Well hell! The queen of darkness is back with a vengeance.
We asked Pepper for a Dark read and she sure delivered.
Once a Myth Is the first book in the Goddess Isles series.
This book is HAF, Dirty, Sexy Crazy and Taboo
Elinore Grace has been kidnapped, she’s is waiting for her boyfriend to come save her. Little does she know what her fate will be. Did I mention this book is HOT!!!!!
I can’t wait for the 2nd installment in this series.

What an ending!! That ending has left me craving for more of Eleanor and Sully - The Gorgeous Goddess and the Mystical Master. Eleanor's stable and adventurous life that she shared with her boyfriend has been ripped away. She now finds herself in the hands of the most vile kind of humans. They have stripped her of her clothes, her freedom and her future, but she is determined that they won't strip her of her dignity. I absolutely love Eleanor. She is beautiful and full of life, fire and passion. She does her best to hide her fear from her captors behind a mask of indifference that leaves them feeling confused and grasping for the straws of control.

Even when Eleanor comes face to face with the man that holds her future in his hands, she keeps her chin up ready to fight for her freedom. Sully does his best to break her, but Eleanor fights him and his tactics with all the strength she has. Sully is fascinated by his latest acquisition. He has never felt anything towards one of his Goddess', but Eleanor has lit a spark and singed Sully from the inside out. He admires her strength and is drawn to her grace and beauty. He does his best to keep his distance but Eleanor has left Sully distracted and powerless. Oh Sully! He is quite the disturbing puzzle. He is full of all kinds of surprises and I cannot wait when all of Sully's layers are peeled back to reveal all of his deep and dark secrets. I absolutely loved Once A Myth and cannot wait to continue this dark and twisted journey that Pepper Winters is taking us on.

Ahh, this is classic Pepper Winters!! She has always been my favorite author when it comes to reading dark romance and this new series felt just like coming home. I don't know what that says about me that I enjoy her stories so much, especially with what they entail, but I could not put this book down. I was completely enraptured with Sully and Eleanor.

Eleanor - or Jinx as Sully calls her, poses quite the conundrum. He has never been tempted with any of his other goddesses, but this girl, young woman, tests him at every turn. She causes him to lose that carefully controlled calm he has perfected.

Sully, I haven't decided whether I love him or hate him just yet. The things he does are disgusting, buying trafficked women to provide sexual services to clients on his remote islands. The way he sees these women is positively barbaric, and gross and makes you want to kill him. But the subtle hints we get along the way tells me there is SO much more to Sully that we haven't seen yet, and it is going to be quite a journey getting to know him.

I really loved the conflict between Sully and Eleanor. She's a proud, willful, strong young woman who is not going to submit to Sully and what he expects of her. And Sully is absolutely going to do whatever it takes to get this woman to kneel at his feet like all his other goddesses have done. There's just something different about her though, and it doesn't help that she fits the description of his perfect, ideal woman.

I have to admit I would love to spend years on Sully's islands, just not doing what is required in order to do so. Pepper is just scratching the surface with this first book in the series, and I am dying to see what is in store for the rest of this storyline. If you've read Pepper's other dark romance stories, you will feel right at home with Sully and Eleanor. If this is your first foray into her taboo world of human trafficking, strap in tight for a dark and twisted tale.

Pepper Winters is back to her dark, forbidden and twisted roots in Once A Myth. The taboo feeling of attraction to something dangerous and monstrous is ruling this entire story. Pepper's words hit my heart and enter my veins like a potent drug that will left me breathless, scandalized and wrecked beyond redemption.

Eleanor Grace has been stolen, abused and then sold. And Sullivan Sinclair owns her now. Hecis the king of his own empire as he rules in Goddess Isles. A tropical paradise where every sick, deviant and extravagant fantasy comes true at right price. He treats his women aka goddesses aka employees with respect and caring if they obey his rules. But Eleanor is not a rule follower. She is ready to fight with her last breath. And she intrigues Sullivan unlike any goddess he trained and prepared. And she feels this totally unexplainable and self destructive magnetic pull to this man with more power and riches than god.


