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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
2/7/18 - ON SALE for $2.99:
http://amzn.to/2nHK9J8
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
I'm not going to lie . . . sometimes, not often, but sometimes I get in the mood for SMUT.
I'm picky about it, though. Clearly not as picky as some others who read and hated CLAIMED, b/c "too much sex, not enough plot," and to those people I say:
Whatever you do, NEVER pick up Beyond Shame.
B/c CLAIMED is basically a toned-down, more marketable version of that concept.
That's not a complaint. I liked Beyond Shame. BUT. I could never read it for more than half an hour or so at a time, b/c, MAN ALIVE . . . something about loins and flames, and I just could NOT take it. I had to put it aside in favor of something else, b/c spontaneous combustion was a real possibility . . .
Not so, CLAIMED.
In this world, there are two types of people: citizens and outlaws.
Citizens live under thecontrol protection of a police-like state, while outlaws prefer to take their chances elsewhere. They live outside civilization, such as it is, eking out an existence
in the spaces no one of importance is interested in.
Outlaws are mostly transient, b/c even if they aren't doing anything particularly wrong, they're still branded with the label "outlaw," and enforcers are jerks who like to break shit.
It's harder to get broken if you don't stay in one place.
Hudson, a citizen, is on the run.
Unbeknownst to her, before he died, her father arranged a marriage to a man she despises, so much so, she leaves the safety of citizenship, fleeing to outlaw territory.
She's got skills, you see.
Her father was a man of importance, so she was trained with the enforcers, the elite soldiers. She also has some medical knowledge, and between the two, she figures she can make a go of it on her own.
She is sadly mistaken.
Conner is an outlaw, born and bred.
Against his wishes, the handful of men he's collected, fighters like himself, have made him their leader. Unlike most non-citizens, they've found a place of relative safety, a headquarters where they've lived and trained for the last six months, a place of stability from which they can raid enforcer bases for supplies, biting the ankles of the beast.
But that's not enough for Conner.
He has a personal vendetta against the head enforcer, who murdered his family.
In Conner, Hudson sees protection. She vastly underestimated her ability to survive alone, and after witnessing his men's efficient takedown of a group of bandits, she decides she's going with them when they leave.
Things don't go as either of them plan . . .
Things you should know:
1. There is M/F/M action, and, YES, I do mean action. *waggles eyebrows* So if that's not your thing, BEWARE.
2. Outlaw territory is EXTREMELY hedonistic in nature. Their lives are hard and could end at any moment, so when they can play, they do.
3. There is a LOT of sex. This is labeled and marketed as erotica. If you read this, you go into it with your eyes WIDE OPEN. Don't come back later and complain.
That being said, it's not sex devoid of a plot. I felt the balance was a good one, and it flowed from one to the other seamlessly.
So seamlessly that after picking it up on Saturday afternoon, I was surprised several hours later, realizing I had not moved, and was nearly finished.
I. Loved. It.
CLAIMED by Elle Kennedy is the first installment of her new OUTLAWS series. It's erotica, but it's smart and funny and well-developed, and, again, I LOVED it. I've already pre-ordered ADDICTED, and I'll be impatiently waiting until I have it in my grabby hands. Highly recommended.
http://amzn.to/2nHK9J8
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
I'm not going to lie . . . sometimes, not often, but sometimes I get in the mood for SMUT.
I'm picky about it, though. Clearly not as picky as some others who read and hated CLAIMED, b/c "too much sex, not enough plot," and to those people I say:
Whatever you do, NEVER pick up Beyond Shame.
B/c CLAIMED is basically a toned-down, more marketable version of that concept.
That's not a complaint. I liked Beyond Shame. BUT. I could never read it for more than half an hour or so at a time, b/c, MAN ALIVE . . . something about loins and flames, and I just could NOT take it. I had to put it aside in favor of something else, b/c spontaneous combustion was a real possibility . . .
Not so, CLAIMED.
In this world, there are two types of people: citizens and outlaws.
Citizens live under the
in the spaces no one of importance is interested in.
Outlaws are mostly transient, b/c even if they aren't doing anything particularly wrong, they're still branded with the label "outlaw," and enforcers are jerks who like to break shit.
It's harder to get broken if you don't stay in one place.
Hudson, a citizen, is on the run.
Unbeknownst to her, before he died, her father arranged a marriage to a man she despises, so much so, she leaves the safety of citizenship, fleeing to outlaw territory.
She's got skills, you see.
Her father was a man of importance, so she was trained with the enforcers, the elite soldiers. She also has some medical knowledge, and between the two, she figures she can make a go of it on her own.
She is sadly mistaken.
Conner is an outlaw, born and bred.
