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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book contains casual use of the R word as a synonym for stupid, which I found appalling.
No. Nope. No way in hell. No.
I was "recommended" this book as a better version of "Fifty Shades". Erotica is ok sometimes, especially good erotica. I don't know what's wrong with the person who recommended it to me and I don't know what's wrong with any other person on this planet who liked this piece of dung, but you need therapy. Especially if you're a woman, but not only. The author also needs serious therapy. There is no way you can write or like something like this if your head is in the right place.
In "Fifty Shades", as bad as that novel is, the sexual act is based on consent. Here, it is NOT.
This book romanticizes abuse.
This book romanticizes r*pe.
This book romanticizes human trafficking.
This book is NOT a love story.
And the fact that the author found necessary to explain herself on Goodreads is deeply disturbing. Let me quote from her comment here:
First, how dare you? Your "book" is nowhere near something like "Lolita", not in terms of theme, not in terms of writing style. You write like a 12 year old. It's bad, it's immature, it's formulaic. Don't you dare compare yourself to the poetry of Nabokov, to his mastery of the English language. "Lolita" is a masterpiece through its use of language, but also because Nabokov somehow manages to make the reader feel empathy for HH despite his disease, while at the same time not excusing his behavior. You do not. Nothing made me feel anything other than outrage for Caleb, I have zero sympathy for him and you constantly try to justify his actions through his own childhood abuse. No, just no.
No, it is not, and no, it doesn't. Your book is written mainly from Olivia's perspective, with some Caleb (aka the abuser) inserts here and there. And nothing, nothing "entices the reader" to anything other than pure disgust.
And yet this is exactly what you managed to do. Olivia falls in love with her abuser. How is this not romanticizing?
What the... what? "Embrace it whole-heartily"? They need serious therapy.
This is not something to be encouraged. If your readers write to you and tell you they have sexual fantasies about being an abuse victim, you should encourage them to go to therapy. This is not normal behavior.
OK, I'm done. Please don't write again. You are exceedingly bad at it. It's not only about what you chose to depict, you are actually extremely bad at it. This is not literature, it's toilet paper. I'll take "Fifty Shades" any day over this bird poop.
I was "recommended" this book as a better version of "Fifty Shades". Erotica is ok sometimes, especially good erotica. I don't know what's wrong with the person who recommended it to me and I don't know what's wrong with any other person on this planet who liked this piece of dung, but you need therapy. Especially if you're a woman, but not only. The author also needs serious therapy. There is no way you can write or like something like this if your head is in the right place.
In "Fifty Shades", as bad as that novel is, the sexual act is based on consent. Here, it is NOT.
This book romanticizes abuse.
This book romanticizes r*pe.
This book romanticizes human trafficking.
This book is NOT a love story.
And the fact that the author found necessary to explain herself on Goodreads is deeply disturbing. Let me quote from her comment here:
While I don't necessarily consider myself 'one of the great ones', I'd like to think my work can be compared to other controversial works such as, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
First, how dare you? Your "book" is nowhere near something like "Lolita", not in terms of theme, not in terms of writing style. You write like a 12 year old. It's bad, it's immature, it's formulaic. Don't you dare compare yourself to the poetry of Nabokov, to his mastery of the English language. "Lolita" is a masterpiece through its use of language, but also because Nabokov somehow manages to make the reader feel empathy for HH despite his disease, while at the same time not excusing his behavior. You do not. Nothing made me feel anything other than outrage for Caleb, I have zero sympathy for him and you constantly try to justify his actions through his own childhood abuse. No, just no.
The work is written from the view point of the abuser and therefore entices the reader to sympathize.
No, it is not, and no, it doesn't. Your book is written mainly from Olivia's perspective, with some Caleb (aka the abuser) inserts here and there. And nothing, nothing "entices the reader" to anything other than pure disgust.
I did not set out to 'romanticize' the slave trade.
And yet this is exactly what you managed to do. Olivia falls in love with her abuser. How is this not romanticizing?
Some discover things about themselves they didn't know were there, things they don't wish to see, and others embrace it whole-heartily.
What the... what? "Embrace it whole-heartily"? They need serious therapy.
For some, it helps them explore deep-seeded fantasies they are too scared to admit to and explore. The sexual fantasies of former abuse victims is not something always understood by mainstream society.
This is not something to be encouraged. If your readers write to you and tell you they have sexual fantasies about being an abuse victim, you should encourage them to go to therapy. This is not normal behavior.
