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Rellik

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Rellik Bentley is to die for.
He can have any woman he wants and they will do anything to be with him. He uses and abuses them like drugs and tosses them out with the trash. The only thing he gives a f*ck about is his music. That is, until Ella Lighten walks into his life and stumbles upon one of his darkest secrets. In the midst of doing damage control, he begins to obsess over the mysterious woman who wants absolutely nothing to do with him.
Rellik won’t take no for an answer.

235 pages, ebook

First published October 28, 2014

81 people are currently reading
6281 people want to read

About the author

Teresa Mummert

71 books4,663 followers
TERESA MUMMERT is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her work includes word-of-mouth bestselling, White Trash Trilogy, which landed her a three-book publishing deal with Simon & Schuster. She is also the author of the wildly popular Honor Series which chronicles the taboo romance between a student and her college professor.
To date, she's written over twenty-five novels and plans for many more releases in the future.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 418 reviews
Profile Image for Baba  .
858 reviews3,997 followers
July 10, 2015
1 star. DNF @52%. Review posted November 3, 2014

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A friend told me she was surprised that I even tried to read this book. Darn. *Baba makes hurt face* Nah, I'm just kidding, I can take a little ribbing. Anyway, let me wallow in my little fantasy here before I give in and admit I'm simply delusional. How many times is a story living up to its hot as f@ck cover? It's a very sad fact that these books are few and far between. So while the lick-tastic cover of Rellik is worthy of six stars, it is unfortunate that the story, the writing as well as the characters are a major failure.

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There's no nice way to say it. Rellik was a disappointment from start until I DNFd the book @52%. Being a cover whore has its merits yet when I can choose between a fantabulous cover hiding a bad story and a bad cover obscuring a splendid tale, then it's very obvious what I'm going to pick. The latter.

Rellik's dark secret didn't appear to be very dark during the first 50 %. Maybe that did change in the second half of the plot but I was honestly past caring when I threw in the towel. If anything, it was a nuisance. The plot was lame and bored me to tears. The characters are more or less nondescript and absolutely uninteresting and the more I read the more I felt inclined to pull a long face. In my book, the male lead had nothing in common with the super cool guy on the cover. I had imagined someone different.

I slid my fingers into her hair, unable to breath. I was killing myself, but I couldn't stop. It was a slow-motion car crash that I had no way of surviving. I would take her down with me, and she would willingly go. Something broken inside of both of us fit together, the jagged pieces piercing into the armor we wore against the world.

Frankly, take her down with you, I couldn't care less. I should have bought an armor in order to protect myself against the jagged pieces piercing through my brain while reading this book. *insert eye roll*

Her eyebrows were drawn together in rejection. I wanted so desperately to kiss away the worries that marred her perfect face. I wanted to slip into the fantasy of the past that haunted me, but I knew it was something I'd never recover from.

(…) But nothing compared to that first time. It would never be enough. No one was able to compare to the girl with sad eyes and dirty hair who stole my heart and took it to her grave. I wanted to claw my way to her and become suffocated by her embrace.


The POVs alternate from chapter to chapter and there's a constant back and forth. Basically, I have nothing against switching between past and present when it's done well but all the numerous flashbacks got. On. My. Last. Fucking. Nerve. Instead of focusing on Ella and Rellik and the present, I had to deal with Rellik's past ad fucking nauseam. As if that weren't enough, Ella's flashbacks had to be shoved in my face, too. Rellik is portrayed as a cold asshole who fucks every available chick and doesn't want to cuddle or kiss. Yet as soon as he sees Ella, he's ready for some lovey-dovey. I know, I know. Let's chalk that up to his obsession with the girl being so incredibly Sorry, sarcasm is seeping through my pores. Besides, the annoyed me very much. Of course that was incentive enough for Rellik to start acting obsessively about that girl.

"Are you on something?" I asked, not wanting any physical barrier between us. She nodded, and I took two large strides toward her.

Seriously. Two strangers have their first fuck and he wants to go bareback because he so needs to feel her Whatever. I shouldn't have given a flying fuck anyway. *headdesk*
Hey, it's only a story. Happens all the fucking time, right? Bite me!

Bottom line, I thought the meandering story was lacking on several levels. No chemistry between the main characters, no character development and the plot, which was all over the place and simply blah, wasn't anything to write home about either. I never felt invested in the story and did not empathize with the characters. At all. More often than not the writing was too monotonous for my liking and didn't manage to evoke one iota of emotion from me. It was only good enough to provoke numerous eye-roll moments. Also, the melodrama and melancholic undertone of Rellik were overkill. It's safe to say that Rellik wasn't my kind of book. Read at your own risk.

