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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
C.J. Roberts got me to feel sorry for a murderous kidnapper and that's brilliant. I'm not even going to lie this deserves 5 stars just for her bravery. Writing this story, putting this out here despite knowing that they are gonna be people who did not heed the trigger warning and would rate her 1 star as a pat on their own backs for doing social justice. I can't wait to read the next book what will Caleb do? Did she get through to his cold dead heart? Livvie I understand, at first I hated him but IDK, should I?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment
3.5 dark and twisted stars - ★★★.5
3.5 may seem too low, but I did like this sick, twisted ride. I'd been repeatedly told that this is the standard for dark, erotic romance books. It may have not been all I wanted it to be, but it was still competently written and well plotted. I spotted a few spelling/grammar mistakes but they weren't very noticeable.
Livvie is our heroine, an 18 year girl with a terrible upbringing and an underlying sadness to her. I loved her because she is a survivor, one of those truly beautiful, resilient souls who thrives in the middle of adversity. Her mother was a right nutjob, a woman obsessed with her stigma of being a whore and who's jumped from man to man and had kids with several men. Livvie's incident with one of these shady stepdads lands her in a terrible position with her mother and she must grow up with her neglect, lack of affection and constant reprimands to not become a "whore" herself.
To make matters worse, Livvie ends up kidnapped by Caleb, as ruthless, cold and detached as he is beautiful. He's in the pleasure trade business and is loyal to his "boss", Rafiq, who seeks revenge from one of the world's richest men. Livvie will play a part in this revenge by become this man's sex slave and allow them access to him. Caleb will have to train her, as he's trained other women before her. This time the stakes are higher though, because of who the client is and the ultimate purpose Livvie will serve. To make matters worse Livvie is different for Caleb. She has an undeniable effect on him. He calls her Kitten but by the end of the book it's obvious she's become much more to him. She's become his only exception.
I thought this book was daring and unapologetic and I love that. I love anything that can be constituted as a mindfuck, and this was firmly in that camp. Caleb may have been a villain but he's a villain with depth. There are standards to his monstruosity and because of that Livvie develops a connection to him, a mindboggling sense that she's safe with him, despite him being her kidnapper. I truly felt for him, he suffered so much tragedy early on, it's impossible not to. Parts of Caleb's flashbacks were excruciating to read, so I'd recommend this with huge trigger warnings. Life is rarely black and white and this book is a great example of that.
I can't wait to see what Seduced in the Dark has in store. CJ Roberts' writing style may not be my favorite... some parts were slow. Sections were huge infodumps. There is a ton of inner monologue which is normally a huge turn off for me. Also the constant flashbacks dragged the pace down and it did take a while for me to start believing that a true connection could exist between these characters, not because of their particular situation (kidnapper, kidnapped) but because the writing spent a lot more time in their heads than showing more interaction and dialogue. I'm a stickler for dialogue. So, all in all, I wasn't a huge fan of this author's voice, but I'm curious enough to continue.
3.5 may seem too low, but I did like this sick, twisted ride. I'd been repeatedly told that this is the standard for dark, erotic romance books. It may have not been all I wanted it to be, but it was still competently written and well plotted. I spotted a few spelling/grammar mistakes but they weren't very noticeable.
Livvie is our heroine, an 18 year girl with a terrible upbringing and an underlying sadness to her. I loved her because she is a survivor, one of those truly beautiful, resilient souls who thrives in the middle of adversity. Her mother was a right nutjob, a woman obsessed with her stigma of being a whore and who's jumped from man to man and had kids with several men. Livvie's incident with one of these shady stepdads lands her in a terrible position with her mother and she must grow up with her neglect, lack of affection and constant reprimands to not become a "whore" herself.