OK, I'm done. Please don't write again. You are exceedingly bad at it. It's not only about what you chose to depict, you are actually extremely bad at it. This is not literature, it's toilet paper. I'll take "Fifty Shades" any day over this bird poop.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
I had a hard time reading this. It's a little disturbing but my girlfriend keeps telling me to stick with it. So I'm off to start Seduced in the Dark.
Promising... and that's just about it.
I discovered Captive in the Dark thanks to a friend of mine who shared with me a list of "fucked up" books, yet the novel is kind of disappointing, so let me explain further.
The plot of the story is based on the abduction of a girl (Livvie) in order to be "trained" as a sexual slave for the millionaire's market with everything that implies; nevertheless, the goal of the captor (Caleb) as well as his boss (Rafiq) is not sexual trade but revenge upon an individual.
The development of the characters is good as their backgound is slowly discovered throughout the book, and the description of physical and psychological torture is, with no doubt, just great with no room for doubts of what's going on. The gradual changes on the psyche on Livvie throughout time is one hell of a writing; the ones in Caleb, however, are kind of contradictory with his background but still, so far so good but then... the book ends abruptly, which is nothing but one of the lamest attempts I've ever seen to sell a series of books. No, this is not similar to other series by other authors where the volume itself is properly finished.
Needless to say, this book is not for everyone since it's quite violent and graphic. If you are not into black novel, chances are you'll abandon the book. On the other hand, if you don't have problems with it, I think you'll really enjoy this book (except from the ending, which is really not); maybe you even buy the other books. In my case, I'll skip them for being a lame marketing strategy.
I discovered Captive in the Dark thanks to a friend of mine who shared with me a list of "fucked up" books, yet the novel is kind of disappointing, so let me explain further.
The plot of the story is based on the abduction of a girl (Livvie) in order to be "trained" as a sexual slave for the millionaire's market with everything that implies; nevertheless, the goal of the captor (Caleb) as well as his boss (Rafiq) is not sexual trade but revenge upon an individual.
The development of the characters is good as their backgound is slowly discovered throughout the book, and the description of physical and psychological torture is, with no doubt, just great with no room for doubts of what's going on. The gradual changes on the psyche on Livvie throughout time is one hell of a writing; the ones in Caleb, however, are kind of contradictory with his background but still, so far so good but then... the book ends abruptly, which is nothing but one of the lamest attempts I've ever seen to sell a series of books. No, this is not similar to other series by other authors where the volume itself is properly finished.
Needless to say, this book is not for everyone since it's quite violent and graphic. If you are not into black novel, chances are you'll abandon the book. On the other hand, if you don't have problems with it, I think you'll really enjoy this book (except from the ending, which is really not); maybe you even buy the other books. In my case, I'll skip them for being a lame marketing strategy.
medium-paced
J'étais curieuse de part les multiples notes positives. Je me refusais à trop savoir à quoi m'attendre.
Au final je suis perplexe.
C'est du Dark Erotica parce que cela parle tout de même de séquestration, de maltraitance, de torture et de viol, d'esclavagisme.
Les scènes ne sont aussi pas trash que je m'y attendais, mais cela reste du voyeurisme malsain sur une situation malsaine. Que ce soit surement la version "romance" d'une vérité n'enlève rien à la chose.
On ne sait pas trop où se situer en raison des personnages : Caleb est bien trop meurtri pour tenir son rôle et Olivia est émouvante, mais ne se bat pas de manière constante. Son inclinaison pour Caleb reste incompréhensible à mes yeux, malgré les tentatives d'explications de l'auteur - qui sont surement vraisemblable.
Je me pencherai plutôt sur l'aspect clinique de la chose : peut on parler de syndrome de Stockholm ? Où l'auteur a-t-elle bien pu se renseigner pour un tel livre ? Je suppose que "briser quelqu'un pour en faire son esclave sexuelle" ne se trouve pas chez tout les libraires du coin...
Au final je suis perplexe.
C'est du Dark Erotica parce que cela parle tout de même de séquestration, de maltraitance, de torture et de viol, d'esclavagisme.
Les scènes ne sont aussi pas trash que je m'y attendais, mais cela reste du voyeurisme malsain sur une situation malsaine. Que ce soit surement la version "romance" d'une vérité n'enlève rien à la chose.