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That is all. Onwards…
Profile Image for Lana ❇✾DG Romance❇✾.
2,313 reviews13.7k followers
July 15, 2015
4 Stars

The thing about sins is they don't have to be your own to haunt you.


Did you read the book blurb? Did you get anything from it? No? Good! Because you won't get much out of my review either. Though I do have to say that I had thought the book was not quite what the blurb hinted at...and not in a bad way.

If you like your books gritty, dark, and erotic, say hello to a series that you will obsess over. Or at least I'm hoping it will be a series, because if Teresa Mummert doesn't give the rest of these boys a book, I just may cut a bitch.
Does the mirror lie, as you hold my hand?
Or do my secrets hide, conceal the man?
Because I can't give you what you need.
My hands are dirty, baby, you're so clean.
Falling for the wrong was your mistake.
Giving me your heart for me to break.


Rellik Bentley is fucked up. A past that haunts him to this very day, he's not looking to be saved. He knows there's no saving him. His soul is too black already.

Women do nothing for him except assuage a random urge. He's not looking to give any of what he takes back, because he's not looking for them to come back or stick around. Besides being in a fairly successful band doesn't exactly leave him hurting for willing women...until the one woman that wants nothing to do with him.

Ella Lighten is hiding something. She's also searching for something. Something that may put the demons from her past to rest. There's just one problem, the man that she's trying her damnedest to fight her attraction to, just may hold the key to all the answers she seeks. It's not long before an unwilling attraction begins to turn into something much more and to burn much hotter...
His eyes met mine, challenging me. I didn't fight against him. The control was his to have as long as he didn't stop.


It took me a while to click all the puzzle pieces together, and when I did? Holy fucking shit. What a twisted web the author weaved. A fucked up and gritty as hell web. I have to admit that there were a few things that I found a little confusing about Elle and Rellik's relationship in the beginning. At least the way it came together. I particularly had a tough time understanding . However, taking into consideration how fucked up both of these characters were, perhaps there really didn't need to be a logical reason. There was nothing simple or logical about either of their pasts, so I suppose it's fitting.
It was a slow-motion car crash that I had no way of surviving. I would take her down with me, and she would willingly go. Something broken inside of both of us fit together, the jagged pieces piercing into the armor we wore against the world.


At the end of the day, I could sit here and try to pick apart this and that, but the bottom line is it didn't matter to me at all whether anything made exact sense. I was completely and utterly sucked into the story from the very first page and it kept me turning the pages almost obsessively waiting to see what happens. Even now, days after finishing it I find myself thinking about it. So that deserves 4 stars for that alone.
Some people are born this way unable to control the urge. I was created. I became this on purpose. And it all led to you. Don't you see that? You're the butterfly. You flapped your wings, and the entire universe set us into motion. It was an unstoppable force.


Rellik and Ella, as fucked up as they were apart, somehow made perfect sense together. Both of them were broken in their own way. Though I imagined Rellik's history being a tad different going by the blurb. If you had asked me in the first half, I'd tell you he was nothing like the blurb implied. But holy shit did that change in the second half. Ella, although fighting demons of her own was still a very strong heroine, all things considered. She wasn't one of those woe-is-me type of women, which just made it that much better for me.

Bottom line is if you love your books gritty as fuck with a darker undercurrent and a whole lot of sexy, Rellik is definitely a book you want to read.

ARC courtesy of author in exchange for an honest review

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Profile Image for Aestas Book Blog.
1,059 reviews75.1k followers
Want to read
November 9, 2013
Hoooly hell!!!! Did you SEE this cover?? OMG!!

Rellik Bentley is to die for.

TEASER TRAILER ➜ http://bit.ly/19MfHQX



BLURB: Rellik Bentley is to die for.

He can have any woman he wants and they will do anything to be with him. He uses and abuses them like drugs and tosses them out with the trash. The only thing he gives a f*ck about is his music. That is, until Ella Lighten walks into his life and stumbles upon one of his darkest secrets. In the midst of doing damage control, he begins to obsess over the mysterious woman who wants absolutely nothing to do with him.
Rellik won’t take no for an answer.
Profile Image for Rose.
2,016 reviews1,095 followers
November 19, 2014
Initial reaction: Yeah, I regret finishing this unrealistic, wannabe AU "Revenge" fanfic riddled with glaring editorial errors, unrealised characters, and textbook cliches of the genre. Full review and discussion to come.