To make matters worse, Livvie ends up kidnapped by Caleb, as ruthless, cold and detached as he is beautiful. He's in the pleasure trade business and is loyal to his "boss", Rafiq, who seeks revenge from one of the world's richest men. Livvie will play a part in this revenge by become this man's sex slave and allow them access to him. Caleb will have to train her, as he's trained other women before her. This time the stakes are higher though, because of who the client is and the ultimate purpose Livvie will serve. To make matters worse Livvie is different for Caleb. She has an undeniable effect on him. He calls her Kitten but by the end of the book it's obvious she's become much more to him. She's become his only exception.
I thought this book was daring and unapologetic and I love that. I love anything that can be constituted as a mindfuck, and this was firmly in that camp. Caleb may have been a villain but he's a villain with depth. There are standards to his monstruosity and because of that Livvie develops a connection to him, a mindboggling sense that she's safe with him, despite him being her kidnapper. I truly felt for him, he suffered so much tragedy early on, it's impossible not to. Parts of Caleb's flashbacks were excruciating to read, so I'd recommend this with huge trigger warnings. Life is rarely black and white and this book is a great example of that.
I can't wait to see what Seduced in the Dark has in store. CJ Roberts' writing style may not be my favorite... some parts were slow. Sections were huge infodumps. There is a ton of inner monologue which is normally a huge turn off for me. Also the constant flashbacks dragged the pace down and it did take a while for me to start believing that a true connection could exist between these characters, not because of their particular situation (kidnapper, kidnapped) but because the writing spent a lot more time in their heads than showing more interaction and dialogue. I'm a stickler for dialogue. So, all in all, I wasn't a huge fan of this author's voice, but I'm curious enough to continue.
2.5 stars
Honestly, I didn't know what to expect from this book. This was a twisted romance between a slave and her captor and I never read anything like that before. Maybe I was hoping for something emotional, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. I didn't care about the characters; the romance between them was kind of understandable but it went downhill. I don't think I would continue with the trilogy though.
Honestly, I didn't know what to expect from this book. This was a twisted romance between a slave and her captor and I never read anything like that before. Maybe I was hoping for something emotional, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. I didn't care about the characters; the romance between them was kind of understandable but it went downhill. I don't think I would continue with the trilogy though.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I think I expected the book to end with more finality instead of one story being broken up into what seems like 3 different parts. So now I'm frustrated that I paid for an incomplete story and I have to buy the other parts to get my ending. So ugh. Other than that though I'm interested to see how the next part of this story Is going to unfold. I also enjoy how the author switches between the perspectives of Livvie and Caleb. I'm not sure I really love either one of the characters but I don't detest either one either.
Captive in the Dark is a dark, violent read which serves up plenty of sex and physical conflict. Caleb and Olivia are both good characters with interesting backstories that are brought out at a comfortable pace without interfering with telling the main story. The ending is satisfying but it's also a cliff hanger that will leave you wanting to read the the second book in the trilogy.
Es bastante difícil escribir esta reseña, porque estoy pensando aún en si me gustó o no este libro.
Los temas que trata son bastante fuertes y salen absolutamente de mi zona de confort. A pesar de tener temas que me desagradan a simple vista y que son súper chocantes, el autor tiene una forma tan espectacular de narrar que hace que quedes pegada y deseando saber más y más. En lo personal me pasó eso, habían cosas fuerte pero a la vez no podía parar de leer.
Los personajes son sumamanente complejos y logran transmitir demasiado. La primera parte fue la que más me desagradó, pero ya desde la mitad la cosa toma un rumbo más de acción y de sumergirse en la trama oscura que el autor creó. No les mentiré, no todos pueden leer este libro y desde ya les digo que tienen que mantener la mente súper abierta para hacerlo, es bastante explícito y hasta crudo cómo C.J narra por las cosas que tiene que pasar Liv mientras es entrenada como esclava sexual por Caleb.
Sé que algunos lo ven como romance, pero yo no lo veo de esa forma. Aquí claramente podemos ver lo que es el síndrome de estocolmo y cómo esto puede jugar con la mente de una persona que está encerrada y privada de libertad. Creo que también la trama juega mucho con hacerte cuestionar sobre Caleb, ¿es alguien realmente malo? ¿los abusos que tuvo él justifican su venganza y lo que hace? ¿puede cambiar?
