Review: Good effort, poor ending.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2014
I've read Dawn Robertson and loved her dirty erotica. I hadn't read Lily White before, but I was excited to see a collaborative book with a dark story. I looked and this book is listed in romance/suspense on Amazon. I couldn't find that description farther from the truth. This 193 page book is about a woman who is kidnapped by a psychopath. No, he isn't just obsessed with her and has to have her, he is legitimately F-ed in the head. Some of the below may be a bit spolier-ish so just beware.After reading this book and going back to read the description I feel like I was mislead with the nature of this story. From what it says this story is meant to be about a dedicated student (Eleni) who is relying on herself and working hard. Then she is taken by a man she didn't want and now she is his "good girl." What this description doesn't say is that Elini is really just an alcoholic party girl who has her own abandonment issues and, oh yeah, goes to college. For school to be the first thing listed on the blurb and then supposedly a huge part of her life, it never felt like it was a forethought in the heroine's mind. Her priorities were alcohol and tattoos. I never connected with Eleni mostly because I felt like she was a contradiction to herself. She talks s*** about her friend catching an STD because shes a stripper and brings men home, then a couple of pages later bangs some random guy in a bathroom without a condom. Eleni would scream and fight one moment then flip around and be sexually turned on by the smell of his "Axe body spray and Irish Spring soap." I couldn't reconcile her actions with her inner thoughts and never felt like I was in the moment.Gabriel isn't a hero in any sense of the word, but don't worry because in the epilogue with 6% to go he's redeemed. I can't stomach a character who is evil, cruel, spiteful, angry, vengeful, and just basically an ahole for 94% of a book and then I'm being forced into thinking he deserves my love because he's schizophrenic. No. You don't get to add a label to someone and then make it out like he had his reasons. I love a dark character and I was totally okay with his behavior throughout the book. It's raw and gritty and yes, he abuses Eleni. Yes, he slaps her, knocks her head against a wall, drags her by her hair, rapes her, and a whole laundry list of sadistic F-ery. What I am not okay with is redemption for someone like that. I am not okay with a love story trying to blossom from that kind of violence. I liked that Gabriel was essentially crazy. I thought it was brave of the authors to take him to the edge... but to me, he should have been pushed over it. I lost so much steam at the end because it felt like he was healed instead of ruined. If you're going to go balls deep in a thriller... then in the words of Faulker, "kill all your darlings." Gabriel was pivotal in Eleni's life, but he had no retribution.The sex was good. I didn't totally understand how a lot of scenes built up because one moment we were in the heroine's head and she was going through withdrawals from alcohol and then the next moment something sexual was happening. I didn't feel like there was a smooth transition to the sex. It played out like - inner monologue - vomit - argument - sexual encounter - inner monologue. Some scenes towards the end were hot, but again it was coerced raping and that isn't for everyone.Overall this book was ok until the ending. There was a point in the book where it skips over about a month and I felt like that was a missed opportunity to establish the heroine's mindset of when she decided to give herself willingly to him. One moment she is being raped and the next she's been in a cage for the past few weeks and is totally complacent. When we hear from Eleni again it's like she has gone comatose and her reality is Gabriel. These were plot points that slowed it down and made it feel a little out of tempo. I enjoy reading books where there is abuse, rape, and torture.... it's just part of what I like. I want to suspend reality and jump on the crazy train. What I don't like is when the story is over and it doesn't feel like the ending fit. Because after I'm finished with a book that's what haunts me the most. Good effort, poor ending.