Pepper Winters did my official initiation into dark and taboo romance world. Jethro Hawk and Q turned my reader world upside down. I still remember feeling completely confused, distressed and yet utterly euphoric with these stories. And now I am having the same feeling from this world! Things those are not supposed to feel sexy will feel so. A man like Sullivan should be hated, cursed and despised. But I am insanely amazed and in lust with this arrogant, ruthless, powerful and gorgeous man specially when we see the glimpse of her empathising and softer side. Eleanor is epitome of grace, class and strength in face of most gruelling tragedies and horror filled nightmares. She is a mass of emotional energy. That is sometimes sad, depressed and broken. But sometimes it is defiance and resilience. The chemistry was sharp and fiery. And it bloomed like a poisonous flower and creeped like a toxic scent between two desperate and deviant souls. It ended with a crack in my heart and the wait for second book will be torture.


Once A Myth is a classic Pepper Winters creation. Emotions are played with. Boundaries are tested and finally obliterated. She threw me into a beautifully chaotic and decadent world. And like an addict, I am desperate for more of this electrifying passion, jaw dropping secrets and raw emotions.


Received ARC for honest review

Once A Myth is what dark romance lover dreams are made of!

Pepper has a gift for creating worlds that you just cannot help yourself from getting lost in. Chapter by chapter you become emersed in it, begin a love/ hate relationship with the characters and overall fall in love with a story that will have you in a constant state of awe with the turn of each page. The angst level and slow burn in this book are AMAZING!

As a dark romance lover, I will say that Pepper has gone above and beyond with Once a Myth. The two main characters are both strong, powerful and I am in love with them! There are also secondary characters that I think will bring an entirely new level to this story as it progresses. The descriptiveness of this story makes you feel as though you yourself are living it and I have to say, I am fascinated with One A Myth and can not wait to see what transpires in the next book.

Once A Myth is a passionately-charged dark romance that harkens back to vintage Pepper Winters. A story that is the ultimate in cat and mouse games, I couldn't take my eyes off of this story. I purposely took my time as I knew I would have to digest each and every decadent word, knowing full well that I'd have to stop often and catch my breath.

Winters gives us yet another supreme alpha in the mighty Sully Sinclair. A man with an odd brilliance about him that I couldn't quite decipher. At least not yet. Right along with the woman who may ultimately break him, one Eleanor Grace, I found him both wildly alluring one moment and downright repugnant the next. But damn if he isn't a puzzle I'd love to solve. And something tells me throughout this multi-book series, I'll be sent on more than one detour trying to figure all the whys of his actions and the mysteries of his past. And then, of course, fall hard for him despite him being a loosely regarded procurer.

The remote island setting has a peacefulness about it that makes Eleanor very uneasy. Knowing her time there will be years long, I have to wonder if she'll be like the rest of Sinclair's goddesses and become desperate to stay because the remarkable debauchery that she'll be expect to partake in will be something she might ultimately enjoy. Especially when divested of her inhibitions.

Once A Myth is the kind of mind game that only Pepper Winters can create. The way she crafts this story of woman enslavement, because that is what Sinclair is doing whether he sees it as providing a needed 'service' or not, is subtle genius. She intersperses moments of clarity with what Sinclair might see as weakness but is actually a tenderness. One that shows a very painful vulnerability which can also be extremely attractive. No matter the person. I felt very slowly seduced, just as he has trained his goddesses and I couldn't stop wanting more if I tried.

I'm all buckled up and ready for the next segment as this ends on a cliffhanger. And I honestly can't wait to see just who will break first: the seemingly always in control Sully or the woman who has decidedly gotten under his skin, his newest goddess, the one now known as Jinx.

With unexpected yet very welcomed nods to prior books and the anti-heroes Winters has created, Once A Myth is the perfect start to this newest forbidden series and is very deserving of a solid 5 stars!

Once A Myth is a dark and delicious piece of silky smooth chocolate that leaves you craving more!
This book will draw you in and it will make you forget about all things that you think are right and wrong, it will make you love to hate Sully Sinclair for all the right reasons, but then he will take you under his spell and make you want him to be the man of your dreams.

This book was unputdownable!!! Pepper Winters has completely blown me away with this story. It's so emotionally charged and has such an electric feel about it. The tropical islands of paradise as the backdrop setting of a story filled with fear, sex and kidnap is a genius move to make the character of Eleanor Grace feel always on edge, always never knowing if her life will end or become better than she ever dreamed about.

The storytelling was superb, it was edge of your seat drama at it's best with a lot of sexual tension between Sully and Eleanor. I'm on edge myself so much that I need the next book in this series right now!!!!

