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No one knows how new members are selected to the board of Hale Banking and Holding. But there are rumors of a sordid rite of initiation.

Whispers how one woman and nine men disappear into a boardroom.

This time, that woman will be me.

The Hale family owns everything—the eighth largest bank in the world, everyone in our town, even the mortgage on my parents’ mansion. And now Royce Hale wants to own me.

He is charming. Seductive. Ruthless. But above all, he’s the prince of lies. My body may tighten with white-hot desire under his penetrating gaze, but I refuse to enjoy it.

I’ll make a deal with the devil to save my family and sell myself to the Hales. But Royce will never own my heart.

295 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2019

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About the author

Nikki Sloane

38 books6,914 followers
USA Today bestselling author Nikki Sloane landed in graphic design after her careers as a waitress, a screenwriter, and a ballroom dance instructor fell through. Now she writes full-time and lives in Kentucky with her husband, two sons, and two super destructive cats.

She is a four-time Romance Writers of America RITA® & Vivian® Finalist, a Passionate Plume & HOLT Medallion winner, a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist, and couldn't be any happier that people enjoy reading her sexy words.

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Profile Image for Tears Of Venus.
133 reviews1,675 followers
October 28, 2020
The Initiation - 1.75 🌟
The Obsession - currently reading
The Deception - tbr
The Redemption - tbr

“You’re doing it again,” he said.
“What?” I whispered.
“Turning me into stone.”


Song : Halsey - Gasoline

Every time I finish a book, I tell myself that I will respect the reader’s experience, that I won’t spoil anything and that my review will be sober & classy but who am I kidding?



And my reviews are the same.
So in that spirit, you should know that the following rant is full of spoilers . 😌

The Game

“Five million dollars, Marist Northcott,” he said, “and you better be the perfect, dutiful wife. You will look and act exactly how we tell you to. A paradigm of class, the girl who everyone looks up to and wants to be.”

In the high society of Massachusetts, the Hales are gods. They own almost everything and everyone, and for them, winning is at all costs. Marist Northcott’s sister was supposed to marry Royce Hale, and secure their family’s future until unexpected circumstances force Marist to step up to her sister’s place. Marist’s agenda is to save her family from their financial ruin, which she wasn’t even aware of, and have Royce Hale, whom she’s been lusting after for forever. Sounds like she got the perfect deal, right? Wrong, since Royce has an agenda of his own, and that’s a chair on the board of Hale Banking and Holding Company. But a chair at HBHC’s board is highly coveted and doesn’t come freely, but is instead only offered after a peculiar rite called the initiation .

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙍𝙞𝙩𝙚❜𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙚 :

➼ 1 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙚
➼ 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚/𝙛𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚́/𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧
➼ 𝙩𝙝𝙚 9 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨
➼ 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚
➼ 1 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨
𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚. 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 9 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 1 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚 (𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨) 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙨, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙭 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙑𝙤𝙞𝙡𝙖̀, 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙.

𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙛 𝙂𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙍𝙖𝙢𝙨𝙖𝙮❜𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 :





The initiation is explained as the woman proving her loyalty to the board and in exchange, the board members express their gratitude to her for accepting to be of service to them or to share this special moment with them and honestly,



I mean, was I horrified? No, but that’s on me being a piece of garbage, tbh. I was just bored out of my mind, and if you wanna know if it was at least sexy?



The Players

“You have to remember everyone in this house has an agenda. We’re all positioning to get what we want, and no one says what they mean.”

I know this is only the first book in the series, and that the main couple still have 2 books to get to their HEA, but I’m fairly sure I don’t give a single fuck about either of them. In fact, the only character that grabbed my attention and intrigued me is daddy Macalister Hale, and I’mma continue reading the series just for him. 😌

👠Marist Northcott👠
“Do you still taste as good as I remember, Marist?”
“Find out,” I ordered.

I really don’t have much to say about her. She tried to convince us she’s this badass person, and while she did have her moments, I’m just not sure I’m buying what she’s selling.



I’ll admit she makes the most of every situation she’s in, but I just couldn’t connect to her. Her love or lust or want or whatever she wants to call it for Royce wasn’t all that convincing either. I just don’t care for her, and whenever she’d compare herself to Medusa, I just got pissed because honey,



And when she said this
Perhaps I wasn’t Medusa, but Persephone.



You’re nothing like Medusa or Persephone, just don’t.



