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Sometimes Prince Charming has a dark side.

Small-town girl Katie Morris knew that attending an all-girls college near Yale University, she might meet the sons and daughters of the nation’s leaders. But she never imagined one such son would strive to capture her heart with his promises of a happily-ever-after. However, a dark nature lurks inside her prince, which clashes with his charm. Will Katie be able to hang on to her fairy tale when the man she loves turns into the man she fears?

Since the moment of William Wilkerson’s birth, he had been groomed to take his father’s place in ruling the nation behind the scenes, deciding what laws get passed and who governs. But ruling requires the ability to control, manipulate, and the more William becomes the man his father desires of him, the more he finds himself turning into what he vowed never to be: a man who is a threat to the young woman he loves.

When a deal with terrorists orchestrated by his father is revealed, his family’s power is threatened, forcing William to make a choice: Sacrifice the young woman he can’t live without, or let everything his father has built, collapse.

What shall he choose?

Enjoy an inspirational Christian fiction novel full of political intrigue and suspense.

363 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2015

78 people are currently reading
149 people want to read

About the author

J.M. Downey

18 books20 followers

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5 stars
49 (39%)
4 stars
37 (30%)
3 stars
17 (13%)
2 stars
9 (7%)
1 star
11 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
6,167 reviews
August 31, 2015
Privileged is a fabulous read. It is really intense dealing with real life's issues. I really liked this book. Being a victim of abuse, I definitely feel a connection to the character of Katie and what she was going through. I believe this book to be a definite must read! Highly highly recommended! 100+ stars.
1 review
September 6, 2015
Whaouuu, this book really took me by surprise!
I have never thought of reading a political suspense before... This is definitely a must read!
I am moving straight to the second book now. Well done J. M. Downey!
8 reviews1 follower
October 4, 2015
I couldn't put this book down!

This book was really well written..I couldn't put it down!! JM Downey is another of my favorite writers.. Truly a page turner.
102 reviews1 follower
February 1, 2024
I really liked the concept of this book, however I was not able to get very far.

Firstly, I felt like the whole Christian thing was thrown in your face and not natural. I get that dark Christian romances are a new thing , however this author just tries too hard. Instead of this coming across as a Christian romance, it comes across as a secular romance book that has been turned into a Christian romance.

Secondly I really did not like the way the main character was written. I refuse to believe that there is an actual person who is this stupid. One of the things that the Bible talks about is discernment, this is what the holy Spirit helps you with. Ashley (I think that is her name) is so very clearly a bad friend. This author was portrayed Christian women as naive and lacking basic common sense. I cannot see myself making any of the decisions that she makes or acting the way that she does. There is not even a bit of me that I see in her. I am by no means perfect and God knows how much I have messed up in my life , but this just does not resonate with me.

Additionally, in a lot of Christian romances, dark or otherwise , the female leads are written as sweet, quiet gentle and demure individuals who are impressionable, agreeable and helpless. There is nothing sweet , gentle , quite or demure about me , and a lot of Christian women. (BTW I am just using myself as an example not saying this should be the standard, just some variety). I am loud, outspoken, extremely hard head and opinionated if someone crosses me best believe I am going to throw hands (figuratively of course and within reason). I would really like to see more christian romance with a female lead like this.

However, despite all of this , I do acknowledge that some people may enjoy this book if they are looking for a more honest representation of the struggles that Christians go through. The lesson it teaches is that bad company ruins good morals. Furthermore, many such stories may be based loosely on real events and my heart does go out to people who do end up in such situations.

If you are looking for a raw a d honest Christian romance then you may enjoy this , but it just was not doing it for me.

P.S. if there are any typos or wrong grammar I'm dyslexic so get over it 😂
Profile Image for Melody.
172 reviews1 follower
December 4, 2020
First of all, I am in mourning right now so that has a lot to do with how I feel about this book. It is not the uplifting book I expected it to be and needed it to be when I saw it was described as a Christian novel. I should have put it down after reading page one, which describes a woman slitting her wrist out of desperation. I did not know the whole story would be a slow, graphic, intense descent into the situation which caused her to take that self-destructive action. I expected it to lead up to the suicide by the end of book 1 and tell the story of what happened afterwards. The continual erratic see-saw between the I-love-you parts and the you-do-what-I-tell-you controlling parts were not what I should have been reading at this time in my life.