Full review:

Reviewer's Note: For this review, I decided to do one of my usual poetic reviews to illustrate the problems of this narrative, with some helpful inserts from yours truly along with the cast of characters from Rellik. I do not own these characters, this is just a parody reflection set for the purposes of critique. I do not claim responsibility for any character that may be harmed in the process of this reflection. *coughs*

EDIT: I actually did buy this ebook from Amazon, and I did end up getting a refund for it because I didn't like it. Understatement. To say a few notes about the book before the poetic reflection, this book was not ready for primetime, not at all. I made over 100 highlights in my Kindle copy alone for spelling, homophone, and grammatical errors. That's a lot to be asking someone to pay $4 (including tax) for what's supposed to be a polished copy. I don't care if this came from an SP author or someone from a publishing house or whomever - it needed more editing than this. Not cool.

Progression wise, the story was all over the place - it starts off being kind of typical NA bad boy jerk in a band falling for a damaged heroine with both of them running away from their "tragic" pasts, but then it becomes a convoluted revenge story that hinges on instalust and spontaneous dramatic reveals for secrets and shock value. After a certain point, I just stopped caring, because it was so ridiculous and implausible. And the ending felt tacked on just to have a resolution in place. Yes, this is a "messed up" story, but that's no reason to have a horribly messy telling of said story, and I would like to open the floor as to its many, many problems. YMMV.


"Rellik's Lament" - featuring Rose and the cast of "Rellik"

Rose: *strums lute*

Rellik: Seriously, you're bringing that in here? What is this?

Rose: You would do well not to berate anyone based on what instruments they play. Now hush your quibbling and sing.

Rellik: Woman, if you didn't notice, this song's titled "Rellik's Lament" - that's me. This is my story.

Rose: Yep, and there's your ego talking. Look, you - I'm the one holding the lute. Don't test me.

Rellik: *snorts* Fine.

I'm more monster than man with blood on my hands,
A life taken 'way from other's demands.
I have to say that this is all of my fault,
As my consciousness fades to the asphalt.*

Fast forward to the present, and it's plain to see
I've slept my way through every lass and lady,
But these able girls just wouldn't do
With the storm in my head beginning to brew.

I hang with the boys, we're without certain joys
Our names hold the weight of our pain.**
I see a woman's struggles from a leech who doesn't quit
But then I look into her eyes and think "Oh, sh*t!"***

Ella:

Just a girl strolling through with a tragic past,
Who doesn't know how long this ordeal will last.
While I didn't ask Rellik to bear my strife,
He beats my attacker to an "inch of his life."

Rellik: What? The moron had his hands all over her. I don't see the problem.

My knuckles bear blood, her lips tremble,
At the sight of the man's face, swollen and full.
The trouble I am, she's seen just a taste,
But yet she still invites me over to her place.

Yeah, her place is a hotel; it all turned out well
Seems like we'd have a night of fun.
But just after sex, pointed straight at my pecs
Is the same angry woman, holding a gun.

Ella:

I went through his wallet, could plainly see
He wasn't the man I thought him to be.
He pulls the gun closer, says to shoot if I dare,
But then he tackles me down like he doesn't care.

I manage to escape into the night, afraid for my life,
He stalks behind me like it's no strife.
And just when I think I've left his trainwreck
He's choking me with a hold on my neck.****

*still writing*

* Opening scene of the book shows Rellik actually carrying his former lover's dead body and everyone presumes he had something to do with her death. Like he'd killed her and they couldn't prove it. He collapses shortly after that prologue scene.

** His posse has names that symbolize certain trials they've been through. Rellik's name is Killer backward. Hangman has an imprint of a noose around his neck. There are others, but I can't remember.

*** The girl he encounters looks a lot like the woman he used to know, y'know, the one who's dead. Her story is in Ella's perspective.

**** Dude, if this is supposed to be some kind of romance, it failed miserably. I was scared to death of the scene between Rellik and Ella after this. Would be one thing if this was a thriller and Rellik was a definite bad dude, but am I supposed to believe this guy's romantic when he calls her name in a sing-song voice and nearly chokes her at one point? I think not. I was also thoroughly confused as to how these two knew each other at first, but it came clearer as the story went on. Still scared the crud out of me though.
Profile Image for Brenna.
660 reviews449 followers
February 7, 2015
“Some people are born this way, unable to control the urge. I was created.”

I have been dying to get my hands on this book since I first saw it up on goodreads. That cover, the title, that vague blurb...I was completely sold and couldn’t wait to see what it was all about.