And look, in this house, we don’t judge kinks. We really don’t. But a virgin turned on by the prospect of getting fucked for the first time in front of 9 men who are all her father’s colleagues and are the same age as him, if not older? And her believing they were just showing their gratitude?



🤡Royce Hale🤡
“Royce was Hades, the king of the underworld. He’d come to carry me down into his dark world, make me his unwilling bride and his queen.”

On behalf of the book, I hereby offer my sincerest apologies to Hades for the emotional distress being compared to Royce must’ve caused him.



I understand he has a goal he’s working towards and that he’s controlled by his father, but did he have to be so beta? So bland? So uninteresting? So boring? So chickenshit? Marist had bigger balls than he did.
“I’d tell you I’m sorry if that was hard for you, but honestly?” He tossed a hand up. “I’m not. I take my victories where I can get them, and I don’t regret what I had to do to earn it. It’s win-at-all-costs in the Hale family. You’ll learn that soon enough.”

Your victories are pointless, dear, just like your existence.



He’s so scared of his dad that- that- lemme just show you
I was stunned he was being indecisive about my offer, but I was even more shocked when he abruptly stood and yanked at his pants. The action knocked me backward, and I fell on my ass with a hard thud. I glared up at him, but he ignored me. Instead, he hurried to do up his zipper and refasten his belt.

I’m sorry but I lost all respect for him (didn’t have much to begin with, tbh) when I imagined him pulling his pants on in a hurry before getting caught by daddy dearest and getting punished, because his dad clearly forbade any physical intimacy between him and Marist before the initiation.
Here’s a visual of me searching for his missing man card



Ffs, even at the initiation, he came in less than a minute, which caused his dad to say this :

He cast a harsh look at his son. “Jesus, Royce.” His tone was scathing. “Next time try to last longer than a minute. She’s supposed to enjoy it, but not if you don’t give her a chance.”




No seriously



Maybe I should’ve dug deeper into the characters, looked beyond the surface to what makes them themselves and what motivates their actions, but I just didn’t care about them enough to. I’m sure they have lovely qualities and whatnot, but



I didn’t finish the book for them or their so bland romance I couldn’t tell you a thing about it. I did it for Macalister Hale.

😈Macalister Hale😈
Macalister was Zeus. He fucked with the mortals just for the fun of it.
For sport.

Daddy Hale is a compelling villain and I’m here for it. 😌
He was without a doubt the most interesting character in this book, and I can’t wait to find out more about him. His motivations, his deepest darkest thoughts, his plans and his goals. You know what? That was the way I was supposed to feel about the two MCs



But me thinks he’s the author’s favorite character as well and it shows. She took good care of his character and made him stand out, not that it’s that hard considering his competition for the spotlight are Marist MedusaWannabe and Royce NoFlavour…
“I own you, Marist. And eventually I will have you.”



Yesss daddy, take her. Your son wouldn’t know what to do with her anyway. 🤩
Soo his useless son sold Marist to him for a hundred thousand shares of the company, and while someone rooting for the romance would wonder how could Royce ever make up for that, I’m just happy because this means Daddy Hale is going to have an even more important role in the next book.
“Everyone has a price, Marist. Tonight, we found Royce’s.” He leaned over and placed his hands on the armrests of my chair, imprisoning me beneath him. “Now I start looking for yours.”

Royce who? Romance who? HEA whooo??



Thank you to my forever boo, Touf, for introducing me to my newest Daddy. And for picking up every time I called you to complain about Royce. And for trashing him with me. And for being awesome. You’re the best. 🖤

Honesty was a great trait, until it wasn’t. Too much of it and it cut painfully deep.
Profile Image for chan ☆.
1,129 reviews54.3k followers
July 30, 2021
glad i didn’t vlog this because it was snooze city 😴

pretty disappointing honestly. seems like most of my friends liked this but i don’t get the hype. certainly not terrible but the heroine was giving me YA vibes and the insta love was not it. might continue the series to see if she bones the dad…
Profile Image for SueBee★bring me an alpha!★.
2,417 reviews14.8k followers
Want to read
May 28, 2019
LIVE! | AMZ US | AMZ UK |


THANKS FOR MY ARC (THAT GOT LOST BUT FOUND ITS WAY)!

