I dig. It’s what I do. I’ll literally use a shovel to answer a question. Some answers, though, have been buried too deep for too long. But I’ll find those, too. And I know where to dig—the Blackwood Estate on the edge of the Mississippi Delta. Garrett Blackwood is the only thing standing between me and the truth. A broken man—one with desires that dance in the darkest part of my soul—he’s either … either my savior or my enemy. I’ll dig until I find all his secrets. Then I’ll run so he never finds mine. The only problem? He likes it when I run.
Author’s Note: This is a standalone mystery/suspense romance with violence and explicit/intense sex. If you need a trigger warning, then this isn’t the book for you.
For a LIMITED TIME, the full-length dark romance novel Counsellor is included at the end of this book.
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Garrett Blackwood is a an enigma wrapped in a mystery shrouded by suspicion so when Elise goes to him and requests permission to survey his land as part of her archeology PhD thesis and he says no, she forges his signature. Not only does he have the last piece of untouched land for a dig, but what she really wants is to find out what happened to her father who was last seen on Blackwood property prior to his disappearance two years ago.
However Garrett catches her soon after she begins and she sees some of the crazy things that happen on the property. The more she learns, the more questions she has. Also she finds herself attracted to Garrett and that he has some kinky sexual proclivities. The chemistry between them heats up and it is a crazy passionate ride.
Overall the book is pretty awesome, not only is it a good romance with some kink, but it is a mystery with suspense and intrigue and a pretty great whodunnit. I was guessing till the very end, and even when I thought I figured it out, I didn’t know why until they said it. That rarely happens to me.
Absolutely captivating!
Thrilling, intense, and gripping, I loved this read!! The characters were beautifully developed, dark, complex and intriguing, they came to life before me. I never knew what to expect and there were moments I was literally holding my breath!
When archaeology student Elise goes looking for her missing father, all her research points to the woods surrounding the Blackwood Estate. But, the owner, Garret Blackwood has other ideas.
As Elise conducts more research to find her father she uncovers secrets about the woods in the Mississipi Delta and Garret’s own secret appetites, she never imagined!
What ARE those screams she hears in those woods?
Are they wild boars or women?
I loved the mystery and suspense surrounding Garrett and Elise…she’s on a mission for answers and he’s hiding from shame and scandal. I’m not sure one more life threatening thing could have happened to these two and they could have survived!
The sex scenes were a little brutal for my taste but always consensual and I felt there were a few holes in the story that could have been filled with further explanation, but the author gave enough that you could imagine the answers. All in all, the ending was satisfying and another story for the success column for Celia Aaron…I’ll be a fan of her dark romances for as long as she wishes to write them.
Blackwood was my first Celia Aaron book and I am hooked. The cover is intriguing and Celia is able to write a story in a way that keeps you so immersed that you lose track of everything but what your reading. Blackwood has everything I want in a book suspense, intrigue, lies, deceit, sex, and mystery. I will mention that there is some scenes that may be triggers for some as they involve rape fantasies but it is all consensual and well written. Can’t wait to read more from Celia.
I truly don’t even know where to begin so I’m just going to sputter out some thoughts and then get into more detail below!
Some fairytales only get better when they are told in an adult version … this time when the Big Bad Wolf sinks his teeth into his Red Riding Hood things get dark, nasty, and dominant!
Think Christian Grey can’t blush? That’s cause he’s never seen Garrett Blackwood at work …
Mystery! Suspense! Passion! Deception! Raw animal-like sex! Darkness! Dominance! This book HAS IT ALL!
We meet Elise, an archaeology major looking to finish her Ph.D by searching the dark woods of Blackwood. After a less than successful visit to Garrett Blackwood to get him to sign off on Elise surveying his land, she decides to forge his signature so she can start her dig. After a meeting with her skeevy professor she sets off on her journey. While reading, you get a sense that there’s more to this than finishing a Ph.D, which we find out is Elise’s need to find out what happened to her father that disappeared two years ago.
