Reviews - An Illicit Seduction

40 reviews for:

An Illicit Seduction

Chencia C. Higgins

3.89 AVERAGE

candymaddux's review

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was a good, unexpected read. You have to be careful what you wish for.

tia_mb's review

3.0

This was wild

donnakay's review

4.0

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

This is a quick read that will have you hot, ready, and willing before it takes a nose dive into darker territory and have you sitting at the edge of your seat. I was a bit worried for my girl their coming down to the last few chapters, but alls well, that ends well. I enjoyed this novella and will bencheckingnout some of the authors' other works as this was my first read from her.

ohthatmomglow's review

2.0

This book was not for me.

marq123's review

1.0

I am down for a dark romance. I am down for an erotic romance. But I’m what I’m not down for is a romance that has dubious consent. Or really the lack of consent which is what is in this book. From the moment Damon presses up against Seraph with his hard penis, I knew that there was gonna be a problem. Seraph never gave any indication that she was attracted to Damon. None. Nada. Zilch. So why would he do that?! Unprovoked. The lack of consent gets worse from there.

I had no idea there was going to be a supernatural element to this story. So I was hella shocked when that was introduced.

The ending was not good. It just didn’t make any sense. This is definitely not a romance by any means.

justjameka's review

3.0

If you're looking to read a story that's not very plot heavy and full of smut, then this is the book for you. It's not something that requires a lot of your concentration and focus, and that could be appealing for some people. It was appealing for me as I wasn't in the mood to read something that's going to require me to use too much of my brain power. I needed something that would allow me to turn my brain off for a short while, and this was just the thing.

Now, I have to say - the one thing I did like about this book is the fact that it didn't take itself too seriously. I guess this could be used to expand upon my first statement above. However, I truly do mean this book doesn't take itself too seriously. Especially when the plot twist is revealed and we figure out just why Damon is doing all of these things to Seraph to begin with. Granted, I didn't see it coming but it didn't take anything away from the story, in my opinion. Maybe because I didn't mind the reasoning? I'm not exactly sure but the explanation for why all of these things were happening was sufficient enough.

Now, let's get down to the things I didn't like - while I do appreciate the plot twist as I happen to love this genre of media, I don't like the whiplash I got from how it seemingly jumped the shark. What I mean is - the plot twist quite literally hit you in the head once it was revealed. There wasn't a slow, gradual descent into allowing the reader to figure it out. It was more like -"Here it is! I know you may have wanted to ease into this thing but you can't always get what you want." That's what it felt like. I personally didn't mind it that much but I have a feeling that it would probably turn some people off from the book entirely. Essentially, the pacing was off. The plot twist suddenly being forced into your face was due to the pacing issues. It's almost as if the author was in a hurry and had something else to do after writing this book, so that's what you get.

Which leads me to the ending - the resolution was quickly handled, as well. Everything was revealed and the protagonist ended up back at square one. I liked the protagonist well enough, but she almost didn't seem like a three dimensional character, at times. Mostly in the sense that it appeared as if she was just a vessel, an empty shell, for the main character role. She had a personality, true enough. However, she had no autonomy or agency. Granted, her inability to push back against people, well a certain person, making choices for her worked well with the plot twist. However, I expected her to take back some of her autonomy and agency once she resolved that issue. Alas, she didn't do that. Which is why I said she was back at square one by the end of the story because she reverted back to the same woman who allowed these things to happen to her instead of making a choice to decide for herself. It didn't appear as if she allowed these things to happen to her because she realized how much she enjoyed it. It was more like she just gave up fighting and allowed it to happen.

She gave in. She stopped fighting.

I do like the book and I found it to be rather enjoyable and it was a good way to let off some steam and escape into a world of pure imagination, but it could have been much better. I actually had higher expectations for this book, which weren't entirely met. Again, it doesn't take away from the fact that I did like it but I was expecting more.