On ne sait pas trop où se situer en raison des personnages : Caleb est bien trop meurtri pour tenir son rôle et Olivia est émouvante, mais ne se bat pas de manière constante. Son inclinaison pour Caleb reste incompréhensible à mes yeux, malgré les tentatives d'explications de l'auteur - qui sont surement vraisemblable.
Je me pencherai plutôt sur l'aspect clinique de la chose : peut on parler de syndrome de Stockholm ? Où l'auteur a-t-elle bien pu se renseigner pour un tel livre ? Je suppose que "briser quelqu'un pour en faire son esclave sexuelle" ne se trouve pas chez tout les libraires du coin...
WOW!!!!!! My head is spinning right now!!!! So glad I don't have to wait on book 2... Moving on...
I read this novel a long time ago (younger than I probably should of to be honest lol), and while it wasn't my first extremely dark romance (I'm going to guess my first one was Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas), it was of the first books in the genre that I cut my teeth on. Because of that, it's always been shocking to me how much I couldn't remember of it.
I really wanted to continue on with the sequel, but I just couldn't move on to that book without first doing a reread.
Upon rereading, I've found that Captive in the Dark is very well written and very good. The characters are compelling, the attraction between them is palpable, and the dangerous is always present in the story line.
But... to me... it just wasn't very dark.
I know. I know.
This is a story about a girl who gets kidnapped by an unknown attacker. That sounds pretty messed up. I've just read so many dark romances since I first read this book that it no longer holds up in the thrills factor, just the emotional factor.
Years ago, this would have probably made it to my top favorites list of all time, but today it's just a captor captive romance-ish story and I've read a couple that have done it better.
Now, if you've never read dark romance, this book is going to appall you. You have to appreciate the book for what it is- fiction. And you have to love male leads that literally have no morals. Caleb is violent and cruel and complicated with just a hint of tenderness. He's just up my alley.
But for a lot of people who need characters to be mostly morally on the right side of things, I'd say run away from this book. This book is only for certain types of people, I'll admit. But still. It's extremely irritating seeing all the angry reviews about this book based solely on the morality of it.
I don't get it. This book has a trigger warning on the first page. It lets you know before you begin that nothing good is going down between these pages, and that the love story between Caleb and Olivia is one born of revenge and violence and death.
I liked it. But again... nothing I haven't seen before. Plus, Caleb got way too mushy gushy way too quickly. His villainous demeanor was completely ABSENT for the second half, and I was very disappointed. It didn't seem like the book gave him enough time to be properly changed by Olivia's presence.
So instead of four stars, this book is getting three.
It is a solid story, and it really brought many people flocking to the dark romance genre, but I wasn't completely captured by the story, no matter how sexy I thought Caleb and Olivia were together.
TW: Non consent and graphic violence.
I really wanted to continue on with the sequel, but I just couldn't move on to that book without first doing a reread.
Upon rereading, I've found that Captive in the Dark is very well written and very good. The characters are compelling, the attraction between them is palpable, and the dangerous is always present in the story line.
But... to me... it just wasn't very dark.
I know. I know.
This is a story about a girl who gets kidnapped by an unknown attacker. That sounds pretty messed up. I've just read so many dark romances since I first read this book that it no longer holds up in the thrills factor, just the emotional factor.
Years ago, this would have probably made it to my top favorites list of all time, but today it's just a captor captive romance-ish story and I've read a couple that have done it better.
Now, if you've never read dark romance, this book is going to appall you. You have to appreciate the book for what it is- fiction. And you have to love male leads that literally have no morals. Caleb is violent and cruel and complicated with just a hint of tenderness. He's just up my alley.
But for a lot of people who need characters to be mostly morally on the right side of things, I'd say run away from this book. This book is only for certain types of people, I'll admit. But still. It's extremely irritating seeing all the angry reviews about this book based solely on the morality of it.
I don't get it. This book has a trigger warning on the first page. It lets you know before you begin that nothing good is going down between these pages, and that the love story between Caleb and Olivia is one born of revenge and violence and death.
I liked it. But again... nothing I haven't seen before. Plus, Caleb got way too mushy gushy way too quickly. His villainous demeanor was completely ABSENT for the second half, and I was very disappointed. It didn't seem like the book gave him enough time to be properly changed by Olivia's presence.
So instead of four stars, this book is getting three.
It is a solid story, and it really brought many people flocking to the dark romance genre, but I wasn't completely captured by the story, no matter how sexy I thought Caleb and Olivia were together.
TW: Non consent and graphic violence.