Hostage

This book sucked me in from the very beginning. I started reading this while I was at a conference surrounded by 1600 people, and I easily forgot where I was and ignored the keynote speaker. I thought I would just read a couple of chapters to get a feel for the book, but instead I was immersed in Brooke and Stone’s story. This book was about Brooke and Stone’s relationship, and while that was fascinating, I loved learning Stone’s story more. He and his brothers have overcome so much, and I already bought Prisoner to read as soon as I finish typing this up. I’m hoping to read more about this band of brothers! Favorite read of the year so far!

Hostage was exactly what I needed to get out of my book funk. It’s dark, dangerous and absolutely addicting. It can be read as a standalone but it does have some of the same timeline that Prisoner does. So I recommend at least reading Prisoner afterwards so you can Grayson and Abby’s story as well.

Brooke stumbles upon Stone when she is sixteen years old. That’s when he first takes her hostage. Immediately, she feels some type of pull towards him. Sure, there’s fear but there’s something much deeper than that. Something about his darkness that masks over what she see’s as beauty.

“His smile is like nothing I’ve ever seen. As if he has so much hate and anger in him that it flipped over to a kind of evil beauty.”

He feels that pull as well, thus starting his obsession with her. For years, they play this cat and mouse game that ultimately binds them together. Brooke just might be the light that Stone needs, even if he doesn’t see that.

I was hooked from the beginning with this story but what I love the most about it is that it’s oddly healing. It’s hauntingly beautiful because there is so much evil, hate and violence but in the end, there is love, healing and growth. It’s always been there but it has taken a long time.

Stone…my man. *Sigh* I’ve wanted his story from the moment we met him in Prisoner. He was the leader, the tough, strong one who held the group together. He was their law. Yet you could tell that he puts up a front and that he was hurting more than he ever let on. In Hostage, we get to know him. Understand his needs and where is head is at. While it’s dark, there’s definitely more to him and all it took was Brooke and a lot of time to knock down some of those steel walls. My heart ached for him every minute and it weeped with joy whenever anything good graced him.

I also liked Brooke. While she might come off as the rich girl on the surface, it’s clear that she’s had her own struggles in life and there’s something different that speaks to her. While she has the right amount of fear towards Stone when he first takes her hostage, she always shows strength and continues to show her light. She stuck up for herself when needed and she fought hard for Stone when he needed it.

If you are looking for a dark romance that will hurt your heart but ultimately mend it to a better shape than it was before, then Hostage is the book for you. It will hurt. It will be ugly but it will be beautiful.

A dark two book series about vengeance against those who were responsible for kidnapping and abusing 7 young boys who they held captive for 6 years doing unspeakable things to them. The two stories are about the youngest and the oldest of the 7.

Hostage is about the oldest of the 7 – Stone Keaton. Stone tried to help the boys as best he could when they were held captive and being sold for money. He became their leader who was instrumental in their escaping and still in that role years later in their plotting and planning against those who harmed them. Stone is the most brutal of the bunch and his killing of the men responsible is gruesome. Its during one of the killings that a 16 year old girl on the night of her birthday party witnesses it and is taken hostage by Stone.

Stone had every intention of killing the girl but something about the young Brooke Carson calls to him and he lets her go with the threat of harming her family is she ever tells. Over the next 2 years Stone reenters her life numerous times reminding her of her promise and tries telling himself that is the only reason but he has also become infatuated with her and a small part of him wishes circumstances could be different.

Brooke was a strong character even at 16. Innocent yet wise for her age. She knows she should not be attracted to man whose life revolves around violence but there is something about Stone that calls to her heart and she knows that deep down he is a good man. Once she turns 18, the two can no longer fight their attraction but there is something that could tear them apart forever.

This was my favorite of the two stories and could really be read as a standalone. It also brings to conclusion the bringing the people responsible for what happened to them down so even if the 2 authors never write the 5 other men’s stories you have a very satisfying conclusion for everyone at the end of this book.

“You’ve never done that before, have you?”

I was preparing myself to read a dark and twisted story. After all, when you witness someone brutally kill another person with anger and even passion, how can you forget the picture of that person in such a murderous rage Certainly this is no spoiler because in the “blurb” describing this book we are told that Brooke would witness Stone (such a perfect character name!) kill a man.

Brooke was in the middle of her parent’s required glitzy affair for her Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party. Her family, although drowning in debt and a hair’s breadth from financial disaster must keep up appearances to their clients and friends in their upper crust social circle so her Father might land the deal that will rescue them from disaster. Brooke had to fit in a second-hand but most importantly, this year’s designer gown in size too small…no room to eat. She is nervous because she knows her peers can smell the “blood in the water”. Her mother is constantly pushing her to be the perfect little miss and to hook up with the perfect little wealthy prince of their social circle. Brooke feels overwhelmed, unloved, used and not a little hungry.

