Dark (The Boyne Club Book 1)

I love everything that Vi Carter writes. This book was fantastic. I loved it from cover to cover. A one-click for sure.

The title is perfect Dark. Not for the faint of hearts. In saying that I couldn’t put this book down. It only took me one day to read it. Hot, sizzling and steamy and twisted! I love it. Gerald is a tall, big bulk, sexy and mysterious man. Cara is a naive and innocent virgin! Until Gerald gets his hands on her. Things start changing and she finds herself looking forward to seeing him every night. The characters definitely have chemistry. I know the setting of the story Slane Castle (which is perfect). I will never look at it again the same way. Cara gets her happy ever after and Love does shine thru.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Dark means dark. Gerald leads Cara down a rabbit hole that spirals her into an obsession with her captor, whose deeds indicate he’s a sociopath, at the least. The book tries to end on a positive, but really Vi needs to write a sequel that should have been called Darker but isn’t. Her novel Darker is actually about a different couple. Gerald and Cara need more paper space to explore their relationship now that it’s come into the light, please.

Gregory & Cara’s Story Really Sucks You In! There Is A Lot Going On, So It Is An Unpredictable Ride. A Wide Cast Of Characters Keeps Up The Mystique. This Story Is Very Dark, So Be Warned.

Trigger Warning: includes violence, non-consent, and captivity.

ABOUT THE SERIES:

This is book one of The Boyne Club series of standalones set in the same world. It includes:
1. Dark (Gregory and Cara’s story)
2. Darker (Damien and Maria’s story)
3. Darkest (Dean and Scarlett’s story)
4. Pitch Black (Rian and Willow’s story)

Dark is a dark billionaire romance that takes place in the town of Slate, which is situated along the River Boyne in Ireland. It centers around a broken man who never learned how to have a normal life following his difficult childhood.

Fans will note that Damien, whose story is told in book two, plays a minor role in this story. He works security in the private club at Slane castle, guarding the back rooms. In his book he is asked to marry his billionaire boss’s daughter to keep her safe. Not having yet read the story, it is unclear whether Damien has a second job or leaves his job with Gregory. Here he hints at Cara reminding him of someone he knows, perhaps as a lead in to his own story.

IN THIS BOOK:

Cara Black doesn’t have much of a social life. It is hard to make friends with an alcoholic father at home. It was always just the two of them, and now she works to ensure their bills are paid each month. She loses herself in books for pleasure, her only escape. Even though her stagnant life holds no promise of a way out, she never gives in to vice. As bad as her father’s drinking is, he never lays a hand on her. That is perhaps why his announcement one night after stumbling home drunk yet again leaves her in such a state of shock. He apparently owes a debt and was given a choice: death or hand over Cara. She can hardly believe he would sell her out like that, and though she considers letting him pay for his mistakes, she simply cannot leave him with a death sentence.

Gregory Norris doesn’t like to be in the spotlight. He prefers the shadows. His motto: join him or die. That is the choice he offers those who overstep. Patiently calculating and relentlessly ruthless, he is master of Slane castle. It is his childhood home, but it is full of painful memories. He took it over following his grandfather’s death, and nothing pleases Gregory more than knowing his grandfather would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what exactly had become of Slane castle. Gregory opened part of it up for the public to enjoy. He also runs a business out of it. There are private events, parties, fantasies, and a private club with dancers.

Gregory’s long-time friend Linda is the public face of the business. She is known to the public as Lady Linda, and is understood to be the owner. She is just as cold and emotionless as him. They are both broken, and together they make a good team. She is great with the dancers that work in the club and keep the customers coming back. She is tough as nails and keeps them on their toes, without scaring them the way Gregory might. That keeps the customers happy, which in turn makes Gregory more powerful. He is happy to considered just another security guy and quietly enjoy his success.

His good looks make him a favorite with the girls, but Gregory has rules. He never fraternizes with the employees. But moreover, he prefers the innocent type, something hard to come by at his establishment. Despite the lust that surrounds him, he is bored. That might explain why he breaks one of his rules when a certain town drunk ends up before him, offering him a third choice. When he becomes master of the timid and innocent Cara, he can hardly contain his excitement. There are so many possibilities, but as always he is patient. He will make her want him, but first he will ask her to dance for him.

Gregory and Cara’s story really sucks you in. There is a lot going on, so it is an unpredictable ride. A wide cast of characters keeps up the mystique. Many of them have a story to tell, so it is hard to see which way things will turn. Gregory isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. He enjoys dolling out punishment, and the fear in his victims excites him. He didn’t have a normal childhood. Bent on revenge, his adult life has been nothing but dark. Something about Cara draws him in. He hates it, but at the same time cannot help himself.

Cara is innocent, and her selfless act for her father underscores that fact. She had a choice but chose to stay knowing the consequences. But the more she stays at Slane castle and learns about what takes place there, the more she feels herself, and her innocence, slipping way. Temptation gets the best of her, but the guilt is overpowering. She must decide whether to remain a victim or to take back control. Nobody says no to Gregory, though, so her chances of surviving without being broken are slim to none. There is a lot of drama. Crises abound at Slane castle, complicating things for the couple. Eventually they earn a happy for now ending.

This story is very dark, so be warned. It sucks you in. In fact, by the end you might want more. I had to verify that it was a standalone! It is does have a happy ending, but there are so many loose ends that leave much to the imagination. I am pleased that the couple conceivably does not have any major bumps on the horizon, but a nice long epilogue would have been nice, perhaps a peek at five and ten years down the road. It can be done without impacting the other books in the series, given they are all standalones. Note that the book does need some polishing. There are occasionally grammatical issues, formatting issues, punctuation errors, etc. However, the story and characters are so intriguing that those are minor distractions.