Ella Leighton and Rellik Bentley both have dark secrets. Ella is on the move, hiding from her past, but also searching for answers that she desperately needs. Rellik is a local rock star hiding his darkness in plain sight in his haunting lyrics. When Rellik saves Ella from an attack, they realize they have a connection neither can ignore.
“I was a curse, a black cloud. It was a sleight of hand. I hadn't saved her, just lured her into my own web. She wanted to feel like she could trust me and all of this was on her terms, but I didn't even trust myself.”

Ella has the face of someone from Rellik’s past, making it nearly impossible for him to steer clear of her. His judgment is clouded by his draw to her and the ghost of the woman he used to love. Meanwhile, Ella may need Rellik to help uncover the truth she’s searching for. There is lots of push and pull, with both battling their attraction to one another.
“If you touch me, I’ll scream.”
“If I touch you, you’ll scream…and moan…and beg…”

As the story unfolds there is bombshell after bombshell and I never had a clue where the story was going. I loved that! I was continually shocked and kept guessing. When I felt like everything had been revealed, BAM –another twist! The first half of the book seems pretty straightforward –two people with dark pasts meeting by chance, but no. There is so much more to it than that and the second half is a nonstop ride through their crazy, tortured pasts.
“Something broken inside both of us fit together, the jagged pieces piercing into the armor we wore against the world.”

Rellik and Ella are two completely dysfunctional people. They have so much going on in their heads and have been through so much that their decisions and actions are not based on logic at all. Some of the things that happen are insane and I couldn’t wrap my head around how fast these two came together and after how only a few days they were doing these INSANE things. I definitely had to overlook that though because they aren’t regular people. They are fucked up and wounded and I just had to go with the insanity and not question their actions.
“I’ll open your cage, my sweet butterfly
One final page and all villains will die
Happy endings in reach but comes with a price
My love and my life are my sacrifice”

I really loved the ideas for this book and how twisted and tangled everything ended up being. I ended up feeling a little confused about certain things in the end though. I really would have liked more development regarding certain plot points. The book is fairly short and quite a quick read, so I think I would have liked it to be a little longer by adding more detail so that it didn’t feel like major things were being glossed over. For that reason I couldn’t fully connect 100% with the story because I felt like I just needed more explanation because certain things didn't really add up.

This was definitely one twisty story, with a dark feeling throughout. I recommend going into this book and just enjoying the crazy ride and not over thinking it too much. It’s a quick, suspenseful, sexy read that had a very satisfying ending. I’m definitely curious if the author will continue the stories of Rellik’s band mates in future books.

3.5 stars.

ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
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Profile Image for Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️.
2,088 reviews36.1k followers
Want to read
October 30, 2014
LOL I just NOW realized that the title of this book (which has been on my radar a while now) is "KILLER" cleverly spelled backwards...

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Profile Image for S.M. West.
Author 38 books1,242 followers
November 16, 2014
3.5-4 STARS

This was a really fast read for me and for the most part, I was hooked. I really enjoyed the dark, raw and unfiltered shadows and demons that lurked throughout both Rellik Bentley’s and Ella Leighton’s POVs.

“Something broken inside of both of us fit together, the jagged pieces piercing into the armor we wore against the world.”
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“You were the butterfly. You flapped your wings, and the entire universe set us into motion. It was an unstoppable force. I became this for you, before I ever knew you existed.”


“If I was the butterfly, he was the storm, the justice that would wash away my past so I could start again.”


The first half of the book went by really fast. I knew all was not what it seemed but did not know where Ms. Mummert was taking us. I was thrilled when at the halfway mark, WTF?!…



– new pieces of the puzzle were revealed and turned everything sideways…I LOVED it!

Where it fell down for me was in the second half as things came together, it lost a bit of the edge. It lost a bit of the darkness, anger, fear and pain that had permeated the first half of the story. I suppose the shift made sense and I wanted a HEA but it just seemed a bit too sweet . Nevertheless, I did enjoy this and hope Ms. Mummert has books in mind for Hangman, Phantom and Trigger. These broken boys deserve their own story!
Profile Image for Jessi .
177 reviews58 followers
November 6, 2014
I enjoyed this book, while parts of it really confused me. Never found out about the Dream Killer??Ella was a little to wishy washy in places - I mean she asked him to do bad things, then got mad at him for doing things and called him a monster, then asked him to do it again...umm hello?? Over all I really liked the book and would recommend it to everyone to check out. :)
Profile Image for Barbara.
433 reviews82 followers
November 5, 2014


"Fucked-up people take pleasure in fucked-up things"

Rellik Bentley and Ella Leighton story…



Rellik is to die for swoon worth “material”. He is a strong and yet a very broken guy!!