Book 1
LIVE! | AMZ US | AMZ UK |
Blurb:
No one knows how new members are selected to the board of Hale Banking and Holding. But there are rumors of a sordid rite of initiation.
Whispers how one woman and nine men disappear into a boardroom.
This time, that woman will be me.
The Hale family owns everything—the eighth largest bank in the world, everyone in our town, even the mortgage on my parents’ mansion. And now Royce Hale wants to own me.
He is charming. Seductive. Ruthless. But above all, he’s the prince of lies. My body may tighten with white-hot desire under his penetrating gaze, but I refuse to enjoy it.
I’ll make a deal with the devil to save my family and sell myself to the Hales. But Royce will never own my heart.


ARC provided to me by author Nikki Sloane in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for benedicta.
340 reviews431 followers
November 27, 2023
this is the most wtf book I've ever read and that's saying a lot since I have a book where a guy's adopted family barbecued his real family and had them for the guy's birthday dinner 😭😭 also, there was the girl whose boyfriend was her door 🤷🏽‍♀️

oh where to start with this review? 🤣🤣

Marist (fmc) and Royce (mmc) met a year ago at his trust fund babies party when he was supposedly in the process of being betrothed to her sister. They get hot and heavy in the library because yes she's the kind of girl who dyes her hair green, reads during a party and knows Greek mythology that about sums up her personality oh yes, and also makes out with her sister's potential love interest.

Royce then asks Marist to keep her virginity for him and then ghosts her for a year 😭 (yes, i'm still not over that fyi) even though their parents work together, they run in similar rich people circles and he's going to be her brother-in-law at some point 🙃🙃

I'm making a jump the storyline to save y'all from some spoilers but some crazy things did happen

exhibit A 💀
“You can’t marry Royce.” My pulse slowed to a crawl. Hyperawareness tingled across my skin, warning me something big was coming. Oh, God. Was this where she told me she was secretly in love with him?

My voice wavered. “Why’s that?” “Because for him to join the board?” Her hand squeezed so hard it was uncomfortable. “He has to fuck you in front of them.”
exhibit B 💀💀
Royce passed the hourglass to his father. When he unbuttoned his coat and lowered to sit on the throne, my heart beat so violently I grew lightheaded. He was right there in front of me. My feet dangled between his spread knees.

“You’re committing yourself to this board,” Macalister, Royce's dad said. “By putting the company before yourself, you’re giving us a tremendous gift, Marist.”

“Each board member will have one minute to show you his appreciation and prepare you for your partnership with Royce.”
exhibit C 💀💀💀
Mr. Shaunessy was the last board member to go before the cycle of men was over. He sat in the chair and brushed the pad of his thumb over my swollen clit before sliding it all the way inside me. I arched up at the intrusion, and when the other men gently nudged me back onto the table, Mr. Shaunessy set his lips where his thumb had just been. His tongue flickered while his thumb thrust. Slow at first, then speeding along and the two working together felt . . .

Good. Really, really good. “Oh, fuck,” I whispered. I’d tried to hold it back, but I was breaking down. There were appreciative, encouraging chuckles from the board. “I think she likes that,” one of them said. Shit, I did. Instead of imagining Royce, now I pictured Mr. Shaunessy’s son, Richard. I used the humiliating memory to combat what was happening and control myself. The mental cold shower seemed to work, because— “Time.” There was relief in Royce’s voice. Instead of watching me, he’d been fixated on the hourglass, beating his father to the announcement. Perhaps he’d silently pleaded for the sand to fall faster.
exhibit D 💀💀💀✋🏽
Macalister focused on his son, his gaze moving from the tense fist up to meet his eyes. “You’ll continue your engagement and see it through the marriage. Everyone will believe she’s your wife, and she will be, but in name only. When we’re here, she’ll be mine.” His eyes were terrifying as he flexed his power. “Not yours.”

“How does twenty thousand shares sound?”

Royce’s chest moved with his rapid, uneven breath, but that was the only indication he wasn’t fine. He was calm and business-like when he spoke. “I want the house.”

I think the writing was ok but the story was all over the place, the characters were pretty bland though the author tried really hard to make them say and do as many crazy, toxic things as possible. Lmao, maybe for shock value? But it was hilarious regardless

I didn't know what I was getting myself into.. I don't know if I would have preferred trigger warnings or not 💀 tbh, I don't think they would have helped 😩😩

Find The initiation on Amazon/Kindle/Audible 💀

***

I want to write a review so bad but it's going to be 1000% full of spoilers because this is the most wtf book I've ever read 😭😭
Profile Image for Maditales.
609 reviews29.7k followers
November 16, 2022
I did not expect to read about a father watching his son fuck his girlfriend. Sadly I did.