The first red flag was when he was able to get her to leave her commitment to God. She should have left him before he was able to do that, but we wouldn't have had a story then, would we? She should have left him when he told her not to hug her male friend, controlling her actions. That was another red flag. Before she knew it, she was in too deep and was not allowed to have her own opinion or to refuse his orders. She put up with far too much of this, even to the point of ignoring some truly depraved behavior.

I thought because this contains books 1 & 2 it would be a complete story, but it isn't. Three more books to follow. I'm not going to read them, even though by the plot descriptions it doesn't look as though they will be as negatively intense as this one.

This book is well-written. No strangely worded sentences, no weak sentences which should be rewritten, and for the length of the book (L-O-N-G!) the amount of typos wasn't too bad.

Would I have read it had I known what the contents would be? Would I read it again? No, to both.
115 reviews
March 2, 2023
***2.5. I think this book is difficult to review for a lot of reasons. The first being that the prologue pretty gave away the end. Sometimes this works in a book, but in this case, it really didn’t. I think the writing style would be my biggest complaint. The content is so heavy but it’s written like a middle school book. The writing is so choppy. In the first half, I could not stand the main female character. She was so naive and immature. The fact that she just believed Keith wasn’t like everyone said just because he did a few nice gestures was ridiculous. I got her being sheltered, but this was just beyond that. She really annoyed me. In the second half, she wasn’t really herself anymore, so you just felt bad for her at that point. I appreciate this book covering the topics it did because this does not happen much in a lot of the Christian fiction I have read. Obviously, Keith is going to get a redemption arc, and while in real life, I believe anybody can be saved and that’s great, I don’t know if reading about the absolute horrors he put his wife through exactly makes me root for him as a book character. The only reason I am is because I just don’t want Katie to die. The most annoying characters are probably her parents who met the guy once or at least felt like once and were just like yep marry him. They knew nothing about this guy, and yet, acted as if he was so great. Then when she is struggling with the abuse, they at first make it out like it’s her fault. Although the writing was not my favorite, by the end, I did find myself engaged with the story. I don’t think I want to read four books about the same character, but I think I will read the next one just to see how Katie gets out of the current situation.
21 reviews3 followers
July 25, 2023
wow wow wow a dark Christian story

This is a dark a Christian story it doesn’t cross the line but it skirts close to it. It gives you enough information to know what’s going on without crossing the line. Again it is a dark Christian story but a very good one it is definitely true to life and not always happy endings and happy scenarios. Can’t wait to read the second part which is book 2
Profile Image for Martha.
1,948 reviews62 followers
November 11, 2017
I likely would have given this a three star, but it is really between a two and three star for me.

The content is over the top abuse descriptions from multiple people throughout the book. When I say over the top, I don't mean like I don't think it could happen, but the descriptions didn't fit the flavor of the book. At the end, I am supposed to believe the second book will have a different flavor.

For the reason at the end that you sort of believe that you want to know the rest of the story, it makes me want to read more. But, the whole story was a bit ruined by the prologue, I felt.

So, overall, if you want to read a book of horrific abuse, degradation, told in a semi Christian manner, just enough without all the details of a non-Christian novel, but enough that it was just a bit over the top in focusing on the wrong thing, with a small redemption wrap up in the end, pick this one up.
Profile Image for D.
1,069 reviews
August 25, 2015
Wow! Privileged is an amazing story. To me this story tells you about what happens when you leave your first love (Jesus),when you desire something so bad and you are willing to compromise a little to have it. This is what happens to Katie and the consequences are devastating, but there is hope and sometimes it comes from the person you think you can't trust.
Profile Image for Kimmie.
530 reviews28 followers
March 11, 2016
Interesting

This book was good. I didn't how ever like how the main character was very abusive, and It only got worse throughout the book. It did have a good plot line, and good background to the characters lives. It does leave you hanging, so be prepare to buy the second book to finish the story.
561 reviews4 followers
September 7, 2015
This book wasn't anything like I expected. I didn't read a synopsis or any of the reviews beforehand, and I am so glad I didn't.

What a super fast paced book! Not a big fan of cliff hangers though, so I really hope book two is already out.

Fantastic read J. :)
Profile Image for Joleen.
2,669 reviews1,225 followers
September 13, 2015
I'm a Christian, and ordinarily enjoy Christian fiction. But I could tell from the start that this was geared toward teen/young adults. I kept reading for several chapters, but had to delete it.
I'm just a bit beyond that age bracket...(Wink)
31 reviews
September 19, 2015
Review

This book at times was a slow read. Acknowledged cycle of violence and showed women thru the main character how women are scared into staying with an abusive partner. Perhaps there is an out in book 2.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

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