Entirely at her wits end, Brooke steps out through the kitchen of the venue for some air and she hears the commotion of a man being assaulted in the alley. Being a brave, decent and right minded person she tries to intervene. For all her efforts, she gets kidnapped and becomes a witness to the brutal murder.

Stone now must deal with a witness for which he made no plans. His tenets to committing murder include the major one…never leave a witness. So he needs to kill the terrified Brooke. He makes an interesting stop along the way, which in this tense situation, kinda made me smile. In the process of killing her, Brooke does something that just barely hits his conscience and he lets her go with the threat to destroy her parents and friends if she ever tells them his description.

What unfolds from here is Brooke’s realization of how alive Stone made her feel even if he scared the wits out of her. She knows her attraction is wrong, wrong, wrong but? The reader learns the genesis of Stone’s rage and purposes and also learns how many people are counting on him to kill. Over the course of two years, there is a strange and unique relationship that is blossoming between Brooke and Stone as he finds himself unable to leave her entirely alone. The writers build lovely tension and angst into the story. There is also a mystery involving the rotten underside of those with power in society to perpetuate unspeakable evil on the highly vulnerable. The unfolding of the mysteries are intertwined in a suspenseful plot.

From their first kisses to their first time…the writing of the intimate encounters between Stone and Brooke just broke my heart. It was some of the most beautiful, tender, insightful, steal your breath moments I’ve yet to read. It put the tragedy which Stone suffered in such new stark light. These moments alone told from Stone’s POV raised my rating from a 4 to a 5. Never before had I given thought to the character of Stone’s emotions with Brooke in their intimacy presented by the authors as one of the effects of Stone’s suffering.

I loved the character Brooke. She saw her parents clearly and still managed to love them. Even though she was hounded by Detective Rivera with questions about Stone, she recognized that deep down he was a good guy. Stone tried his level best to scare her away. He tried to goad her…even play the dirty boy for her if that was all she wanted. She was a noble young woman who grew up with discernment and her moral compass pointing True North. She tried hard to always do the right thing even at the end when it literally tore her in two. I simply loved her.

As I mentioned in the beginning I prepared myself for this dark twisted story…sure it was dark and definitely twisted but my heart was left uplifted at the end by the light of truly wholesome, sexy, gritty love. Some measure of justice in that the ugly underbelly of those who only live for appearances was exposed to wither in the sun. Finally, healing bonds of brotherhood were forged.

I already wrote a review for this book, which I only do when I find the book so fantastic that I can’t not say my piece. This book was fast paced, beautifully written and so the love story so touching I couldn’t stop reading. I read it in one weekend. I barely stopped to get a sandwich, it was that good. It took me into their world and out of my own. It’s a to be Re-read again and again book.

A hugely suspenseful, gritty and heart-rending romance that’s dark, fierce and seductive…

Colour me pink and call me a fairy because I am gobsmacked. I have been rendered speechless by this book. Oh my good lord, I just want to worship at the dark, depraved feet of Annika Martin and Skye Warren. This is book is everything that’s brilliant and mind-bendingly awesome about dark romance. It’s so wrong and twisted that it’s perfect and beautiful, and Oh. My. Sweet. Jesus. I can’t even get over how AMAZING it is.

So Hostage is book #2 in the Criminals and Captives series which revolves around a rather sinister and heart-wrenching plot. I’ve read many books containing the same issues addressed in this series, but there is only one other that has made me feel the way this series does. I have been going over and over this book trying to figure out a way of expressing just how masterful it is. You see, dark romance is my thing. My guilty pleasure. It is also a very hard genre to get right, in my opinion. Stories like Hostage require a certain kind of manipulation of the mind that not many authors can master. Every aspect has to have the right balance, other wise it can actually fall flat. Let me just say that both of these authors are on a league of their own when it comes to the unapologetic and awing way in which they can pull your heart and mind strings. They have this ability to make you completely fall in love with the anti-hero, whilst knowing that you shouldn’t. They create this raging war between your heart and your head that renders you an emotionally unstable mess. Christ, I’m not even making sense.

The writing itself is flawless and it makes what should be an arduous read become a lot easier to lose yourself in. But what really makes both Ms. Martin and Ms. Warren so special is the way they take you beyond the dark and they offer you a beautiful and heart-warming romance, even if volatile. There are so many layers to the plot that even the expected is twisted into something unexpected. The twists and turns are so intricately and cunningly devised that it’s like you are constantly driving around blind bends. If that makes sense?