Ella… she is so imperfectly perfect!!

A raw tale of lust, vengeance, betrayal, heartbreak, calculated revenge, abuse and a slash of fucked up hotness. You think you know what's going into this book forget it and just enjoy every twist and turn as the plot unfolds, and even with all the madness in this book there is love, the kind that knows no bounds!!

As with all Teresa Mummert’s books I read, you can expect gripping, real emotions just pouring from the pages …

So did I enjoy this ride? YES

It's a page turner? YES

Would I recommend this book? YES… but it’s not for everyone but if you love suspenseful hot thrillers then read it!
Profile Image for Anne OK.
4,099 reviews553 followers
October 31, 2014
Seriously, I was so excited awaiting the chance to read this book – but it just didn’t live up to the hype and fell way short of the expectations. In addition to the meandering style of writing in the wildly unrealistic storyline, it was riddled with so many editing problems. Bummer!

My biggest complaint in reading this story is that there just isn’t a solid foundation or much explanation for anything or reasons given. The major twist to the story is revealed fairly early on. The "Dream Killer" lost me completely. I never felt connected in any manner to the characters – other than shock and sadness for any human being that suffered such horrible abuse and unfair treatment their entire lives. Everything is just wildly thrown at the reader and you’re in complete darkness one minute and in the next moment, there’s a flash of bright light. Whatever the author's intended message throughout, it failed to make much sense or an impression with me. For the most part I was in the dark, and the rest was out of the range of reality for me.

Indeed, a sad tale of abuse, pain, agony and loss turns into a cold, dark, gritty, ugly and messed up story of revenge from start to finish – even what I assume to be the happily-ever-after.

Killer cover though!
Profile Image for Debra Anastasia.
Author 42 books3,807 followers
October 28, 2014
Rellik is exactly my type of book. I have to be grabbed by the throat and balls by the first paragraph. And Teresa Mummert's words never flinch with their grip. She will twist your mind and your heart with equal measure. I could never guess where the plot was going, and that's the kind of read that makes me purr. With Rellik, you will read it all in one huge gulp. Get ready for book hangover because Rellik will beat the heck out of you before he shows you his man stick and make you beg for it.

Ella is a heroine you can root for, and Rellik is a killer you will love.

Here are my favorite quotes!





“If you touch me, I’ll scream.”
“If I touch you, you’ll scream…and moan…and beg."

~*~*~*~*~

“You’re a dick.”
“You want my dick?”
~*~*~*~*~

“I’m sorry I threatened you.”
“You’re not forgiven.”
“Don’t you have something to say to me?”
“No.”
“You don’t want to apologize for pulling a gun on me?”
“I’m leaving.”

~*~*~*~*~

“What’s with the card for the psych ward? You’re fucking crazy?”
“You’re holding me at gunpoint, and you’re questioning my sanity?”

~*~*~*~*~

“Why are you counting?”
“I didn’t realize I was. It’s just something I do sometimes when I’m…” Her eyes searched as if she were looking for the answer written on the wall.
“Scared?”
“Overwhelmed.”

~*~*~*~*~


His fingertips ran lightly over the small, thin scars that marred my lower belly and thighs. “Who hurt you?”
“Who hurt you?” I asked as his gaze lingered on me for a few seconds. He pressed his lips gently against one of the marks.
“That’s a long list.

~*~*~*~*~

“You are nothing like I’d imagined,” “You imagined fucking me?”“It’s all I’ve done since the moment I met you.”

~*~*~*~*



"You knew I’d come after you.”
“I hoped.”
“Be careful what you wish for.”

~*~*~*~*~

“The other guys have these scary names, and yours kind of sounds like a third-generation teakettle on the Antique Road Show. Not something that evokes fear.”
“Relic. Never thought of it that way.”
Rellik smiled crookedly as he leaned over the bar, snatching a pen from my apron. Grabbing a beer coaster, he wrote out his name in capital letters before sliding it to me.
“I don’t get it.”
“Turn around. Look in the mirror behind the bar.”
I spun around as I held it up to my chest, glancing between the rows of liquor bottles.
“Killer,” I mumbled.
“Hiding in plain sight. What’s more dangerous than that?” His blue eyes were alive with amusement.
Profile Image for Beth.
771 reviews123 followers
October 27, 2014
5 Definition Stars

So this is me getting the ARC for Rellik.


