felt when he was forced away from her. It really melted my heart.SPOILER OVER!!!I suppose a lot of people can identify with Rika being unseen especially by the one person she wants. I can relate, one time, one guy, like Michael, in my younger years, but that wasn't as profound as his and Rika's relationship I'm not sure I could see past what happened in her life, she was a little weak in how fast she turned around for me, but it flowed with the strength of her feelings for Michael, and you can't help who you love, maybe?! A clever piece of writing in there hit home for me - There were dark deeds and bad seeds, but who cared if the house was falling apart as long as it was pretty, right? Do we all look at things that way at times? I'm sue I'm doing that now and it's forced me to look at myself. It takes a great writer to give you insight in to yourself. It's a great read and its written extremely well. The writing intelligent and smooth, flows well and drags you in deep inside to the hard hand life can deal. Shows, it's how you look at things, how belief in yourself and perseverance can serve you well and strengthen you. You just need to dig down and pull your shoulders back and give it a go. Thanks for the great read! If this is the calibre of Penelope's work then she just made a massive fan out of me!

Cadeau d'anniversaire, elle était ravie.