Brilliant story and deserves all of it's 5 Stars!

I'm still processing what I've just read. I will be rereading as soon as I can find time to read without interruptions. I enjoyed it that much. A reader like me kinda gets all giddy when an author brings in characters from other books. Those books do not need to be read to understand what is happening here. It's just icing on the cake. This is a new standalone series.

Pepper Winters has quickly become one of my favorite authors. She writes well with storylines that capture my attention. Her characters shock me, but grab my loyalty as their story unfolds.

Eleanor is asked a question. "What is the worst thing that happened to you, and how did you survive it?"

This will be her story. The start of which has made my heart race, my body tremble, and left me wanting more. She is strong and regal. A heroine to emulate.

Sully has a quite a way to go to redeem himself. I am dying to know how it will come about.

I love a book that provokes my emotions. When my body physically reacts to the characters and storyline, it's an automatic five star read. I cannot wait for the next book in this series, because this was a brutal cliffhanger.

*I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

'ONCE A MYTH' is the first full length dark|romance book in Pepper Winter's 'Goddess Isles' series. Spoken in 'Dual Perspectives.'

WTF! Did I just read! This was so wrong in so many ways, but like a train wreck derailing I couldn’t stop reading, my heart and mind at war against the other!
Hate him, break him, fight him, love him.
And then that ending god!! Wtf was that!?! Who was that!?!

Unique, Unputdownable, Unexpected, and Utterly Unpredictable..This author is Unstoppable!!
We asked for DARK..Pepper Winters has delivered it!! How brave are you? Because without any warning your thrown into a dark, gritty place, it takes no prisoners, it's right up in your face and there is no escape!! Nothing will prepare you for this crazy dark ride!!

This was dirty, hot, dark, gritty, and left me panting for more.

The QUEEN of DARK is bacckkk!

When Eleanor was seventeen a teacher gave them a surprise pop quiz asking them to write about 'The worst thing that had ever happened to them, and how did you survive it?' what Eleanor wrote down that day was nothing compared to what's to come.

Now only four years later her answer to that pop quiz would be completely different.

Abducted..Sold..And gifted to a man who isn't just a man, he's a monster.

As Eleanor and her boyfriend of five months were staying in a backpackers hostel in Mexico she's taken by three men. Thrown into a stop over until she's sold. it's here where things start getting gritty and dark. The men who are holding her and others have no morals. To survive she has to dig deep.

We were being trafficked. We'd been stolen from different lives, stored in darkness, fed by beats, and now we'd been washed and prepared for sale.

Meet Sullivan Sinclair aka Sully owner of a beautiful island paradise. He purchases Goddesses to cater to the men that come to his island to indulge in all their darkest fantasies. He's never indulged or played with his purchases but when one girl steps onto his shores that meets every little requirement that could ever test him, it's her Eleanor.

"Raw and untouched, she bristled with injustice and courage. She could be Artemis's reincarnation or perhaps Aphrodite's twin."

She's nothing like he expected, she's a spitfire, she fights him at every corner. She's not just a goddess she's a godman queen. And slowly she awakens something up within him. Something he's never felt before.

"There was something...something ruthless and savage about him. Something instinctual that sensed predator from prey and firmly put him in the category of dangerous."

Why is it after reading this book that I have the urgent need for a cigarette? I feel as though I have been thoroughly f***ed by the hottest pompous man on earth and enjoyed every gratifying minute! Ladies brace yourself for Sullivan Sinclair. He is going to grab you by your lady bits and not let go. He will become your new obsession. He will leave you breathless and begging for pleasure.

~Sully was exactly what I thought. A dealer in sex using bought and trapped women.~

Stolen from her life, Eleanor Grace is purchased and plopped on an island in the middle of nowhere. Her owner, a contemptible lascivious man, that is wealthy in both physical and monetary assets. The manufacturer of a provocative endeavor of euphoria where men can act out sexual fantasies with goddesses on the isles for a price.

~How cruel that my imprisonment was prettier than any dream I could imagine. How unfair that my cage was the Garden of Eden.~

The attraction between Sully and Eleanor is high-powered and intense, and although he routinely affronts her, there is still that magnetism, that allure between the two. They say love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances, and this statement couldn’t hold more truth when it comes to Sully and Eleanor.