Then when I was reading it, I was like....


Heartstopping: what happens to one's mind and body when reading Teresa Mummert

Oh, where to start? There really isn't a good starting place because Rellik starts you in the middle of the beginning and then takes you to the beginning of the end and then to the end of the middle....see my dilemma?

Let's sort the characters....

Rellik/Ryder is a rock star...now. Back then he was a misunderstood guy who had some things happen in high school. Things that changed the course of his life. And the lives of the others.

It was a bad seed, just like me....but like everything else I tried, I failed. But I refused to let anyone else know that I cared.

Katie is the sweet girl who sees passed the face of indifference he puts on. She falls for the boy who lets her in and wants to protect her. But she has her own pain. One that she tries to hide from Ryder. One that seeps into the lives of the others.

Ella (try to keep up here people) is a foster care horror story. She is now trying to eek out a living by climbing in her apartment window, bar-tending, and living out of her backpack. She is damaged more than we know.

We all have scars, Ella. Some of us have them on the inside.

These three don't collide. In fact, some of them never even meet, but the impact each other lives in a twisted Venn Diagram of Pain. They are all victims. Our hope is that they can live long enough to make it out of the places and people that hurt them.

As the story unfolds, its like that wooden Jacobs Ladder puzzle, or dominoes falling. But those are both too linear. This one folds back on itself. Several times. Like a Rube Goldburg Machine of Angst.



"Who hurt you?" I asked as his gaze lingered on me for a few seconds. He pressed his lips gently against one the marks.

"That's a long list.


I loved this book. I couldn't/didn't see the twists and turns coming. I could never have guessed how the characters wind in and out of each other lives. How they affect and effect each other. Ok, I'll be honest...I never really am sure which one of those to use...but they both are appropriate here. So settle in your favorite reading spot and be ready to say..wait...what? A bunch. This is one of my favorite reads of this year. I was blown away. Perplexed. Surprised. And hurt. A great emotional read that will leave you

Breathless: not having a clue what is going to happen next in Rellik.
Profile Image for Holly.
532 reviews539 followers
November 8, 2014
2 disappointed stars

Damn. This book gave me a migraine.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2014. The blurb....the cover....the title....everything screamed this was going to be an epic read. Maybe my expectations were too high.

I knew this wasn't going to be a typical love story. I wanted the dark and twisty, But for me, this story was just mess.

Ella and Rellik...Gosh, where do i begin?

The mysterious meeting between these two was intriguing. I knew there was a LOT more going on under the surface, and there was...but it was the getting to the meat of the story where i grew frustrated. Ella came off as more than a little bipolar. One second she was all over Rellik, wanting some of that man-candy....only to turn around and be terrified of him the next. The back and forth was too much for me. And as for Rellik?

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I know. This is an unpopular opinion. I mean, Lord knows i love me a dark and messed up hero. But something about Rellik rubbed me me the wrong way from the beginning.

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This had the potential to be one of the best books of the year. But it ended up being one heck of a train wreck.
Profile Image for Jacqueline's Reads.
3,100 reviews1,527 followers
top-tbr
October 29, 2014
APRIL 1st! YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!!!!!!!!

Oh My FUCKING God, you had me at cover love. JESUS H... GIVE IT TO ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Rellik Bentley is to die for.

He can have any woman he wants and they will do anything to be with him. He uses and abuses them like drugs and tosses them out with the trash. The only thing he gives a f*ck about is his music. That is, until Ella Lighten walks into his life and stumbles upon one of his darkest secrets. In the midst of doing damage control, he begins to obsess over the mysterious woman who wants absolutely nothing to do with him.
Rellik won’t take no for an answer.
Profile Image for Lindaisa.
543 reviews61 followers
May 29, 2015
Actual rating: Half A Star. yes...seriously.

Another cover buy...You'd think I would have learned my lesson by this point right. But no...after reading that synopsis again, I know for a FACT that I was mesmerized solely by this cover because this isn't even something I would read!

I hated this book. It's that simple. I don't even know where to start. So I'm just going to run everything down until I feel I've touched all the bases.

The editing...What's going on here people, with the editing of these books? The cover says NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author...So is it wrong for me to assume that Teresa Mummert would have a decent editor or know how to AT LEAST use word spell check?! I don't know anything about the publishing industry, but I know for a fact that its not that hard to get a friend or someone close to you, to do a read through and check for grammatical errors and typos. Hell, pay me 10 dollars and I'll do two run through's for you!

