Review: Complex characters and a twist I never saw coming. Quite brilliant.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2013
I've been sitting on this review for days because I had no idea how to even begin much less tell you about what I thought without a major spoiler. This story was complex and heavy on the psychology of a survivor. I'll do my best to convey my thoughts about this story, but I apologize if my thoughts end up all over the place. It doesn't happen often, but this book turned me inside out. If you're a fan of Criminal Minds, you might enjoy this, dark erotic twist and all.Don't Let Go is the story of a young woman and rookie FBI agent desperate to feel wanted; she wants to be hurt as a form of penance for having been the only survivor of her father's killing spree, but there's so much more to it than that. Her soul is fractured, and with that she vacillates between right and wrong, good and bad. But it would be wrong to go into this without an open mind. I could go around in circles all day discussing the credibility of her actions or feelings, but I won't.I really liked the complexity of her character. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, for some of her thoughts."Creepy men in white vans took one look at the jaded knowledge in my eyes and kept on driving. They knew there was no innocence left to corrupt—just a hollowed out space where my soul should have been. I didn't want those men to hurt me because I liked pain. I wanted them to hurt me because I knew I deserved it all along."Her partner, Ian Hennessy, is the experience to her inexperience. He was protective of her, drawn to her, and at times he seemed to undermine her, as if he was privy to a secret that she wasn't.  Before and after her kidnapping, he became more. Like Carlos, he saw her and he understood her. Then she made a startling discovery, one that would force her to choose between her current life and a new one.I have only read one other dark erotica story by this author, and at the time it was really difficult to read. Of the two, this was the less shocking. There wasn’t as much sex as you might think. The noncon wasn’t written for shock value, but that is just my opinion. I explain why I thought that in my spoiler below. I loved the plot twist I never saw coming, I loved the hero turned anti hero turned hero and the conclusion.**SPOILER*****Carlos/Ian deserved that second chance because although he took Samantha in the worst way, I do believe it allowed her to live out her “fantasy” of getting taken, having things done to her that those little girls had gone through at her father's hands,  and it allowed her to rid herself of that survivor's guilt. In the moment it did read like noncon, but by the end I drew the conclusion that it felt like a couple living out their dangerous fantasy only without her agreeing to it. That was Ian's form of therapy to save her from herself. This ties in to the quote above.Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the author via Book Promotions by Literary Nook for the purpose of a blog tour and an honest review.