I will say that if you are someone that is of a sensitive nature, this book is not for you. It does have elements of child abuse and sex trafficking, and although I don’t personally feel like it was all done for shock value—quite the contrary actually—it is there and it isn’t something that you can overlook. Those issues are deeply imbedded within the plot and the backstory. I feel that this topics were very well explored, and although the approach is unapologetic and had hitting the follow through has a certain level of sensitivity. Would I recommend this book to someone that has triggers, absolutely not.

Although dark, Hostage is still a romance and with that comes a rather beautiful and unexpected love story. There is a decade age gap between Stone and Brooke, however it never really feels like it in terms of how mentally mature Brooke is. They are complete opposites and yet they come together to make this incredible power house. Stone is very much the anti-hero, he has this hard surface that is impenetrable, however he lets Brooke in and as his walls start crumbling down you see a vulnerable, soft and dare I say sweet side. He’s beyond damaged and at no point is the sole aim of the plot to heal or fix him, but it is the byproduct of Brooke’s affections. Saying that, I don’t believe that he changes throughout the story, you just see all the different sides to him and you get to know his story which in turn allows you to understand and empathise with him. I honestly loved that there wasn’t a big drive to make him into something else, I loved that his hurt and his pain and his anger all served to not just tell the story but to drag you into it.

All in all, I could not put this book down. It was gritty and suspenseful and at the same time it had tremendous heart. This is the kind of book that makes you stop and think. It takes over your mental and emotional faculties and overrides your instincts and preconceived notions. Yes, it’s unconventional, even for a dark romance, but it also feels so right. It completely captured me—mind, heart and soul.

I really hope this isn’t the last we see of this author duo. I loved Prisoner (book #1) but I was completely and utterly awed by Hostage. I can only hope, beg and pray that there is more to the Criminals and Captives series. A little side not—both of these books are standalones, although they share characters and the same time frame they do not spoil the suspense of each others plot.

Skye Warren & Annika Martin ate brilliant together. Hostage is book 2 in the Captives & Criminals series but it can be read as a standalone. I have not read book 1, but will be rectifying that immediately.

Stone and Brooke’s story was one I didn’t want to end. I was consumed from the beginning and I didn’t want to put it down.

Brooke has groomed to be a socialite and to be prim and proper at all times. Most decisions are made for her. What happens when you witness a murder on your 16th birthday and the man takes you hostage? Is she next? What happens when the man who should terrify her is the only one who makes her feel safe?

Hostage takes you on a dark and twisted journey that surprises you over and over again. It is told in dual POV and is a MUST read!

This is the second book in the series, but it’s a standalone book, so you don’t have to have read the first one in order to know what’s going on with this one. They do intersect at times though, so if you have read it, you can enjoy getting that little extra from the book.

I have almost everything Skye Warren has written, and there’s a darn good reason for that. It’s because I love to get down and dirty with her books and her heroes. I really want to get down and dirty with Stone, because he’s hot.

On her 16th birthday, Brooke leaves the huge status party that her parents have set up to get some fresh air. Her party is huge, but she knows almost no one there since it’s all about her parents. When she’s standing out in the parking lot, she sees a man beating another man. She tries to chase the attacker off, but he ends up tossing the guy in a van and shoving her in the front, and away they go.

Stone looks at this delicate young woman that he now has to deal with. She’s a loose end right now and he can’t have her around telling people what he did. He decides that he’s going to take her to a park and drown her, since that will be an easy way to die. Except, when they get there, she does something that changes his mind. The two of them cook up a story and he lets her go.

Periodically over the next few years, Stone shows up in her life and her car and tells Brooke to drive. She never knows when it’s going to happen or what’s going to happen when it does, but she looks forward to it.

Skye and Annika have written a great story that spans several years. They really do well at drawing their characters and creating people that you are cheering for, even if they sometimes have to do terrible things in order to survive. I love how Brooke and Stone just make each other stronger and that gives them a good base to build on. Great story. I can’t wait to see what these ladies come up with for us next.

Oh wowza! What a story! I will never look at a rivet the same way again! (Read the story, you will understand!) I want to be a rivet!

This is the story of Stone and Brooke. Their story has so much, and it’s amazing how they come together!

Brooke is like a beautiful bird in a gilded cage. A cage she so wants to escape from. She tries so hard to be perfect that she becomes damaged in the most epic way. She is fierce when she needs to be and loyal to a fault, what a true heroine should be!

Stone is so jaded and yet so innocent at the same time. His childhood is beyond tragic and made him the person he had become, but with the love of Brooke he became more. His vulnerabilities made me want to hug him all the more. Such a beautiful damaged soul. The secondary characters are fantastic and are begging for their own stories! (Hint, hint…Annika? Skye? Bueller…..)

I have read books by both Annika Martin and Skye Warren, and love their work individually. But them writing together is even better! I can’t wait to read more, I hope to see more for the other characters and I am getting ready to dive into Abigail and Grayson’s story Prisoner