Regarding Gregory and Cara’s ages, they are undefined. My best guess is that Gregory is roughly thirty, and Cara is roughly twenty. Gregory left for Australia for a time after finishing school, but that hadn’t solved any of his problems. He likely didn’t wait too long until deciding to arrange to inherit his grandfather’s castle, and he has been in business for years now. He hasn’t seen one of only childhood friends, Jake Harper, for years. As for Cara, she is not in school and has been working to support herself and her father. She lives a quiet and somewhat solitary life and has maintained her innocence, but one might imagine that she would eventually develop a social life with coworkers if left to her own devices for too long. She is apparently of drinking age, which is eighteen in Ireland.

A few issues merit mention. *Spoilers* First, Gregory does a lot of dirty work at the club. It is a daily occurrence. It seems to fizzle out without an explanation. Also, he admits, and it is laid out, that those issues sometimes end in death. One might wonder where all the bodies are, and how news of this has not gotten out, nor how the last whereabouts haven’t come back to implicate him. There are only so many investigations that he can logically dodge before the authorities know something is up, and then the search warrants would lead to a search of the entire property.

Further, Linda and Jake add a great deal of intrigue and mystery to the story. Linda’s story did a fair job of resolving, though one wonders if she really got the message. She probably knows Gregory well enough to know to move forward with her life, though. Jake, however, still feels unresolved. His relationship with Linda is a question mark. How he knew to call Gregory with a warning is never explained. It seemed he either had an insider in the police department, or he was both in touch with Linda and physically nearby. The lack of explanation, again, made the story feel like it was not over.

Finally, the fact that the property, including the grounds, is open to the public makes some of the things that occur outdoors in the story beyond reckless. It is one thing if it were private, but once it is understood the grounds are open to the public it is really an open invitation to trouble of a variety of sorts. That part just didn’t jive. A few final minor points remain. First, it is never explained how Cara gets her meals. Next, Gregory is tired of the same thing, but it is never defined. One can only deduce that he got his pleasure from participating in the parties hosted onsite (and many of the clients are older). Lastly, Wendy is supposed to be replaced, but then it never seems to happen.

Gregory and Cara’s story is a very dark dive into the lust and depravity of a private club and its owner. Cara hates herself for her attraction to her master, who carefully hides his face from her, escalating her fear and uncertainty. Nevertheless, she offers him a gift that begins to unravel everything. The storytelling is wonderful, and the writing is good. It needs a thorough scrubbing, but has the potential to be fantastic. It is plot-driven. The characters are carefully crafted and three-dimensional. It would be nice to have the main characters developed just a little further, though. Their stories have some gaps. The story is written in first person. The POV alternates between Gregory and Cara. I rate this book four stars.

I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Could not connect with this one

DARK is the first book in The Boyne Club series and is the story of Cara and Gerald. If you read the book description you know to expect something a bit darker but maybe with some redemption mixed in. I mean at the end it says “For fans of Fifty Shades of Grey, Sylvia Day, Meredith Wild and W. Winters” I have read these other authors, well I didn’t read Fifty Shades but I got the gist of the books. For me this book was not like those in that yes there was darkness and cruelty but the h did not try to fight back and the H did not have anything redeeming about him. He even shared her with others which I did not like in this story…again not a redeeming bone in his twisted body.
I have read several books by Vi Carter that I have enjoyed but this one I just could not connect with. I ended u skimming and skipping chunks of the book to get to the end to see what happened between them.

I received a copy of this book for my honest review. My opinions are all my own.

Brilliant xx

This is a dark captivating steamy story that held my attention cover to cover. It’s not a very long book and easily read in one sitting. It’s an awesome read with brilliant characters.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This story had me drawn in from the start & couldn’t put it down I was so eager to find out what happened next. I hated the way he treated Cara & Linda wanted to make her life hell but at one point I thought she has a soft spot when she told Cara to be stronger but she just became even more jealous of her as she could see that Gerald was acting different to her than the other girls at the club. I couldn’t get my head around Gerald & his emotions the way he wanted Cara but didn’t want anybody else. As her time at the castle grew & the time spent with him her feelings started to change in a way she didn’t expect & didn’t want to give in. When she left running back to her house after finding out her Dad was dead she felt lost away from Gerald & the castle even though she knew she shouldn’t & when Gerald turned up at her house she gave into him again then he got up to go & she told him not to come back but he left. The next day was the funeral & he had asked Candy to go with her showing that he did feel something for her but when she got home after the funeral Gabriel’s car was outside & she was excited but scared at the same time as this would be the first time she would see him fully not hiding in the dark. The Gabriel who was waiting for her at home was nothing like the man who she met the first time but whether he would make her happy in the long run.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This is the start to a new series called The Boyne Club. Her father owes him money, she is considered accepted payment. She is now his. He owns the club, either you follow the rules or you disappear. What happens when he breaks his own rule? Cara and Gerald make for a deliciously, dark read. I cannot wait to see where the author takes this series. The club is full of rich, dangerous men just waiting for their own innocent woman to corrupt and lose their hearts too. Enjoy!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

An absorbing story with twisted themes and hidden lies!
by sewsummore

The story-line in this book was involved with lots of drama and dark sexual play. Gerald was a man who had been harshly street by his grandfather when he was a child. While he was the owner of the castle and the club there, everybody knew him as the guy in charge of security. He became obsessed with a young and innocent young woman and created a trap that would place her under his control. She was fearful of the future. As a rich man’s obsession, she was exposed to the decadent lifestyle of a rich man’s plaything. However, the more sexual play he initiated, the harder it was for her to resist the pull he had over her. She wanted him and hated herself for submitting to his desires. I found this book to be complex, the interactions of the characters made this an absorbing story with twisted themes and hidden lies.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.