Why in the ever-loving fuck is there a sex scene where multiple grown men watch a 25yo guy fuck a 20yo women????
And why is one of them his dad?
And why did his dad want to participate?
And why why why is this incest. Yes idc that it was "ONLY" watching this is incest.
Absolutely disgusted right now I cannot handle this.

And then in the end the father, because he wasn't allowed to fuck the girl in front of this son, which is apparently his kink (yes I am fully judging this disgusting behaviour), decides to give his son shares in his company so he can have his son's wife as his fuck buddy.
The Chuck Bass vibes I got from that scene are through the roof. Mind you I hate Chuck Bass with my life.

I wish I did not read that I am traumatised and hate my life right now.
Now I did not buy this book. This was sent to me by the publisher soooooo why?
Profile Image for Sakura.
27 reviews
June 11, 2019
LOL.
What a piece of crap I just read!
Let me just tell you. Marist is no Medusa or Persephone. She is the definition of girls who want to be different but actually are not. Royce makes her wet, she has chemistry w him so she LOVES him. Royce too. He seems to love her so so much.
But but but then again he never hesitates to fuck her in front of others. Never once he thought about giving up the shares. Never once Marist thought I should start working now and support myself instead of selling my everything to a nobody for 5M dollars. These are the prime examples of characters I hate all in one story. The writer seems to think pedophiles are worth the smut. An old geezer will participate in taking a girls virginity. Aw! So sexy, huh?
And and and it's also okay to sell your wife to your married old father because...
Duh! Shares!
Shares and a house are worth everything.
This is what happens when you are born with a sliver spoon in your mouth. You want everything by inheritance. And by selling someone else. Supposedly your wife ;)

And all the while the h keeps comparing herself to Medusa. LMFAOOO! As if she was raped. As if she has a backbone. As if she didn't join the initiation on her own. As if she didn't fall for a piece of crap like Royce. As if she is not a complete and utter spineless bitch who can't even handle difficult situations.

This book deserves 0 stars. God. Absolute piece of trash. My trash can will feel ugly and dirty if I throw this book there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for ✰ Liz ✰ .
1,365 reviews1,317 followers
June 6, 2019
"Perhaps I wasn't Medusa, but Persephone."
description

The Initiation is a dark and delicious contemporary romance where the rich and powerful rule! Marist Northcott has the entire world ahead of her when everything comes crashing down! Finding out her family is in ruins and things are not as they seem forces Marist to offer herself as the sacrificial lamb. She finds herself bound to Royce Hale, the heir to the Hale Banking and Holding Empire, and a dashing alpha male who always seems to get what he wants! Desperation drives her to do whatever it takes to help get her family out of ruin and to NOT fall in love with the dashing and devilish Royce.

description
"Royce was waiting and I was drawn to him. He was going to be my downfall."
The Initiation is an absolute must read. With complex characters, colorful text, and passion dripping from every page, I simply could not put it down! The intensity of the situation made my heart race and my heart full of hope for Marist. The attraction between Royce and Marist is addictive and the secondary characters bring plenty of friction and strife to the matched couple!
"His hot hungry mouth roved over me, like he needed to press his lips to every inch of my defenseless flesh he could find."
Overall, I am completely hooked and cannot wait for more Marist and Royce. Be forewarned, this book ends in a serious cliffy! This was my first Nikki Sloane read and I can say with complete certainty it will not be my last! I am DYING for the next book in this series!

✪ ARC graciously provided in exchange for an honest review!

For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:
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Profile Image for EmBibliophile.
579 reviews1,757 followers
November 23, 2021
Okay, but this was so stupid that even my -can’t leave things unfinished- personality don’t care about what’s going to happen next after that “cliffhanger”. It was just that stupid.
February 18, 2021

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Will this book be the next Great American Novel? No. Do I really care? NOPE! THE INITIATION was recommended to me by someone who knows that I love dark, trashy, off-the-wall reads and it kind of reads like a 1970s bodice-ripper in that it is unapologetically trashy with some pretty messed-up scenes. I've read a lot of crazy stuff and even I was like "OH WOW WASN'T EXPECTING THAT" at the twist(s). So the book gets three stars automatically for keeping me engaged to the end, turning pages like I was working a finger treadmill.



The writing is... not the best. There is a five-star story buried in here but so much of it was just too silly. The attempts to tie this book into Greek mythology didn't really work and came across as too forced, in my opinion, and I feel like Marist gamed her "not like other girls" power-ups a little too aggressively. Who takes a book about mythology to a party and wanders into someone else's library to read it? I'm bookish and antisocial and not even I would do that. (Everyone knows you say you have to go to the bathroom and then read the book in there. Sheesh! Then nobody's going to come around checking on you JK.) Also, sorry girlfriend, but green hair is not a substitute for a personality.