Against his wishes, the handful of men he's collected, fighters like himself, have made him their leader. Unlike most non-citizens, they've found a place of relative safety, a headquarters where they've lived and trained for the last six months, a place of stability from which they can raid enforcer bases for supplies, biting the ankles of the beast.
But that's not enough for Conner.
He has a personal vendetta against the head enforcer, who murdered his family.
In Conner, Hudson sees protection. She vastly underestimated her ability to survive alone, and after witnessing his men's efficient takedown of a group of bandits, she decides she's going with them when they leave.
Things don't go as either of them plan . . .
Things you should know:
1. There is M/F/M action, and, YES, I do mean action. *waggles eyebrows* So if that's not your thing, BEWARE.
2. Outlaw territory is EXTREMELY hedonistic in nature. Their lives are hard and could end at any moment, so when they can play, they do.
3. There is a LOT of sex. This is labeled and marketed as erotica. If you read this, you go into it with your eyes WIDE OPEN. Don't come back later and complain.
That being said, it's not sex devoid of a plot. I felt the balance was a good one, and it flowed from one to the other seamlessly.
So seamlessly that after picking it up on Saturday afternoon, I was surprised several hours later, realizing I had not moved, and was nearly finished.
I. Loved. It.
CLAIMED by Elle Kennedy is the first installment of her new OUTLAWS series. It's erotica, but it's smart and funny and well-developed, and, again, I LOVED it. I've already pre-ordered ADDICTED, and I'll be impatiently waiting until I have it in my grabby hands. Highly recommended.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Re-read November 2020
FINAL RATING: 8,4/10 ★★★★,5
-----------------------------------------------
First Read June 2019
FINAL RATING: 4*
Plot: 4*
Characters: 4.5*
World Building/Atmosphere: 5*
Writing Style: 4*
Entertainment: 4*
AVERAGE RATING: 4.3*
Does it have adequate representation? -0.1
Does it perpetuate healthy ideals? -0.2
Does it teach/make the reader (re)think? +0.0
FINAL RATING: 4*
FINAL RATING: 8,4/10 ★★★★,5
-----------------------------------------------
First Read June 2019
FINAL RATING: 4*
Plot: 4*
Characters: 4.5*
World Building/Atmosphere: 5*
Writing Style: 4*
Entertainment: 4*
AVERAGE RATING: 4.3*
Does it have adequate representation? -0.1
Does it perpetuate healthy ideals? -0.2
Does it teach/make the reader (re)think? +0.0
FINAL RATING: 4*
Dnf at 40% just couldn't get into it , a lot of sex and the fact that the hero likes to "share" the heroine with another guy just isn't my thing. May re visit this again another time.
Excellent and engaging, as everything else I've read by Elle Kennedy tends to be. I only put it down once, when I was too tired to keep my eyes open, and even then I wanted to keep reading. The characters and dynamic and engaging, there were plot twists that actually had me surprised, and I was amazed at the thorough worldbuilding woven seamlessly into the story.
This was VERY different from the usual romance I pick up. It was all basically PORN. PORN ON EVERY PAGE. PORN EVERYWHERE. XD
And if you're looking for just that, look no further because this book doesn't even really have a storyline until the last 50 pages lol. Just all sex. 5 stars for steamy sex scenes with no plot! But 3 stars overall in terms of romance and quality.
I'm not complaining though because I needed something light and steamy and this book definitely gave me that. It didn't have the angsty storyline that I was craving but if you want some sexy times, this book is definitely it! I wasn't a huge fan of Hudson or Connor though. I did in the beginning but as we got further into the book, the less I began to like them. It was all about RYLAN to be honest! He made this book for me!
And if you're looking for just that, look no further because this book doesn't even really have a storyline until the last 50 pages lol. Just all sex. 5 stars for steamy sex scenes with no plot! But 3 stars overall in terms of romance and quality.
I'm not complaining though because I needed something light and steamy and this book definitely gave me that. It didn't have the angsty storyline that I was craving but if you want some sexy times, this book is definitely it! I wasn't a huge fan of Hudson or Connor though. I did in the beginning but as we got further into the book, the less I began to like them. It was all about RYLAN to be honest! He made this book for me!
I was after something sexy to read, so when a few of my readerly friends were raving (or was it ranting?) about how smutty this book was, I thought I'd give it a shot. I didn't read the blurb before I dove in though I did go back and read it after I started, but more on that later.
Let's get the smutty stuff out of the way first, shall we? There's a lot of sex in this book. If you do not like a lot of sex, you won't like this. As many have said, there's more sex than substance and I was okay with that since I was looking for a sexy read. I wasn't expecting much. I don't think the sex is as explicit as some erotic romances I've read and certainly not as long when it comes to the sex scenes, but for the average romance reader, I think most would think there was a lot of sex. If I recall correctly, I'd say there were about between six to eight sex scenes (I didn't count them), all of them raunchy but in my opinion, all rather short.