A pesar de que le doy 2 estrellas, disfruté de cierta forma la historia. Es algo que se sale de lo que comunmente leo, y muy probablemente lea la segunda parte.
Los temas que trata son bastante fuertes y salen absolutamente de mi zona de confort. A pesar de tener temas que me desagradan a simple vista y que son súper chocantes, el autor tiene una forma tan espectacular de narrar que hace que quedes pegada y deseando saber más y más. En lo personal me pasó eso, habían cosas fuerte pero a la vez no podía parar de leer.
Los personajes son sumamanente complejos y logran transmitir demasiado. La primera parte fue la que más me desagradó, pero ya desde la mitad la cosa toma un rumbo más de acción y de sumergirse en la trama oscura que el autor creó. No les mentiré, no todos pueden leer este libro y desde ya les digo que tienen que mantener la mente súper abierta para hacerlo, es bastante explícito y hasta crudo cómo C.J narra por las cosas que tiene que pasar Liv mientras es entrenada como esclava sexual por Caleb.
Sé que algunos lo ven como romance, pero yo no lo veo de esa forma. Aquí claramente podemos ver lo que es el síndrome de estocolmo y cómo esto puede jugar con la mente de una persona que está encerrada y privada de libertad. Creo que también la trama juega mucho con hacerte cuestionar sobre Caleb, ¿es alguien realmente malo? ¿los abusos que tuvo él justifican su venganza y lo que hace? ¿puede cambiar?
A pesar de que le doy 2 estrellas, disfruté de cierta forma la historia. Es algo que se sale de lo que comunmente leo, y muy probablemente lea la segunda parte.
I don’t know how I feel about book 1 yet. It will depend on if I get through book 2
*** UPDATE***
Star rating rom 2.75 to 3.5
Series rating 4⭐️
Book 1 probably closer to 3.5⭐️
I don’t feel the need to give this a spice rating because while this book has spice…. That’s not why it should be read.
So I went into this expecting a super dark spicy captive romance. Instead what I got was a prime example of “hurt people hurt people”. While this story is mostly told from Livvie’s point of view. I almost believe this is really about Caleb and how is scars set the course of his life and how Livvie loved him anyway.
So Caleb kidnaps Livvie and serves as trainer to be a pleasure slave b4 she will eventually be sold. During this period we learn about Calebs past, how it has scarred him, and how it plays into the way we treats Livvie. He’s really awful to her a lot of the time but the author does a good job of throwing fleeting moments of affection to keep both Livvie and Us tied to Caleb hoping he’ll change his mind.
Obviously I can’t tell you if he does but what I can say is that book 1 scratches the surface of Caleb’s past and their budding relationship. Book 2 flips the lid off of Caleb’s tightly held pain and we see the relationship btwn Caleb and Livvie really blossom. That is not to say that it’s smooth sailing in book 2. It’s not. They fall in love despite SO MANY reasons not to and Caleb continually gives Livvie reasons to hate him and never forgiven him, even after it’s clear he loves her. It’s a romance so an HEA is a given but they went through a lot to get there and honestly Livvie had to forgive a lot. She definitely had Stockholm syndrome.
But again the author does an excellent job of making is and Livvie sympathetic toward Caleb because “hurt people, hurt people” and Caleb has gon’ through some things! The author also doesn’t make excuses for him. We’re given Caleb’s story to help endear him to us without making it feel like his actions are justifiable.
Really well done story.
** TW — all of the obvious ones…. It’s a dark captive romance.. so yea. But I DO want to warn about cheating. For a lot of us dark romance readers, we can put up with a lot…. But cheating is a big fat no no. There is definitely betrayal….. mostly from Caleb. Becuase of their circumstances… they aren’t a traditional couple. So it’s hard to call it true “cheating” but it’s definitely a betrayal of the relationship they’re building.