So this Billie Eilish wannabe is a high society girl but her parents have money problems and her sister is engaged to the cute rich guy who wants her, Marist, to save herself for him. Whaaaaat. (And that's not even the twist.) It gets even weirder from there, in a series of events that result in her sister and Royce (hot guy) breaking off the engagement, and Marist being promised to him instead. But Royce's family is super weird and everyone's just a little too excited about Marist being innocent. Creepy? I think so. BUT WAIT-- IT GETS WEIRDER. Annnnnnd... that's all I'm going to say because I really don't want to spoil it. If you're concerned that you're going to get squicked out, it's probably because you will be and I'd definitely check out some of the reviews with spoilers if you are worried. I knew what was going to happen and I was still shocked, which is testament to Sloane's writing ability.



As I said, the writing is a bit cheesy and it was trying a little too hard to be more than it was. If you're familiar with Skye Warren's work, Sloane's style is very similar to hers, particularly the Endgame series. I think anyone who likes SW will really like Nikki Sloane. There is a cliffhanger but only in the sense that opens up more questions to be resolved in later books. You definitely get your fill of OMG WHAT with this installment. I'm super curious about the rest of the series and will be checking them out. You can't just leave it there!



3 to 3.5 stars
Profile Image for Irena BookDustMagic.
665 reviews743 followers
November 13, 2021
I knew this was different from anything I've read before, I chose it to step out of my comfort zone, but men, this was sooooo NOT for me.

I am all for gangbang and voyeur if that's what one prefers, but at one point reading this book felt like watching the lamb being slaughtered.

This is definitely triggering, it is a story about rape wearing a different clothers, where the main character was practically made to do what she didn't want to do, but was told she can stop at anytime but in that case she would lose everything.

I am against romanticized sexual abuse or sex trafficking, and this book did that from my perspective.
Profile Image for Isabella. R.
927 reviews1,729 followers
November 10, 2019
4 Be Medusa Stars ⭐️

Sold into marriage to keep her family out of imminent bankruptcy and disgrace, Marist Northcott sees her future dissolve before her eyes.

The Hale Family owns the town, being the eighth richest bank owners in the world. With heir, Royce Hale next in line to the proverbial ‘throne’, a wife is required.  With Marist’s sister out of the running, green haired Marist is summoned. Afterall the Northcott surname is all that’s required.

We soon learn that there are two sides to Royce Hale. The man destined to run an empire and the son who is shackled by his father’s demands.

“I do what I’m told because there’s no alternative. Everything is planned or scheduled. I don’t get to make decisions because my entire fucking life has already been scripted.”

Acknowledging that Marist is a pawn in this game, he will go to extraordinary lengths to protect the one person he actually cares for.

“When I put a ring on your finger,” he murmured in the hollow of my throat, “I’ll fuck you non-stop. I’m going to get inside you, Marist, and probably never want to leave.”

Unfortunately what he fails to mention is the ‘Initiation’ process required for the newly appointment future Mrs Hale. And holy hell it is not for the faint of heart 🔥

Be mindful when beginning The Initiation that this is the first book in The Filthy Rich Americans Trilogy. This was a fantastic read with an original storyline, a likeable hero & heroine and Nikki Sloane’s signature hot as hades sex scenes, yum!
BUT, the cliffhanger almost killed me....

Profile Image for Lien.
296 reviews233 followers
Shelved as 'dnf'
April 14, 2021
DNF at 70%

Ok wow I just can't.

Let me tell you something. I don't have triggers. I've been reading smut for 9 years now and I am shocked to discover that there's something I'm uncomfortable enough to stop reading. And here I thought I could handle anything. Ha! You learn something new every day, right?

Profile Image for Lacey (laceybooklovers).
2,134 reviews11.7k followers
April 15, 2021
Is new adult erotic romance a thing? Because it definitely should be! Or I just need to find more of it. This was great, but it’s not a dark romance like I’ve seen some reviews say it is. I loved the marriage of convenience setup and I’m SO intrigued by Macalister (even though I do like Royce...) and I can’t wait to get to his book!
Profile Image for Bibi.
1,288 reviews8 followers
February 18, 2021
Weirdly, and IMO, Marist with Macalister Hale would have been a better story instead of the worthless spineless douchecanoe that was Royce.