This story is set in a dystopian world. I'm personally not a fan of the dystopian sub-genre since things tend to be rather grim. I think for me, the light touch with the world building and grimness (offset by the sex) worked out well. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot less if there had been a lot more detail and a lot more world building, but I know I am in the minority in this.
With Connor, I loved him. He is such a reluctant hero and leader. I loved that about him. There's something about men who have an inherent quality which causes people to give them their loyalty and people will follow. It's a certain "je ne sais quoi" which is indefinable. Connor has that. I think most of it can be summed up in a lot of the things he said about himself.
Quotes: He ignored the barb, still thinking about what to do. He was never not thinking, and fuck, it was exhausting sometimes. He hadn’t asked to be in charge, and he resented his men for placing this much faith in him.
He was controlled. Confident. Strong in an intense yet understated way that she couldn’t help but be drawn to.
Connor was compelling without even trying to be. He was a man you looked at and thought leader. It marveled her to think what he could accomplish if he actually embraced the role instead of shunning it.
“I never asked to be anyone’s leader. I don’t want people relying on me, and I sure as hell don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s life but my own.”
I loved Connor's personality. He's controlled, strong, demanding and dominating. All the things I love about an alpha romance hero. It also helped since I was in the mood for a sexy read, he was a sexy, dirty talking dude.
Now for Hudson. I started off liking Hudson. She was brave, sassy, strong and she stood up to Connor when no one dared to. She embraced her freedom and worked hard to integrate herself into the group and to become a contributing, useful part of the small community which Connor had built. Only she was lying to Connor. Right from the start. Lying is a real negative trigger for me and this is where not reading the blurb comes in, only reading the blurb didn't help, because it doesn't mention it. Hudson lied to Connor for a good 80% of the book. I rapidly loss interest in the book after about the 75% mark when she once again chose cowardice over telling the truth. At first it's justifiable. She was scared. She didn't want to be turned away. She didn't trust Connor. But later, by the 75% mark, it was cowardice pure and simple, especially considering her internal dialogue. She had multiple times to come clean with him and she didn't. And then when she did, she was surprised at his reaction.
Quotes: Connor blinked. Just one blink, while a multitude of emotions streaked across his face. Confusion sharpened into suspicion. Suspicion darkened to anger. Anger became… horror. Horror and betrayal and a glitter of menace that made Hudson wince.
Really Hudson? After everything you've learned about Connor and his past, you're surprised about his reaction?
Of course, then I got really pissed off because of what happens after Connor let's his anger and his feeling of betrayal control his actions because of how everyone else reacted to the news. It pisses me off that even though it was Hudson who was in the wrong, it was Connor who was made into the bad guy, and it became all about how Connor was wrong about the way he reacted and how he was the one who had to beg forgiveness. No, I'm sorry. While Connor was wrong, Hudson was equally if not more wrong. The way Connor was treated in the aftermath of Hudson's lying and big reveal made me really mad. I might have ranted a bit on my status updates on Goodreads ... okay, no might. I really did ... without giving anything away.
And finally, when Connor apologises, first she hits him which is not okay in my book because it's not okay for anyone to hit anyone (we had a discussion about hitting in the Deanna's World Bloggity group recently, and don't get me started on the double standard of the hero hitting the heroine, vs the heroine hitting the hero), and then this is what Hudson says to him:
Quotes: He rubbed his cheek, but the smile didn’t leave his lips. “You can hit me again if you want. God knows I deserve it.” Hudson glared at him. “You do deserve it. And trust me, that won’t be the last slap you’ll be getting from me. You might have let my brother go – and I’ll never forget that or stop being grateful for it – but that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget what you did back at camp. I’m going to bring it up every time we get in a fight, and every time you piss me off or annoy me or tell me I can’t do something. Every damn time, Connor! You’ve officially made it possible for me to lord this over your head ...
Way to go building a healthy relationship, Hudson. Nothing like lording over a wrong with your partner and bringing it up repeatedly in the future to go about creating something trustworthy and lasting. Well done, you. *sarcasm*
I hope not all Ms Kennedy's heroines are like Hudson because that would be hard to take. I like her writing and I think want to continue to read the rest of the series and find out what happens between the other couples and see how the world develops. Dang, Hudson. I am not a fan of you!
See more from Deanna's World
Let's get the smutty stuff out of the way first, shall we? There's a lot of sex in this book. If you do not like a lot of sex, you won't like this. As many have said, there's more sex than substance and I was okay with that since I was looking for a sexy read. I wasn't expecting much. I don't think the sex is as explicit as some erotic romances I've read and certainly not as long when it comes to the sex scenes, but for the average romance reader, I think most would think there was a lot of sex. If I recall correctly, I'd say there were about between six to eight sex scenes (I didn't count them), all of them raunchy but in my opinion, all rather short.