The eroticism pours from the pages of this deliciously deviant and exhilarating tale. Winters works her magic and slowly, word by word, the reader is swooning over this noxious, overbearing, pretentious ruler of goddesses and monsters. Hold on to your panties ladies because things are about to get wet and wild!

O.M.G! O.M.G!
You will love Once A Myth if you loved Q and Tess.

Sully is darker than Q, has a brilliant mind and well -- drawn to this brand new Goddess...
I'm already enamored with Sully and can't wait to learn more about him.
And Eleanor. She's kick a**! I love her fiery spirit, her strength and how she won't back down to Sully. She's one of my favorite characters Pepper has written so far.

I can't wait to read book 2. I'm eagerly awaiting to see how Sully will lose control for the woman who wears the invisible crown.

If you're looking for a unique read, uncontrollable characters and those who won't back down.... you will enjoy this sexy first book in Pepper's new series!!

5 stars from me.

*Recv'd an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This book... I can’t even tell you! It deserves much more than 5stars!

Pepper Winters is so very talented. Her ability to draw us in, make us feel what is happening in each story, is unprecedented. Her talent is un-matched.

Sully Sinclair... considers himself a god... a god who provides goddesses for those who can afford to pay his price.

Eleanore Grace has been purchased by Sully to be one of his goddesses... and she will fight him at every step.

He is pulled in by her beauty, her absolute disdain for everything Sully stands for... just everything she is.

Sully’s patience, his very core of strength and who he is, seems to crumble when she is near.

This book is utterly fantastic. I didn’t want to put it down, but I needed to know what happens! This ending! I can’t even tell you how fantastic I find this story.

I am impatiently waiting for the second book in this series!!

The QUEEN of dark romance, Pepper Winters, is back!
As a long-time fan of Pepper Winters and wholehearted lover of her work, I’m obsessed with her dark romance series and just knew I had to have this. I was dying just thinking about Eleanor and Sully’s story after reading the synopsis for their series which had me absolutely hooked.
‘This one moved like she had a crown upon her head. A crown made of dignity and diamonds, heavy on her brow but invaluable to her sense of worth.’
Once A Myth is single-handedly the most intoxicating novel I’ve read this year. A prelude to a dark romance series that is easily going to be the sexiest and most captivating unfolding of events. It’s exotic and revitalising and honest to god, like nothing I’ve read before. Everything about it just held me hostage and kept me captive in the enthralling story…
Read Full Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3049809898

A private paradise with perfectly trained goddesses. Goddesses to touch and worship and debase to the point of brutality. This was fantasy island for the men that bought the time to be with these goddesses.

Overall:
With alternating points of view between Elenor and Sullivan the reader gets instant feedback as to the actions and feelings between the two of them.
Pepper once again graces her readers with elaborate detailed words creating a vivid world. Her characters are extremely developed with in-depth emotion and feelings. You can feel, taste, and see the anger, pain, lust, and desire in each character. She transports you to an unknown tropical place deceiving her characters into a fantasy paradise.
Get ready for a sexually driven story. You think you’ve read sex scenes before that were hot. You’re wrong. You are in for a treat.
I’ll tell you something Pepper is an artist. The way she formulates words is exquisite. Pepper creates beautiful artistry. Her artwork of words paints a true beauty on canvases illustrating this magnificent island and its surrounding area. It’s a thing of beauty to vividly image this world she created.

I'm giving all the stars in this universe for this book!!!

Pepper, my Queen. You rocked my world. I cannot wait to read more... :D

YUM!!! I LOVE a well-written, dark romance story! Pepper Winters delivers in a BIG way with Once A Myth, the first book in her Goddess Isles Series. Her amazing writing talent is on full display here in a story that is sure to grab you by the throat from page 1 and drag you into a world you can only deem enticing, horrifying, enthralling and captivating all at the same time. Told in dual POV, the main characters, Sullivan Sinclair and Eleanor Grace, are so well-drawn and powerful that your imagination is under siege to their every action and reaction. Under Winters’ deft writing ability, they come alive and jump off the pages into your head from the get-go, making it difficult to do anything else but turn page after page until you reach the end. An end, by-the-way, that will leave you stunned and emotionally bleeding, all the while begging for more. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll be able to survive until Book 2, Twice a Wish, is released. Somehow I will because I can't imagine not knowing what happens next! If the rest of the series is as compelling as this incredible beginning, you will not want to miss it. Once A Myth needs to be on your e-reader, in your hands, and being read as soon as it is LIVE. As a dark romance lover, I highly recommend it!