But seriously, the constant comparison to Medusa and Persephone was Lol. Sigh
Profile Image for Syndi.
3,114 reviews909 followers
November 11, 2022
I do not like this book.

I am not a stranger to dark, forbidden, gritty romance. I read Debt series by Pepper Winter that have some similarity with this book. What really bother me is the writing style. It has too much angst and OTT drama. Yes I understand Miss Sloane tries to make this book more suspense. However she ends up making everything a mess of dramatic story. Too much drama. Just too much.

I do not like Maris. In my opinion, she is portray as tough as nail but inside her head, she is damsel in distress with too dramatic behavior. She seems can not make up her mind about anything. I can not feel any sympathy toward her.

I am not going to continue with this series. Just not.... moving on.

2 stars
Profile Image for D.L. Howe.
Author 18 books503 followers
July 23, 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

How far are you willing to go to save your family from financial ruination? Marist’s mettle will be tested every step of the way.

From having to become engaged to a man she believed loathed her. To finding out just how fucked up her family’s finances are and how unwilling they are to help themselves. To basically giving up every right she once took for granted.

It helps that along the way she fell in lust with Royce Hale. He appears to like her back and he warned her that he would do some shady shit along the way but asked her to trust him in the long run.

You know I thought The Cloister series was misogynistic but this right here is some chauvinistic bs. At least in Celia Aaron’s series they didn’t hide behind a wealthy, professional facade, while they’re all just a bunch of dirty old men.

Actually now that it’s happening, I feel like the board members got the short end of the stick. I mean, there’s definitely worse things to endure. 🤣🙈

In the end Royce held up his bargain to seemingly fuck her over but can she trust him? Especially when everyone around her is telling her to basically trust no one. But really it doesn’t matter considering she already signed her life away … or does it?

I’ll give this the same merits that I would a soap opera. Highly entertaining but nothing to write home about.
Profile Image for  Nayeli ♡.
163 reviews161 followers
February 16, 2021
⭐ 4.5 Stars ⭐

❝Perhaps I wasn't Medusa, but Persephone. Royce was Hades the king of the underworld. He'd come to carry me down into his dark world, make me his unwilling bride and his queen❞


♬ Songs for this book:
Initiation - The Weeknd
Control - Sabrina Claudio
National Anthem - Lana del Rey
Even If It Hurts - Sam Tinnesz



I'll start this review by saying: THAT CLIFFHANGER 🤯

Nikki Sloane created such a good story in less than 200 pages and I don't how she did it, but I'm glad I read this book because from beginning to end it was intriguing!
Although, I'm not giving it 5 stars because there are a few things I didn't quite like, but it was a quick and addictive read with a good plot and characters.

I must admit that my curiosity to read this story was mainly the title. As I read, I wanted to know more and more about the famous "Initiation" and why it was so important.


What I liked:

↪The story and writing style! Plus that ending and turn of events👌🏻


↪The chemistry between the H (Royce) and the h (Marist) 😍
This author managed to write some good sexy and steamy scenes🔥🔥

❝Because you and me, Marist? There's no fucking issue of chemistry❞


↪I really liked Marist, she was determined to do and get what she wanted without thinking twice, showing that she could not be manipulated so easily. Those are the kind of heroines I enjoy reading!




I highly recommend this book! But keep in mind that it ends with a cliffhanger and is the first book in the Filthy Rich Americans series.

❝They say when someone shows you who they really are, you should believe them❞
Profile Image for Jessica .
2,232 reviews14.7k followers
February 18, 2021
3.5 stars

I've seen everyone reading this lately and thought it was going to be a great dark romance. The problem with this one, though, is that nothing really intriguing or dark happens until well into the book. For awhile, I was wondering what was even dark or amazing about the book because we were just following Marist fall for Royce and then having to agree to marry him because of family drama. There was this whole mystery behind the initiation and what it was. Sure, some people aren't going to like that aspect of the book. Did it feel weird at times? Definitely. But Marist seemed to like it and it was consensual. I did like the chemistry she had with Royce and how much they fell for each other. I felt like her family was a bit underdeveloped, especially her parents. Sure this was a fun book once things started to get going and become revealed, but nothing was amazing. And I definitely think Royce was a jerk for not telling her the truth the whole time.
Profile Image for Bookishrealm.
2,333 reviews5,704 followers
January 6, 2021
Who told Nikki Sloane that this book was okay to write? I want to have a conversation with them.