This story is set in a dystopian world. I'm personally not a fan of the dystopian sub-genre since things tend to be rather grim. I think for me, the light touch with the world building and grimness (offset by the sex) worked out well. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot less if there had been a lot more detail and a lot more world building, but I know I am in the minority in this.
With Connor, I loved him. He is such a reluctant hero and leader. I loved that about him. There's something about men who have an inherent quality which causes people to give them their loyalty and people will follow. It's a certain "je ne sais quoi" which is indefinable. Connor has that. I think most of it can be summed up in a lot of the things he said about himself.
Quotes: He ignored the barb, still thinking about what to do. He was never not thinking, and fuck, it was exhausting sometimes. He hadn’t asked to be in charge, and he resented his men for placing this much faith in him.
He was controlled. Confident. Strong in an intense yet understated way that she couldn’t help but be drawn to.
Connor was compelling without even trying to be. He was a man you looked at and thought leader. It marveled her to think what he could accomplish if he actually embraced the role instead of shunning it.
“I never asked to be anyone’s leader. I don’t want people relying on me, and I sure as hell don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s life but my own.”
I loved Connor's personality. He's controlled, strong, demanding and dominating. All the things I love about an alpha romance hero. It also helped since I was in the mood for a sexy read, he was a sexy, dirty talking dude.
Now for Hudson. I started off liking Hudson. She was brave, sassy, strong and she stood up to Connor when no one dared to. She embraced her freedom and worked hard to integrate herself into the group and to become a contributing, useful part of the small community which Connor had built. Only she was lying to Connor. Right from the start. Lying is a real negative trigger for me and this is where not reading the blurb comes in, only reading the blurb didn't help, because it doesn't mention it. Hudson lied to Connor for a good 80% of the book. I rapidly loss interest in the book after about the 75% mark when she once again chose cowardice over telling the truth. At first it's justifiable. She was scared. She didn't want to be turned away. She didn't trust Connor. But later, by the 75% mark, it was cowardice pure and simple, especially considering her internal dialogue. She had multiple times to come clean with him and she didn't. And then when she did, she was surprised at his reaction.
Quotes: Connor blinked. Just one blink, while a multitude of emotions streaked across his face. Confusion sharpened into suspicion. Suspicion darkened to anger. Anger became… horror. Horror and betrayal and a glitter of menace that made Hudson wince.
Really Hudson? After everything you've learned about Connor and his past, you're surprised about his reaction?
Of course, then I got really pissed off because of what happens after Connor let's his anger and his feeling of betrayal control his actions because of how everyone else reacted to the news. It pisses me off that even though it was Hudson who was in the wrong, it was Connor who was made into the bad guy, and it became all about how Connor was wrong about the way he reacted and how he was the one who had to beg forgiveness. No, I'm sorry. While Connor was wrong, Hudson was equally if not more wrong. The way Connor was treated in the aftermath of Hudson's lying and big reveal made me really mad. I might have ranted a bit on my status updates on Goodreads ... okay, no might. I really did ... without giving anything away.
And finally, when Connor apologises, first she hits him which is not okay in my book because it's not okay for anyone to hit anyone (we had a discussion about hitting in the Deanna's World Bloggity group recently, and don't get me started on the double standard of the hero hitting the heroine, vs the heroine hitting the hero), and then this is what Hudson says to him:
Quotes: He rubbed his cheek, but the smile didn’t leave his lips. “You can hit me again if you want. God knows I deserve it.” Hudson glared at him. “You do deserve it. And trust me, that won’t be the last slap you’ll be getting from me. You might have let my brother go – and I’ll never forget that or stop being grateful for it – but that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget what you did back at camp. I’m going to bring it up every time we get in a fight, and every time you piss me off or annoy me or tell me I can’t do something. Every damn time, Connor! You’ve officially made it possible for me to lord this over your head ...
Way to go building a healthy relationship, Hudson. Nothing like lording over a wrong with your partner and bringing it up repeatedly in the future to go about creating something trustworthy and lasting. Well done, you. *sarcasm*
I hope not all Ms Kennedy's heroines are like Hudson because that would be hard to take. I like her writing and I think want to continue to read the rest of the series and find out what happens between the other couples and see how the world develops. Dang, Hudson. I am not a fan of you!
See more from Deanna's World
3.5 stars because this was steamy as HELL. Elle Kennedy really holds back in her off campus series, because holy moly!! This is my formal request for more confident hero's that aren't too insecure to let their girls hook up with other guys that they find attractive LMAO
Compelling conflict, solid world building. Much better than I'd anticipated before picking it up. I'll try the rest of the series.