Besides that, this story was all over the place. At first I thought it was going to be about a wild boy with a dark past who was in a band, meeting a girl who made him want to face those demons or whatever. But what this turned out to be was just a cluster of nothing and too much all at once.

Rellik
is in a small band with a few of his friends that he met while he was locked up and they travel across the country doing small gigs here and there. He meets Ella one night as he's about to play a gig and saves her from being robbed and/or sexually assaulted by some guy in an alley. Ella is a girl who has a dark past as well who works in the bar Rellik is playing in that night. She's been looking for answers regarding her mom and her mothers whereabouts.

At this point I was still enjoying the story and interested in how everything was going to play out. Then they went back to Relliks hotel, had sex, Ella rummages through his things, pulls a gun out on him and then I don't even know how to process everything else that happened.



Between Ella calling Rellik her Magic Shield like a damn five year old, and Rellik referring to their "bond," I got completely and utterly fed up. Not only was the story all over the place and really had no plot, but the inconsistencies and obvious screw ups in the story made it HELL to read.

At one point, Ella and Rellik are about to have sex for the third time in three nights and Ella is embarrassed that her underwear doesn't match. She says to Rellik that, had she known they were going to sleep together, she wouldn't have worn underwear that was so plain. First of all...who the hell cares?! They've already had sex twice, I don't think he cares about what her panties look like. Secondly...She's homeless with no clothes...even if she HAD known they were going to have sex for the third night in a row, I don't think she had many options as far as clothes goes considering she HAD NONE!

This book was just bad. It was bad all around. I couldn't even enjoy any of the sex scenes because in the back of my head I was constantly thinking, "This girl only sought this guy out because she believes he's the key to figuring out why she was raped constantly as a kid." IMMEDIATE TURN OFF! The only reason I finished this book was so that I could, in good conscience, give it the rating I want to give it.

I've read some REALLY GREAT New Adult books, but Rellik most certainly is NOT one of them. Such a waste of my time. I would never tell someone not to read a book but I would also never recommend this book to anyone either.
Profile Image for Sara.
733 reviews349 followers
October 31, 2014
This was borderline 3.5/4 stars for me. I think I'll actually review this one tmrw.
Profile Image for R. Holmes.
Author 24 books1,155 followers
October 28, 2014
I was SO So excited for this book and I'm seriously let down. I'm so upset.
This book was just simply poorly written and unrealistic in my opinion.
Don't write about an alpha male who HATES kissing and is the biggest asshole then have him calling a girl darling and sweetie a few pages later, kissing her the first night he met her.
No. Just No.
I feel like this COULD have been a much better book. If it was better written.
Profile Image for Christina.
1,452 reviews100 followers
December 29, 2014
Complimentary copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Apparently it’s not normal to lick a book cover (or kindle in my case), but have you seen the cover of Rellik? Have you read the blurb? I’ll admit, I do judge books by their cover and when this cover was revealed, I just knew I had to have it.

Rellik is the lead singer of a band. They’re on tour, with no real inclination of actually making it in the music business; they’re just kind of taking it day by day. When they wind up in Rellik’s hometown of Orlando, he decides he needs to confront some of the demons of his past, including his estranged mother. He needs to put to rest some of the events that managed to steal not only the girl he loved, but years of his life as well.

When he makes the acquaintance of Ella, a waitress at a bar where they’re performing, Rellik is immediately interested in her. Ella has an uncanny resemblance to Katie, the love of his life whom died eight years earlier. While he finds her attractive and does his best to bed her at the first opportunity, he also finds out she has ulterior motives, most of which involve his involvement in the death of Katie.

“I love a good plot twist.” Rellik’s grin widened."

Rellik’s band mates all have peculiar names as well, Trigger, Hangman, and Phantom. When the truth comes out about how they met, Ella begins to question Rellik and her safety when she is with him. Between the research she has done over the years and the questions he has answered, the two soon realize that their lives are very much intertwined, and they have both been wronged, which Rellik vows to make right, no matter the cost.

"She was a flame, I was the gasoline, and together we burned—an inferno so got, it would consume us both."

Once Rellik and Ella get together, things get hot. The two of them together are just molten. They get lost in one another quickly and their relationship becomes akin to the relationship between Mickey and Mallory in the movie Natural Born Killers. While the storyline is different, the incendiary nature of their relationship based on their shared trauma, is similar.

