Lord of London Town by Tillie Cole-Review & Excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 13, 2020
Cheska Harlow-Wright was born into a life of luxury and privilege. She has never wanted for anything. A comfortable future as a married London socialite
awaits her. But since the age of thirteen, Cheska has harboured a secret—an unshakeable fixation on a boy who could never offer her anything close to comfort. A boy steeped in sin and draped in depravity. A boy born into the possessive embrace of darkness.
When Cheska’s seemingly perfect world is ripped apart by an unknown but deadly enemy, there’s only one person she can run to. One person in the world who has the power to keep her safe. The one person her weak and shattered heart craves.
Arthur Adley. The new head of the most feared crime family in London.
Forced too young to take the helm of the Adley firm, Arthur has become even more ruthless, formidable, and cold than ever before. His enemies are circling, and he must fight—and kill—to maintain his family’s place at the top of the London crime underworld. There is no room for weakness, emotion, or loss of control.
But then Cheska smashes back into his life with the force of a wrecking ball. She has no place in this dark, vicious, and bloodthirsty world. And worse, she is the solitary chink in his impenetrable armour. He’s already pushed her away once, but this time she desperately needs him. She’s broken, lost, and in danger, and he is the only one who can help.
Arthur must protect her. He must destroy those who dare to threaten her, hunt down those who would take what is his. He would raze all of London to the ground to keep her safe… but can he also protect himself?
The infamous Dark Lord of London Town faces his most brutal battle yet—the crippling weight of the past, the unrelenting enemies lurking in the shadows… and the havoc that Cheska’s presence is wreaking on the granite fortress that was once his heart.
•••••
REVIEW: LORD OF LONDON TOWN is the first instalment in Tillie Cole’s contemporary, adult, dark, organized crime, romance series focusing on the Adley Crime Family in London, England. This is the new head of the Adley Crime Family Arthur Adley, and heiress Cheska Harlow-Wright’s story line. There is a slight cross-over with the author’s Hade’s Hangmen series.
WARNING: LORD OF LONDON TOWN is a dark, mafia-style romance with scenes of graphic violence, grisly murders, attempted rape and strong language that may not be suitable for more sensitive readers.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Arthur and Cheska) LORD OF LONDON TOWN follows several years in the life of the new head of the London-based Adley Crime Family Arthur Adley, and heiress Cheska Harlow-Wright. Years earlier Arthur Adley lost his mother and sister Pearl to a fire believed to be accidental but in the ensuing time Arthur struggled with issues of guilt and survivor’s remorse. Trained in the ways of the Firm, the crime family headed by his father Alfie, Arthur Adley made his first kill at the age of thirteen, and has never looked back but meeting heiress Cheska Harlow-Wright during a business transaction at Cheska’s family home, stirred something deep within our story line ‘anti-hero’, something Arthur struggled to understand or want. Over the years Arthur and Cheska would develop a frenemies relationship until a five-year friends with benefits arrangement ended when Cheska became engaged to another man but not all was well within the Firm, as they would find themselves targeted over and over again. A series of attacks against the Firm, their business and ultimately Cheska Harlow-Wright pushed Arthur to take a stand that reinforced his title as the Dark Lord of London Town. What ensues is the building relationship between Cheska and Arthur, and the potential fall-out as the Firm discovers the truth behind the attacks and the threats to his relationship with Cheska Harlow-Wright.
The Firm, and ultimately Arthur Adley’s reputation as dangerous, cold and violent killers are well earned but Arthur believes every kill is well-deserved in the face of betrayal and revenge, power and control. Arthur’s notoriety is dark; deceit and treachery does not go unpunished, and punishment is swift, painful and deadly. Cheska Harlow-Wright comes from money and is expected to marry someone of her social standing or above, and in this, Arthur, an East Ender is the bad-boy temptation that stirs Cheska’s need to be a little bit dirty and rough but a relationship with Arthur threatens all of Cheska’s father’s plans, and it is her father that will pay the ultimate price.
The relationship between Cheska and Arthur begins at the age of thirteen when Alfie Adley has business with Cheska’s father George, and as the timeline advances throughout the story we are witness to the occasional run-ins between Arthur and Cheska where their sexual attraction and chemistry is palpable and impassioned; the sexual tension is real. A five year friends with benefits relationship (behind the scenes) ends with Cheska’s engagement to someone else but Cheska’s heart wants our story line anti-hero. The $ex scenes are erotic, passionate and intense.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, energetic and powerful secondary and supporting characters including Arthur’s ‘brothers and sisters’ in crime: his cousin Charlie Adley, Vinnie Edwards, Eric Mason and Freddie Williams, Vera, Ronnie and Betsy, and Arthur’s father Alfie Adley; Cheska’s father George Wright, her fiancé Hugo Harrington, and her friend’s Arabella, Freya, Cassius and Percy ; and Ollie Lawson, another man vying for Cheska’s attention.
