Enthralled

I’ve been so excited for Cosima’s book after meeting her in an older Giana Darling series (Evolution of Sin). After seeing the first graphic for this novel, I knew I NEEDED this book in my hands ASAP.

Enthralled is deliciously dark. I never fault dark romances when they cross lines because that’s what the genre entails and I believe it’s up to the reader to take that risk if they would like. Cosima and her Master Alexander were electric, their chemistry so apparent and evolving that the darkness of the book was so perfectly coupled with the brightness of the characters. I’m usually a bit skeptical of how love can bloom between a master/slave relationship, but the descriptions and prose were so beguiling and enchanting! I love how GIana Darling takes the time to slowly develop and unfurl the story of all her characters, no two being alike.

These two face struggles of their pasts and present, leaving them in an position to make hard decisions. The novel is so gripping and so fitting of the title. “Enthralled” is the perfect word to describe my captivation with this story!

This is my favorite book by GIana Darling yet! And I cannot wait to read the rest of the duet!! I think this book is great for anyone who loves pretty language to tell a great story <3

I received this book as an arc from Candi Kane PR

Giana Darling’s Enthralled was absolutely amazing. It left me shocked, hopeful and quite simply, with no pun intended, enthralled and wanting more. This story was sexy and delicious but also disturbing and sad. At times I felt Cosima’s pain and anguish as if they were my very own raw wounds. But like her I was kept captive by the gamut of emotions she felt for her mercurial captor while also battling her desires to be free.

The story begins on a shocking note as we see Cosima Lombardi on the verge of being sold on her eighteenth birthday. But none of us could have expected the man that would become her master – Lord Alexander Davenport. Darling does a phenomenal job giving us a glimpse of the man and how he is affected by Cosima on a visceral level. He was a cauldron of mixed emotions: dominant and ruthless and yet vulnerable and caring at times. You could see the dichotomy in his persona as Cosima systematically blew up his existence and everything he held true.

While I loved them together, there was a small part of me that was genuinely sad for Cosima and the way she was systematically altered after every “session” with Alexander. I have read countless Master/Slave books but Darling’s Enthralled evoked such strong emotions that I needed to take breaks. I was shocked and saddened but also captivated by Alexander’s allure and ultimately (and ironically) Cosi’s power over him. That consuming feeling is testament to Darling’s innate skills and brilliant ability as a writer. I seriously can not wait for Enamoured! Bravo! 5 stars! ~Ratula

Cosima may be young, but she’s no wilting little wallflower. She has a sharp tongue, an even sharper mind, and those things will serve her well when she’s sold by her scumbag father to cover his large gambling debts. When Alexander, Lord Thornton, purchases young Cosima, he’s got an agenda, one of vengeance and darkness. But somehow Cosima makes him feel things, and not just carnal, erotic things. But there are so many secrets swirling around our two lovers, so many outside forces that won’t allow either of them a bit of lightness that they seem to bring each other. Will they ever get their day? Will they ever be allowed to just be with each other and allow the feelings they surely have for each other to just be? I’ll have to wait until May, unfortunately, to find out, because yep there’s a doozy of a cliffhanger, which is noted on the cover, because this is only part one of a duet. God, May cannot come soon enough!

First, a trigger warning: there are some pretty shady doings in Enthralled. It’s fairly dark, so if you have triggers, I advise against reading this one. If, however, you, like me, like some dark in your reading, Enthralled should definitely be on your TBR list. It’s sexy, it’s suspenseful, and it kept me on the edge of my seat just dying to know what was going to happen next. I have to admit, though, and I know I’m in the minority here, but I didn’t particularly like Alexander. Sure, he’s a sexy, dominant guy, but he’s an ass, and I hated how he treated Cosima. He needed to bare his soul to her, and he never did. I do think if he ever sees her again, he’ll probably be so desperate to see her that he might be able to crack open that dark heart of his and blurt out at least some nice words of love or at least some type of deeper feelings. He better or else I’m gonna be even more annoyed at him than I already am. Anyway…I really liked this one, it’s just as good as the last story of this author’s that I read (Good Gone Bad) and it definitely kept my attention throughout. Now if only May would get here, stat!

This is the best book I read in 2019 so far!

Camorra, deceit, slavery, conspiracy and love.
Alexander is the perfect dom and I loved Cosi for her fierceness too.

I recommend this if you wanted to read a good dark romance.
Cannot wait for the next book!

4.5 Stars – Don’t come expecting hearts and flowers!

I knew to expect the unexpected with this book by Giana Darling but still it left me speechless because I wasn’t prepared for this.

Having met Cosima in The Evolution of Sin Trilogy I never imagined her story to be like that. I guess I got comfortable with the author’s previous books and lovable characters because no matter how mean, violent, sexy or romantic they were, I still loved them all so much in different ways.
This time though she really got me because I was not prepared for how dark she would go. I mean, I’ve read my fair share of dark books and it’s not that I didn’t love this one, it’s just that I was taken aback by how much I hated the barbaric characters in this story. And the twisted, effed-up person that I am, I still loved this book because it was just so magnificent and vile at the same time that it shook me to the core.

I will not talk about the story because saying anything would already give too much away. What I can tell you though is to not come looking for romance in this book! It’s not for the faint of heart and only for you if you love angst, violence, taboo, and A**hole men who treat women like even less than a doormat. Yes, it’s that kind of dark.

