The Ritual
L.O.R.D.S., Book #1
By Shantel Tessier
ISBN# 9798777213471
Author’s Website: shanteltessier.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
Review
Ryat Alexander Archer has been raised to be a Lord. Ryat is a generational Lord; his father was a Lord and his sons will be Lords. The Lords are a secret society of rich men. They do whatever is necessary to keep the rich, rich, and ensure that the seedier side of the things they do get swept under the rug. When you are given an order from the Lords, you don’t refuse. It could be a simple task they require… or even murder. You do it, and you don’t ask questions.
The initiation takes place at Barrington University, a school for the rich. It begins Freshman year, and the initiates are put through a series of grueling tests over their four years there. Not everyone will make the cut. As part of their rules, they must abstain from sex the first three years. During their senior year they are rewarded with a chosen. This is a girl that is their plaything. The chosen must do whatever their Lord commands, until the Lord has no more use for them. The Lords can take as many chosen ones as they like. They own them. The Lords use them and dispose of them before they have to settle into their futures with the wives, that are mostly arranged by their families.
Ryat is at the top of his class of Lords, and will no doubt be a high-ranking Lord, when all is said and done.
During his junior year, he had to go on an assignment with his friend, Matt. Ryat does not enjoy partner work. He went straight to business taking out their target, but Matt botched things up and ended up killing the target’s wife, who was not supposed to be harmed. Needless to say, this displeased the Lords. Matt was put on probation and they tried to get Ryat to turn on him, but he’s not a snitch. They knew who the problem was though. Matt and Ryat were no longer friends after the incident.
Now it’s their senior year and Ryat gets called into a private meeting. He is told to take a specific girl as his chosen. It’s highly unusual to be told which girl to take, but Ryat refuses to fail an assignment. The girl is Blakely Anderson, Matt’s girlfriend and future wife. Matt must have pissed someone off pretty good as all the guys had considered Blakely off-limits. Now he just has to convince Blakely to be his. Game on.
Matt doesn’t allow Blakely anywhere near the Lords. So, her best friend, Sarah, takes advantage of Matt being out of town and convinces Blakely to come with her to one of their parties. And, the next thing she knows Matt is there yelling at her for being there … with another girl on his arm, at that. Blakely breaks things off with Matt, which gives Ryat the perfect opportunity to start making his move.
Blakely’s mom makes it clear that she still expects her to marry Matt, as was previously arranged. It doesn’t bother her in the slightest that Matt lied and was cheating. Knowing the loveless marriage that awaits her, Blakely decides she might as well live a little. She takes Ryat up on his offer to be his chosen, much to Matt’s chagrin.
Ryat quickly learns what an idiot Matt is where Blakely is concerned. The girl is gorgeous and a virgin to boot. Why the hell has Matt refused her all these years? The game is taken to a whole new level when Matt dares to touch what is Ryat’s though. Matt may be marrying her in a year, but she’s his now and he won’t allow anyone to touch her or threaten her.
The plan is to thoroughly own and dominate Blakely before they both have to go off and marry the spouses their families have set up for them. But what happens when Ryat decides he doesn’t want to give her back?
I was a little nervous about reading this book after seeing some bad reviews. They made me question my choice because the synopsis sounded right up my alley. I decided not to read it, but came back to it. I’m so glad I did. I couldn’t put this book down. I flew through this novel, despite it being over 600 pages. It honestly should probably have been a duet, there was easily enough material for two books. However, I don’t hate that it wasn’t.
The Lords are a piece of work. Seems like a bunch of entitled rich guys doing whatever they want with no consequences. Women are lesser and seem quite disposable to most of them. Ryat becomes quite the anomaly when he starts to respect and even love his chosen. Blakely was definitely better off being his than anyone else’s, and definitely better off than being Matt’s.
However, Ryat is no saint. He was raised for this life. He’s brutal, when he needs to be and loves the violence, of it all. He is not gentle with his girl and some of their scenes are not for the faint of heart. He does have his own rules though that I can appreciate. Nobody will see us having sex, nobody will hear us having sex, and I will not share. And, there is that one rule… any man touches you, whether you want them to or not, they are dead. He has no problem killing to protect Blakely, and it’s a good thing as Matt continues to be a problem.
I was a bit worried when Blakely let Matt’s words get to her and she ran from Ryat. Why would you listen to him, of all people anyway? It was also kind of hypocritical since he had tried to do the same thing, he was accusing Ryat of, but on a much smaller scale. Ryat was just doing it to keep her from Matt, so there is that. Ryat was so angry when he finally found her, he barely got to her in time to save her. He seemed to just want to punish her. I was worried that we had lost him. That it was going to be a long slog to get him back to the guy he was before, that I had started to love. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. Truly seeing her made him snap out of his anger and they were able to work through it all. It did take a minute though, but just a little one.
I actually really enjoyed seeing Blakely embrace her role as a Lady, when she finally chose to do so. Poor Cindy will never be the same again. Serves her right.
There was just so much to like about this book and it was hard to condense my feelings for this review. This was my first book I’d read from this author, but it definitely won’t be the last. I have to read about the other Lords after all. I was really hoping the next book would be Sarah and Gunner’s story, but it does not look to be the case. Hopefully they and Ty will eventually get books of their own though (if they haven’t already – I didn’t want to look too far ahead). Maybe even a Royal & Reign book or two…. Please? I’m completely obsessed now.
“I was forced to pick her as my chosen, but she continues to choose me every day. And that is what I call heaven. Because life without her would be hell.”
