My Prison Penpals (The Undertakers)
Her letters saved them. Now they'll destroy everything to save her.
Wren
My brother says he only wants what's best for me.
He says the world is dangerous. That I'm safer at home.
That he'll teach me everything I need to know.
I believed him.
Until the day I found a letter that changed everything.
He had made a deal with the devil-one that traded my future for his power.
So I ran.
No plan. No destination. Just one final letter to the four men who had accidentally become my closest and only friends.
My prison penpals.
I never expected them to come looking for me.
I certainly never expected them to find me.
And I definitely didn't expect them to be equal parts appealing as they are terrifying.
They're dangerous, obsessive, and unapologetically mine.
And when my past catches up to me, they're the only ones willing to burn the world to keep me safe.
Four men who should have been a mistake-might just be my salvation.
***The Undertakers is a trilogy, and this book ends on a cliffhanger. It's a hurt/comfort, why choose, MFMM+ romance novel with dark themes. If you like your men morally gray and over the top obsessive and possessive then read on! No mm/ff/cheating/owd. The FMC will not have to choose between her love interests. For a full list of trigger warnings please visit: ShonaKnight.com.
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Community Reviews
My Prison Penpals is a dark and twisted romance. These are the stories that I typically enjoy. Unfortunately, I struggled to enjoy almost everything about this story.
Wren has spent her life isolated and controlled by her brother Robert who claims he is protecting her from the outside world. Robert is awful. I kept waiting for some revelation that Wren was his stepsister, adopted sister, or his father’s ward because the level of depravity required to treat your own sister the way he treats Wren is insane. Her only real connection to the outside world comes through letters exchanged with four men serving life sentences. Wren finally runs after discovering what Robert has planned for her. Her prison pen pals decide breaking out to find her sounds like a perfectly reasonable response.
The relationship between Wren and the escaped prisoners lost me pretty quickly. I am already not a fan of virgin heroine meets experienced men who teach her about sex. This book goes deep into that dynamic. Wren is so sheltered and inexperienced that the sexual education aspect felt far too close to grooming for my tastes. Most of the sex scenes turned me off rather than turned me on. This is a pretty major problem in a dark why choose romance. The men's personalities did not help matters. Their obsessive and possessive personalities often came across as cheesy and cringy rather than sexy. I never found myself particularly attracted to any of them.
Wren’s transformation also required a level of disbelief I could not manage. She goes from an extremely sheltered woman with almost no understanding of the world to a biker baddie. I never believed the woman underneath had caught up with the persona she was wearing. It felt like watching a little girl dress herself in a grown woman’s clothes with the hope nobody noticed those clothes did not fit. Fake it until you make it, Wren.
The darker elements never created much interest for me either. Wren goes through a lot of psychological trauma, but I rarely believed she was in immediate physical danger despite escaped convicts, an abusive brother, organized crime, and law enforcement circling the group. A story packed with that many threats should have had me nervous for her.
The writing and plot development were also clunky enough to make me question the experience of the author. The transitions, character development, and escalation needed more polish. The book has the roughness I associate with self-published novels. I felt this story could have benefited from another strong editorial pass.
Pick this up if you love extremely innocent heroines, possessive men, why choose romance, hurt and comfort, prison romance, and sexual awakening. The tropes that are selling points for its intended audience happened to be many of the same things that made the book a miss for me.