Oh my heart! I swear I had heart palpitations!! And when my heart wasn’t pounding so hard in my chest that I feared it might burst, it stopped beating a lot during this read when I held my breath and struggled with the emotions flooding me!
Never did I imagine that it would be possible for me to hate someone as much as I hated Alexander and some other characters in this book. I was so furious and raging on Cosima’s behalf. But not everything was as it seemed and not all of them were entirely evil because it was much more complex than that.
Yes, there was violence, degradation, humiliation and pure evil, and it was unbelievably hard to read at times because I was disgusted by what was done to Cosima. But despite or even because of all that, I loved this book in all its fucked up glory. Call me sick and twisted but I can’t deny how fantastic it was. Not many people have the gut to write a story so full of darkness and expose themselves and their stories to the harshness of reality and people’s different opinions.

One of the reasons why I love Giana’s books so much is that they touch me so deeply, whether it’s out of frustration or full of love, they always bring out the worst but also the best in me.

May can’t come soon enough!

In case you’re wondering why I gave this book 4.5 Stars, I felt that especially in the first half of the book some things were unnecessarily detailed which slowed the story down. Apart from that, I also wasn’t fond of the stockholm-syndrom feelings from Cosima later on in the story (although it was to be expected, I thought her character was stronger than that), and how the book ended with a rash and uncharacteristic decision by Alexander.

4.5 stars

An excellently written start to what is sure to be an amazing duet! I have been dying for Cosima’s story since I met her in The Evolution Of Sin Series, and let me tell you – Giana absolutely delivered!

The writing makes you feel like you’re IN the story. Living the story with the characters.

This is not an easy story… but it absolutely shows how strong Cosima is. It makes you want to keep turning the pages until you find out what happens next.

I recommend this book.

I can’t even express enough what a fantastic dark story Giana Darling has constructed in Enthralled. The fact that this is the beginning of a two part series makes me so giddy with anticipation that it’s hard to sit still while waiting for the follow-up.

Forget what you think you know, then forget what you’re led to believe, and lastly you probably need to rethink it all again because it’s still not exactly as you thought you figured out. I’m not even kidding here. There are so many twists and turns in this story that you should go in prepared for a mind blowing experience.

We first met Cosima, the loving and knowledgeable sister to Giselle and Elena, in The Evolution of Sin. There are so many things that we don’t understand in that trilogy, but left us completely intrigued with Cosima. But now, even after having a taste in Enthralled, we are still left hungry for more. There is so much more to her story, the story. There’s much more depth and circumstance to Cosima and her life.

This story is dark, but oh so delightful. Cosima and Alexander are a complete enigma. Two opposites living in symbiosis. There are so many times you want to hate all of the men that have touched Cosima’s life, but then you’re pulled in a different direction wondering where you misunderstood the story. Alexander is no exception here. The things I wished on him just shouldn’t be said in nice company. But then my heart melted and I’m left on my knees at the alter for him.

This story is dreadful at times. However, it’s also mysterious, unpredictable, angsty, hot, and action packed. You will feel the burn, the pain, but yet the hunger and passion these two project. Their heat is swealtering.

So in warning, be prepared to have your mind blown, you’re heart broken and then put back together, but only partially. This is an edge of your seat kind of read that will have you switching sides more times than you can count. I am so excited to get to know even more about these two, Cosima and Alexander, in the next installment.

Enthralled had me captivated from the very beginning. I have been waiting for Cosima’s story since I met her in The Evolution of Sin series. I knew that she had secrets, deep, dark secrets, just nothing my imagination thought up could prepare me for her story. Please be aware that at times this books can be very dark and brutal and it does end on a huge cliffy, but I promise you it was completely worth every minute of my attention as I read this book.
Enthralled is book 1 in Cosmia’s journey. Cosima is the youngest sister in the Lombardi family and labels herself the “breadwinner” and somewhat of a savior of the family. She is beautiful, beyond beautiful, and will use it to get her family out of their impoverish life. She works hard, even as a teenage, to become a model. She knows that her only weapon in this life is her beauty, and she has no problem using it to get what she needs. Her father is a gambler and drunkard that is in deep with the local mafia. Cosima has known for a long time that her father would eventually use her beauty to his advantage, so when the day comes that he actually makes good on his promise, Cosima is resigned to her fate. She will be sold into sexual slavery in order to save her father. Enter Alexander Davenport, Lord Thornton. A chance meeting the prior summer has sealed her fate with Lord Thornton, and now she must do what he demands in order to save herself and her family. But all is not what it seems, and Cosima must learn to obey the Lord in every aspect if she is to survive her servitude.
This was a deep, dark book buried with secrets and twists that I just didn’t see coming. It was at times brutal but captivating. Giana knows how to slay use with her words and has this way of weaving a story together that will pull you into it’s heart as if we are spectators in the character’s life. We get to witness Cosima’s trials and awakenings, but we also see how she tries hard to hold onto her spirit and learn to adapt in awful situations. Alexander on the other hand was a complicated individual. There were times I liked him. other times I just didn’t understand him. He has secrets of his own as well as demons that he is try to deal with. You learn some of his issues as the book goes on, but my curiosity was never completely satisfied by the end of the book. I will say that I would have liked more insight into him, and I am really holding on to hope that we get it in the next book. I would love a few chapters from his POV.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you met Cosima in The Evolution of Sin. I am axiously awaiting Enamored to get the conclusion of their story!!!

This is a dark, twisted, bone chilling read.

There are a lot of lies being told, secrets being kept, games being played. And the one person who seems to be stuck in the middle is Cosima. And she didn’t choose to be a part of any of this.

Once I started I couldn’t put it down. Again Giana Darling took me on another rollercoaster ride of emotions. This book may not be for everyone. And definitely those who may have triggers. I am so looking forward to seeing how this ends when book two comes out at the end of May.

Wow what a story! This book is HOT! This a an amazing dark read and you will fall in love with Cosima and Alexander’s story. This book is not for the faint at heart and will have your heart racing. It is part of a duet so know that it does end on a cliffhanger that leaves a lot of unanswered questions. A MUST read if dark reads are something you like.