Stranded is the second book in The Auctioned Series. Before you read further, you should read Auctioned. “You have my word, Gray. I will get you off this island, and I will bring you home.”It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out job. Nothing Darius Quinn hadn’t done before. But this job had something none of the others did: Gray Nolan. Like Murphy’s Law advised, anything that could go wrong, … anything that could go wrong, would. A mission to save one hometown favorite son was turning into a quest to rescue thirteen traumatized young men against odds so steep, he’d need an oxygen mask to scale them.
Facing new dangers and an uncertain future, Darius keeps Gray close and is soon forced to accept that this has become much more than an assignment. For a man whose reputation was built on being ice-cold under pressure, Darius is beginning to discover how good it feels to burn.
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Darius and Gray still have a longs ways to go even though they made it away from the trafficers! This story was so dramatic and just sucks you in from the beginning!
This is a great book 2 in this series! Cara has done a great job with developing this world for this part of the series. I really liked the Chemistry between Darius and Gray. I think that the way the author is building this relationship between the two MCs makes sense given the situation. This series is dark and could be hard to deal, Cara is not sugar coating anything which I think is great as well. Her world building is very good and sucks you into the story. I could not put this book down until it was finished. I really am enjoying this gritty, tough series and I really cannot wait to find out what happens next. I am voluntarily reviewing this book from a copy given from the author.
FIRST , DON’T READ THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU HAVE READ AUCTIONED.
Cara has a way to hook you in and making you want to finish the book in 1 sitting. For me when I read Cara’s books they play out as a movie in my head, and this 1 certainly delivered.
You will fall in love (or further in love) with Darius in this installment of the Auctioned series.
This book is full of action, tenderness, some emotionally charged times and of course sexy times. There will be times you want to laugh, and others that will make you want to cry.
We watch as Darius & the boys struggle to survive until rescue comes, and then struggle to come to terms with the aftermath.
Darius & Grey continue their flirtatious ways, and battle to stay connected even with their internal demons.
I can’t wait for the next installment, to see what happens next.
I also found that when listening to Cara’s Stranded playlist after reading the book certain scenes came back to me as if the movie was again playing out in my head.
I honestly don’t know what to say. This book was amazing. Not as heavy as the first but still amazing. You really get to know Darius and what a guy he is. The third book can’t come soon enough!
This was one of my most awaited and anticipated reads of 2019. And I absolutely loved it!
This is the second book out of the five in the Auctioned series, so you’ve definitely got to read Auctioned first.
We start off where Auctioned ended, on the ship, getting ready to get off the ship and all. I loved this book, with its angst and always felt this underlying tension, which just made my reading experience better. But, there are small sparks of humour. I loved the dynamic between Ryan and Darius. (We meet Ryan at the end of Auctioned but he has his own story in the Touch series)
The bond between Darius and Gray grows, although it really isn’t a full blown romance, just the very start to the journey of romance maybe. Darius knows he shouldn’t get all attached to people he helps, it isn’t healthy; he knows he should distance himself from Gray, but he just wants to protect the knuckle-head.
For me, its always a difficult decision, starting a series featuring the same couple when the remaining books are yet to be published, cos, duh, cliffhangers. But these books (Auction and Stranded both) haven’t ended in those cliffhangers where you want destroy stuff around you and curse the author out. Some people might feel that way, but for me, it made sense.
So yeah, go and get this amazing book. That’s all.
Can’t freaking wait for Deserted.
When is five stars not enough? When Cara releases Stranded.
Auction was a tough read, but Stranded was worse on an epic scale of soul-hurting. If that is not a thing yet it damn well should be.
In the beginning of Stranded they are still on the yacht. Darius and his brother Ryan are getting ready to take the boys to one of the nearby islands and wait for rescue to reach them. But when is anything ever that easy? A surprise find in a closet below deck makes the realize that while they might have gotten rid of the slavers their ordeal was far from over.
The book is written completely in Darius point of view. And he has his own set of problems.
The first half of the book tells us how they adjust to the idea of a future, of eventual freedom. For the first time in months there is hope on the horizon. Darius watches Gray, believing that the connection he feels is the same he has experienced before. Forming attachment to the people he’d been sent to rescue. Feelings that gotten him, and others hurt before. His brother warns him to be careful, but Darius can’t stay away. He watches Gray and he worries. Rightly so.
It takes longer than anticipated for them to be picked up, not everyone makes it.
The second half of the book isn’t easier than the first. The reunions ight be sweet, but that doesn’t mean that everything can go back to the way it once was. Medical examinations, interviews with the authorities. Desperate to get back to normal, despairing when they can’t. I kept holding my breath when I read that part.
No matter how much Darius tries to pretend Gray is just another job he can’t keep the boy from creeping under his skin or into his bed. They turn to each other for comfort and more, but soon Gray starts pulling away just as Darius fared he would.
Towards the end Gray leaves Darius a letter
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past few weeks, it’s that I don’t have to be stuck on an island to be stranded.” It went straight to the heart.
Gray is running. Darius will chase him.
My head and heart hurts from reading this
I almost read through the night and had to force myself to put the book down around 3 am
Throughout the book I kept getting the feeling that it was coming to its end so I kept sneaking peeks at the page count. I started at page 16-17. The book has 200 pages
I would love shorts of everyone of the other survivors, staff included, I find myself needing to know that all get their own version of a happy ending
Some endnotes for you:
I had to look up the word ‘aft’ because I kept thinking Cara was spelling ‘raft’ wrong. She wasn’t
Gray comparing Darius to the Grumpy Cat
Since this IS a Cara Dee book I looked forward to steamy sex scenes ( There are some, it wouldn’t be a Cara book otherwise. Not as many as i wish though, but I do realize it wouldn’t fit the story)
I don’t remember if Squeezy’s real name is mentioned in Auction, but if it is I would never have put two and two together and gotten Willow. I just ended up loving her even more. Can’t wait for her to have her own book.
There were two scenes where I couldn’t keep the tears at bay, surprisingly they had both to do with a boy named Jonas
I don’t want to be one of those readers who begs for the next book, but here I am, begging for the next book. When is Deserted released? I need it in my life now