And she is back...

When I first got back into reading for pleasure and not just as a requirement for my degree, this was one of the first authors I discovered. I read each book of the Indebted series as it came out. I would find myself dreaming about them and feeling like I was going through withdrawals as if her words were the most powerful drug, and they were. Even years later, no other book has impacted me the way that Jethro And Nila did... Until this book. This book is truly sublime. I should have been prepared but I wasn't.

The characters, the world-building, and the storyline took this to a level I can hardly even put words to on how magnificent it is. It is not an easy subject matter, and yet, I devoured it because of how well the author wrote it making the depravity of the circumstance enticing. There is nothing romantic about Human trafficking. However, it was written in such a way that I found myself compelled to try and understand the how's and why's someone would do this, how they rationalize it, and or find empathy and understand watching someone come to terms with the why's and how's of why they were taken and how to not break in this situation.

I admired Elanor. Sweet Lord, did I ever. I liked seeing a small glimpse of her in the beginning with another favorite from a different series and seeing how they differed. Her resilience and fire were remarkable. This isn't like most human trafficking horrors that one would think of. This was technically paradise but only if paradise came with the price of losing one's soul. Sully. Sweet Lord. I am not sure how this author can make someone who is has created this "paradise" be so reprehensible and so enticing at the same time. There is a lot to this character and I cannot wait to see where this will go in the future books. I fully immersed myself in both of these characters' heads and tried to see what and how they tick and adapt. There is so much chemistry here as well as animosity showing that there is indeed a fine line between love and hate.

I won't get into any spoilers of the story but will say that this subject matter alone is a trigger. However, there is not the usual way or circumstance that one expects to see in this type of subject. There is "free will" so to speak if that makes sense. It ends on a whopper of a cliffhanger. I generally stay away from serial cliffhanger books because this author almost broke me when I first discovered her. However, this was too good to pass up. Luckily, each book of this 5 book series comes out once a month after this release. I recommend this book and series to anyone that likes Dark 1000%

All the stars in all the world, and best damn anti hero EVER!!! Unique and delicious, unlike anything I've ever read. I'm a mess and Pepper's a genius. A queen.... already gagging for more, literally.

OMG What an utter priviledge it has been to have been able to read this book !!

This author never fails to blow me away and this book has yet again super exceeded and blown away all my expectations.
Welcome to the dark side !!! and I absolutely love it !!
Pepper Winters gives us Dark, Intelligent, Devilish, Delicious men, unique men, and this time she has outdone herself !!
Sully is a man ... sexy and sinful, and runs and own is own island of sin for those rich enough to afford his unique way of giving them their fantasies !!
Eleanor is a vivacious, sassy young woman, kidnapped and sold... I adored her, she will take none of it lying down and will rebel each and every way she can against this life she's been tossed into.

I have to say, Sully isn't a nice man, infact at times i really did fear him and yet at the same time you are so drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He's a little bit ocd and always has to be in control, but at the same time he's like a man unhinged, unpredictable, his morals, well what can i say? He feels that His Goddesses are his property to do with as he wishes and he is justified, infact he is giving them a good life full of luxury! He is determined to break Eleanor and yet at the same time he is drawn to her like he has no other !!

Eleanor will fight Sully all the way, she isn't scared to speak her mind or put him in his place, She's stuck in this place with a monster, a monster she can't get out of her head!!

OMG THIS BOOK!! I am not at all sure i can give this author's talent justice with this review. She takes us to places that we would never want to visit and yet she makes us want to stay there !! She gives us Men that we would run from, yet she makes us want to stay close to them even though she makes us fear what they are capable off !! She hits your emotions and brings out thoughts you never imagined you could think or wonder and leaves you desperate for more !!!

This story is intriguing, spellbinding and full of angst and suspense. Sullivan and Eleanor will have you on the edge of your seat. I definitely enjoyed their interactions; especially their back and forth banter. Its four-play with words. Their chemistry was undeniable. Pepper is amazing at delivering stories where your darkest desires brings you the greatest pleasure and this story left me feeling euphoric. I was hooked. I want more. I need more. I'm craving more!!! I cannot wait for the next book. You do not want to miss out on in my opinion, what could be one of her best series yet. It will definitely give her other series a challenge for that title.