LORD OF LONDON TOWN is a story of opposites attract; a raw, dark, gritty, and haunting story of betrayal and revenge; power, authority, domination and rule. The premise is dramatic, strong, tragic and twisted; the characters are charismatic, broken, and angry; the romance is fated, visceral and heart breaking.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
NOTE: The excerpt is intended for mature readers 18+ due to strong language and content.
I pushed my glasses up my nose and climbed the stairs. The heat of the Spanish sun slammed into me like an iron fist, and I pushed my dark hair back from my forehead. White Mediterranean buildings surrounded us, and tourists sat in restaurants and bars, gaping up at our yacht.
I joined my friends on the rear deck overlooking the restaurants and took a beer from Eric. He spread his arms. “Fucking paradise, boys.” I took a swig of my beer and glanced over to the yacht beside us. I didn’t see anyone on the back deck, but then I heard the people talking at the front of their boat, overlooking the sea.
“So, where are these spectacular views?” Charlie asked Eric, lighting up another cig.
Eric winced as he met my cousin’s waiting gaze. “Well, maybe not spectacular to you, Chuck, but definitely to the rest of us.” He flicked his eyes to Vinnie, who was circling the back deck like it was a track, and screwed up his nose. “Okay, maybe not to our resident nutjob either since he already has a bird. But to me, Freddie and Artie, what a view it is!”
“Story of my fucking life.” Charlie smirked at me. I followed Eric as he headed for the main sun deck at the very front of the yacht.
“The edge gone yet?” I asked Vinnie. He nodded, and I could see by his eyes that his medication had kicked in. His pupils had dilated a bit, and the shaking in his hands had lessened. “Getting calmer by the second, Artie. Getting calmer by the second.” He smiled again, his deep dimples making him look a fuck-ton more innocent than he actually was. I put my hand on his shoulder, right over the face of Nosferatu with his sharp vampiric teeth that was tattooed there.
“So, who are we docked next to?” Freddie asked Eric. Freddie was six feet two with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was slender in build but could fight like a fucking Rottweiler. His old man died a while back, for the firm, shot right through the fucking forehead by a Russian. My dad practically adopted Freddie after that. He’d lived with us in the old church for the past couple of years. He was quiet before his old man’s death. Now, compared to the rest of my gobshite mates, he was almost mute.
“Wait until you see,” Eric said, waggling his eyebrows. Eric was six four, blond and covered in bright-as-fuck horror-themed clown tattoos. His hair looked like something straight from World War Two—combed over like a good little British solider. Claimed birds got wet for it—we all knew that was mainly referring to Betsy, my cousin and Charlie’s little sister. But neither he or Betsy ever talked about that. He also rarely shut his mouth. But that didn’t matter when shit hit the fan. He had your back, one hundred percent without question.
As we turned the corner, I saw movement on the yacht beside us. Birds in bikinis, some topless. I couldn’t care less. Seen one pair of tits, you’d seen them all. Bored already, I lit another cig and moved to the front of the yacht. I looked out over the ocean.
“Nice tits, sweetheart!” I heard Eric shout behind me. I glanced over to the yacht beside us and saw two girls sunbathing, looking our way—one with dark skin and jet-black hair that fell in spiral curls to her shoulders, and one with light freckled skin and red hair down to her waist.
I went to turn my head again, when someone walked out from below deck and toward the two sunbathers. The hand holding my cig stopped en route to my mouth when I saw her long legs and olive skin. The dark hair that was pulled up on top of her head. She was wearing a white bikini, fucking curves like an hourglass.
As if she was feeling my stare, she looked over, and the minute she did, I recognised those eyes. Those big fucking eyes that were fixed on me and widening by the second. Green-brown eyes that I never fucking forgot …
Cheska Harlow-Wright …
Tillie Cole hails from a small town in the North-East of England. She grew up on a farm with her English mother, Scottish father and older sister and a multitude of rescue animals. As soon as she could, Tillie left her rural roots for the bright lights of the big city.
After graduating from Newcastle University with a BA Hons in Religious Studies, Tillie followed her Professional Rugby player husband around the world for a decade, becoming a teacher in between and thoroughly enjoyed teaching High School students Social Studies before putting pen to paper, and finishing her first novel.
Tillie has now settled in Austin, Texas, where she is finally able to sit down and write, throwing herself into fantasy worlds and the fabulous minds of her characters.
Tillie is both an independent and traditionally published author, and writes many genres including: Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Young Adult and New Adult novels.
When she is not writing, Tillie enjoys nothing more than curling up on her couch watching movies, drinking far too much coffee, while convincing herself that she really doesn’t need that extra square of chocolate.
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