The cover, the title, the begining of this book ARE ALL MISLEADING. I was going through my Hoopla and I saw Nikki Sloane's name and decided to pick this book up randomnly after hearing Izzy say that Sloane could do no wrong. When I listened to the first part of this book I was convinced that it was going to be the stereotypical "girl falls in love with a bad guy that's a lowkey bully." But then *insert dramatic music* I discovered the meaning of the title The Initiation. This book was absolutely wild.

If I'm being completely honest, this rating is coming from a place of pure enjoyment and shock value. I still believe that the beginning of the story is slow and I really wasn't interested in hearing about two rich kids deciding whether they were in love while they banged it out. But as this story progresses and secrets are revealed it becomes clear that Nikki Sloane did not come to play. She came to snatch wigs and drop jaws. This novel is definitely in the arena of plot over character development. In my opinion, the characters weren't unique. I've seen them before in other novels, the same character type. HOWEVER, this plot makes up and takes over for the underwhelming personalities (except for Macalister -- this crazy, yet alluring man). This goes beyond the boundaries of what I thought some ficticious wealthy people would do to amuse themselves.

As a beginner in the arena of dark romance, I will proudly say that I don't think that this book is going to be for everyone. That final scene is probably not going to align with everyone's personal taste; however, I found it intriguing and it was particularly interesting the way Nikki Sloane wrote it. I found it to be a scene where both the reader and the heroine had the opportunity to be comfortable without the fear of this particular situation turning into something more extreme. But I will reiterate that it isn't for the faint of heart.

Overall, I thought that it was an enjoyable book. There is a mixture of mythology that plays an interesting role in how the heroine views the world around her that I found interesting. As stated before, I wouldn't pick this book up looking for mind blowing character development or a cute contemporary romance. It definitely is a hot plot driven novel that will make you question yourself on why you enjoyed it so much.
Profile Image for pauline.
138 reviews27.6k followers
July 17, 2021
OOOOFFFFF, I really liked this.

The twists and wildness of this book left me feeling wide-eyed, jaw-slackened BETRAYED. What a fuckin ride.

The spice here I’d categorize about a 2.5 to 3🌶 (so obviously 18+) DESPITE the very CRAZY scene in the dining room, but I guess I’m giving my spice rating based on the writing. The actual ACTS themselves would probably warrant a 5 if it was more detailed. But I don’t think the overall spicy scenes of the entire book screams a 5 out 5 🌶.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Couldn’t put the book down. Started this on the plane on my way home from vacation so yknow, just casually reading about the sexual tension between Marist and Royce IN PUBLIC.

Don’t start this until you’ve got the second book in hand because that LAST CHAPTER?! Jfc. Jaw. To. The. FLOOR.

It was just a really fun read for me. I didn’t expect much out of it, so I didn’t go into it thinking it was going to be something it wasn’t. I got what I wanted from it, so I’m willing to overlook some of the parts I didn’t like about the book (kind of… average? writing but it was overall fine enough to keep going)

This is a completely different genre and story line, but if you’ve ever read Red Queen and felt betrayed after that first book… I feel like you’ll feel similarly about this 😂 good luck besties
Profile Image for Booker132.
85 reviews25 followers
June 1, 2019
The plot: One dimensional “awkward” heroine has a begrudging crush on brooding mean bully hero. Bully blackmails her into arranged marriage, and h obviously goes along with the forced marriage because she alone can “save” her family. Oh and obviously they’re all rich and all the money in the world comes out of the hero’s ass. And so begins our h’s predictable journey from awkward nobody to strong confident woman and H’s predictable journey from cold ruthless man-beast to loving ruthless man-beast. They have a lot of sex. And readers who like this trope close their kindle with a mildly satisfied ‘meh’ feeling.

Right?
RIGHT??

Let me tell you, the story starts out like this but it soon turns into some sort of bizarre old married men/father in law porn. Our aforementioned man-beast H acts like a spineless little mute child infront of his father, who is supposed to be the calculating villain of this story, but him along with his board of old men just act like GROSS ICKY lonely old men towards the h and the h erases these sort of situations by begging the H (who stands around watching his fiancé engage in this weird father-in-law porn fetish with his fucking father!) to fuck away the old men’s ‘bad memories’. And then there’s her own family that behave like a low grade fanfiction of Gossip Girl characters. This book Is the literary version of being covered in slime, seriously! It left me feeling dirty. I gave one generous star to the Author because I didn’t DNF, morbid curiosity had me wanting to finish this book’s transition from predictable to disgustingly gross. I feel like I need to shower.
Profile Image for Melanie (mells_view).
1,776 reviews364 followers
May 31, 2019
*CLIFFHANGER ENDING*

“He was Hades, wanting to take me to the underworld and be his bride, and this ring was the pomegranate seed that would make me stay. I chose to go with the version of the myth where Persephone took it willingly.”