Before going on her first attempted dig, Elise stops by the local diner where she’s greeted by Shierff Crow and even the mayor. Shierff Crow more than warns her of the dangers of the woods but nothing shakes Elise, she’s on a mission and nothing or no one will stop her.
After digging for awhile and finding a piece of a clay pot, Elise dives further into the woods only to see her father’s car left to rot by a tree. This is when the woods seem to come alive with the ghostly screams and howls that locals warned Elisa about. After being attacked in the woods by wild boars, the last person she wanted to save her is that one that does, Garrett Blackwood.
Garrett and Elise are thrust into each others lives, something neither of them want. Little does Elise know, Garrett’s world will open up to more darkness and the best worst dominance of her life …
Every single detail of this book is exquisitely written! The characters have depth and background that make them feel so real! I almost want to call this book a bit of a slow burn but not cause of being annoyed, its cause working up to that animal sex, it takes a few chapters. LOL! I only, about right before I got to that animal sex was like, wait … we need some Celia sex scenes NOW and then the first one happens and you smoke a cigarette and continue reading! That being said, the story could 100% stand on it’s own if this was a super contemporary mystery romance read that was very vanilla and not rocky road with extra chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and whipped cream! You need to know all the background Celia provides so the story is told in its full wonderful darkness. I’m not a fan of stories that are too over-detailed that almost make you lose your sense of direction in a book … Blackwood is not like that at all … Celia knows how to fill you to the brim with detail and background but keep a nice steady pace to her books. Elise is one of the best female characters I’ve read in a long time! She’s so full of passion and determination mixed with just the right amount of stubbornness! When she’s running through the woods – you’re there panting right along with her! Garrett … Ohhhh, Garret … consume me big bad wolf, consume me! Garrett is a dominant alpha that would make Christian Grey blush. He’s the bad guy, the guy you should run from but he’s the one you run to instead and know it might cost you everything.
Okay … I’m not saying more … I think I left you drooling enough, so wipe off your lip, grab another pair of panties, get your Kindle, and add Blackwood to it!
This one was a re-read for me. I’ve read everything Celia Aaron has ever written, and I’ve never rated any of her books less than a 5, I don’t think. So, it should come as a surprise to absolutely no one when I say I loved this book.
Plot overview: Archaeology student Elise encounters mystery and intrigue on the property of Garrett Blackwood while investigating her father’s disappearance under the guise of an official dig. It’s a dark romantic suspense with a side of erotica, and sort of a loose interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.
Look, I won’t lie to you. This book won’t be for everyone. Garrett has some…let’s call them kinks. There’s some pretty hardcore BDSM elements here. But everything is 100% consensual, so I don’t really feel the need to call out any trigger warnings. Just know that if you’re looking for sweet, fade-to-black sex scenes, you should look elsewhere. Ahem.
But that said, I found Garrett Blackwood endlessly fascinating. He had his kinks and his past damage, including a bit of an inferiority complex where he felt unworthy of Elise’s affections, but hey, who among us doesn’t have some damage? Beneath all the layers and damage, Garrett was a decent-hearted guy who took care of Elise to the best of his ability.
There were a couple of points where I yelled at Elise like I yell at horror movie girls who wander out of the house by themselves when there’s a serial killer on the loose, but she never fell into TSTL territory for me. She was driven to find out what happened to her dad, which maybe clouded her judgement a time or two, but I could understand that, so I cut her some slack. She was otherwise smart and good at her job. (There was some competence porn where she explained some archaeological stuff to Garrett. It was pretty cool. I do love me some competence porn. But I digress…)
There was a bit of mystery and gore in this one, too, which I kind of love. But again, if you’re looking for a sweet, small-town romance…um, look elsewhere. This one falls into the dark and gritty category. (And I loved every minute of it)
The twist at the end surprised me, too, which is super hard to do. I’m mostly a read-it-all-before kind of girl who can smell a plot twist a mile away, and I was surprised by this one.
So, long-story-short, if you’re in the mood for a dark, gritty, romantic suspense/mystery with a side of kinky erotica, get your 1-clicking finger ready, because this one will DEFINITELY be your jam.
