Review: Deliciously dark erotic romance where the captor falls for his prisoner.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 13, 2014
First off, heed the warning! This book is considered erotic romance, but it’s definitely a dark erotic romance because of dubious consent, choking, knife/blood play, mention of rape, heroine is a virgin and anal sex. Okay, let’s get on with the review.When Mary was thirteen years old, she was sodomized by her bodyguard. Her father, a man with political ambitions, swept the incident under the rug and life went on. To her family she was a disgrace and an embarrassment. At seventeen, she snuck into a BDSM club to relieve her insatiable need for dark, twisted sex. With pain came pleasure. By twenty-two she’d done a good job of maintaining a facade that she was a good girl with no problems. Until the day she was kidnapped.Slade had a similar upbringing in terms of having parents who couldn’t care less about their children. They died in an accident when he was twenty, leaving him to take guardianship over his younger sister, Lily. From there he worked hard and became a self-made man. When his sister was kidnapped by sex slave traffickers, he saw only one way to get her back. An eye for an eye, so to speak.The book was written in the first person point-of-view from both Mary and Slade, which I really liked. I felt their raw emotions and I always knew what they were thinking. It was probably a very good move for this dark-themed book because the reader could tell whether or not they would find the hero redeemable. Armed with the knowledge of Mary’s past, and the way she felt about herself and the risque actions she took were hers alone, therefore it’s impossible to judge her for the things she needed to cope. I could understand her urges even when they felt uncomfortable to read. You’ll have to put your personal feelings and judgments aside before you immerse yourself in these two protagonists and what makes them tick.The story began with some back story on Mary before seeing her in the present. The dilemma that was her life unfolded during a sailing trip with her sister and brother-in-law along with a man she was being set up with, Jordan. It took a while for them to warm up to one another, but she quickly realized that he was a little bit like her. Right before she could go through with something she may have regretted later, she was kidnapped.Slade was a more complex character than Mary. I think he was more of a Sadist than a Dom. He wasn’t squeamish about giving pain, but even in the most intense scenes, he was controlled and never did anything Mary wasn’t willing to accept. It’s my guess that he pushed her so hard because of who she was and the situation with his sister.The chemistry between them was there, and seemed to grow the more time they spent together. In the beginning he was dark and cruel, but moments would slip through that hinted at a good man underneath who had been driven to extreme behavior. He was used to being feared, but Mary was the first person who didn’t react the way he had expected, and it threw him for a loop. I really liked Mary’s feisty side in dealing with him, although I think she secretly enjoyed goading him into losing control.I wasn’t surprised that within the realm of being a wealthy CEO, he was also a bit of a vigilante. He had no trouble killing bad guys where the law would fail. Those few scenes were a little graphic but nothing too terrible. I think I loved him even more for being such a bad ass.There were some twists I never saw coming, but I loved the suspense of how Mary would fare when faced with them. I barely held back tears when she had a meltdown. Up until that point I was loving the story and the character development. But then it went a little downhill from there. My problem was Mary, and she made a few decisions that baffled me. I also didn’t understand why she put up with Jordan and his own brand of high-handedness when she’d only known him for less than a week.The Bottom LineI really enjoyed this this story from new to me author Alaska Angelini. Slade was a deliciously dark (anti) hero, but he wasn’t a cruel man for cruelty’s sake. I loved the unconventional romance blossoming between them, and I do think he helped her tougher side emerge. I couldn’t put the book down once I started. It was paced well. The sex was mostly rough, but consensual and so hot! If you pick this up, have faith. They do get their HEA.This can be read as a standalone since there was no set up for the second Captive to the Dark book titled Blake. I will definitely be looking out for that one when it comes out. Ms Angelini is an author to watch. The story may go through some revisions before publication, but I’m just reviewing what I had in front of me. I recommend it.FD: Complimentary unedited copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.