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A review by mountainblue
Bound by Melody Anne
2.0
Warning! spoiler alert! Also this book has major cliffhanger.
I saw this free book on Amazon and couldn't help but be attracted by its beautiful cover, enticing blurb and straight forward plot with a hint of Pretty Woman and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Jewell Weston is a twenty-four years old who is now jobless, homeless, friendless and down on her luck. She is also desperate to win custody of her fourteen year old brother and pay her recently deceased mother's medical bills. Her need for quick cash leads her to Relinquish Control, an exclusive and confidential escort service for rich men with particular needs.
Jewell finds herself bound to Blake Knight, a hot super rich business man with a tragic past and a serious trust issues when it comes to women.
Jewell is now his property (for a few days at least) and he expects her to be willing and able to fulfil his every wish without question all while teaching this innocent virgin miss a thing or two about D&S.
With a plot like this I expected a bit of fifty shades of grey style heat with a sprinkling of Pretty Woman magic, romance, a bit of humour and sexy charm. Since this novel is supposed to be a sexy romance, I was desperately hoping for HEA or even HFN as long as there is some romance blooming into the beginnings of genuine love and affection. Oh, but I was so wrong.
There was a lot of sexual attraction and sex but no major heat, no love or romance just power games, emotional abuse with a major cliffhanger ending that left me feeling cold.
Jewell:
Jewell was no coward but she wasn't a feisty independent woman either and that means she let Black get away with a lot of crap because she was under his power and they both knew it. I just couldn't connect with her character. For a girl who constantly says she'll do whatever she needs to do in order to get her life together and win custody of her brother back from the authorities', she's all talk and no bite. In this game called power and control, Jewell is a squeaky toy. She has put herself in a vulnerable position and the so called hero was more than willing to remind her who has the power and what is her place in his world.
I don't usually like the naive virgin prostitute story line but at firs glance she appeared to be feisty and able to stand up for herself. Overtime her protest and indignation about Blake's behaviour towards her were starting to sound a bit weak and over played. Jewell tries hard to pretend she is intelligent, fierce and independent woman who can play the game one moment but then fails to carry it through the next moment by giving ultimatums, begging, pleading and doing as she is told in the end. The whole thing aggravated me to no end!
I wanted to like Jewell but in the end she turned out to be an idiot who doesn't even have the common sense to capitalise on the body she was so determined to sell to save her brother and make a new life for both of them so her character loses both credibility and my sympathy.
Blake Knight:
The hero left a bad taste in my mouth. He had all the sexy alpha vibe going on but his determination to know Jewell inside and out whilst at the same time keeping her at a distance and his heart locked in an ice box made it impossible for tender feelings to grow and I was left even more annoyed and frustrated with the whole sad situation.
He was needlessly cruel and emotionally abusive by intentionally destroying every possible intimate moment by reminding her of servitude to him and how unimportant she is to him. Having a tragic childhood experience and distrust of women is no excuse for his behaviour towards Jewell. His hot and cold treatment and possessive ways was far from romantic. His D&S games and the sex left a lot to be desired and it was nowhere near Fifty Shades of Grey.
For a book with so many rave review, beautiful cover and a promising blurb it did not live up to my expectations. To be fair to the author, this is only the first book in what promises to be a series and but the lack of romance, lack of character development and genuine affection between the hero and heroine left me feeling cold and annoyed and the cliffhanger ending just made it that much worse.
I saw this free book on Amazon and couldn't help but be attracted by its beautiful cover, enticing blurb and straight forward plot with a hint of Pretty Woman and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Jewell Weston is a twenty-four years old who is now jobless, homeless, friendless and down on her luck. She is also desperate to win custody of her fourteen year old brother and pay her recently deceased mother's medical bills. Her need for quick cash leads her to Relinquish Control, an exclusive and confidential escort service for rich men with particular needs.
Jewell finds herself bound to Blake Knight, a hot super rich business man with a tragic past and a serious trust issues when it comes to women.
...
When he and his two brothers were six, eight and ten, they were tied up and forced to watch while their parents were murdered. The image has been burned into their minds, though they’ve tried to forget, leaving each of them guarded and unwilling to give their trust to anyone other than each other. No one is allowed to have their hearts. The brothers would never think of letting down their guard with anyone else, certainly not with a woman. ...Jewell is now his property (for a few days at least) and he expects her to be willing and able to fulfil his every wish without question all while teaching this innocent virgin miss a thing or two about D&S.
With a plot like this I expected a bit of fifty shades of grey style heat with a sprinkling of Pretty Woman magic, romance, a bit of humour and sexy charm. Since this novel is supposed to be a sexy romance, I was desperately hoping for HEA or even HFN as long as there is some romance blooming into the beginnings of genuine love and affection. Oh, but I was so wrong.
There was a lot of sexual attraction and sex but no major heat, no love or romance just power games, emotional abuse with a major cliffhanger ending that left me feeling cold.
Jewell:
Jewell was no coward but she wasn't a feisty independent woman either and that means she let Black get away with a lot of crap because she was under his power and they both knew it. I just couldn't connect with her character. For a girl who constantly says she'll do whatever she needs to do in order to get her life together and win custody of her brother back from the authorities', she's all talk and no bite. In this game called power and control, Jewell is a squeaky toy. She has put herself in a vulnerable position and the so called hero was more than willing to remind her who has the power and what is her place in his world.
I don't usually like the naive virgin prostitute story line but at firs glance she appeared to be feisty and able to stand up for herself. Overtime her protest and indignation about Blake's behaviour towards her were starting to sound a bit weak and over played. Jewell tries hard to pretend she is intelligent, fierce and independent woman who can play the game one moment but then fails to carry it through the next moment by giving ultimatums, begging, pleading and doing as she is told in the end. The whole thing aggravated me to no end!
I wanted to like Jewell but in the end she turned out to be an idiot who doesn't even have the common sense to capitalise on the body she was so determined to sell to save her brother and make a new life for both of them so her character loses both credibility and my sympathy.
Blake Knight:
He was made of ice. How many people had said that about him? He had lost count. Only his brothers were allowed in, and only because of the horror the three of them shared. It was them against the world. So why was he letting this insignificant woman affect his moods?
The hero left a bad taste in my mouth. He had all the sexy alpha vibe going on but his determination to know Jewell inside and out whilst at the same time keeping her at a distance and his heart locked in an ice box made it impossible for tender feelings to grow and I was left even more annoyed and frustrated with the whole sad situation.
He was needlessly cruel and emotionally abusive by intentionally destroying every possible intimate moment by reminding her of servitude to him and how unimportant she is to him. Having a tragic childhood experience and distrust of women is no excuse for his behaviour towards Jewell. His hot and cold treatment and possessive ways was far from romantic. His D&S games and the sex left a lot to be desired and it was nowhere near Fifty Shades of Grey.
For a book with so many rave review, beautiful cover and a promising blurb it did not live up to my expectations. To be fair to the author, this is only the first book in what promises to be a series and but the lack of romance, lack of character development and genuine affection between the hero and heroine left me feeling cold and annoyed and the cliffhanger ending just made it that much worse.