The book started off a little slow, but at the halfway point when secrets are exposed, the story becomes explosive. Rellik was as hot and dark as I was hoping it would be. I’m a sucker for a good anti-hero story and this one did not disappoint. The characters were well developed and multi-layered. Understanding the history and relationships is imperative to the story and the shift from past to present throughout the book is flawless. The storyline is easy to follow and I was rapt from cover to cover. Rellik is a standalone, however I certainly wouldn’t mind learning the stories of Rellik’s band mates! A solid 4 ½ stars.
Profile Image for The BookChick .
1,454 reviews425 followers
October 24, 2014
Wow.  For those of you who have never read a Teresa Mummert book, I highly recommend Rellik. This is definitely NOT your average love story. This is a story about two dysfunctional people and their imperfectly perfect love.  Ryder "Rellik" Bentley and Mikaella "Ella" Lighten were the epitome of two jacked up souls. But as fate would have it, those two souls found each other after enduring loss,  disappointment, and abuse...and made something tragically sweet together. Rellik is the perfect anti-hero. You don't want to like him because of his seemingly callous manner but you just can't help yourself.  He is a good guy in the most heinous of ways. He has killed and makes no apologies for his actions. I actually cheered for each person he rendered his own brand of justice upon.  *Gasp*...I know.  Cheering for a killer. How dare I, right?!?!  But don't judge me too quickly. Just read the story and you'll definitely understand. His actions were justified in the most dysfunctional way.  That is what you need to keep in mind when reading Rellik. The characters in this story do not operate the way you THINK they should but boy do they capture your attention and heart. And let's not forget Ms. Ella. She was just as screwed up as Rellik. Life had really dealt her some craptastic blows but she kept on moving until she was able to see justice served to those who should have protected her but hurt her or allowed her to be hurt. She was let down by everyone and everything except Rellik. Her dark knight. 

I absolutely loved the twists and turns that Mummert took in the story.  It was intriguing and raw and captures your attention from the very beginning.  Her stories always infuse a bit of "ugly" in them but the end of the story always yields a beautiful mess. The characters are not perfect at the end,  as was the case in Rellik, but they are perfect for one another.

I hope that we will see stories about Trigger, Hangman, and Phantom soon. They were also imperfect.  Very much so.  But they were perfect friends for Rellik and they had his back when it counted. I want to know more about them and what makes them tick.  Write faster Teresa. Write faster! :)

If you enjoy romance with a bite,  I highly recommend Rellik.


Profile Image for Angie.
1,301 reviews23 followers
October 20, 2014
~I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads Review Team~

The blurb about the book intrigued me, however, when I started to read the book I got at totally different vibe from the book. I read this book in one sitting I was sucked into the story that fast. The blurb made it sound like Rellik was just a cocky jerk who used and abused women but honestly he was so much more than that. This story had everything heartbreak, revenge, lust, love, hate, you name it. Rellik is in a band with his best friends, they are just a small band, not trying to make it to the big times, and he has a horrible past and can’t let it go. Ella is a young girl working at a bar under the table for cash while she tries to find out where her mom is who left her when she was little and never came back. Rellik meets Ella when he saves her from an attack in an alley. Ella looks like someone from Rellik’s past and that throws him into a tailspin. The story moves fast and you can’t wait to turn the page to see what happens next. I loved Ella and Rellik and how their stories unfolded and meshed together. I don’t want to give away anything but it was a great book, I wish there was more it was that good.

Characters: The characters were well written and believable.

Sex: oh yeah

Religious: no

Would I recommend to others: yes

More than one book in the series: no

Genre: Dark/Romance

Would I read more by this author: yes

~Wicked Reads Review Team~

Wicked Reads Review Team
Profile Image for Jenna.
39 reviews
October 28, 2014
I've been anxiously awaiting this book for so so long and I'm so sad cause it's just not for me. I feel like the entire plot was just underdeveloped and the book should have been longer so that it wasn't so fast paced. I didn't understand the relationship between the hero and heroine, it was based on lies and trauma and I just didn't buy it, again I feel if the book was longer their relationship would have had time to properly grow. I feel like the characters also went a bit downhill, I loved Rellik in the beginning but by the end I had the psycho killer song in my head because he was freaking me out.

Anyway it just fell a bit short for me but I definitely didn't hate it.
Profile Image for Sbell.
921 reviews56 followers
October 31, 2014
If you like books where the hero is a murderer/rockstar and who is in love with his dead girlfriend, who looks exactly like his current girlfriend,then this book is for you. If you like stories that have so many flashbacks that you get whiplash, then again this story is for you. I just don't understand the appeal of this typo laden story or the appeal of the main two characters.
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