And feel free to check out the Romance Rehab blog for more rants, raves, book lists and other fun romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
Garret was amazing book boyfriend. He had me laughing one minute and getting hot and bothered the next. I was laughing in the moments where he wanted to get under Elise’s skin. I was getting hot and bothered when the chase was on. Take that as you will… I don’t know why I waited so long to read this story. I guess that I was looking for the right time. The right time came today and this book, Blackwood, definitely took me out of my book funk.
I loved this book. It’s dark and so, so hot! Highly recommend!
Give me the big bad wolf any day!! Loved this book! Ms. Celia Aaron sure knows how to write mysterious, multifarious men that will entice you into their bed. Garrett Blackwood is cryptic and captivating all at once.
The author’s writing is flawless and flows beautifully, doing an amazing job of sucking you in from the start and holding you until the end. This book is chock full of shocking dark subjects, but still captures the vulnerability of the story and characters. The sexual tension between the two characters comes to it’s climax in a very erotic way.
I have only one thing to say:
Run Red!!
This was the first book I read from Celia and omg.. It was so freaking good. This book made me love dark romances. Just the storyline itself was intense. But everything about this book is behind amazing. I was so enthralled, it kept me up all night too finish. Garrett was just beyond words. I loved his character. He was so intense and dark. Elise, towards the end, grew on me and I loved her relationship with Garrett. If you love dark, suspenseful romances, definitely read this one.
Celia Aaron strikes again!
Blackwood is suspenseful, intriguing, and all sorts of depraved deliciousness.
Whether you are wary or not, Blackwood will pull you into its secrets, charm you with its lies, and blind you with unrepentant lust!
You will learn to play the game. You will probably beg for it. But you will pay for it too!
It was loosely a hard core SM book with a mystery attached to it. I liked the mystery but the SM stuff was corny.
Highly implausible. I know romances are fantasy, but this was just ridiculous.
This book was very interesting and had some mystery to it, which i liked. It kept me guessing. I read the book after this one as well. Both well written.
Different in a good way. Interesting
Actual Rating 4.5 stars
Wow. This was just mind blowing.
Elise Vane is an archaeology student working on her Ph.D. She is trying to get permission to survey the Mississippi Delta. She mainly has one property in mind. The Blackwood Estate. Though she is saying she is trying to find evidence of the Choctaw living in the woods, she really is trying to find her missing father. She knows he is dead but she wants to find out why.
Garrett used to be a teacher at a college till he did something very inappropriate and was let go. Now he holes up in the Blackwood Estate living a life alone. When Elise shows up on his doorstep he has no idea how much trouble she really is.
After Garrett turns her away Elise decides she was going to survey his land anyway. It’s big enough he will never know. But when she is then attacked by wild boars and is forced to have to rely on Garrett she starts finding out little secrets that will change her outlook about the man who is taking her under his wing.
I loved the writing. I was captivated from start to finish. I also like how Aaron focused on the mystery and didn’t give anything away. The romance wasn’t on the forefront and took over the plot. The ending was amazing. I actually had no clue what the mystery turned out to be. It surprised the heck out of me. I think my mouth even dropped.
I won’t lie, I do love a man with a beard, but after hearing what kind of sex Garrett is into I quickly wiped him off my boyfriend list as fast I put him on it. I will be reading more from this author for sure.
Original and captivating. Another great book by Celia Aaron.
This is a desk romance with a twist of mystery added throughout. Elise “Red” is an archeology major so digging to find answers is what she’s all about. When she heads to the Blackwell Property in search for answers she finds much more then she was expecting. Garrett Blackwell is a strong alpha male with not many get to witness the warm and caring side he has but when he lets it out you’ll swoon over him. I love how the story is in Elise’s POV and we’re experiencing everything through her eyes, it’s great to read a book with a strong heroine. Great read that kept me guessing up until the end.
I enjoyed this well written, steamy story and characters!! Look forward to reading more from this author!!
This is not as dark as some of this author’s book. It takes time to warm up to the characters but the mystery is well-developed.