A review by eg_m
Counsellor by Celia Aaron

Counsellor was included as bonus material with [b:Blackwood|31445952|Blackwood|Celia Aaron|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481077787s/31445952.jpg|52146919]. I liked Blackwood enough that I decided to check this one out even though I knew it was much darker having seen it compared to some of Pepper Winters' work. The comparison is fair. This serial (and it is a serial) is very much in the same trope as the In Debt series. Happily without the meandering and repetitive inner dialogues of those books. Also without the internal inconsistencies. Overall, I thought it was much more tightly written and the characters more believable. That said, once I understood that it was 1) the first in serial; and 2) it was going down the path of dark-tormented-hero abuses innocent-heroine, but it's out of his control so she ends up loving him anyway -- it hit my 'just no' button. So dnf.