HER I’m usually brutally honest. I don’t like to sugar coat shit or beat around the bush. But this time, I couldn’t want to run further from my own destructive truth. I’d been sold. Sold. Like some kind of dog to a man born of cruelty and carnage. A man who rules a criminal organization on a global scale, and now… rules my body but, most importantly… my freedom. I dreaded my days back in the … in the warehouse; caged, beaten, awaiting a fate I had no control over. All thanks to his billion-dollar industry in human trafficking and God knows what other line of bullshit he runs. And now, I belong to him. Forced to live under his roof and his rules, I now live a life of fear and constraint. I don’t want to believe it but…it’s getting harder and harder to fight him, especially when his touch can burn so painfully good when I finally surrender to it. My body may want him, but my mind and my heart are far more calculating. I haven’t lost hope…no matter what he does to me. I refuse to break. I will escape him and his reign of terror over me. Whether its tomorrow or five years from now, I won’t stop until I have him cold and dead at my feet. And that’s the real fucking honest truth.
HIM
I never thought I could be this fucking consumed by another person – captivated in such a way that it borders on obsession. Jaden is mine now and the truth of that makes my blood run hot and fast in my veins. The feel of her perfect body under mine is like pure ecstasy, even when she’s fighting me…or herself. She can try to deny it all she wants, but she can’t hide from me. I know desire when I see it, even when its shadowed by resistance and then ultimately guilt. That fire in her eyes burns me from the inside out, and it just makes me crave her more. I know she’s fighting for her freedom, calculating her escape, but in time, she will bend to my will until she finally breaks – until she realizes there is no freedom from me, no escape. Period. She’s mine and I won’t stop until it’s so deeply embedded into her mind that the mere thought of denying it brings her physical pain…because it will. I have big plans for my little warrior princess and I can’t wait for the impending pleasurable eternity of it all.
WARNING: Contains disturbing content that may be offensive to some readers.
NOTE: For every book that is sold, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a charity that benefits victims of human trafficking.
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Horrifying and disturbing, but good
Disclaimer: I do not consider this a romance, not even a dark romance, so if that is what you are looking for you might want to skip this one. (EDIT: the author describes this series as a “dark erotic thriller,” and is very clear that it is not a dark romance.)
That said, I have to say this book is really good. And by “really good” I mean the story moves right along without lulls, the dialogue is good, I don’t recall any grammatical errors, and the author does a great job with believable characters and interactions. This book also successfully made me feel. Granted it made me feel incredibly sad and uncomfortable. It made me feel sick. It made me feel hatred and frustration. But, the point is that it made me feel something.
I have no idea where this series is going to end up at this point, and that is exciting. I don’t see how Darren could possibly redeem himself for everything he’s done, so I have to imagine that an HEA is off the table, but who knows what the author has in store.
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly why I hate Darren so much, and why I don’t see how he could be redeemed when Tony Rawlings (in Consequences by Aleatha Romig) did a lot of similar stuff, and (according to me) was redeemed. I also felt that Mateo Morelli of the Morelli series by Sam Mariano was redeemed. And Carter Cross from Merciless by Willow Winters. What is different here? All of those men were completely heinous to the women with whom they were obsessed, but all of them were redeemed.
Well, first of all, Darren is exponentially worse than the latter two, and I would say also worse than Tony Rawlings. But more importantly, those men mistreated their women as part of a game or a revenge, and eventually became more traditional in their treatment of said women once feelings developed. The “nice” was the real them, and the “cruel” was a temporary necessity (to them, anyway). With Darren it seems that the cruel streak IS the real him. As Jaden points out, she could behave perfectly every minute of every day but he would still hurt her. Because he wants to. Because he gets off on it. And he doesn’t just hurt her a little bit- he hurts her pretty severely. He violently rapes her nonstop through this book and the preceding book. I don’t consider these spoilers since they happened in the first book of this series, which anyone looking to read this second book would presumably have read.
This is why I don’t consider this a romance, and why I don’t see Darren being able to redeem himself. He is too damaged. He is too cruel. Even if somehow he redeemed himself, and Jaden somehow forgave him, she could never be happy with him because he has to pepper his tender moments with violent beatings. And no one wants to be violently beaten, or beaten at all.
So, again, this book made me sick. It made me sad. It made me angry. It made me hope that some kind of truly horrific end befalls Darren, preferably where he would lose all of his power and control (prison, perhaps) and have to live out his days with the knowledge that Jaden is out there somewhere living a happy life with another man. Now THAT would be a happy ending to me.
So, all in all, this series is so far really good as long as you understand that it is a very violent, very upsetting story that is NOT a romance. Seriously. It is not a romance.
If you are ok with that, then you should definitely read this series because it is really good so far. And, while it isn’t yet complete, I have read that the author is nearly done with book #4 (this is book #2), and it is anticipated to be released this year, possibly in the next few months.
It’s almost like watching a disaster but unable to look away. I am sure there all kind of psychological definitions for Jaden’s emotional and physical responses to Darren. I get it I really do. Anyone can be tortured enough to crave any hint of safety and security even from a monster like Darren. Jaden has an indomitable spirit which I hope can keep her from accepting this alternate reality Darren is planning on forcing her to live in forever. I for one envision an ending to this series where Darren gets exactly what he deserves hopefully with an extreme amount of pain like he has been dishing out. I can’t stress enough this is not a romance! Darren is a character that nightmares are created from. That being said it is an intense gripping read.
Wow is all I can say! This book follows on from where book 1 finished jaden was bought by the owner, he keeps her captive in his home and continues to push her to breaking point. The constant fury that battles between comes to a fiery end and lives are in danger, jaden must succeed with her plan to escape or all will be lost to her. A truly amazing book brutal and dark not for the faint hearted.
This is the type of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The series is so addictive that I put off sleeping just to finish this book because it grips your soul. It seeps into your mind and into your heart, lingering long after you put it down. Be prepared because it is a dark read but for those who love dark, it’s worth every second.
It’s almost hard to formulate this review into words. Every time Jaden fights back, I wanted to applaud but then I wanted to cringe wondering if it is truly worth what she faces afterwards. It made me question how I would react and how I would survive in this position.
Darren himself is horrifying yet at times I almost felt sorry for him because of his background (emphasis on almost because it definitely did not happen). He freely admits “I’m the kind of man who takes what he wants, when he wants, without regret, simply because he can.”
The character development is absolutely astounding and the world building is phenomenal, even if it is utterly repellent you are faced with a reminder that horror exists in this world. Jay Marie does not make it “pretty” she forces the reader to look at grim reality.
Read her dedication to understand her as an author. As she wrote, she reaches to those who have gone through suffering and says “it is my greatest hope that you find your way back to us, for I am not done fighting for you…” I have significant respect for Jay Marie who balances what a dark read is and doesn’t seek to tone it down while treating her characters with the utmost respect and weaving a story I’ll never forget.