The Boy and His Ribbon by Pepper Winters

“What do you do when you meet your soul mate? No wait…that’s too easy. What do you do when you meet your soul mate and have to spend a lifetime loving him in secret?
I’ll tell you what you do.
You lie.”

REN

Ren was eight when he learned that love doesn’t exist—that the one person who was supposed to adore him only cared how much he was worth.
His mother sold him and for two years, he lived in terror.
But then…he ran.
He thought he’d run on his own. Turned out, he took something of theirs by accident and it became the one thing he never wanted and the only thing he ever needed.

DELLA

I was young when I fell in love with him, when he switched from my world to my everything.
My parents bought him for cheap labour, just like they had with many other kids, and he had the scars to prove it.
At the start, he hated me, and I could understand why.
For years he was my worst enemy, fiercest protector, and dearest friend.
But by the end…he loved me.
The only problem was, he loved me in an entirely different way to the way I loved him.
And slowly, my secret drove us apart.

Five Star Review by Brittany

This book didn't end like I thought it would. I thought it would end in a spectacular show of fire, passion coursing through both Ren and Della as they tried their hardest to stay together...

But instead... it just ended. And to me, it's actually more tragic this way. I'm at work trying to keep the tears from flowing. I have fallen in love with Ren and Della, fallen deep in love with their story, and fallen deeper in love with Pepper Winters as an author.

How could you not fall in love with a boy who puts you first in everything, protects you at all costs, worships the ground you walk on, gives you things you didn't know you wanted, who can hear your thoughts and see your fears? A boy who sacrificed so much without even telling you, leaving you heartbroken when you're old enough to figure it out for yourself?

This book is completely different from everything Pepper has ever written. It's not dark in the slightest, other than Ren's background. It's sweet and loving, but also tragic and devastating. You're reading from Ren's point of view, which is occasionally broken up by Della's "assignment" she's writing for an English class, which is telling her and Ren's story from her point of view. So you're getting hints of what's to come, hints of how it ends, and even though you know it's not gonna be good...you still wind up heartbroken in the end.

This is my new favorite book from Pepper. I say that about each book she writes, but this one for sure is my favorite. I couldn't put it down, going so far as to actually log out of Facebook and turn off my phone so I wouldn't be disturbed while getting lost in the pages of this heartbreaking tale.

I cannot wait for The Girl and her Ren. I need it like yesterday. I was telling a friend at work about this book, and when it releases, she's going to one-click. This is definitely a book that is going to stick with me for a while.

It hurt so damn much to love her so fucking dearly but be so confused. I loved her in so many ways, but here she was, trying to get me to love her in an entirely different one, and I honestly didn't know if I could.

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