This book is something else. It’s twisty, a little depraved, and a lot intense. I’m not going to rehash things. I’m just going to say that Royce Hale was someone that Marist never thought she would have. Didn’t even really want him, but he wants her. Somehow she gets him, and doesn’t want anything else. But nothing with the Hale’s is as it seems and at every new turn there’s a twist and a lie.

You just have to read this one to understand. There’s this dark undertone that’s hinted at and quickly explored in this book, but I think it’s going to end up getting even deeper and darker.
Profile Image for Melluvsbooks.
1,295 reviews
May 20, 2022
I don't tend to have much luck with trilogies. Normally, I like book 1, and get bored with a bunch of manufactured fluff in the 2nd book (typically an eye rolly revenge plot), and if I make it to the 3rd book (rare), I'm disappointed because the author neuters the hero...

I think Nikki Sloane pulled off the tricky trilogy quite well. The intrigue kept me reading. It was just steamy and kinky enough.

Unlike many other reviewers, I think she ended up with who she was supposed to. The author made it impossible for it to be anyone else. Even though the other guy has some appeal. The way it's written, I'm not sure how any reader would come away thinking he was the better option.

I really liked that this series didn't have the tired revenge plot.

Was this trilogy perfect for me? No. I wanted more from Royce... I wanted different stuff from Macalister. Marist was flawed and not always all that likable. This book had lots of hot moments, but I wished the author had been a little more bold in her choices. But was I entertained? Did I devour this series in a day? Yep.

Bottom Line? This was a twisty turny read that kept me wondering and engaged until the end of book 3. 4-stars!




⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️

- cheating - this is a little gray - the Hero never cheats on the h. As far as we know, he is celibate from the time he *claims* her until the initiation a year later. And, as far as we know, he is faithful through the end of book 3 - no OW involved at all. However, the h is in a triangle of sorts, albeit, unwillingly, and is intimate with someone else, despite her objections. She never has intercourse with anyone beside the H. She is coerced into being touched and kissed by OM.

- sharing - in book 1 the H is required to allow others touch the h with their hands and mouths during the initiation.

- dubcon - all intimacies the h endures, that aren't with the H, are coerced - she agrees most of the time, because she doesn't have much choice, but she's reluctant

- exhibitionism/voyeurism - there are different levels of this kink in all 3 books. The initiation involves the H watching other men touch and pleasure the h, and then the other men watch the MCs have sex the first time. The OM covertly watches the MCs be intimate at other times in the series as well. The h watches OP during intimate moments, mostly by accident or force.

- the h witnesses OW forced to give a bj and be spanked by a belt

- h is a 21 yr old virgin

- H is 25 and a former manwhore

- no condoms - safety is implied and the h is on birth control
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Lover of Romance.
3,173 reviews956 followers
January 13, 2021
I read this WHOLE series in like two days and what a ride it was. I was nervous about reading though in some ways because I had heard that this series wasn’t for everyone and had some darker elements and as this is Nikki Sloane you just know she will take you on a wild and incredible journey and I had a blast to be honest. I was quite addicted to these books. So get ready for all my reviews and thoughts on this series.

So The Initiation is a book that starts off our main couple: Royce and Maris. Royce is the older son of the Hale family, and is tough as nails and has to be with the type of father he has been raised by. He is gearing his way towards taking the reins of the company and will do anything for that to happen. Then we have our heroine, Maris, who has grown up privileged but has been treated poorly by her peers. She has always considered herself the weird undesirable one of the social elites that her family is connected to and a bit of a ugly duckling. And it isn’t until her family is in dire straights, that she takes control and decides to jump into a life she has no comprehension of. Maris is a strong heroine but she definitely has her share of vulnerabilities. I enjoyed seeing all the challenges that she is faced with and the intense chemistry that builds between Royce and Maris. Its that intensity that really draws you in and the writing (as per Nikki Sloane’s style) is utterly addicting. There is a scene here that will NOT be for everyone, and I admired the way that Maris just forges ahead with it despite it being bonkers.

Overall I found this first book to be a wild page turner that held my attention and by the end had me thirsting for more.
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