Penance

By: Lillith Abendroth

Narrated by: Lauren Hilary, David McClain

Mercy

Two words. ‘You’re pregnant.’ Except, no. That couldn’t be possible. I was a good girl. I went to church, and I said my prayers. I was saving myself. How could this happen? Was God punishing me?

Draco

Three words. ‘I own you.’ Except Mercy doesn’t know it yet. She will. She’ll find out soon enough. I planned it this way when I climbed into bed with her every night. I would have my little Mercy, and I would make her pay for what she did to me. I would have her, and I would have my revenge.

©2025 Lillith Abendroth (P)2025 Lillith Abendroth

Leaves you on the edge of your seat

Penance by Lillith Abendroth is a great dark suspense romance. Lauren Hilary and David McClain did a great job with the narration. The story is entertaining, intense, dark, twisted, brutal, enjoyable, well written, suspenseful, thrilling, action, spicy, and more. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Brutal to Experience and Well Executed

This was a tough listen. I’ll admit I’m usually all in for dark and depraved stories, but this was definitely not a feel-good experience. It wasn’t entertaining in the traditional sense—more like a car wreck you can’t look away from. I can’t honestly say I enjoyed it, because the content was genuinely unsettling.

That said, the writing was excellent, and the narration was equally strong. From a technical and storytelling standpoint, it was very well done—so despite how difficult it was to listen to, it still earns five stars.

Dark, Disturbing, and Unflinchingly Raw

Penance is dark, twisted, and unapologetically intense—definitely check the trigger warnings before diving in. The characters are well developed, and I appreciated seeing how they evolved over the course of the story. While I don’t condone the MMC’s actions, the author does a compelling job of exploring the why behind them—even if I only understood it the tiniest bit.

The story itself is raw, unsettling, and a little unhinged in places, which makes it oddly compelling. The narration was solid and suited the tone well.

⭐️ 3.75/5

I was on edge for so many reasons

The story built so well I felt like I was in the book with the characters. Passion, heavy betrayal, relateable family issues and hotttttt scenes. It was almost like therapy hearing how the characters changed and putting a different perspective on how hurt people hurt people. Absolutely thrilling and so well written down to details that let you see the scenes vividly. 10/10 read!

5 🌟 for duet narration

I can't stand the whimpering pathetic dumbass FMC. How self-centered do you have to be to not even realize why the guy is destroying you? You witnessed him being raped as a child, you ran away as he's begging for help, and then you lied about it too. Even had the audacity to call him dirty. Because he was raped. And then just conveniently forget about it. Until he reminded her. I actually fluctuate between hating the MMC and then sympathizing with him the next. Between rooting for him and hoping he gets hit by a bus next. I'm happy he got to be happy in the end. Now, the FMC, to me was irredeemable.